In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," however, it is also the male characters who make the most influential mistakes. Some of the reasons for this include the lack of accountability and the general predilection for mischief that Shakespeare attributes to Continue Reading...
Macbeth In Act I Scene 2 of the tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare -- after giving a brutally graphic description of how Macbeth "unseam'd…from the nave to the chaps" an enemy soldier -- makes his hero's name rhyme with the word "death" at the sc Continue Reading...
The Oedipus complex suggests that every son wants to marry his mother and kill his father -- and that is precisely what Claudius does. "Sex and the life instincts in general are, of course, represented somewhere in Jung's system. They are a part of Continue Reading...
Supernatural in Renaissance Drama There are things in heaven and earth, not dreamt of in the philosophy of Horatio, not simply in "Hamlet" but also in the "Midsummer's Night Dream" of Shakespeare, and the "Dr. Faustus" of Christopher Marlowe. But w Continue Reading...
Willlam Hazlitt largely comments on the contemporariness and universality of Hamlet's character: that although Shakespeare wrote the play more than 500 years ago, we have come to know the character of the tragic Prince quite well. Not only because we Continue Reading...
Tragedy & Comedy One popular method of distinguishing between a comedy and a tragedy has always been by virtue of whether a play or film has a happy or tragic ending. Today, however, it is largely considered that a tragedy can be comic in parts, Continue Reading...
'" "A Good Man is Hard to Find" ends with the family being executed by the Misfit, a murderous outlaw. Although O'Connor's story is evidently supposed to be humorous, it gives the reader pause to note that the family will die without ever exchanging Continue Reading...
Obscurity of Real Feeling and Intentions in King Lear and Hamlet "Nay madam, I know not seems," says Hamlet to his mother Gertrude. (Act 1.2) By this he means he is not pretending to mourn his beloved father. Hamlet's mourning suit of inky black fa Continue Reading...
This work provided an intensive discussion historical forces that were to lead to modern humanism but also succeeds in placing these aspects into the context of the larger social, historical and political milieu. . Online sources and databases prov Continue Reading...
It is also perfect because it permits Iago to draw Emilia into his schemes, whereby he can punish her for being unfaithful without dealing with whether or not his beliefs are true. 6. In what ways does "reputation" become an element of the conflict Continue Reading...
Apologetics for Generation ZTable of ContentsIntroduction 3Who is Generation Z? 3Understanding the Problem 8Background to the Humanities 10The Sources That Will Help 13Walker Percys Moviegoer 14The Disease That Haunts Man 18Flannery OConnor 21Pluck O Continue Reading...
Elizabethan Theater Elizabethan theatre is a general concept embodying the plays written and performed openly in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603. The term can be applied more generally to also incorporate theatre of E Continue Reading...
Relationship of "The Old English Baron" and "Vathek" to 18th Century English Gothic Fiction The rise of Gothic fiction in English literature coincided with the advent of the Romantic Era at the end of the 18th century and beginni Continue Reading...
Adams, Primrose and Yorick: A Comparison of 18th Century Church of England Clergymen One of the clearest features shared by Fielding's Adams in Joseph Andrews, Goldsmith's Primrose in The Vicar of Wakefield, and Sterne's Yorick in A Sent Continue Reading...
On the other hand, the scenery on the stage was nominal, often made up exclusively of decorated panels that were put on stage (Elizabethan Theater, n.d.). Elizabethan theaters were often crude, unclean, and noisy, but always managed to draw people Continue Reading...
Thesis Statement Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragic hero according to the definition of Aristotle. First, he is a man of noble stature. Second, he is good—but not perfect—and his fall is directly attributable to his own guilty action 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...
Some might interpret the parts of the scene involving smoke as being less interesting and as diminishing the scene's importance. However, alongside of the music, the smoke contributes to making the scene even more important and to enable viewers to Continue Reading...
The inclusion of an immortal spirit as a key catalytic character in the play underscores Shakespeare's intention. Hamlet states, "For this same lord, / I do repent…I must be their scourge and minister," (Act III, Scene 4). Here, Hamlet clearly Continue Reading...
