Abstract The paper shows that within the two plays by the ancient Grecian writer, Sophocles we find two very different men encompassed within one character, Creon the Prince who would become King. It shows that the events that unfold to cause such dramatic change in one mans life come at an extreme cost to all involved, but none greater than Creon himself who failed to learn from history and was truly doomed to repeat it.
From the Paper "In the prologue of Act one of Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) we meet Creon, prince of Thebes and brother to Jocasta. Creon essentially is a man of virtue in high standing within the community, third in line for the throne although he shows no desire to ascend to the seat of power. Creon appears to be a man of high moral and religious character depicted by the fact that Oedipus had commissioned him to go to Apollo to ascertain the cause of the plague that had descended upon the city of Thebes. He showed not only did he have the ability to converse with the god, but he was also a trusted friend to not only the city but to Oedipus as well in word and in deed diligently bringing forth the information needed to purge Thebes of the plague (91 ? 95)."
Abstract This paper discusses that scholars believe that Arthur is a weave of Celtic kings from history and the stories associated with them that began in the Fifth Century and become immortalized through literature by authors such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chretien, Malory and Tennyson. The paper reviews many of the characters from the Arthur legend that have been popularized through countless works of literature, plays, poems, books, movies and art created by artists during every era of history.
From the Paper "The quest for the Holy Grail is said to have begun when the Green Knight arrived at Camelot and issued the challenge. According to the code of Camelot, a knight must not refuse a challenge made to him and must follow it through to the end. Arthur's long reign was marred by the illicit love of Guinevere and Lancelot, and his later years were marked by ?conflicts which culminated in the disastrous battle on Salisbury Plain, when Arthur was mortally wounded by his bastard son Mordred.?
Abstract The paper discusses ancient Greek playwright Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" which contains not one but two tragic protagonists. This paper considers the claims of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta to the role of the play's most tragic figure. The paper shows that as a result of their actions, both suffer a drastic downfall from the throne; Oedipus to exile, Jocasta to death. It is therefore equally easy to make a case for either character as being the more tragically fallen, but the paper determines that in the end, Jocasta is the more tragic of the two.
From the Paper "Though Oedipus is one play, its tragedy is twofold. Although there is no argument that the main character of the story "Oedipus Rex" is Oedipus himself, it is a moot point as to whose tragedy is the more pathetic within the framework of the play, Oedipus' or his mother Jocasta's. Oedipus is guilty of incest; but so is Jocasta. He is both father and half brother to his children; Jocasta is both mother and grandmother to these same children. Oedipus murders his father; but in doing so, it is Jocasta he widows. Both suffer blows to their hubris: Oedipus in realizing that although he is the great riddle solver, he is ignorant of his own identity, and Jocasta in failing to thwart the prophecy."
Abstract The paper compares and contrasts the representations of the deadly sins of pride, envy and gluttony made by Edmund Spenser in his poem "The Faerie Queene" and Christopher Marlowe in his play "Dr. Faustus". The paper examines how these sins are reflected through the actions of the protagonists in the texts.
From the Paper "The very different portrayals of the Seven Deadly Sins in Marlowe's Dr. Faustus and Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene arises from the moral concerns of each of the two text in which they are presented. Marlowe, wishing to emphasize how people tend to view sin lightly and fail to realize its consequence, shows how Lucifer deliberately makes the Sins seem attractive and entertaining in order to mislead people. Spenser's concern lies with the way in which sin lures people by tempting them with the seeming reward of material gain. He fulfills these expectations in his personification of the Sins, showing them surrounded by ostentatious riches, but in such a way as to deride the shallowness and emptiness of ill-gotten wealth."
This paper discusses the mental status of the character Hamlet from William Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet", one of the most widely read and debated plays in the world.
720 words (approx. 2.9 pages), 1 source, 2000, $ 25.95
Abstract This paper discusses Hamlet's mental health that fluctuates greatly throughout the play. The author concludes that Hamlet's madness was genuine and was the consequence of a prolonged exposure to an unstable environment. The author believes Hamlet's fall from sanity was the result of his hesitation, indecision, the stress put on him by the constant caution and imitation of madness and by the loss of Ophelia.
From the Paper "Hamlet's uncertainty as to Claudius? guilt in the murder of the King, Hamlet's father, was what originally started Hamlet on the path to madness. He spend a great deal of time hesitating and wondering whether killing Claudius to avenge the King's death was indeed the right thing to do. Hamlet was unsure as to the authenticity of the ghost and the validity of its statements."
Tags: madness, genuine, environment, hesitation, uncertainty, indecision, stress, imitation, loss
Abstract Shows that the character of Hamlet is a very complicated one. The paper looks at his speeches as the main source to examine whether he is faking his madness or not. The writer concludes that Hamlet is sane and very intelligent.
