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English Lit An Analysis Of Essay

Even physical relationships are prone to dissolution -- as Webster shows: the lovers are murdered one by one. Webster and the other Jacobeans appear to pine for an era of old world spirituality -- for the new modern world, while full of scientific inquiry and triumph (see Bacon), lacks that sensitivity of soul that could effect true and real humility. 3. For, however, a complete and masterful representation of the many facets of human nature in all its strengths and failings, one need look no further than to the works of Shakespeare, which span both Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. For the folly of kingly pride, there is Lear. For the bitterness of ambition on the murdered conscience, there is Macbeth. For the nature of love and the relationship between man and woman there are the marvelous sonnets 116, 129, and 138: all three of which tackle the subject from a different angle. In 116, we find the definition of true love: "Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove. / Oh no! It is an ever fixed...

In 129, we find a harrowing description of sexual addiction removed from all love and propriety: "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame / Is lust in action; and till action, lust / Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, / Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust… / Past reason hunted… / Past reason hated" (1074). In 138, we find a hilarious admission of the lies we tell ourselves to keep the peace: "When my love swears that she is made of truth / I do believe her, though I know she lies, / That she might think me some untutor'd youth, / Unlearned in the world's false subtleties" (1075). In each example, Shakespeare provides a deep look into the nature of humanity: he puts a mirror up to nature and reflects us exactly as we are -- without pretension and without affectation. His pen is the simplest, truest, humblest, wisest, and most musical. For the extremes of human experience, there is no better place to start than with the opus of Shakespeare.
Works Cited

Eliot, T.S. "Whispers of Immortality." American Poems. Web. 27 July 2011.

Elizabeth I. "The Golden Speech." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Eight

Edition. (M. H. Abrams, ed.) W.W. Norton, 2006.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnets 116, 129, 138." The Norton Anthology of English

Literature, Eight Edition. (M. H. Abrams, ed.) W.W. Norton, 2006.

Webster,…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Eliot, T.S. "Whispers of Immortality." American Poems. Web. 27 July 2011.

Elizabeth I. "The Golden Speech." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Eight

Edition. (M. H. Abrams, ed.) W.W. Norton, 2006.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnets 116, 129, 138." The Norton Anthology of English
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