Abstract This paper performs a line by line close reading of Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138", examining the ways in which Shakespeare's careful use of language subtly adds layers of depth to the sonnet's meaning. The paper focuses its analysis on the themes of love, truth, lies, and self-deception ? the main themes of the sonnet.
From the Paper "In Sonnet 138, Shakespeare writes about the layers of deceit in a relationship between a man and a woman. The speaker and his lover each choose to believe the other's lies in order to remain secure about themselves. The speaker calmly explains his complex relationship with cynical wit and resignation, and without expressing a wish to change or improve the dynamic between himself and his lover. Shakespeare plays with words surrounding the central ideas of the poem such as belief, knowledge, truth, and simplicity, creating in them layers of meaning. Shakespeare also presents the reader with paradoxes and logic-plays. Each line builds on the last, so that every line of the sonnet adds new depth and complexity to the lovers? deceit. Also Shakespeare's language effectively conveys the speaker's tone and emotions through word choice and structure; Shakespeare communicates detachment and bitter humor on the part of the speaker, as well as a resigned and cynical outlook on love."
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 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 character of Katherine; discussing the various techniques used by Shakespeare to establish the theme of the play "Taming the Shrew". It also answers the question whether Katherine was tamed eventually or not.
From the Paper "Taming The Shrew by William Shakespeare is a comedy play tactfully and purposely divided into five entertaining acts (Plot Structure). The induction highlights the possible reasons for the play's existence followed by an introduction all the characters playing a vital role in developing the theme of the play and the development of the gist of the story, in the first act (Plot Structure). The taming (the main purpose of the play) of the female lead begins in the Act II and III with Katherine getting married to Petruchio. The climactic act is the act IV when the aim of cultivating and changing Kate to a productive human being is accomplished (Plot Structure). The final Act V establishes the connection and creates harmony between all the characters of the play and brings forward the implied meaning of Katherine's portrayal (Plot Structure) as a shrew."
Abstract This paper reviews William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" and examines how it was accepted and performed at the time in Elizabethan England. It provides a history of the Globe theatre where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed beginning with "Julius Caesar" and examines life in the theatre district of London at the time. It attempts to analyze why the play was so popular when it first came out and why a subject such as tyrannicide was presentable in a country governed by a monarch. It looks at how it contained all of the political and social intrigues necessary to make it a timeless classic and all the puerile blood and gore that was needed to entertain a group of theater-hopping commoners in what was considered London's seediest neighborhood.
From the Paper "The play was written and performed in 1599 at the Globe theater in Southwark, London. Southwark is located on the south bank of the Thames river, and was traditionally considered the vice district. This section of London was home to 10% of its population, and more than its share of the city's beggars. In 1594 the Lord Mayor, Sir John Spencer, asserted that parts of Southwark were "very nurseries and breeding-places of the begging poor" who swarmed the streets of the City. He estimated the number of these beggars at 12,000, and requested a meeting of several local magistrates in an attempt to banish them from the City or prevent them from crossing the Bridge."
From the Paper "By all critics, at one time or another, William Shakespeare has been variously referred to as the "master playwright", brilliant in his portrayal of nearly every facet of action, plot, character; in short, a genius of dramatic expression rarely equaled in his or our time. It is a tribute of course that one-third of all books written is directly or indirectly related to this man. But I do not only wish to praise a man who has already been praised beyond this writer's ability, but to expound on one of his themes frequently, and, again, brilliantly woven into many if not most of his plays. This being the theme of the supernatural, present, specifically, in Hamlet and Macbeth, which will provide the necessary backdrop for our discussions of the supernatural theme.
The use of the supernatural in Shakespeare's works..."
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine the interpersonal relations in William Shakespeare's "King Lear" between Lear and his three daughters. Since the character of Lear himself is the catalyst for the relations not only between him and his daughters but also those relations between sister and sister. This research will first discuss the title character. This discussion will be followed by an examination of the various scenes of the play that best illuminate all of these relationships, how they are presented, how they change and how they reflect on the nature of familial, parental relationships in general. The research will conclude with some overall observations on the play itself, other relationships that enrich and reflect on those main ones among Lear and his daughters.
