... today's authors simply could not get such racist stereotyping material published. The modern audience reacts quite differently to the way Shylock is portrayed than Shakespeare's audience would. Although Shakespeare includes elements of social injustice toward Shylock's religion and status, he also creates him as a racist character and directs insults towards the Christian majority to evoke emotion. Early in the play, Shylock comments ... Portia as a "holy grail", as he could have done, Shakespeare makes Portia one of the strongest characters, eventually choosing her to be the play's her...

• Word Count: 809
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... takes on a plot of its own that mirrors the story of King Lear, in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. Harriett Hawkins, a feminist critic of both literature and mass culture, wrote, "The nature of women would appear to be just as indeterminate, and capable of transforming itself, as the nature of man," 4 in her review of the text of Coriolanus. Hawkins sites the many appearance of Volumnia and postulates on ... changes in the context of the scenes in which she appears as evidence of the evolution of the character. Though Hawkins ... 3 This enter twining humor humanizes Volumnia whi...

• Word Count: 1648
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Ben Affleck, and intense sexual scenes. On the other hand, Shakespeare in Love appeals to contemporary audiences with classical elements such as vintage clothing, a strict class system, and the dictatorial leadership of the queen. The task of making Shakespeare In Love, a combination of such classical pieces of literature, appear modern and well-known would seem to be a difficult task, but yet this movie does a very ... good job of accomplishing that task. One major factor contributing to this modern appearance is the cast involved. The presence of such actors as Gwyneth Paltrow, ... pl...

• Word Count: 971
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... dramatic conflict for the story, driving the plot and structuring the development of the characters. The conflict in all of these relationships is driven by fundamental elements of the male/female dichotomy: sexual attraction, striving for independence, a desire to dominate and control, and a mutual misunderstanding of the opposite gender. The conflict between Stella and Stanley is particularly compelling, ... societal norms to receive praise for their work. Finally, particularly prior to the 19th century, the complex sexual, social, biological, and psychological components of a female ch...

• Word Count: 2278
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... 1992, P.97) In the introduction to this essay I stated my belief in the importance of introducing students to the social, historical and cultural elements of the time and how it can help pupils make sense of Shakespeare's decisions to include factors like ghosts and witches, which may seem insignificant to a ... . My presumption is that it is only as students' progress in their learning into Key Stage 5 will they naturally begin to question elements that are external to the play itself as Flachmann predicts, and that is by no means a guarantee. So perhaps teaching from the ... in my t...

• Word Count: 3914
• Approx Pages: 16
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... homosexuality is a threat to heterosexuality but because it is repressed it strengthens the societal convention of normality. In drawing on the motif of homoeroticism, As You Like It is influenced by the pastoral tradition, which typically contains elements of same-sex love. In the Forest of Arden, as in pastoral literature, homoerotic relationships are not necessarily antithetical to heterosexual couplings, as modern theorists like Butler might ... tend to assume. Instead, homosexual and heterosexual love exists on a continuum across which, as the title of the play suggests, one can mo...

• Word Count: 1484
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate