Abstract The following paper explores Iago's character by examining his relationships with others as well as considering the nature of the other characters in the play. This paper begins with a brief summary of each of these characters with an emphasis on those attributes that combine to bring about the tragedy of the play.
From the Paper "Of all of Shakespeare's villains, Iago is the one that we most love to hate simply because he is the most purely malignant character in Shakespeare's panoply of wrongdoers. Lear brings about terrible consequences because of his pride, but while Cordelia is sacrificed to Lear's blindness, we see that the king too suffers terribly, and he is clearly a man entangled by the arms of fate. Romeo and Juliet die tragically, of course, but there is no real villain in that play."
Abstract The following paper explores how Shakespeare was generally thought to have been no more than a rough and untutored genius in the 18th century, while now his works are held up as the height of sophistication and the core of any "great works" selection in English literature.
From the Paper ?For many years theories were advanced that his plays had actually been written by someone "more educated, more sophisticated and of an altogether better class than Shakespeare" ? perhaps statesman and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon or the Earl of Southampton, who was Shakespeare's patron (Sobran 29). However, it should be noted that Shakespeare was celebrated in his own time by English writer Ben Jonson and others who saw in him a brilliance that would endure and since the 19th century, Shakespeare's achievements have consistently praised. He is now in general regarded throughout the Western world as the greatest dramatist ever (Sobran 37).?
Abstract This paper explores the under lying concepts of Russian literature's "Progressivism", by explaining the events between 1889 and 1920 as exemplified in the works of Chekhov and Dostoevsky. The paper argues that the fictional societies lost faith in religious concepts but still wanted these values in their politics and economy. The paper also shows the historic change and progress in the Russian society as a result of modernization.
From the Paper "'Progressivism' is a term, usually describing a nebulous concept, a persuasion, explaining the events between 1889 and 1920. It was political only on its surface. At its core it was religious, an attempt by people from all social classes, but chiefly the middle class, to restore the proper balances among moral values, capitalistic competition, and democratic processes, which the expansion of business in the New Age seemed to have changed in alarming ways. Societies had lost literal faith in religious concepts but still wanted these values in their politics and economy and every other field."
Abstract This paper uses of the characters in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," as examples of deceit and naivete, and parallels them with examples from current history. Naivete is illustrated using examples of how both Caesar and the US were unaware of the warning signs of an impending attack. Deceit is illustrated using the fact that the terrorists lived in the US and no one knew, and that Caesar's friends plotted and he never knew. Columbine High School, where two "normal" students went on shooting rampage, is used to illustrate deceit and is compared to Caesar's supporters also going on a rampage and killing him. The author illustrates how Caesar never had chance to change while on the other hand, American is changing and needs to evolve with these changes.
From the Paper "Deception, of course, correlates with the terrorist attacks, too. These Taliban members lived within our communities, shopped at our grocery stores, slept next door and might have even dated a few of our women. All the while, they were secretly plotting a nationwide attack for September 11, 2001. Caesar is also betrayed, though the Senate is supposed to be his supporters. Brutus is his best friend, his confidant. Yet all the while, Brutus is being persuaded to conspire against Caesar. Brutus does conspire, as well as others who once supported Caesar. The conspirators lie, sneak around and deceive their family and friends in order to do what they feel is right for the state of Rome. Eerily, the suicide bombers of September 11 also lied, and snuck around. Perhaps one of the most damaging results of their ultimate deception is that now Americans don?t know who to trust, which leads to many citizens preferring not to trust anyone. (Webb, EDN)"
Abstract This paper looks at the play "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry, first staged in 1959, and Robert Nemiroff's comments on whether the play is still timely three decades later. Nemiroff concludes that it is, and since the play deals with upward mobility against the forces of racism, this writer agrees that the play contains a timeless quality.
From the Paper "A Raisin in the Sun, the play written by the late Lorraine Hansberry, was first performed on Broadway in 1959. It was a remarkable play, the first one to present Black families without stereotype, and mapping out the multiple problems facing Black families of the day. Those issues included not only overt racism but the stereotypes held by the employers they worked for, clashes between older generations who remembered the overt racism experienced in the South, and younger generations who wanted to move into middle class life complete with home ownership and jobs that did not cast them in the role of servants. One young person in the family is in college and intends to attend medical school."
Abstract This paper analyzes the question about whether Hamlet is truly insane or whether it is all just an act. It draws context from the play, quoting lines and through these analyzes his behavior.
From the Paper "Shakespeare's tragic hero, Hamlet, and his sanity can arguably be discussed. Many portions of the play support his loss of control in his actions, while other parts uphold his ability of dramatic art. The issue can be discussed both ways and altogether provide significant support to either theory. There are indications from Hamlet throughout the play of his mind's well being. Hamlet's "Craziness" may have caused him in certain times that he is in a role-play. Hamlet has mood swings as his mood changes abruptly throughout the play. Hamlet appears to act mad when he hears of his father's murder."
Tags: 400, hamlet, insane, old, plays, sanity, shakespeare, years
Abstract This paper discusses the way in which food is used as a metaphor throughout the play's dialogue as a measure of how excessive various characters are in love and in politics. It shows how the play begins and ends with the theme of food as its focus and quotes lines from the body of the play to strengthen this claim.
From the Paper "Cleopatra in particular uses food frequently to express her love for Anthony. She not only does this physically over the course of the play, using banquets and strong drink as a way of celebrating his return and whiling the hours away when he is in Rome. Everything is something to be consumed in Cleopatra's eyes, and food also functions verbally as metaphor for her love and her desire to possess Anthony completely and utterly. ?Give me some music, moody food/Of us that trade in love.? (2.5.1) However, in the eyes of some of the other characters in the play Cleopatra is herself a kind of food. Enobarbus, Anthony's trusted friend states: ?Other women cloy/The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry/Where most she satisfies.? (2.2.241-244)"
Abstract An analysis of the plot and characters of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The author shows how the success of the play depends on the audience's ability to suspend disbelief and believe in magic.
From the Paper "The play is not a play that would have been written in 2002, because it is partly a comedy of manners. For instance, Hermia's and Lysander's crisis is unimaginable in this day and age. No leader, even one who had complete powers, would agree to put the daughter of a friend to death or send her to a convent if she did not marry the husband her father had chosen for her. This is an example of negotiating (2/2/02), but one that dates the play. Nevertheless, eloping was a much greater act of defiance during Shakespeare's time than it is now."
Abstract The paper studies Tennessee Williams' famous play, "A Streetcar Named Desire". It delves into the theme of dominant male patriarchy and the repressed and civilized female societal element as represented by the two main characters Blanche and Stanley.
From the Paper "As to the first element, it seems clear that Blanche was testing Mitch. For what appears to be the first time in many years, she is seriously considering not a brief fling, but a real relationship. Her first marriage was destroyed in part because she did not originally understand or thoroughly know the boy she wed. She has had many flings since then, not unlike the one she suggests that Stella should have chosen over marriage to Stanley: "A man like that is someone you go out with--once--twice--three times when the devil is in you. But live with?" (Williams, 50) This time, Blanche wants to make sure it is not just Desire, but something real. She wants his respect, and to be able to respect him. This is why she withholds her attentions: "He hasn't gotten a thing but a good night kiss, that's all I have given him.. I want his respect. And men don't want anything they get too easily." (Williams, 57)".
Abstract This paper provides a brief summary of "Oedipus at Colonus" and "King Lear", looking at the characters and their actions. It compares and contrasts these two works - looking at the role of the King in the plays and how the supernatural agents become involved in their life decisions. The writer shows how each central figure becomes capable of seeing the truth of his world only after he is blinded or driven mad.
From the Paper "Shakespeare s play is a much darker one, for while Lear may have been granted a sort of purity of inner sight through his madness, in the end this clarity of vision brings him no surcease from torment. This difference reflects not only the different requirements of these two specific plots and differences in the playwrights own temperaments but also differences that arise between the polytheistic and in at least some ways animistic world in which Sophocles lived and the monotheistic and Christian world of the English Renaissance."
An examination of character changes in Bridal Du and Oriole in the Yuan Dynasty Chinese plays "The Story of the Western Wing" and "The Peony Pavilion".
765 words (approx. 3.1 pages), 0 sources, 2002, $ 27.95
Abstract This paper was written for a class in Yuan Dynasty Chinese drama. It examines the character changes that Bridal Du and Oriole go through in the plays "The Story of the Western Wing" and ?The Peony Pavilion" and what this reveals about Chinese culture at that time.
