William Shakespeare, renowned for his profound understanding of human nature and his mastery of the English language, has left an indelible mark on literature with his timeless plays. While Shakespeare is not typically associated with King Arthur in the same way as medieval chroniclers or modern-day authors, traces of the legendary king can be found within his works, albeit in subtle and nuanced ways. In Shakespeare's plays, King Arthur often serves as a symbol of noble kingship and chivalric virtue,...
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In his works, the famous William Shakespeare made it a habit to raise numerous important topics. And his play 'King Lear' was no exception. In it, next to such themes as suffering, appearance versus reality, family relationships, the value of nothingness, and how much 'nothing' can represent is of great importance. In the first scene, Lear banishes Cordelia, which as a result reduces her to nothing. While Cordelia is deemed worthless, the King of France still takes her as his...
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In ‘King Lear’, Shakespeare’s playwright offers a vivid yet negative portrayal of Lear himself. The audience confronts a hero king whose hamartia brings about not only his downfall but also the destruction of his surroundings and more devastatingly upon innocent people. Lear is portrayed as an arrogant king with an innate sense of superiority, great wrath, and error of judgment. When Shakespeare introduces to his audience a king who is susceptible to the servile of his daughters and other acquaintances,...
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Edmund, one of the main characters in William Shakespeare's 'King Lear' is complex. To some, he seems immoral, like a man missing his moral compass. To others, he seems clever, like a man set on finding success through illegitimate means. But in my eyes, I see him as a desperate man looking for closure through means of climbing the hierarchical ladder while simultaneously destroying it. Many label him as the antagonist of the play, many may also follow the book’s...
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Violence is an important concept in William Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' as the two families act out their hate by adopting brutal means. Tensions, violence, brawls, deaths, and clashes not only drive the plot of the play but also give the reader an idea of how normalized violence, death, and honor killings were at that time. This is very clear to see during scenes in which the clashes of the feuding families are shown. Shakespeare's 1597 play opens with...
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Imagine falling in love with someone only to be part of a family you have been in constant fighting with for many years. This nightmare was played out by Romeo and Juliet, and it made an exciting story. Romeo was played as a depressed teenager in the 1600s looking for true love but ironically doesn’t know how to be in a relationship. Juliet on the other hand is played as a 13-year-old being forced to marry Paris but wants to...
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The Tempest a Shakespeare’s Globe theatre production in 2013 directed by Jeremy Herrin who is a renowned and well-respected director, he first made his Shakespeare debut in 2011 by directing Eve Best in “Much Ado About Nothing”. The Tempests is set on an un-named Mediterranean island in Renaissance Europe. His ship in the play is wrecked near a Mediterranean island. Shakespeare makes it a magical island that is controlled by Prospero – previously a European duke – who brings those...
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When we think of A “new” Dilemma we think of a situation in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones. The main conflict in the play is between Prospero and his brother, Antonio, who overthrew Prospero as Duke of Milan and ordered him and his daughter to be set adrift. Other conflicts include Prospero vs Alonso: Alonso, a longtime enemy of Prospero, supported Antonio's overthrow of Prospero. Slavery occurs on a widespread...
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William Shakespeare’s belief in humanism was a contradiction to commonly belied ideals of infinite spirit and destiny in the 1600s. Making Romeo and Juliet tragedy a mask for fate versus free will. During the Elizabethan era, one’s destiny or fate was viewed by most as predetermined. Individuals of the time believed in astrology, the philosophy that one's life was moderately decided by stars and planets. From the prologue, it's implied that fate lies behind the tragedy that unfolds. Fate is...
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The textual conversation between both texts shares a relationship between themes, ideas, intertextuality, and context. Themes such as justice, guilt, and revenge in order to be more understandable for the audience today. Through the use of resonances and dissonances, it allows the readers to make connections between characters, plots, and particular scenes in both Hag-seed and The Tempest based on the context. Justice is a critical thematic element in both The Tempest and Hag-seed. In both texts, Prospero and Felix...
