Abstract This paper examines the literary comments on Shakespeare's famous character Hamlet. It reflects on critiques of Hamlet through different eras, and their own influence and interests are a result of their time. The paper describes Hamlet is a universal character throughout the ages and as interpretations of future generations look inside and outside of him and express their own perceptions and their own era.
From the Paper "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 read about him in school, but also ? and more ? because we know his thoughts as we do our own. (Hazlitt 1900) His sayings and speeches are not only real but are as real as our own thoughts when we ponder and despair over our or others? misfortunes and grief. Each of us becomes Hamlet, in Hazlitt's view, whenever we bear the weight of reflection (Hazlitt), when the sun in us is made dim by "envious mists" in our hearts, whenever the world looks nothing better than a "dull blank", when our love is despised, or when sadness sticks to us and makes our mind sink within. Hazlitt goes on and on in graphically describing the extremely painful condition of Hamlet's soul in many different but familiar ways that each of us recognizes in ourselves. He says that we think and refer to this particular play most often because it is full of ? reflections on human life? itself. His agonies and helplessness seem to transfer to ?the general account of humanity.? He views Hamlet as a "great moralizer" who rationalizes about his own feelings and experience and Hazlitt hails the play once again as the most remarkably ingenious and original and for its "unstudied" development of character."
Abstract An examination of the themes of illusion and the American Dream in "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. The play repeatedly shows the main character Willy Loman deluding himself into believing he is successfully pursuing his view of the American Dream ? financial success through business. Miller does this in two ways in particular. First, he constantly has the characters rewriting events so that when they are retold they reflect how they wish their lives really were instead of the reality of what happened. Second, as Willy Loman loses his grip on reality, he relives events from his past. By the end of the play, so many of Willy Loman's illusions about himself have been shattered, but his illusions about his son Biff are stronger, and he imagines that his suicide will guarantee his son's business success.
From the Paper "Willy has also constructed illusions around his sons, especially Biff, who truly was well liked in high school. Willy puts more emphasis on Biff's athletic talents and personal charm than is realistic, and encourages Biff to do the same. Chasing athletic fame for his son, Willy isn?t concerned when Biff steals a football from the team he plays for, and encourages him to steal sand to aid in a home renovation project. Biff's friend Bernard reminds Biff that he needs to study for exams or risk not graduating, and both Biff and his father make fun of him for this. He encourages his sons to do dishonest thing, suggesting that Willy's views about how to get ahead include setting personal values aside."
Tags: Willy, Loman, illusion, delusion, success, business
A discussion of two plays: "The Revengers Tragedies" by Middleton Thomas and Rowley Williams and "The Changeling" by Anon and the prevalence of murder and suicide within them.
Abstract This paper reviews the two plays "The Revengers Tragedies", by Middleton Thomas and Rowley Williams, and "The Changeling", by Anon and analyzes the social and psychological forces that can be said to be the reasons for the facilitation of the murder and suicide themes that are dominant to both plots.The paper gives an insight into the depths of human want and desire that is the cause of psychopathic and society hating characters.
From the Paper "The Revengers Tragedies begins with the protagonist, Vendice, railing the duke, who he holds responsible for the death of his fianc"e. His brother joins him, bringing to his knowledge the lustful and unacceptable nature of the Dukes younger son, further strengthening. In the immediately following act we learn that the Dukes son, the younger son as he is referred to, is tried for the rape of a certain Lord Antonio's wife. His mother and Ambitioso defend him, the younger son. Subsequently, as the play proceeds and the plot thickens, we find Vendice scouting around Lussurioso for information under the pretext of being his servant. While in disguise, Vendice discovers that it is actually Lussurioso who is the guilty one; he also further discovers that he, Lussurioso, is now planning to try for Castiza, who is Vendice's sister. Vendice also learns of Lussurioso's plans of proceeding to target Gratiana, Vendice's mother, in the case of not having any luck with Castiza. Vendice even goes so far as to go to his sister, without disclosing his true identity, with Lussurioso's offer, which is coldly turned down, to the pleasure of Vendice. Her morality and righteousness are clearly illustrated at this point. His mother, however, appears to have more tendencies to sway, suggesting her character to be rather fickle and she is later berated for this by both of her sons. The play builds up with Vendice dressing up the skeleton of his dead fianc"e, and, proceeding to apply poison to the mouth of the skull, he brings the duke into its presence. The Duke kisses the skull and while he is in his dying throes, Vendice discloses to him the entire scheme, including the fat that Antonio's wife poisoned herself after being raped by the Duke's son. At this point, it becomes rather apparent that Vendice and his brother are a vindictive pair and will stop at nothing in order to attain revenge."
