John Draper holds a different perspective regarding Iago, which aligns him very closely with Othello in terns of honor. He contends that "a careful survey of the plot as it unfolds shows Iago as an opportunist who cleverly grasps occasion" (Draper Continue Reading...
During the speech, he claps the men's shoulders, and makes human, tactile contact with the soldiers. Even though he is a king, everyone is part of the family of soldiers, and through nobility they can lift themselves to high birth: "We few, we happy Continue Reading...
Othello: Fool & Hero Every Shakespearean hero has his own unique qualities, whether those be virtue or savagery of the soul, a tragic turn to the character or a humorous nature. To some degree this may be altered and shaped by the play-actors. O Continue Reading...
Romeo & Juliet Movie Production Critique This movie production critique is based on the William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Staring off with the set, this was based as Verona Beach, and Continue Reading...
They attempt to enforce their conception of the true Roman law by murdering Caesar. They want to use the controlled power of violence to restore order. This fails miserably and ultimately Mark Anthony uses the power of persuasion in his funeral orat Continue Reading...
Dickson had to deal with a few close relationships end in death, including that of her father, (Crumbley, 2000). Due to her nature of solitude, a death hit Dickenson hard. In her writing she tends to obsess over the act of dying. Much of her poetry Continue Reading...
i.16-17) the line however clearly describes the general behavior of the characters in the play, that "dare do" all kinds of things that provoke fate, without knowing what they do. Don Pedro's wooing of Hero to help Claudio is also significant, as Cla Continue Reading...
In Italy, the Counter-Reformation had a great deal of effect on Renaissance works. As an example, Michelangelo's Cristo della Minerva in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome, fell victim to these actions. Just as the bonfires of the van Continue Reading...
e., as Aristotle puts it, is "either a higher or a lower type [emphasis added]" (Poetics, Part II, paragraph 1). Oedipus is in fact both: someone of great stature at the beginning but reduced to being a much-unwanted exile at the end. Othello shares Continue Reading...
Macbeth and Oediups Rex are great tragedies from two very different time periods. Even though such different writers wrote them, and in such different times, the similarities that exist between the two are remarkable. Shakespeare and Sophocles both u Continue Reading...
When we consider the character of Hamlet, it is easy to assume we are in for serious contemplation. Hamlet is not one of the easiest characters to figure out. However, we do know that he is a broken man. Some of the ideals and impressions he once h Continue Reading...
Look with thine ears: see how yond / justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in / thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which / is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen / a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?"(IV. vi. 166-171) Lear's Continue Reading...
I think Dickinson's poem is a work that is quite special because of the way she has taken the topic of death and she has made death into human form that is not at all like we would imagine him to be. It is the sensibility that poets and others wri Continue Reading...
Desdemona and Othello's love is a love of impossible dreams, killed by impossible dreams. Othello is a play where individuals are incapable of communicating as 'real' people -- everyone, one could say, is an artist, but a bad one. Cassio becomes dr Continue Reading...
Denis and Michael Benthall used the space for productions and actor training. From 1963 -- 76 it was the temporary home of the National Theatre of Great Britain (see Royal National Theatre). Briefly closed due to funding cuts, it reopened in 1983. A Continue Reading...
Henry V is the last, and perhaps most important, play of Shakespeare's tetralogy. Shakespeare's three earlier plays, Richard II, Henry IV, Part I, and Henry IV, Part II, established the foundation for Henry V. What makes Henry V so pivotal is that it Continue Reading...
Hamlet's Character Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is a complex character full of intrigue and non-linear dispensation. He is well aware of it though, for he starts his quest by pretending to be confused, a cloak, he cannot always easily shed or eve Continue Reading...
iii.37) to reassure Othello that he knows nothing about Desdemona and Cassio and what they might be doing behind closed doors. This scene allows us to see how manipulative Iago is and how he will say anything to get what he wants. He lies, he plants, Continue Reading...
Othello is, indeed, unable to 'read' Iago fully, and is initially overly confident that his merit will transcend cultural barriers. By the end of the play, Othello has become so suspicious and twisted by racism that he is unrecognizable, even to him Continue Reading...
Frequent interception of American ships to impress American citizens was a major cause of the War of 1812. ("Impressments." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 10 Aug. 2005, (http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0825052.html) The enforced and Continue Reading...
