The Illusion of Success: Willy Loman’s Pursuit of the American Dream In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller establishes a variety of themes such as the American Dream and disillusionment. Under a Marxist perspective, Death of a Salesman is a critique of a capitalist American society and materialistic lies that are written deep within the American Dream. Willy Loman, the main character of the play, is a prime example of a hardworking middle-class man striving for the success...
4 Pages
2154 Words
Throughout this essay, I will discuss the presentation of Juliet in Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet.” I will firstly discuss Juliet’s character traits, secondly her relationship with other characters, and finally, examine how Juliet’s character has changed throughout the play? In act 2 scene 2, after meeting Romeo at the Capulet ball, Juliet seems to be cautious before she falls in love with Romeo. The repetition of Romeo’s name, “O Romeo, Romeo”, with the constant caesura shows her wonder of...
3 Pages
1316 Words
One of the most controversial plays of its period, The Merchant of Venice remembers many question. When the reasons are addressed, it can be said that The Merchant of Venice is a rich work on religious, moral, class and gender discrimination. When the work is examined on different topics as stated, the aim of the play and the writing purpose of Shakespeare can be grasped. First of all, in this essay, it is aimed to reveal the characteristics of the...
2 Pages
958 Words
The Enduring Influence of Shakespeare's Hamlet Although written over 400 years ago, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has remained one of the most imitated and relevant plays in contemporary society. Interpretations of Shakespeare’s classic tale of revenge have popped up in some surprising places: children’s television programs and films, a beloved Sunday comic strip, a popular television series about a corrupt motorcycle gang, and other well-known shows, motion pictures, and best-selling contemporary novels. William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around the year 1600, telling...
4 Pages
1855 Words
Shakespeare's one-of-a-kind play, “Othello” demonstrates how mixed feelings of anger, love, hatred, manipulation, and jealousy can lead to an enduring tragedy. To enhance that message with the audience, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to create suspense to a great extent in Othello with the rising action, climax, and falling action. In “Othello”, the feeling of suspense plays an immense role in how readers perceived and are intrigued by the tragic drama of events. Although dramatic suspense is created in various ways, foreshadowing...
2 Pages
898 Words
Get a unique paper that meets your instructions
800+ verified writers
can handle your paper.
Place order
Introduction In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth did everything he could to get ahold of power, and later, he did everything he could to maintain that power. Although the primary source of ambition and purpose came from the Witches’ prognosticates, the desire to fulfill one’s prophesy becomes very powerful throughout the play, and eventually leads to the downfall of the characters. This very concept of “ambition” can be seen through the many actions and behaviors by each of...
2 Pages
723 Words
Pygmalion play is a play which written by George Bernard Shaw, it is presented in the first time on the theater in 1913. This play was about a flower girl called Eliza, she is transformed into a lady from high class by the phonetics professor 'Henry Higgins'. He wagers Colonel Pickering that he is ablt to change a girl like a flower girl, and he can change her to look like a duchess in few months. She accepted to go...
2 Pages
901 Words
Effective texts contain recognisable narrative tropes that facilitate new understandings of our world and ourselves. This is evident in William Shakespeare’s play, Othello, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby which both portray new understandings of the tragic hero narrative trope. A tragic hero is a character who begins of a noble status or of great virtue. Though this character is pre-eminently great, he or she is not perfect and has a significant character flaw or hamartia. This tragic...
2 Pages
1132 Words
“Macbeth” is a tragic play about Macbeth’s downfall. There are several key moments that lead to the tragic hero’s downfall: firstly when Macbeth meets the three witches in Act 1 Scene 1, secondly when he decides to kill King Duncan in Act 1, and finally the order of the killing of Macduff’s wife and children just before Lady Macbeth kills herself. These three moments are crucial in moving the play and Macbeth’s demise forward, and Shakespeare uses these very intelligently....
3 Pages
1593 Words
Although revenge is the most obvious theme in Hamlet, Shakespeare writes extensively about madness. As the play progresses, the thin line between sanity and madness blurs, leaving readers to wonder if Hamlet is insane. Ophelia has a minor role in the play, but the theme of madness is central to her story. Even Claudius has moments of madness when he is not acting as the chief mourner of Denmark. Of these three characters, it is Ophelia whose madness is genuine....
