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."
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..."