From the Paper "Hamlet, the young Danish prince, is possibly one of the most complicated characters in English Literature. Shakespeare created a three-dimensional and multifaceted individual, whose constant in depth soliloquies ask the most significant questions that have ever been ask. Hamlet has the reader in a constant guessing game trying to decipher whether or not he is truly insane. Why does Hamlet feign madness? Is he really feigning? Was Polonius accurate in saying that there was a "method to his madness"? Hamlet's speech is the doorway to his soul, in which we find the answers to all our questions about him. His dialogue gives us hints as to his intentions and purpose. Shakespeare showed Hamlet's intentions in many of his speeches. "How strange or odd some" or I bear myself that you, at such times seeing me, never shall, with encumbered thus, or this headshake... Or such ambiguous giving out, to note that you know aught of me - this do swear...?"
Abstract This paper introduces, discusses and analyzes the play "The Piano Lesson," by August Wilson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the work in 1990. Specifically, it addresses the form of the play and analyzes the characters of Boy Willy and Berniece.
From the Paper "Boy Willie is trying desperately to be equal with the white people ? one reason he wants to buy the land. He does not have time for the sentimentality of Berniece, he can only see the land as something concrete that can make him money, and make him a "man." He is also the character who changes the most at the end of the play. Berniece may begin playing the piano again, but Boy Willie gives up the piano, and his dream of owning the land. He has shifted 360 degrees by the end of the play."
Abstract The paper examines the life and work of Arthur Miller with a focus on Miller's most important and controversial work, "Death of a Salesman". It provides a summary of the play and an analysis of the characters. It also looks at the state of mind that Miller was in when writing the play and his personal life during the time. Criticism of the play is also provided.
From the Paper "Death of a Salesman premiered in 1949 and received a plethora of awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, New York Drama Critics Award, Theater Club Award, and the Antoinette Perry Award. The success of the play cast Miller into international celebrity status, allowing him to attend many cultural events. He has since gone on to supervise numerous productions of Death of a Salesman and is ranked one of America's greatest authors. Although highly criticized, Arthur Miller?s, Death of a Salesman, has a unique perspective that touches on many deep-rooted American issues. Miller's personal experiences have allowed for achievement of dramatic realism unmatched in contemporary drama."
Tags: drama, playwright, theatre, criticism, character
Abstract This paper compares and contrasts Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse? with Henrik Ibsen's "The Dollhouse". It focuses on the marital relationships of each work's central protagonists. The paper describes how the women of these couples are subject to male domination. The author states that in both works the marriage relationships are determined by the characters' perceptions of themselves and of their spouses, as well as by the degree to which their needs are fulfilled by their spouses.
From the Paper "In Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" and Henrik Ibsen's "The Dollhouse" the texts revolve around intrafamilial relationships and focus on the marital relationship of the main characters. Perhaps because of the very different genres to which the two works belong, the marital relationships of the two couples, different types of characterization define the Ramsays and the Helmers. The Ramsays are characterized by their modes of speech, with little characterization through action, whereas the relationship of the Helmers (as characters in a play) is defined largely by their actions towards one another.
Abstract The paper begins with a synopsis of the play's plot, highlighting the themes of family and foreignness. It looks at Medea's husband's betrayal and the implications of her plight following this betrayal. Medea's loss of reputation and status is explored on several levels. The play's commentary on woman's rights and its controversiality are discussed, and the text is analyzed for its references to societal injustices against women.
From the Paper "The Medea relates a story about the power of love, which induces sacrifice as well as jealousy and feelings of revenge aroused by betrayal. Medea, the principal character, is a woman, who is so smitten by her love for Jason that she forsakes her family, country, and people to live in ?"the land of Corinth with her husband and children, where her exile found favour with the citizens to whose land she had come".?
Tags: synopsis, plot, family, foreignness, betrayal, reputation, status
Abstract The paper examines how the symbol of fences is used in August Wilson's play, "Fences," a modern contemporary story about a black family living in a poor urban society. The paper discusses how throughout the play, fences are built to keep people in and to keep people out, with every character having a fence around him or her. The second part of the paper compares the Maxson family to the Kennedys.
From the Paper "Fences, by August Wilson is the story of a relationship between a father and son. Troy Maxson is a poor urban black man who was once a boy with a dream. As a child, Troy had hoped and prayed to become a professional baseball player. Unfortunately for Troy, his dreams were destroyed and he found himself spending fifteen years in jail while doing time for murder. The only thing that he comes home to is a job picking up garbage with his friend and co-worker, Jim Bono. According to Milly S. Barranger, Troy Maxson is victim to oppression. He is victimized by his birth, his race, father, his poverty, his employer, his society, and his emotional limitations (Barranger 545)."