This paper is a critical analysis of Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi" and "The White Devil", focusing on the theme: "Sense of an elite woman's place in the world".
Abstract This paper first presents in detail Webster's view on morality and social relevance in the two plays especially in his use of imagery and characterization. The author then compares the strong central female characters in both plays. The paper argues that the plays force the re-evaluation of traditional social conventions, almost presenting a case for allowing women more freedom in deciding their own futures.
From the Paper "Perhaps the most powerful argument in favor of the presence of a social and moral comment in The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil is to disprove the view that Webster was nothing more than a tawdry showman who resorted to grisly horror to entertain and amuse his audience. One cannot deny that both The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil cause a great deal of emotional discomfort in their unabashed use of bloody murders, including the killing of innocent children in The Duchess of Malfi. But a counterpoint to this argument could well be that the very effectiveness of Webster's plays lies in his use of baser human instincts to illustrate on the one hand, human resilience and fortitude even in the face of the greatest of horrors, and on the other the dire consequences of giving into negative emotions such as greed, lust and the desire for revenge and power."
Abstract This paper reviews Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible". It presents an in-depth character study of the characters in the play, attempting to ascertain the guilt or innocence of each one. A synopsis of the plot is given, through which the character study is achieved.
From the Paper "Danforth is the Deputy Governor of Massachusetts. Could he be a suspect? Could he possibly be a witch? The play certainly shows that he is evil in continuing the proceedings rather than admit he was ever wrong. He is, after all, the judge, who presides at the witch trials. He believes he is an honest man. He is relentless in his pursuit of the Witches of Salem. He has convinced himself and others that he is doing the right thing to clean out the den of Witches and purify the town of Salem once again. Even when Reverend John Hale backs away from his belief that John Proctor is a witch, Danforth refuses to listen. He and the theocracy of the town have no desire to stop the trials because to do so would be to expose himself as a sham. The theocracy is the ruling body of the town, a combination of politics and religion."
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss Absurdist (Existential) theatre and four works by "Theatre of the Absurd" playwrights. The works used are "Victoria Station" by Harold Pinter, "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee, "The Philadelphia" by David Ives and "Sure Thing," by David Ives. Specifically, it discusses hopelessness and meaningless as a base plot for the "Theatre of the Absurd" and how these two concepts reveal themselves in the works.
From the Paper "All four of these plays are by authors considered to write for the "Theatre of the Absurd" movement, which began in the late 50s. It is a movement concerned with the absurdity and absolute pointlessness of life. Many playwrights participated, including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Edward Albee. "The 20th century's most popular non-realistic genre is absurdism. The root 'absurd,' connotes something that does not follow the roots of logic. In the Absurdist school of drama, this holds true. Existence is fragmented, pointless. There is no truth so the search for truth is abandoned in Absurdist works. Language is reduced to a bantering game where words obfuscate rather elucidate the truth. Action moves outside of the realm of causality to chaos. Absurdists minimalize the sense of place. Characters are forced to move in an incomprehensible, void-like realm" (Sosnowski)."
Abstract This paper presents a character analysis of Helena in the Shakespearean play "All's Well That Ends Well". Often criticized for her manipulative deeds and lack of feminine attributes, Helena's personality is explored by focusing on her feminine and masculine traits and by analyzing her motives. Shakespeare's use of literary devices such as foreshadowing is also explored.
