"(Weis 9) It is doubtful that the model for Falstaff was an actual highwayman, but it is possible he was not as well behaved as would have been expected by his family, perhaps a black sheep. Falstaff appears in several of Shakespeare's plays, but t Continue Reading...
Screen Shakespeare's rhetoric has always astounded his contemporary audiences through his almost supernatural ability to perceive and present the universality of human nature on stage, regardless of the time his characters lived in. The three diff Continue Reading...
This is, in fact, the basis of colonization as the natives are subdued and forced to abandon their language and traditions in favor of the colonizers'. Critics who supported the thesis of "The Tempest" being a description of the Spaniards' experien Continue Reading...
Romeo and Juliet and Atonement Romeo and Juliet has always been one of William Shakespeare's most popular and successful plays, even though critics have sometimes dismissed it as an immature or sentimental work. In that respect, Atonement is not sen Continue Reading...
Even one of the most rational individuals in the play, the Duke of Milan, is initially unable to understand the significance of love and the effect that it has on people. He considers that Valentine's straightforwardness is too upfront and that the Continue Reading...
Even when studying stories that seem to be about good and evil, there are nuances. For example, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, although Hamlet's mother commits a terrible action -- marrying the murderer of her husband -- she seems to do so only half-know 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...
Hal, ironically amused, notes the rapidity with which Falstaff transforms his pledge to "give over this life,... And I do not, I am a villain, I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom" (IH4 I. ii. 95-97) into a plan to take purses at Gad Continue Reading...
This final dinner scene and the ensuing bloodbath wrings ever last possible ounce of gory drama out of the script; the talking ceases for a time while the camera observes the members of the dinner party all enjoying the pies that contain the blood a Continue Reading...
Iago notices this flaw at once and plots to exploit it almost immediately. This is evident when he tells Roderigo: The Moor is of a free and open nature, That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, And will as tenderly be led by th' nose As a Continue Reading...
Othello and Justice Like many of Shakespeare's plays, Othello demonstrates how emotion and a strict personal ethic can lead to tragedy. The play is filled with intrigue, mainly on the part of Iago, another trait of Shakespeare's plays, and the chara Continue Reading...
(Terry 1070) The play Hamlet therefore reflects this complex change in the honor code and the way that personal elements were being integrated into the traditional view of honor. The characters of Hamlet and Laertes also show this complexity in the Continue Reading...
Just War" Theory The idea of a 'just war' is a conundrum. How can one group of people consider their actions 'right' or 'just' to apply military force against an another group. When can one group's actions, which will create devastation, economic d Continue Reading...
incongruous to try to compare the artists William Shakespeare and Bob Marley. These two men, separated by centuries and embodying two very different forms of art, both make up part of the history of popular culture. One man is considered the premier Continue Reading...
We may look at King Lear and see a bunch of messed up people but those people are some of the most realistic characters Shakespeare ever created. The best piece of advice to be gleaned from the play is to simply not allow any amount of wealth to bli Continue Reading...
foundational mythological structures upholding the Greek system of belief in martial valor is the tale of the Trojan War. This tale has continued to hold ideological weight even today. Homer's tale of the sacking of Troy is one of heroism and honor, Continue Reading...
Tragic Motivation in Romeo and Juliet and the Life and Death of Richard III One may argue that people behave the way they do based on their motivations, which can be complicated and interwoven in the psyche of human nature. Often, simplifying what m 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...
Conventional literature would come to see Cleopatra as an exploitive whore, responsible for the downfall of virtuous men like the Ptolemies, Julius Caesar and, inevitably, Marc Antony as well. So is this reported by historical accounts such as that Continue Reading...
A hut on top of the 'Tiring House' was there for apparatus and machines. Flag above the hut was there to indicate concert day. Musicians' veranda was beneath the hut at the third level and spectators would have to sit on 2nd level. (the Elizabethan 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...
Magellan/Pigafetti The book The Voyage of Magellan: The Journal of Antonia Pigafetta, translated by Paula Spurlin Paige, is the first-hand account of an observer who sailed with Magellan's ships on their famous circumnavigation of the globe. Magella Continue Reading...
Interrelationship of Self-Perceptions, Culturally-Based Perceptions, Impressions, and their effects on Leadership Abilities Humans have the most highly organized social structure of any creature on earth. In an attempt to ascertain our relative posi Continue Reading...
Obedience in Jane Austen's Persuasion Is obedience a virtue or a vice? Actually, it can be either. As Shakespeare notes, "Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, / And vice sometime by action dignified" (2.3.21-22). This means that one can obey Continue Reading...
Schikaneder was both an actor and a producer in Vienna for a playhouse that traditionally catered to "lowbrow" audiences (Loomis 2). Mozart's brand of comedy was just the thing for Schikaneder's theater. But "lowbrow" was merely one aspect of Mozart Continue Reading...
Henry IV is one of history's great plays on war and the way in which war can inflict its torment on a nation and a family. For aside being a play about war, it is also play about human relationships. Henry IV, part one in many respects is a play whic Continue Reading...
William Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton explore the depth and range of the human psyche in their plays, Hamlet and the Revenger's Tragedy. Through the characters of Hamlet and Vindici, we discover different motivations to their feelings of vengeance Continue Reading...
Henry IV is a fifteenth century play set in England. The political condition in England is edgy: King Henry IV is dead, his son, the youthful King Henry the V, assumes throne. More than a few harsh civil conflicts leave people of England agitated and Continue Reading...
room in the castle. Enter OTHELLO, LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, EMILIA and Attendants LODOVICO I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further. OTHELLO O, pardon me: 'twill do me good to walk. LODOVICO Madam, good night; I humbly thank your ladysh Continue Reading...
Othello, a tragedy by Shakespeare, can be likened to a modern day soap opera or murder drama. All the elements are there: deceit, jealousy, passions, and more. But one mysterious element runs through this play -- the handkerchief. All throughout hist Continue Reading...
One can almost consider that American filmmaking contains fixed ideas where Japanese motion pictures produced by Kurosawa are the result of complex concepts coming from a series of cultures being brought together. In spite of the fact that Kurosawa Continue Reading...
Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a classic that intertwines child innocence, and adventure together like the meandering Mississippi River upon whose shores the adventures take place. When reading such a novel t Continue Reading...
Doll's House and Antigone Sophocles and Henrik Ibsen explore the philosophical discussion of judgment in Antigone and A Doll's House, respectively. In Antigone, the title character questions the right of leaders to judge strictly when she commits t Continue Reading...
Shakespeare Macbeth and the Struggle between Good and Evil Like all of Shakespeare's tragedies, the action of Macbeth is based around the fatal flaw of the man who would otherwise be a hero. For Macbeth, his flaw is his ambition. He allows his ambi Continue Reading...
New media plays a transformative role in the development and communication of ideas. Just as school children learn to honor the cultural and political significance of the Gutenberg printing press, educators must also learn to respect the cultural, po Continue Reading...
Curriculum: "Expanding the limits of lived and written experience: Required Independent Study" There are certain concepts and ways of presenting ideas that all educated human beings must know. This fundamental assertion about education seems to li Continue Reading...
Othello, race and difference: Othello as the black 'other' The tragedy of the Moor Othello is that he becomes the man racist white society says he is by the end of the play. At the beginning of the story, the malicious Iago, who hates Othello for a Continue Reading...
John Woo's Face/Off John Woo's 1997 Face/Off was only the Hong Kong filmmaker's third American feature, preceded by Hard Target (1993) starring Jean-Claude van Damme and Broken Arrow (1996) starring Christian Slater and John Travolta. Travolta woul Continue Reading...