Lear is at his worst in the very first scene in which we see... "
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine William Shakespeare's use of fairies and magic in his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream." A sketch of the pre-Shakespearean history of fairies will be followed by an exploration of their structural and dramatic role in the play.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is Shakespeare's purest and most lyrical comedy. Potential issues of conflict, such as politics, marital discord and power seeking, so predominant in later plays, are here merely the temporary devices that serve to shuffle forward the gossamer lightness of the action. In fact, the play has only a passing touch with reality of any kind, dwelling instead almost its entire airy length in a kind of fitful dream
of love and illusion. It is this dialogue between love and illusion, bracketed by the rational reassurances of Theseus, ruler of Athen ... "
From the Paper " The purpose of this paper is to compare the ways in which Romeo's and Juliet's characters are developed by their love. Romeo and Juliet is a play about fate, about love, and about the tragic consequences of poor timing. Both Romeo and Juliet are, in one sense, characters whose fates are caught up in the web of intrigue woven by their families and by a society, which condones family feuds. Their lives are not their own. Swept away by the great passion of first love, their attempts to alter their family heritage and to unite in marriage causes their tragic deaths. Shakespeare develops the characters of Romeo and Juliet in the light of the purity of their love, and contrasts these innocents to those who would control their lives, their feelings, and their actions. By using the power of love as a device of character development, Shakespeare has painted a(...)"
Examines how in HAMLET, as in other Elizabethan drama, the fate of kings is tied to the order of the universe, & dissension or tension in one is reflected in the other.
450 words (approx. 1.8 pages), 5 sources, 1987, $ 15.95
From the Paper "One of the themes of Shakespeare's Hamlet corresponds with ideas expressed by Krishnamurti and Vincent Ryan Ruggiero regarding becoming an individual and at the same time finding accord with one's society. In Hamlet, Shakespeare may indicate a positive truth through the revelation of negatives such as in his depiction of Polonius. Polonius is indeed a pompous man whose aphorisms repeat endlessly a view of personal integrity that is at odds with the Christian conception and that indeed belittles the individual-centered conception of integrity by comparison. Roland Mushat Frye notes that two basic kinds of integrity are both found in Shakespeare's characters, but the first--the integrity of the natural man within the natural order--is seen as a pagan conception most naturally expressed in the Roman plays. Brutus refers to his personal integrity when he states:(...)"
An argument that in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Prospero allows his positive sense of humanity to be rekindled and in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" Kurtz does not. Thus Prospero may return to civilization while Kurtz dies when he touches it again.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 6 sources, 1992, $ 55.95
From the Paper "The manner in which Kurtz, from Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Prospero, from Shakespeare's The Tempest, exert their authority over their respective environments is highly influenced by the inner workings of their being -- their perception of their power and their corresponding response to the circumstances. Both men indulge in self-aggrandizement, seduced by their capacity to control people and dictate the turn of events. They claim a god-like authority in their relentless drive towards realizing their individual vision, placing themselves beyond judgment and treating others with contempt. However, while Kurtz is overwhelmed by the ugliness of the human world and sinks deeper and deeper into the darkness of his self-consuming power, Prospero chooses to celebrate the positive aspects and allows his dormant sense of humanity to be..."
From the Paper "The character Iago in the play Othello is one of the most evil characters created by Shakespeare. It has been claimed that Iago is "hate and evil made physical" and that he is "perhaps Shakespeare's greatest villain" (Scott Shakespeare for Students 442). In the course of the play, he commits a series of wicked and deceitful acts. Iago is an ensign to the general Othello, a black Moor who is serving under the Venetian Senate. He becomes jealous when Cassio is promoted to lieutenant instead of him. He also develops an unreasonable suspicion that Othello has had an affair with his wife, Emilia. For these reasons, Iago decides to seek revenge by ruining Othello's happy marriage to Desdemona. He manipulates the fool Roderigo, who has been jilted by Desdemona, into helping him with his evil plan. He further ..."
Moral and philosophical analysis of this human quality of purity and wholeness, discussing Christianity, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, individual and cultural aspects.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 17 sources, 1993, $ 79.95
From the Paper "Integrity is a term that has moral, cultural, and intellectual significance. The term changes meaning somewhat depending on the period in which it is used, as an examination of these uses will show. The word "integrity" is derived from the Latin word integri, which means "as a whole." The general meaning of the word embodies this sense of wholeness as a reference to the state or quality of completeness and purity, or to something that exists in an unmarred state: "Integrity, then, at least as applied to things rather than persons, suggests an element of wholeness or completeness" (Halfon 7). Some philosophers have seen integrity of persons as also being defined in terms of wholeness, while others believe that this does not include all uses of the word or the different kinds of integrity. Moral integrity is the key issue and the one that has been given ..."