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Production History On November 1st, 1611, at the Banqueting House in Whitehall Palace, Shakespeare's The Tempest was performed for the first time in front of James I and the Royal Court. Only two known productions of the play took place during Shakespeare's lifetime. The second performance took place two years later, as part of the festivities surrounding Princess Elizabeth's marriage to King Frederick of Bohemia. Over 400 years after its conception, The Tempest continues to be a popular choice for...
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The Tempest is shaped by the allusions of Christian Humanism more specifically Montaigne’s views on ethics and empathy. In a metaphysical reading of The Tempest, Shakespeare offers a nuanced portrayal of the humanist elements that shape individuals, the soul. Atwood acknowledges the power of forgiveness electing to reimagine this trope through the foil characterization of ‘ghost’ Miranda in Hag-seed with that of Ariel. Shakespeare utilizes the concepts of Plato’s three-part concept of the soul. Shakespeare suggests that Ariel is a...
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Language within The Tempest is important in understanding the nuances of its imperfect characters, as well as the complexity of the colonial and ethical narratives within the text. Caliban’s language provides an alternative narrative to that of Prospero and that of the colonizer, as well as proving his own character to be layered rather than simply the black-and-white rhetoric of the time regarding indigenous people as savage and colonizers as civilized. This is proven through the manner in which he...
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In our generation, various different people see Shakespeare as either relevant or irrelevant. If I’m going, to be honest, I dread Shakespeare, none of the work made sense to me particularly the way that they spoke. I would sit in class looking at the work my teacher has assigned in confusion wondering how much longer I would have had to learn about Shakespeare. And as much as I hate to admit it Shakespeare does have some significance today as we...
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The internet defines love as an intense feeling of deep affection. So why does Romeo fall for Juliet after being let down by Rosaline? Romeo knows that love can be tragic, but it makes him happy. Romeo and Juliet are so happy together, Juliet would rather die than not be with Romeo. Readers also learn from the friar that love is not just “looks” and that things can be on a more personal and intellectual level. Love also can be...
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We know that during the context of the original script, people were extremely superstitious, and this affected their view on everything from treating illnesses to religion. Religion was central to Elizabethan society – Queen Elizabeth made attendance at the Church compulsory. Unless you had a valid excuse such as illness, you were fined if you did not attend. Almost everyone was Christian. The convictions and beliefs held in the Catholic and Protestant branches were so strong that adhering to the...
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A soliloquy is a long speech delivered by one character to other characters or to the audience. The purpose of a soliloquy is essentially to give the audience more information about events or background regarding the drama. Iago's soliloquy in the play Othello is especially significant. The audience will notice more in the soliloquy about how Iago has no regard for other people, and in another, we see how completely devoid of conscience he is. In Act 1, Scene 3...
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Plays are usually fictional stories, but sometimes they are based on true history. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare created scenes and lines, alluding to people and society in the Elizabethan era. By discussing roles of royal family, superstitions about witches, and stereotypes of men and women at that era, Shakespeare successfully upheld Elizabethan tradition and status quo. To begin with, the correct role and responsibilities of royal family in Macbeth accurately uphold Elizabethan tradition. For example, when Malcolm clarified his...
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Despite the adaptation of a text to film benefiting from the opportunities and abilities bestowed to a director through the visual aspect of the medium, narrative complexity and depth of literary themes almost inevitably suffer a condensation. Ralph Fiennes’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is not immune to this trend, with temporal constraints forcing Fiennes to focus upon thematic elements of Shakespeare’s original work that he finds to be integral to his interpretation. Whereas Shakespeare’s characterization of key figures such...
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There is still reluctance among many secondary school students to accept Shakespeare as an author who speaks to them and their problems. This misguides them into thinking and focusing on the fact that Shakespeare's language is “too difficult”. His work shows various ideologies and perspectives that surround a variety of societal and internal concepts. So in that case, following up with my reasons, I say yes, Shakespeare's work should be taught in school. The form of how it should be...