Tags: 1957, civil, poverty, rights, Rosa, Parks, Mary, Jo, Kopechne
Abstract The paper discusses King Lear's progress from "Royal Lear," to a man, "bound upon a wheel of fire". The paper examines Shakespeare's tragedy about the downfall of the most powerful man in Britain and how his flawed judgement reduced him to nothing emotionally and physically. The paper shows that at the end of the play, Lear is stripped of everything he possessed, including his sanity.
From the Paper "Out in the storm, Lear begins to lose his sanity. He blames his daughters for his misfortune and moans about their filial ingratitude. ? I am a man/ More sinned against than sinning?. He doesn?t understand that the chaos that has been unleashed into the world began with his fatal mistake. Strangely at this moment he begins to show concern for others, namely the Fool. "How dost, my boy" Art cold?? He finally sees the suffering of his subjects and admits that he has "ta"en too little care of this!? This highlights another one of Lear's flaws. He did not perform his duty as a king satisfactorily before his downfall as he is not even aware of the sufferings endured by his subjects. It is only during his madness that he attains a little self-knowledge."
Abstract The paper reviews the play "King Lear" by William Shakespeare, a tragedy about the downfall of a powerful king and how his flawed judgement affected society at large. It shows how the subplot of Gloucester and Edmund is crucial to the play as Shakespeare has interwoven it as such that the main-plot can?t survive on its own. It examines how Edgar appears throughout Lear's suffering and how the way that Edmund orders Lear and Cordelia's death emphasizes how the two stories are inter-connected. The sub-plot intensifies the tragedy and highlights the important issues of the play such as natural order, filial ingratitude and self-knowledge.
From the Paper "Filial ingratitude is one of the themes in the play and both Lear and Gloucester suffer from it. This occurs because they trust their manipulative children and drive their loyal children away. Cordelia is banished to France when she claims that she cannot, ? heave my heart into my mouth? and Edgar assumes the identity of Tom O? Bedlam after he is made a fugitive. Edmund, Goneril and Regan are surrounded with lies, greed and lust. However, Edmund is a bastard son and could be expected to be of a "base nature". He embraces his illegitimacy,? Thou Nature art my goddess"Now Gods stand up for bastards". On the other hand, Goneril and Regan are both Lear's legitimate daughters and their evil actions are not in their nature, they grow in evil as a result of Lear's flawed judgement and claims that,? the best of his time hath been but rash?. This contrast in their children highlights the fact that Lear is a victim of his own nature whereas Gloucester is a victim of Edmund's machinations."
Abstract This paper examines the story of "Don Giovanni," a morality tale of what occurs when a man does wrong and evil is punished, told through Mozart's opera of the same name. When the Don's castle is in ruins, the surviving revelers weave in and out of the ruins and sing ?such is the fate of a wrong doer.? It discusses how the contrast of irony and melodrama in the final scene, suggests a far more nuanced moral vision of Mozart in his opera. It describes how at the end, as the Don is engulfed by flames, the music sweeps up into a more religious, reverent tone and the chorus takes over, rather than individual voices. Although this is supposed to be pious and the Don only gets what he deserves, there is a sense of loss at very end.
From the Paper "The scene being referenced is, of course, the ending deus ex machina of the opera, where the murdered father of a woman Don Giovanni has raped, the Commendatore, comes back from the dead in the form of a living, breathing, animated statue. The depiction of this phenomenon is alone a theatrical marvel and a challenge in and of itself. However, the Don's apparent casualness in the face of this event makes the striking nature of the Commendatore, even more astonishing. When the statute, who was unwillingly invited by the Don's surprised servant Lepordello to the Don's banquet, arrives, he pounds on the door of the Don's castle with great clashing blows, an entrance that is underscored by ominous music. He solemnly informs the Don that his time has come."
Tags: castle, rape, statue, commendatore, chorus, music
Abstract The paper shows how "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare and "Krapp's Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett are very different sorts of play, emerging from different theatrical traditions, but they have similar themes within the context of their time and in their own style. The paper discusses one theme which is addressed in both - the theme of order versus disorder. It shows how each play finds the main character facing a state of disorder and the desiere to restore order.
From the Paper "It may be more difficult to see the conflict in a play like Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, which has only one character, but conflict can also be developed within one character warring with himself or between the single character and the audience watching him or her. Conflict is inherent in the vocation of attitudes, ideas, characters, and situations, and it is not possible to have a drama without any of these elements and so it is impossible to have a drama without conflict. As noted, there is only one character on stage, though the voice of the same man from many years before might constitute a separate character, heard only on a tape recorder."