2 Pages
1076 Words
King Lear is a play written by William Shakespeare, dating back to Elizabethan times. This play follows the stories of two royal families and the dysfunction within it. The parents and children from the families all possess qualities and attributes that prove them to be inhumane. As much as we do not see it, children exhibit some of our greatest traits and show remarkable a resemblance to ourselves, but in many cases, they portray the negative traits too. Both of...
3 Pages
1201 Words
This essay will develop a brief critic and analysis of the play ‘A Doll’s House’, written by the playwright Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen wrote this play when he was in Rome and Amalfi in 1879 and he published it the same year. The play can be seen as a modern tragedy, as it has an unhappy ending and revolves around complex, problematic and sorrowful issues. Now, let us have an expeditious look at the plot’s background to try and understand better...
2 Pages
1070 Words
In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, Hansberry opens the play with a chaotic tone. The characters, Ruth, Travis and Walter were all rushing out of the house to get the day started. Through these characters, Hansberry unravels the value systems of a Black Family by allowing their family’s morals to dominate the current society’s expectations and devaluing the intrusive opinions their neighbors have of them. Right off the bat, Hansberry implies to the readers that Ruth’s and...
2 Pages
843 Words
Anne Rice exclaims, “The evil of one murder is infinite and my guilt is like my beauty- eternal. I cannot be forgiven for there is no one to forgive me for all I’ve done.” Most people would never consider killing another person for their own benefit, but those who have feel immense guilt for what they have done. In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth plot to kill King Duncan. Macbeth...
3 Pages
1520 Words
Racism and prejudice, two of the most devastating elements that is engraved into every society and civilization since the beginning of history are a topic of debate and discussion. Racism, a word that looks quite simple on paper, but holds so much more meaning when looking at the whole picture. Racism is something that appears in many shapes and forms directed at those of deemed inferior to those of the opposite race. Although the worlds society has progressed in the...
3 Pages
1530 Words
Historically, there has been a distinction between the pronouns “thou” (“thee”, “thy”, “thine”) and “ye” (“your”, “you”), which later became “you”. The use of one of these pronouns depended on social and pragmatic factors, including the position in the social ladder or the affectiveness that the speaker wanted to demonstrate (Fowler 1996; Culpeper 2002). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the use of both pronouns by the main characters of William Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado about Nothing”, Beatrice...
2 Pages
713 Words
In the entirety of both Medea and Oedipus the existence of Gods are shown as dominant throughout. In Modern time, Theorists and dramatists are turning the pages every day to find answers to the questions at hand, are the characters of these plays in control of their own destiny? Or is their fate already inevitable? Ancient Greek people believed that Gods set the destinies for some people as its what they were born to do and there is a level...
4 Pages
1830 Words
The following paper takes a look at Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and the social criticism that it contains. To begin with, Pygmalion was written in 1912. This was the end of the “Victorian” era in England. This is a story about a culture that is transitioning into a new state. Next, the story is briefly summarized before a deeper conduct of its twists and turns is carried out. Eliza Dolittle (the main character) is a common woman (not of high standing...
2 Pages
1135 Words
A common theme of William Shakespeare’s plays is romantic love and the quest for it; a vast amount of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works include plots which concern heterosexual romance. It can be argued that, for a lot of Shakespearian plays, this theme has a role in the plot of being a catalyst for the events that unfold. It’s typical; for Shakespeare’s works to include men or women on a quest for an idyllic form of ‘true love’, an idea that...
2 Pages
1127 Words
Introduction: The American Dream in 'Death of a Salesman' The American Dream has often been linked with the long-lasting belief and philosophy of “Manifest Destiny”, which, while originally the process of civilizing the untamed West U.S. at the time, translated to an overarching ideal of seizing the opportunity for a better life than one currently held. Death of a Salesman is a tragedy that illustrates the “death” of the American Dream, which can be defined as one’s development into the...
4 Pages
2010 Words
Struggling to find the right direction?
Expert writers are here to provide the assistance, insights, and expertise needed for your essay.
