... and ultimately the tragedy of the play. There are many other themes that Shakespeare could have used and so we have to ask several questions to identify his reason for using love, and how his presentation of this love makes this the world famous play that it is. What is he trying to ... actions. This could have been Shakespeare's way of mocking love and presenting it as a weakness. Shakespeare understood fully the importance and value of language and how it could be used to trigger any number of emotions in the audience. Firstly, he uses soliloquies throughout the play. This is a dramat...

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... which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse; we would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the Feast of Crispian: he that outlives this d! ay, and comes safe home, will stand a- ... good man teach his son; and Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, from this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered - we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, this ... ...

• Word Count: 1970
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... controlled by Hamlet and the King, for their own selfish reasons. She killed herself after knowledge of her fathers' death. Last to die was Laertes, it is easily seen how Laertes, in the heat of his anger could conspire to murder, though he kills Hamlet he is avenging his fathers' death, an act ... pretending to be mad is a normal excuse to put off one's feelings, Shakespeare incorporates other subplots into the play. Without these subplots, of revenge we are left with a gloomy play where the ending, although necessary, is pointless. Shakespeare created this setting to tell us a story of...

• Word Count: 1486
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• Grade Level: High School

... whitening their skins. Finally, In America Emerson has written a complete essay about immortality, he said "the soul is not born, it does not die; it was not produced from anyone ..."[Sta44]1 which reflects his conviction of immortality. Throughout historical periods, immortality was represented in different ways and different morals ... called a "true-wife" , it was probably applied to a women whose faithful devotion to her husband during his life time3. We can say that this practice as a mean of souls never die as opposite to bodies. However, they meet in their eternal life after death...

• Word Count: 2113
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... performance or film evolves. The settings of these various King Lear performances are constructed for the contemporary audience at the time of production. How these adaptations are constructed is a reflection of the contexts of these performances and creates an interaction between the responder and the production. ... if one saving word, one saving gesture, could have averted catastrophe, just as in our lives we can look back and know that one word might have saved us if we could have brought ourselves to utter it." This would entertain the responder and create a more enjoyable ... Tec...

• Word Count: 2216
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... not decide his course of action until he discovers the action taken place by Fortinbras. Hamlet derides himself for being unable to kill Claudius while the men of Fortinbras" army die for a far less justifiable cause. Once again Hamlet scorns his own lack of action because of his over thought of each situation. It is not until Hamlet begins to act ... of out smarting those who would try such a deed. In consequence, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent to their deaths in England even though they were victims of deception as well. We witness the outcome of Hamlet's entire quest, which wa...

• Word Count: 1975
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• Grade Level: High School

... because it is rumored to be war from the Turks; then in the middle of the night, mutiny is being cried out, worsening the hysteria. Also in Cyprus, many characters die and confusion is present everywhere. Clowns, musicians, and witty, inebriated characters all bring comedic relief to Shakespeare's play. In Twelfth Night, there are numerous scenes with a clown and intoxicated characters ... becomes infatuated with Orsino and eventually falls into love. She tells Orsino: "Too well what love women to men may owe. In faith, they are as true of heart as we. My father had a daughter loved a m...

• Word Count: 2423
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• Grade Level: High School

... through his long, drawn out soliloquies. Hamlet is a static character whose thoughts never dramatically change throughout the course of the play. For this reason, we can examine the first of his soliloquies and use the language in it to predict the substance of his future soliloquies and actions and to gain an ... ,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fix"d/ His cannon "gainst self-slaughter. O God! God!/ How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ Seem to me tall the uses of this world!" (Shakespeare I. II129-134). Through these lines, we can see that Hamlet is in the midst of a deep depressi...

• Word Count: 1324
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• Grade Level: High School

... in a reasonable way. Claudius believes that Hamlet should remove his emotions from his father's death, as seen from the quote: For what we know must be and is as common As any the most vulgar thing to sense, Why should we in our peevish opposition Take it to heart? (1,2 102-105) It is of importance to note that Claudius, a character concerned with ... scene of the play really concretizes this notion by displaying the raw power of passion. It can be argued from a nave standpoint that Shakespeare made the entire cast of characters die in a tragic and irrational way to point out the pointl...

