Most Elizabethans believed their self-identity was wrapped up in a cosmic paradigm of fate and destiny, and were somehow controlled by the stars and planets and had a power over the baser side of man -- tools of God, but with certain amounts of fre Continue Reading...
(Shakespeare 1994) The play stands out from many aspects. However, there are some elements which make it one of the most important of Shakespeare's works and one of the most acclaimed. The tragedy comes from the eventual incompatibility between tru Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's Play "All's Well that ends well" -- a Critique Conflict between generations is a theme prevalent in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, histories, and comedies. Romeo and Juliet struggle against their parents' feud and values. Hamlet batt Continue Reading...
And while it may seem silly upon first reading or seeing the play, it is clear that a Midsummer Night's Dream also has quite serious ideas. Scholars have noted that the play includes a cultural critique of the Elizabethan era in which it is set (Lam Continue Reading...
William Shakespeare's As You Like It William Shakespeare's play As You Like It is probably one of his best comedy plays. It has been said that Shakespeare's plays illustrate the many sides of his genius and humor. (Abrams 867) In As You Like It, Sha Continue Reading...
Value of Shakespeare The works of William Shakespeare are staples in our educational system at least from secondary through college levels. This has been true in some degree for more than 400 years, virtually since these works were first performed. Continue Reading...
Homosexuality in Shakespeare's Tragedies Elements of sexuality and lust are very openly present in the works of Shakespeare's tragedies. No matter if one is reading Othello, Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, one can't deny the frequent allusions to concep Continue Reading...
Gender Identity What is gender? Is it a biological condition or a social construction? In today's modern world, it appears that it can be one or the other or even a mixture of both. Transgender people like Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner, an Continue Reading...
“One is not born but rather becomes a woman.” This famous statement by the French existential feminist Simone de Beauvoir highlights the fact that gender, as opposed to physical sex, is something into which someone is socialized, not whic Continue Reading...
Diasporic Identities: In Othello and Heart of Darkness The issue of Diaspora is often associated with only a single culture, that of the Jews who were challenged by the secular and Islamic leaders of their "homeland" to flee for their lives and beli Continue Reading...
The moral question of the play is whether Shylock and Antonio -- and by extension those who close ranks around Antonio -- are truly different. Antonio and his friends are just as capable of the same "evil" which Shylock attempts to perpetrate -- ju Continue Reading...
Of course, the studious scholar might point out that nearly every document produced since the time of Shakespeare must have been influenced by the writer because of the sheer number of vocabulary words he created, but the focus of this essay is lite Continue Reading...
Hamlet's enigmatic behavior so upsets Ophelia that she drowns herself, making Laertes even more set on revenge. Eventually these two deaths lead to a duel (provoked by Claudius) between Hamlet and Laertes, No one wins. Laertes kills Hamlet with a p Continue Reading...
Comedic Writing How does one describe the nature of comedy? Comedy is both simple and complicated. How comedy works is simple, but what is funny is complicated. Comedy describes the nature of the universe in universal terms. Every culture has a sens Continue Reading...
Imagining the Colonial Subject:The Tempest by William Shakespeare & Oroonoko by Aphra BehnIn the sixteenth century, individuals of Black ancestry or individuals from non-European contexts were often portrayed in British literature, as seen in works s Continue Reading...
Extra-Credit Questions Questions on Readings There are different kinds of peril that a person can find himself (in this case) in, and Macready and Macon Detornay find themselves embedded in several of them, in large measure because of their own act Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio demonstrates an immature attitude toward love and romance. Claudio's initial attraction to Hero is based mostly on physical attraction; he seems to be only slightly interested in her financial status and Continue Reading...
Theatre was not only popular for itself, then, but also for the opportunities it afforded the audience for social interaction and establishing hierarchy and dominance in a world where such social, economic, and political identities were in a state o Continue Reading...