Simultaneously, he forces a man long upheld as honest in the highest Venetian circles into scheming and manipulations; these are roles which Iago takes on too readily, suggesting a certain familiarity, but it must be preserved that no earlier instan Continue Reading...
"(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...
Even in Catholic France, the Protestant sentiment that God's grace alone can save His fallen, human creation was evident in the humanist king, Francis I's sister, Margaret, Queen of Navarre's novel when she wrote: "We must humble ourselves, for God Continue Reading...
Cain's crime was committed over jealousy, as was Claudius's murder of King Hamlet. Claudius knows that he must be forgiven of his act in order to enter heaven, but he shows doubt that he can be forgiven fully for the act that he has committed. He do Continue Reading...
We know from the text that Ophelia is innocent and there is no reason for Branagh to include this scene in his film. The two films depict the two leading female characters in a very different light. Both directors illuminated Hamlet in different wa Continue Reading...
Renaissance Art An Analysis of Love in the Renaissance Art of Sidney, Shakespeare, Hilliard and Holbein If the purpose of art, as Aristotle states in the Poetics, is to imitate an action (whether in poetry or in painting), Renaissance art reflects Continue Reading...
When Hamlet hands the kingdom over to Fortinbras at the end of the play, we see the importance of Fortinbras' character. The masculine and the feminine are at odds in Hamlet. Gertrude represents a side of the female that is questionable at best. Wh Continue Reading...
Hamlet is scared by the sudden appearance and thus cries out: "Angels and ministers of grace defend us! / Be thou a spirit of health or a goblin damned, / bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell/... thou com'st in such a questionable sh Continue Reading...
In short, Hamlet is a man in search of a reason to blame his hated uncle for some wrongdoing, the realization that the current king is a criminal comes as no shock. Medea is shunned by Jason's court as a foreigner, even before he casts her off, and Continue Reading...
Pastoral/Forest Scenes 'As you like it" is one of the darker comedies of Shakespeare's and is largely based on pastoral tradition that was very popular during Renaissance. This comedy especially draws inspiration from a pastoral novel by Thomas Lod Continue Reading...
This intellectual error thus prevents Othello from thinking clearly about his wife after Iago has planted the idea that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. Furthermore, "The Fall of Othello," John Arthos notes, "Othello fell into chaos before the Continue Reading...
"(Bloom, 41) Any act of evil is seen thus to change the basic structure of the universe and to transform nature into a desolated chaos. It is not only the natural, physical environment that becomes extremely chaotic through evil, but the human natur 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...
Polonius Quote One of the more famous quotes in William Shakespeare's Hamlet not spoken by the titular character is given early on in the play by Polonius, adviser to the king and father of Ophelia and Laertes, when he instructs his son on how to be Continue Reading...
Irony in "Soldier's Home" -- Irony is a device used by writers to let the audience know something that the characters in the story do not know. There is usually a descrepancyt between how things appear and the reality of the situation. Often the char Continue Reading...
) "Sonnet 130" by Shakespeare and "Sonnet 23" by Louis Labe both talk about love, as so many sonnets do. Their respective techniques however, differentiate them from each other. Shakespeare uses a rhyme scheme that became known as Shakespearean rhym Continue Reading...
Irony is often defined as saying one thing, yet doing or meaning something else. The use of irony can be seen in Sonnet 57 when the poet says: "Nor dare I question with my jealous thought / Where you may be, or your affairs suppose." Clearly, altho Continue Reading...
Othello Aristotle's Poetics is the most informative piece of work on the nature of art. It is in the Poetics that Aristotle defines the fundamental nature of tragedy. For Aristotle, what defines tragedy (and all art, in general) is in the way that i 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...
Midsummer and Elizabeth A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedic drama that centers on marriage. Indeed, it is traditionally held that Shakespeare penned the play for a friend's wedding; therefore, it should be no surprise to find that the theme of ma Continue Reading...
Banning Books in High School Book Banning and Censorship Social groups, including religious organizations, parents, and school administration among others, make decisions daily about what material will become a part of the regular school curriculum Continue Reading...