From the Paper "In Shakespeare's plays, we often find the female characters to be more powerful and unique in their attributes than the ones that existed in actual 17th century English society. This is exactly the impression we get from the character of Helena in "All's well that ends well", as the woman refuses to be bound by moral and societal restrictions and passionately seeks fulfillment of her desires. Not only that, we also notice that Helena, though lower in social standing than her husband Bertram, doesn?t take into account the status barriers and being fully aware of her rights as a wife tries to win her husband over despite his persistent rejection. The theme of ethics and morality dominantly overshadows the entire play with readers being forced to analyze and judge every person's motives and every situation in the light of twisted sense of morality that Helena possessed. Helena's character has been a constant source of conflict among critics as Levin (1930) writes, ?Some regard her as a genuine romantic heroine--resourceful, yes, but also virtuous, feminine, charming, and modest. She never behaves cynically, and her motives are above reproach . The alternative view is that Helena mercilessly pursues Bertram. Whether she is at first motivated by love, sex or ambition she sets out to trap Bertram, succeeds, and--when he flees her--captures him again. She gets the husband she deserves, a spoiled aristocrat." (Levin, pg. 131)"
Abstract The paper is an exploration of the development of theater over the centuries. It traces the origin of theater back to Classical Greece. The features of this kind of theater are studied. The paper then turns to contemporary theater, in an investigation into the features that is has assimilated from the Greek period. It also looks at The Noh theater of Japan as an influence of contemporary theater.
From the Paper "The theater is an international institution. Broadly speaking, elements of theater are found in virtually every culture, and modern theater as practiced in America is the result of numerous borrowings and adaptations of earlier forms of ritual and spectacle from ancient Greece, Rome, and Asia. Some of the adaptations are more evident, such as the theater itself, the design of the stage, and the forms of tragedy and comedy, and most of these elements can be traced to Greek and Roman beginnings. Asian theater has had its strongest influence on individual playwrights, certain styles of acting, and certain theatrical effects."
Abstract This paper looks at the Greek poem Phaedra and the challenging role of the anti heroine Phaedra as she battles with her inner emotions of an illicit affair. The paper looks at Phaedra herself and asks whether she is wholly evil or rather just a pawn of the Gods.
From the Paper "The Greek hero is a much loved and favoured topic of many an author be they classicist, romantic or modern. Many a Greek hero has been idolized by these writers, for example Homer had his Achilles and Odysseus, and Virgil had his Aeneas. However, there is another aspect of the Greek hero or rather in the following case the heroine."
Abstract "Oedipus the King" (Greek: "Oidipous Tyrannos") is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles in the 5th Century BC. This paper examines the underlying theme of violence and inevitable tragedy brought about, in part, by the uncontrolled temper, arrogance and stubbornness of its central character, as well as the irony of fate. These aspects of the play are analyzed in this essay.
From the Paper "The start of the play depicts its main character, Oedipus as a wise, happy, and beloved ruler of Thebes, though hot-tempered, and somewhat impatient, and arrogant. Oedipus flees Corinth because of a prophecy by a Delphic oracle that he would murder his father and wed his mother. While journeying to Thebes from Corinth, the young Oedipus angrily attacks and kills a small band of travelers who refuse to make way for him at a crossroads, a ?place where three roads meet.? (Therese). The scene depicts the terrible and self-destructive temper of Oedipus as well as the irony of fate with the tragic hero taking the road leading to ultimate tragedy. His fiery temper is further exhibited in the argument between Teiresias and himself, where Teiresias states the truth and Oedipus replies, "Do you think you can say such things with impunity"? and later calls Teiresias a ?Shameless and brainless, sightless, senseless sot!? (Tragedy in Oedipus the King)."
Abstract This paper focuses on the characters on Claudius and Hamlet and their "life experiences". The writer shows that expectations are dangerous as they consist of a mixture of emotion and reason, and ultimately effect our perception of appearance and reality. Different scenes of the play are analyzed as to how the characters react when expecting certain events to occur and things do not turn out as expected.
From the Paper "Through the telling of Hamlet, Shakespeare presents to us a very important idea about life: more often than not, we let our expectations have too much influence over our perceptions of situations. Even if we do not fall into the conflict of emotion versus reason, our expectations can still blind us as they decide the internal outcome of a situation before it even happens."