OEDIPUS VS. OTHELLO Oedipus and Othello Oedipus and Othello are both productions where the namesake of the story or play experiences a downfall before the end of the play. Oedipus and Othello each experience a downfall Oedipus was a victim of the Continue Reading...
When conducting an ideological critique, the researcher must be concerned with the way ideology is evidenced (or repressed) in the artifact, and a useful concept for identifying these "traces of ideology" is the notion of the ideograph, or the "poli Continue Reading...
Toni Morrison What meanings can be attributed to the literary accomplishments of American author Toni Morrison? How does Morrison use history to portray her stories and her characters? How did Morrison become known as one of the premier African-Amer Continue Reading...
Twelfth Night and as You Like It Cross dressing is an important element that renders serious repercussions in Shakespeare's plays. Two plays that emphasize cross dressing and the repercussions it can bring are Twelfth Night and As You Like it. While Continue Reading...
Othello Of the alleged chief tragedies penned by Shakespeare, Othello has led to a certain degree of embarrassment. This 'domestic tragedy' lacks the dynastic and political consequences that characterize Macbeth, Hamlet, and Lear. The protagonist, O Continue Reading...
As mentioned earlier on, the new political dispensation that took off is 1994 opened the "gates of creative possibility" (Roos,2010) for the opera producers since they were therefore able to juxtapose the Western and African art scenes. This was fue 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...
Heroes occur -- within the conventions of Western drama and Western literature more generally -- within the context of tragedy, for it is the stresses of tragic situations that (typically) allow for heroism to arise. But we can -- especially if we u 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...
Wanna Be Average," written by Mike Rose. Although each of these writers has a very different writing style, both essays deal with similar issues about the educational experiences of young boys growing into men. Five main areas will be discussed: ass Continue Reading...
By the second night, a group of men had mutinied and attempted to kill the officers and destroy the raft, and by the third day, "those whom death had spared in the disastrous night […] fell upon the dead bodies with which the raft was covered, Continue Reading...
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American writer well-known for his macabre poems and short stories. Written before his death in 1849, "Annabel Lee" keeps in line with many of his previous poems and centers around the theme of the death of a beauti Continue Reading...
Subtitled by Shakespeare "Or What You Will," Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most celebrated and beloved comedies. One of the reasons Twelfth Night remains relevant for contemporary audiences is that the romantic imbroglios described in the pla 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...
Taming Comedy is a vehicle for satire, and satire is a means by which to convey social commentary. In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare uses the medium of comedy to transmit potent yet socially subversive ideas related to gender roles and norms. Continue Reading...
To act in a murderous, vengeful way that is contrary to his true nature, and to assume madness creates madness. At first, Hamlet suggests that vengefulness in a corrupt court is a kind of sanity, when he vows to put on an antic disposition, but he a Continue Reading...
Although Viola in She's the Man may be discriminated against, because of her gender, Shakespeare's Viola has never been allowed to be assertive in a physical manner because the way women are socialized. This is why Shakespeare's Viola is both a sadd Continue Reading...
Like Romeo, Juliet believes that the only solution is committing suicide, but the Friar tells her of a secret potion, a drug that will make her only appear dead for almost two days. The Friar tells Juliet to take it the night before her wedding. Me Continue Reading...
revenged activates the actual action of revenge, as demonstrated in "Hamlet" and "The Revenger's Tragedy," however, we may be in doubt when cataloguing their actions as logical and premeditated (Vindice) or full of incertitude and hesitance. Indeed Continue Reading...
'Both periods' she says 'are caught up the exhilaration and fearfulness of living inside a gap in history, whenthe paradigms that structured the past seem facile and new paradigms uncertain'. The alignment of the Renaissance reality with the existen Continue Reading...
Miranda even says, "My father's of a better nature, sir,/Than he appears by speech" (I.ii.500-501). Shakespeare may have been writing Prospero like this only to juxtapose his warm nature at the end of the play, which gives the play a "and they lived Continue Reading...