Role? King or Madman? The Art of the drama in Shakespeare's drama of Henry IV, Part I Henry IV and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Shakespeare is of course a dramatist, that is, he was an author of plays with fictional characters in them, portrayed by r Continue Reading...
4). Even the members of Titus' family who do not go mad, particularly Lucius, resolve to take a double role. Just as Tamora assumed a persona of compliance with the Romans, so does Lucius. Lucius enacts a kind of 'doubling' of Tamora, for as Tamora w Continue Reading...
Prizes have always been a part of contests, a tradition that can be traced back for centuries. In Homer's the Iliad, Achilles hosts a contest in honor of the fallen Patroclus, "The first prize he offered was for the Chariot races -- a woman skilled Continue Reading...
This echoes life. To others we present as a simple person, perhaps even shallow and one-dimensional. Yet inside we are a mass of interminable twists and turns of plots and subplots. The story must reflect positive morality or, as Aristotle warned, w Continue Reading...
Instead, the commission offers as a compromise more humane treatment of refugees. ("Migration Amendment," Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2006, p.1) But while this may be a laudable effort, it shows that the creation of a perfect sch Continue Reading...
Sonnet: Shakespeare's Sonnet 129 I selected this sonnet because it is different from typical sonnets in that it is so angry. Shakespeare is writing not about love but about lust and the awful consequences it can bring to one who submits to it. It Continue Reading...
Othello as Tragedy Othello as Tragic Hero Aristotle defines tragedy as "an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament…; in the form of action, not Continue Reading...
Caroline in a Thousand Acres The film a Thousand Acres, based on the Jane Smiley's book of the same name, is a contemporary twist on an old William Shakespeare play: King Lear. Like the Shakespeare play, the film contains an old man who wants to re Continue Reading...
At the end of the play, she dies of a broken heart following the death of her son. Romeo, by contrast, is a typical teenager. He probably loves his parents but does not give the relationship much thought or consider their feelings. As a typical teen Continue Reading...
Play-within-the-Play Developing a cultural understanding of the relative power of theater upon culture creates a sense of the traditional and the dramatic. Within many works of antiquity is a demonstration of analogy, in much the same manner as the Continue Reading...
Hamlet The psychological deterioration of the title character is the cornerstone of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Consumed by a desire for revenge, Hamlet loses his already tenuous grip on reality. Starting the play with a scene in which Hamlet sees a ghost Continue Reading...
West Side Story Social Tension and Doomed Romances in West Side Story Hundreds of years after Shakespeare's penning of Romeo and Juliet, the notion of warring families and star-crossed lovers has not waned in popularity. This is evident in the Acad Continue Reading...
He does however, have a reason for his treatment of these people. In the case of the king's courtiers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, they can be seen as plotting against Hamlet and being 'two faced' in their treatment of him" (Hamlet). From the abo Continue Reading...
During this time, Caesar burned down all his ships which accidentally also burned down the Alexandria Library which was close by. Soon after Cleopatra was given the throne after Ptolemy XIII had been killed. Cleopatra also gave birth to a child who Continue Reading...
Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson [...] importance of trees in the novel. While this novel chronicles the life of Isobel Fairfax, trees form the very roots of the novel, just as they form the root of all existence. Trees endure long after people have l Continue Reading...
Jealousy and Ignorance in Othello, The Moor of Venice In Shakespeare's Othello, the Moor of Venice, the concepts of love and friendship are explored through the manipulation of Othello by Iago. In this play, Iago is able to destroy the relationship Continue Reading...
Bassanio chooses lead, when asked to select from the three caskets that Portia offers to test her suitors. She is happy that he wins, and the lead is supposed to be the correct choice, for the person who chooses lead is supposed to be a man who has Continue Reading...
Courtly Love in Contrast to Romantic Love There is much controversy with regard to the idea of love and perhaps one of the best ways to address the concept would be to consider the wide range of romance texts written throughout the years. While gene Continue Reading...
Hemenway The Tragedy of Pride: Othello and Oedipus Tragedies most generally focus on a hero that has a tragic flaw or hamartia, which ultimately leads to his downfall. This flaw is something that is innate to the hero and can reflect his background Continue Reading...