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In many ways, Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure are examples of his 'problem plays' that are concerned with self-division and lack of self-knowledge. The former play deals with the duality of the characters and it is in the knowledge or lack of knowledge in this duality between the characters which makes it a problem play. Self-division is also implicit in the latter play, where the characters are forced to confront their different natures due to a crisis...
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An individual’s self-perception varies based on what they believe is an illusion and what they believe is reality. In today’s society, this same idea is present when people interact with one another, as they may retain a different perception of what others think of them compared to what the blunt truth is. As a matter of fact, humans possess the potential to influence the behaviours and thoughts of others in a way that benefits themselves, and lets down those close...
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In this play Coriolanus by Shakespeare, Coriolanus' expulsion is the peak of a sequence of incidents in which a few powers have a role, all impelling him to his absolute destruction. As is normal in Shakespearean Tragedy, the legend, at the crest of his accomplishments, falls, because of a lethal blemish in his character. Despite the fact that Coriolanus is viewed as the legend and hero of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and ought to be a solid, thoughtful character, he is ruled...
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Vengeance, chaos, uncertain honor and untimely death-whether describing the fall from grace of a noble king, impassioned General, or valiant warrior, each arises in the historically based tragedies of William Shakespeare. Coriolanus, Shakespeare’s account of the societal and self destruction of a Roman warrior paragon, proves no exception, depicting the demise that results from any character trait excess, even honor. This particular play introduces a further element of gender to fatal excess, providing, through the characters of Coriolanus and Volumnia,...
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Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Queen,” is arguably Shakespeare’s most resilient and enchanting female protagonist. She is personified as the embodiment of her country, ‘the soul of Egypt’, and defies the reductive Jacobean “most monster-like” perspective of women. The Renaissance stereotype of the subordinate and inferior female is in total juxtaposition to the possessive and shrewd characteristics that Cleopatra possesses, as she is in fact “a wonderful piece of work.” Cleopatra manipulates her associates and subordinates through her alluring sexuality and ‘infinite variety,’...
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A problem play is a play in which the playwright portrays the social, political and economic problems of the society he lives in. The problem play is a development form of the ‘drama of ideas' (Drama of ideas is a type of discussion play in which the most acute problems of social and personal morality is revealed). It is tragic in tone and deals with human dilemmas along with the social evils, i.e., it is a play in which a...
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The world of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida does not distinguish decidedly between the Greeks and the Trojans. Though the Greek camp is a makeshift assembly of tents pitched on the shores of Troy, and the Trojan society is the courtly palace of Priam and his sons, both societies value the same ideas and objects: honor in men, and beauty and faithfulness in women, as revealed haphazardly through appearances and acts. The inadequacy of such measures of worth, their failure to...
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Antony and Cleopatra’s love for one another is the prominent theme throughout the play, and although both characters profess to an incomparable “peerless” love, they encourage doubt in the audience by acting in a manner that appears to contradict this. This is demonstrated by Cleopatra’s bullying, manipulative manner and also with the ease with which Antony dismisses their relationship in front of Caesar and his marriage to Octavia. Ultimately, Shakespeare intended for the audience to question the genuineness of Antony...
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Many of Shakespeare’s sonnets revolve around two people’s relationship with each other. Shakespeare’s sonnets show the Victorian standards of true love. Although Sonnet 130 and Sonnet 138 both discuss love, they have different views of how true love is expressed. Sonnet 130 regards loving your partner despite their faults and being honest about the fact that they’re human. Sonnet 138 is about omitting your faults from a relationship in attempts to preserve the love. In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is brutally...
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Power can affect individuals very differently. This includes those who are in power, and those who are being led. Several of Shakespeare’s plays tell the story of various kings and how they have ruled England. Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, and Henry V have all had different experiences when it came to ruling. Even though they were all leaders, not all of them demonstrated effected leadership, especially towards lower class individuals such as servants, thieves, and women. When it...
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