The “Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller tells a sad story of Willy Loman and his family. Throughout the story the family live in denial. The denial of some serious matters erodes the foundation of the family. The family is unable to truly communicate and support one another. This is unfortunate because Willy needs help as he is losing his grip on reality as he toggles between fond memories of the past and the bleak reality of his present...
3 Pages
1309 Words
Arthur Miller’s The Death of a Salesman is story of the American Dream and how it is a prime example humanity misinterpreting what a perfect life is. Miller uses Willy as an example of a tragic hero doesn’t have to be perfect or the good life, when in fact it can be just a common man trying to make a living. This makes the story of Willy and his sad downfall more real towards the viewer, when they could almost...
3 Pages
1176 Words
Sophocies’ Oedipus is believed to be a tragic hero, in the past times of theatre. Oedipus’ odd destiny primes him for a catastrophic collapse that gives each reader and listener a feeling that affects them emotionally. Aristotle believes that Oedipus’ upsetting story meets the necessities as a heartbreaking protagonist through his competence to reserve his quality and insight, in spite of his faults and difficulty. Aristotle’s interpretation of a sad hero will not depict the absence of morals or even...
3 Pages
1274 Words
All five acts of the play “Macbeth” written by Shakespeare, have an exploration of the present tragedy throughout the play that results in chaos and destruction in which shapes the overall story and influences the main characters to act with such ambition, greed, and guilt. Although Macbeth is seen as the main protagonist and is responsible for the decisions and acts he makes that leads to the tragedy of his downfall, the encouraging influences around him ultimately lead to his...
2 Pages
889 Words
The Elizabethan Era was a time where theatre flourished and playwrights like William Shakespeare broke free of England’s past style of plays and theatre. After Queen Elizabeth passed away, Macbeth was Shakespeare’s next play and he had to be mindful of how females were portrayed now that he had a patriarchal leader. The human experience is explored through Shakespeare’s timeless drama Macbeth as the fundamental issues of human existence whether it is individual, physical, psychological, or intellectual. The famous play...
2 Pages
993 Words
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare displays the growth of guilt and how it can lead people to harmful actions. William Shakespeare undoubtedly investigates the harmful impacts of guilt in Macbeth. The play acknowledges that there are individuals that display guilt after the action they performed. Shakespeare also shows that when individuals fail to notice what they have done their downfall is unavoidable. Despite the significant guilt portrayed, Shakespeare celebrates the bravery of the individuals who fight for revenge and...
2 Pages
793 Words
It is undeniably that clothing and material surface plays an imperative role in the development of understanding one’s self since it reinforces gender binaries that ultimately dictate how we interact within the wider world. Undoubtedly, Alison Bechdel’s premise in her family tragicomic, Fun Home, is to simply understand herself through copious amounts of literature references and discourses regarding gender dynamics. As Bechdel interrogates identities that sit beyond the constraints of society, her intertexts allow her to navigate within a ‘binaried’...
3 Pages
1319 Words
The play Hamlet by Shakespeare portrays many themes and a psychoanalytical depiction of the underlying issues within the protagonist Shakespeare showcases issues such as evoked emotions of losing a family member and revenge which led to the eventual “madness” of Hamlet. The in depth analysis of the shakespearean tragedy examines revenge, patriarchal hierarchy of society, corruption, foils between the characters, and the deeper psychoanalytical meaning of Hamlet’s internal feelings. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is disgusted by the remarriage of...
2 Pages
972 Words
From our general public's view in the start of the twenty-first century of ladies as solid and skilled, it is hard to understand the level of narrowing in the lives of ladies of minimal over a century prior. Two plays composed during this time, the 1879 play A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion portray the general mentality of western culture towards ladies and their job in the public arena. The general idea of...
2 Pages
997 Words
When the subject of Hamlet is broached in conversation (assumedly by tweed-wearing types), often does the topic sway towards humor, as humor is used very often yet always very strategically in this play about the Dane and the fall of his house. The comedy found in Hamlet varies from the chuckles garnered by the long-winded Polonius droning on and on reminiscent to a grinding stone as it makes its solitary orbit of the mill. Heard by all yet listened to...
5 Pages
2415 Words