• Word Count: 1742
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• Grade Level: High School

... " (3.3.228-229). Iago constantly preys on Othello's humanness and his emotions. He fabricates such lies as Desdemona never felt love for Othello and how Desdemona 's handkerchief had been found in lieutenant Cassio's quarters. Upon receiving this false information, an enraged Othello demands that Iago, the conniving villain ... wife as a harlot of words, of the body, and of the public streets outside the home. Cassal again states he also constructs her--if we follow Stallybrass's conceptualization--as a property category, a possession (131). But in this scene, Emilia refuses to be regard...

• Word Count: 1786
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... , uses it for sleep, hay, dried pea's and to scratch his head, and on the other Titania; the gracious queen of the fairy kingdom. We get little insight into Puck's views on love, even though it seems to be his trade. A cupid-like character, he goes around making various people ... to unite two peoples (in Theseus's case joining the Athenian's and the Amazonian's) or to gain wealth. Nevertheless we do get the impression that he is in a hurry to get married, "O! Methinks, how slow this old moon wanes; she lingers my desires."" On the contrary Hippolyta feels the four days leading up ... to...

• Word Count: 1370
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• Grade Level: High School

... has a tragic flaw, which eventually causes him to make a fatal mistake. Throughout both of these plays, Shakespeare uses the leit motif of poison, death, ambition, and appearances can be deceiving. We are first introduced to poison in Hamlet in the very beginning of the play. King Hamlet is killed when his brother, Claudius, pours poison into his ear while King Hamlet ... when he killed the king she would come to him so he could have a queen. When he talked in front of everyone he gave a great speech about how much he missed his brother and how great he was, but in reality in all of the...

• Word Count: 1312
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... has a tragic flaw, which eventually causes him to make a fatal mistake. Throughout both of these plays, Shakespeare uses the leit motif of poison, death, ambition, and appearances can be deceiving. We are first introduced to poison in Hamlet in the very beginning of the play. King Hamlet is killed when his brother, Claudius, pours poison into his ear while King Hamlet ... when he killed the king she would come to him so he could have a queen. When he talked in front of everyone he gave a great speech about how much he missed his brother and how great he was, but in reality in all of the...

• Word Count: 1310
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• Grade Level: High School

... Juliet. The set of Shakespeare in Love is a clever conception of London in the 1500's and convincingly reveals to the audience the possible conditions of how Shakespeare may have lived (Fitzsimmons, 2012). The film begins with Shakespeare experiencing 'writers block', his apparent desperation is concealed only when faced by ... ;Romeo & the Pirate's Daughter Ethel'. Once the play begins to take shape, he soon drops the proposed title and begins development of what we now know as Romeo and Juliet and it is within the casting of this play that he meets Viola. Accurate to the time, wome...

• Word Count: 1880
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Shakespeare displays this through the 'noble' Othello's downfall, where even the most honorable and good people are capable to do evil depending on how they are manipulated, in this instance through his complete trust towards 'honest' Iago. This is shown through the deterioration of Othello's language ... to be stronger than any reasoning. Thus, Othello, ultimately in the end, suffocates Desdemona, doing the worst, as he convinces himself, "she must die, else she'll betray more men," as Shakespeare, portrays the destruction of human nature, through the use of dramatic action (5...

• Word Count: 1702
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... he still holds for his wife, which has been ruined for ever by Iago's poisons. Othello is wrong, terribly wrong, but Shakespeare demands that we sympathize with his error. Othello's words as he prepares to murder Desdemona reveal the extent to which he has allowed Iago's logic to dominate his own ... thinking. His fury has abated, but he is left with a sense of being an instrument of divine justice. Desdemona must die, he insists, because otherwise she might betray other men. Othello's self-delusion is so strong that he believes himself to be merciful--he will not ... destroyed. As for...

• Word Count: 1419
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... intense sensibility, revealing the deep personalities of the main characters, relating their love story in the most compelling poetic drama. He describes Antony's generosity and how popular he was with his men, and cuts out suggestions of Cleopatra's disloyalty. Shakespeare even invents actions by Octavius Caesar in order to increase our ... a Jove". IV, vii, 29-30 It would seem that Antony and Cleopatra is a great and perfect love story. However, if we are to look more deeply into the matter, we find that perhaps it was not meant to be that, but a story centred around ageing, jealousy,...