From the Paper "Oriole and Bridal Du both go through transformations during the plays "The Story of the Western Wing" and "The Peony Pavilion". Bridal Du's transformation from sexually open person to a proper, virginal person is made explicitly clear through her transformation from spirit to human and from her transition from existence in the world of the dead to the world of the living. Oriole's transformation on the other hand, involves her change from a modest and proper young woman to one who goes against her mother's wishes and has sex with a man of her choosing so that she secures a marriage with him. Each woman's transformation either from sexual being to virginal being, as in the case of Bridal Du, or from virginal being to sexual being, as in the case of Oriole can be clearly seen through each woman's views and actions regarding pre-marital sex and the respective degrees to which each breaks Chinese rules of propriety. Both women become respectable in the eyes of the theater-goer through their eventual marriages. By placing the sexually active women in the sphere of marriage, the women re-enter into a proper role that both of them had broken out of by choosing their own husbands and having sexual relations with these men. "
Bertolt Brecht's 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society and the delicate balance needed to survive within it.
Abstract An analysis of Bertolt Brecht's play 'The Good Woman of Setzuan'. Throughout the play Shen Te juggles her promise to be good with the necessity to be bad. The author finds through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it as seen in Shen Te's struggle as a good woman leading the life of a prostitute.
From the Paper "Shen Te, a good woman, a prostitute, and the only one willing to take three gods into her home is rewarded with 1000 silver dollars, with which she is to "above all be good"(712). This mission tears her in two. Shen Te and her doppelganger Shui Ta are in a delicate balance of power. Shen Te needs to keep her promise to the gods by being a good woman, helping those around her in need. Because Shen Te is too good, those she helps threaten to ruin her own survival. To remain a good woman Shen Te must create someone to fight for her. Like parents, both Shui Ta and Shen Te make up the whole of one unit. Shen Te is a nurturing, sweet mother-type while Shui Ta becomes a strict, disciplinarian, father-type. Through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it."
Abstract This paper is a presentation to a school board in support of Henrik Ibsen's play, "A Doll's House." The writer presents the report as an overview of the play and the opinion as to its merit, in order for students to see the play. Using excerpts from the book, the writer attempts to persuade the School Board to allow production of the play to continue. In order to support their argument, the writer refers to reviews of the play in order to give the board a better understanding of the message that is actually being conveyed in the play.
From the Paper "While some people might view this as a play about abandonment, play is actually about self-esteem and self worth. For several decades, this we has worked to heal the wounds it perpetuated on the female gender since the nation's inception. Women are finally encouraged to be equal, and not base their self worth on the level of martyrdom they are willing to attain. For students who participate in the production of this play, as well as students who see its performance, there are several important lessons to be learned. The most important lesson is that people should never be treated as objects."
Abstract The paper analyzes the play "Antigone" by ancient Greek writer and poet, Sophocles. The paper argues the position that the play emphasizes the meaning of family over the meaning of state, which are represented in the characters of Creon and Antigone.
From the Paper "With multiple perspectives on the matter, even the Chorus of the play shows partiality to the oikos as well. After Antigone speaks of her imminent death, the Chrous replies by saying, "And so you go with honor and praise below to the caverns of the dead; no sickness wasted you away, you do not pay the wages of the sword, but will go to death a law unto yourself" (795). The Chorus raises up honor and praises to Antigone for her support of the oikos, confirming that the Chorus does indeed support Antigone's decisions. Shortly after, the Chorus once again raises the idea that the legacy of Antigone's oikos may be the reason for her sorrow by saying, ?"great has been your fall. Perhaps you are paying the price of your father's sin" (825). Sophocles is employing yet another tool to associate the play with the importance of family."
Abstract The play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare contains a rich diversity of issues and relationships, some of the greatest of which concern those between father and son. The paper discusses these relationships, most notably those between Hamlet and the late King Hamlet, Fortinbras and Old Fortinbras, and Polonius and Laertes, and shows how they demonstrate a number of significant, unique characteristics as well as several themes that are both timeless and universal.
From the Paper "Hamlet's love and loyalty to his father is such that it significantly changes his psyche and motivates his actions for the remainder of the play, or to the end of his own life. In soliloquies such as that of Act III, Scene iii, he reveals tender concern for his father's soul, noting that since King Hamlet was murdered he was unable to confess himself to God before dying, an important religious rite of the period. This, along with the ghostly manifestation of King Hamlet, underlines the spiritual dimension of the father/son relationship, suggesting that the concerns are of divine and religious importance."
