From the Paper "William Shakespeare's The Tempest is categorized along with other plays written near the end of the playwright's life, plays that are considered difficult to classify so that they are called tragicomedies, showing that there is a mixture of both comedy and tragedy inherent in their structure and characterizations. Ferdinand and Miranda are the lovers in this play, but they represent more than merely youthful desire and serve as pawns in a larger game being played by Miranda's father, Prospero. At the same time, Prospero always protects his daughter, and his encouragement of their romance should be seen in the context of a doting father wanting the best for his daughter in spite of his dedication to exacting revenge and regaining his place in the outside world.
Prospero has been given considerable power as a magician..."
From the Paper "Since the late nineteenth century playwrights, directors, and theorists of all kinds have very frequently considered theater as a primary means of working toward the betterment of the human race. Whether they proposed to convey important ideas or actually effect change in the audience these writers tended to hold that the theater was the proper vehicle for such efforts because it spoke, as it were, directly to the individual sitting in the audience. Feelings could be roused, arguments could be vividly presented in verbal or visual terms, and the makers of drama could work on the individual in a setting where every effect--verbal, visual, and aural--was under the theater's control. Despite sharing the notion that the theater was the optimum setting for such communication and general notions of improving humanity, the various theories of theatrical..."
Abstract This paper discusses the more complex character and motives behind Macbeth's actions which characterize him as a tragic hero. The paper shows that Shakespeare's Macbeth must have seemed like nothing more than a butcher to his victims but upon careful analysis of the text, one realizes that Macbeth was not fully evil, but a potentially great man who was led to evil through errors and forces beyond his control.
From the Paper "In the culmination of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Malcolm refers to Macbeth as "this dead butcher". Superficially, Macbeth is nothing more than a butcher ? he murdered his king, his kinsmen, even innocent women and children. From Malcolm's perspective, Macbeth is no more than a heartless killer gone mad, Key lines in this play show that Macbeth is not heartless or a butcher. Macbeth had a potential for greatness, but tragic errors led to his downfall ? both in his death and his "fall from grace". Macbeth also experiences intense remorse for what he has done. The character of Macbeth is a tragic hero."
Abstract This paper analyzes Leontes' character in "The Winter's Tale" by Shakespeare. The paper provides reference to his interactions, behavior, relationships, madness, paranoia and many other factors that lead to his demise.
From the Paper "As Leontes makes his first appearance in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tales", the reader is confronted by an aggressively insecure character. His conversation with the more relaxed Polixenes is illustrative of this. Polixenes, in his anxiety to leave, explains that he has overstayed his welcome; "Besides, I have stay"d To tire you royalty? Polixenes? suggestion is clearly a polite one, a non-threatening exclamation of gratitude. However, in a representation of his competitive character, Leontes mis-comprehends this as a challenge; "We are tougher, brother, Tha you can put us to"t?."
The paper explores how the images of Roman and Egyptian cultures in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" reflect the battle of ideologies represented in the play.
Abstract By analyzing William Shakespeare's play, "Antony and Cleopatra", the paper focuses on images from Roman culture such as gods (Mars, Venus), heroes (Aeneas, Dido), Antony's sword. The paper then explores the images from Egyptian culture such as Isis and Osiris, serpent of the Nile. Finally it shows how these images are a reflection of both characters' ideologies and beliefs.
From the Paper "The spectators of Anthony and Cleopatra are inevitably overwhelmed by the splendor of imagery and the richness of images in the speeches of the characters. Opposition and juxtaposition of the images from Roman and Egyptian cultures contribute much to this effect. The use of these images is very intense; it reflects the battle of the ideologies that is fought on the stage. The central thematic conflict in Anthony and Cleopatra evolves from the opposing claims upon Anthony of the values and attitudes symbolized by the Roman and the Egyptian worlds."
Abstract The paper looks at the novel "Antigone" by Sophocles and shows that both Antigone, sister of two fallen brothers, and Creon, an over prideful ruler, take their pride too far and in the end everyone they ever cared for dies. The paper shows that Sophocles combines both language and plot events to show the theme that excessive pride can destroy a person.
From the Paper "A great example of where Sophocles uses language or more specifically dialog is when Antigone is telling Ismene of the news of their brothers deaths, the proclamation Creon had given that Polynices, brother of Antigone, could not be buried and her plan to bury him. ?"Will you lift up his body with these bare hands and lower it with me"? "What you"d bury him-when a law forbids the city?? ?Yes! He is my brother and-deny it as you will- your brother too. No one will ever convict me of a traitor.??(Pg. 18.)"
From the Paper This study will analyze the character of Garcin in Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit. The play takes place in hell and features Garcin and two women. Garcin is known to us by what he says about himself, what the other two characters---both women---say about and to him, what he says to them, and by his responses to them. We find through these means that Garcin was a coward in life and is now tormented by his cowardice in death and in hell. He cannot change the fact of his cowardice, but he can at least try to convince the two women that he was not a coward, that even though he behaved cowardly, he was a good and courageous man at heart.
Garcin is easily able to get Estelle to agree with this rationalization, but her view is meaningless to him because she is frivolous, if not stupid: "You've a twisted mind, that's your trouble," she tells Garcin. "Plaguing yourself over such..."
Compares three disturbed female characters (Lila Wingo, Beth Jarrett & Blanche DuBois) & their effects on others in two novels & play. ("Prince Of Tides" by P.Conroy, "rdinary People" by J. Guest & "Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams.)