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... have helped shape the attitudes of millions of people. His brilliant portrayals of historical figures and events have influenced the way we think. Shakespeare's plays have been a vital part of the theatre in the Western world ever since they were written, ... he concentrated on tragedies and in the final phase of Shakespeare's career, he shifted away from tragedies again. What can we learn about being human from Shakespeare? Through his plays, poems and sonnets, Shakespeare can teach us that everybody will go ... through troubles, times in their life when they will struggle, but it is h...

• Word Count: 2143
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... " medieval values in contrast to the degeneration of the characters of Claudius, his youngest brother, and Gertrude. He is characterised as a king who would fight and die for his country. In contrary to his brother, he appears as a "kingly" figure on stage: he had a "majestical"(I.1.159) appearance and walked "with ... wish and his deeply religious belief which makes him doubt the ghost's existence. Now, only the audience and Hamlet have the knowledge that and how the murder was committed by the current king. The order for revenge is triggered by Old Hamlet. It is the bomb that awakes th...

• Word Count: 1577
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... marriage with "most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" Mel Gibson's body movements seemed rigid and weak. These physical expressions clearly portrayed how much Hamlet was suffering that he genuinely believed that suicide was a better alternative than a life of pain. 2. Give examples of two different types of language ... "But, look, the morn in russet mantle clad, walks o"er the dew of yon high eastward hill." Shakespeare doesn't just say, "Sun's coming up!" Instead we are given a description of the sun and it's movement. This two-part description allows t...

• Word Count: 1564
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• Grade Level: High School

Twelfth Night 5. Love is a perennial theme throughout Literature. How has Shakespeare presented love in the play Twelfth Night? How does it compare to love as a theme in other texts. Love has always been a persistent theme in Literature and an important part of human nature ... , methought she purg"d the air of pestilence. ...and my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, e'er since pursue me." In this opening scene of Twelfth Night we see Orsino pledging his love for Olivia, however, what is made clearer and clearer through the play is that he is not actually in love with her. "Give ... me exce...

• Word Count: 1335
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... , the suggestion that it is all merely a dream. Hippolyta and Theseus are conversing about their excitement over their wedding and their wedding night and how difficult it is to "pass the time." Hippolyta encourages them by saying, "Four nights will quickly dream away the time." There's that word ... when all of them "dream away" their confused love for one another. Furthermore, Puck alludes to the play as a dream when he says, "If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumb'red here while these visions did appear. And this weak ... may dispose o...

• Word Count: 1500
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Antonio is such a good friend and is so loyal we, as readers, are able to dismiss these "wrong doings" and put Shylock in the villain role and Antonio in the "good guy" role. Antonio does not deserve to die at the hands of Shylock because all in all he did ... nothing wrong besides help out a friend whom he loved? It is all about character development. In order for the entire play to work there needs to be one character whose only job is to amplify and help develop the other characters. Because Antonio is such a great friend, we ... are able to see Bassanio successfully woo Portia and ...

• Word Count: 1530
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• Grade Level: High School

... ii. 340-356) where he rights himself at the end of the play. "I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss" (V. ii. 359). By showing us these contrasting images of the moor, Shakespeare is revealing the two different attitudes to race. The one of ... For one thing, the Venetian world is somewhat racist, and Othello is widely considered the token "exception to the rule." More specifically , Iago knows how to fuel the racist fires in both Brabantio and Roderigo showing that those racist views were existent. This indicates to me that he has a pretty p...

• Word Count: 2352
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• Grade Level: High School

... eyes/ Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions/ If you prick us, do we not bleed/ if you tickle us, do we not laugh/ if you poison us, do we not die/ and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge/ If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge/ if a Christian wrong a ... hurts Shylock immeasurably and makes him hate Christians even more. Jessica's speech contributes to Shakespeare's discussion of religion because it shows the irony of how something that is supposed to bring people together can actually tear them apart. In Shylock's and Jessica's case...

• Word Count: 1397
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School