This paper identifies and analyzes the technical devices used in "A Doll's House" by Henrick Isben and "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca in order to accentuate themes.
Abstract The paper examines plays by Henrick Isben ("A Doll's House") and Garcia Lorca ("The House of Bernarda Alba") who both wrote very dramatic and risque works which challenged the social standards of the time. The paper shows that in order to dramatize and accentuate the themes of "A Doll's House" and "The House of Bernarda Alba", Isben and Garcia Lorca employed several specialized on-stage technical devices (such as sound and lighting).
From the Paper "Throughout the history of theater, playwrights have used color to emphasize a point, theme, statement, etc. Isben and Garcia Lorca use the color black to introduce the presence of death and disobedience. In A Doll's House, Nora Helmer begins to plan the events of a dreadful evening. She fantasizes that her husband, Torvald, will stand by her side when he is made aware her socially unacceptable actions and that she will then refuse to allow him to ruin his own reputation by publicly announcing herself to blame and committing suicide. While plotting the events Nora becomes uneasy of her planned suicide. Nora says to herself, ?Ah! the icy black water - the unfathomable depths - if only it were over!? (Isben 61). The unrealistic black color of the water Nora plans to drown herself in emphasizes the tragic restrictions placed on society and the consequences resulting in ignoring those restrictions. In The House of Bernarda Alba, Garcia Lorca also uses the color black to show the results of disobeying societal restrictions. Towards the conclusion of the play, shortly before Adela commits suicide, the stage directions call for Adela to wear "a small black scarf" (Garcia Lorca 205). Adela is wearing the black scarf as she walks out to the barn to visit with her engaged lover. The small amount of black adds emphasis to the fact that Adela is driving herself to suicide through her unsuitable actions."
Abstract While Agamemnon is the title character of Aeschylus' play it is Cassandra who, both as prophetess and victim, stands at the play's center. This paper explores the circumstantial and symbolic background against which the events of this play are set and considers Clytaemnestra's motives for killing Agamemnon and Cassandra.
From the Paper "Aeschylus calls his play Agamemnon, but this is not because Agamemnon is its main character; on the contrary, Agamemnon is actually a particularly flat character in the drama. He enters the play midway, makes two speeches (Agamemnon lines 794-839 and 907-924), each of which is paralleled in the text by a speech of equal length by Clytaemnestra. Then, after a quick interchange with his wife (11.925-955) Agamemnon enters his palace and is not heard from (with the exception of his death cries) or seen (alive) again. Even the Herald, whose role in the drama (unlike that of the messenger in Oedipus and Antigone) is not particularly important (since his main task is to confirm the signal fire's report of the victory at Troy), speaks many more lines than the title character. The real tragic hero of Agamemnon is Cassandra..."
Examines Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" & William Congreve's play "The Way of the World." Techniques used by both writers & comparison of depictions of women's lives.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 2 sources, 2001, $ 39.95
From the Paper "Both Alexander Pope's mock-epic poem "The Rape of the Lock" (1714) and William Congreve's play The Way of the World deal in a comic and satirical fashion with the manners and behavior of members of England's fashionable aristocracy. In both works the relations between the sexes -- centering ultimately around the institution of marriage -- are the focus of attention. But, because of the differences in societal expectations of men and women and the disparities of status and power, women act very differently from men. In this world women are to be pursued and to make themselves desirable in order to encourage such pursuit. But women must also protect their own interests -- both their reputations and their financial security -- as best they can. In this world men and women meet primarily in the important arena of courtship and marriage and, otherwise, lead largely separate.."
From the Paper "Kenneth Branagh's film of Shakespeare's Hamlet is remarkable for the use of the entire, uncut text of the play and for its elaborate design. Despite the director's commitment to the full text, however, he shows an even more remarkable lack of faith in the power of the language and acting and, in fact, visually supplements the text at certain points in ways that underline his uneasiness with leaving anything unshown. The visual strategy devised for this film is revealed in many places to be based on reasonable considerations of how the look of the piece can enhance its meanings. But even when the best intentions govern the choices the film fails in almost every respect because the production design, costumes, and art direction seem to be there for their own sake rather than to serve the drama."