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 3 sources, 1996, $ 47.95
From the Paper "Three authors present characters who are disturbed, whose disturbance has a particular effect on friends and family, and whose problems are addressed in different ways by the authors. Tennessee Williams creates a memorable character in Blanche DuBois, the genteel Southern lady whose sexual obsessions are followed by her in a world of illusions by which she maintains some sense of self. She comes up against harsh reality in the form of her sister's husband, Stanley Kowalski. Lila Wingo is the mother of the suicidal patient in Pat Conroy's novel Prince of Tides, and she has her illusions as well. She is a source of distress not only for her daughter but for her son, Tom--daughter and son are twins. Beth Jarrett in Judith Guest's novel Ordinary People is a third woman who uses illusions to protect herself from the outside world and from the reality that would destroy..."
From the Paper "George Bernard Shaw wrote a number of what have come to be called philosophical comedies, and three of these--Major Barbara, Man and Superman, and John Bull's Other Island--have been viewed as a trilogy in this genre because all of them deal with the issue of the bankruptcy of nineteenth-century liberalism in the face of the prevailing forces of sex, nationalism, and poverty. John Bull's Other Island specifically represents a counter to the neo-Gaelic movement then under the leadership of William Butler Yeats. Indeed, the "other island" referred to in the title is Ireland, and John Bull is the name for the British government, much as we refer to the American government as Uncle Sam. Shaw does not make an overt Marxian appeal in this play, but his analysis of the exploitation of the Irish by the British demonstrates an understanding of the nature of Karl Marx's ideas..."
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to classify comic characters in certain of Shakespeare's plays. The plan of the research will be to set forth general categories under which Shakespeare's comic characters can be identified, and then to explore, with reference to the relevant plays, the basis for such classification.
There appear to be three principal categories of comic characterization in Shakespeare's plays, and these categories obtain across the comedies, tragedies, and romances. The kinds of comic characters do not serve precisely the same dramatic function from play to play, and there are variations of detail, as well as some overlapping and convergence of character types. However, the general lines of comic characterization illustrate three comic-character classifications: those who represent the very..."
From the Paper " This study will examine racial conflict as it is portrayed by Lorraine Hansberry in three plays, A Raisin in the Sun, What Use Are Flowers? and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. As an intelligent black woman and artist born in 1930 and dying in 1965, Hansberry is clearly aware of the significance of racism in the United States, and she includes racial bigotry and stereotyping as important elements of each of these three plays, either directly or indirectly.
However, Hansberry is an optimist, not a revolutionary. Her work leans toward the reassuring rather than the disturbing. Her characters, for the most part, live in a world which still contains the salvation and healing that love and personal development can bring, even in the face of racial and other obstacles."
From the Paper " This is a study of "guilt after or before evil deeds" in Richard III. Shakespeare creates five distinct ways of relating to this basic question of conscience in the presence of evil. First, in public, Richard the King displays a strong conscience, but in private he shows no conscience whatsoever. Second, the Second Murderer, Edward IV, Dighton, and Forrest express a strong sense of conscience prior in the presence of evil deeds. Third, Clarence, Rivers, Grey, Vaughan, Hastings, and Buckingham commit evil deeds in spite of conscience and are moved to express remorse only when they are caught and judged. Fourth, Queen Margaret, Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of York, and Queen Anne keep the question of conscience and justice before everyone through their curses and accusations. Finally, Henry Tudor rids the kingdom of moral uncertainty and restores justice to its.."
From the Paper "OUTLINE
THESIS: Although The Merchant of Venice is often described as a romantic comedy, and although the play does have comic and romantic elements, an analysis of the characters, especially the central figures of Shylock, Antonio, and Portia, reveals the play to be far more dramatic and tragic than comedic.
I. Shylock is a tragic character.
A. He is ruled by a greed which alienates him from others.
B. He is shown to be in part a character wronged by others and justified in his desire for revenge against Antonio.
C. The complexity of his character shows Shakespeare himself to be ambivalent about him, but at no time is he shown to be a comic villain.
II. Antonio is a tragic character."
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine the figure of the adventurer, exile, or wanderer as the displaced representative or victim of institutions of power in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Shakespeare's The Tempest. The plan of the research will be to set forth in general terms the pattern of events and ideas in each work in regard to this figure and then to discuss the means by which the figure's narrative and symbolic significance is resolved.
The manifest action of The Tempest turns on the issue of rebellion and authority. The opening storm begins the revenge of the magician Prospero on Antonio, the Duke of Milan. As Prospero explains to Miranda in I.ii, he is the rightful duke. Some years earlier he had delegated most of his authority to his brother Antonio, who, by a combination of conspiracy with Alonso, King of .."
From the Paper " In three works that contemplate the question of the necessity of limits on human intelligence, the issue revolves around the notion of humanity exceeding its limits and, thereby, offending or challenging the gods. The question asked by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, by Mary Shelley in Frankenstein, and by Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe is whether there is some inherent limit on human ability--a point beyond which humanity should not go. Does human technology, the various products of human intelligence, reach a point at which it is beyond the ability of mere mortals to control it? Though the question was phrased in very different ways, all three authors agreed that there was a limit to human intelligence and that such a limit was a necessity. Why it is a necessity was, however, answered quite differently by the three writers."
