King Lear Essays (Examples)

King Lear

King Lear

Siro: I am your servant, and servants ought never to ask their masters about anything, nor to look into any of their affairs, but when they are told about them by them themselves, they ought to serve them faithfully, so I have done and so I shall do.

Siro asserts in Mandragola that the main duty of a loyal servant- and indeed, of others who serve, such as vassal, spouse and child who owe loyalty to masters- is to obey. Some servants and others in Mandragola, Decameron, and King Lear, seem to agree. But some- such as, the Earl of Kent in King Lear-do not, expressing their loyalty instead of disobeying their masters (i.e. The King), and engaging in trickery.

Examine why the Earl of Kent reject's Siro's point-of-view and decides that the best way to remain loyal- loyal to King Lear, in the first case, to the…… [Read More]

King Lear by Shakespeare Like His Other

King Lear by hakespeare, like his other plays, is a truly timeless work. The tragedy with which the play ends, together with the growth and pain experienced by the characters throughout the play continues to evoke pity even today. This, according to Grothe, is not the case with Nahum Tate's work, which ends without any of the main characters dying. One of the reasons for this is the fact that Tate attempted to adapt hakespeare's work to a specific audience, whereas the original is truly timeless.

The beginning of both plays are fairly parallel, with Lear asking his daughters one by one how much they love him. While Goneril and Regan give their answers in poetic terms, Cordelia, the youngest worries about what she would say. When her turn comes, she hopes that the simplicity of her statement will convince her father of her love. This is true in both…… [Read More]

King Lear Post One of

For that reason, going mad is the perfect punishment. He led his mind into falsehoods through anger, and his mind essentially rebelled. In this light, it is somewhat ironic when Cordelia -- whose banishment was the source for Lear's madness, in this reading -- exclaims "he was met even now / As mad as the vexed sea" (IV, iv, 1-2). His madness brings her compassion, and ultimately his salvation.

Just so, Gloucester would not let himself see what his treatment of the bastard Edmond was doing to his son early in the play, and was easily fooled into seeing his noble son as a sort of traitor. These tricks of the eye made him blind, and he actually wishes he were mad: "Better I were distract. / So should my thoughts be severed from my griefs, / And woes by wrong imaginations lose / The knowledge of themselves." (IV, iv,…… [Read More]

King Lear the Shakespeare Play King Lear

King Lear

The Shakespeare play King Lear has been adapted for modern audiences and staged at the University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre. Lee Soroko was the director, and made the decision to apply a modern context to the Shakespeare play. The result was surprisingly seamless. Veteran stage actor Dennis Krausnick plays King Lear, who in this case appears more like a military general than one might imagine when reading the original Shakespeare text. One tends to encounter all Shakespeare texts by imagining all set in Elizabethan times, so it is refreshing to see the face of Lear literally transformed. Krausnick's mature performance is remarkable. His facial expressions are as stoic as Patrick Stewart's are, and his needs only to shift his visage now and again to convey the various thoughts and emotions that pass through the King's tragic mind. His three daughters are played by Rachel Derby (who…… [Read More]

King Lear Acts I-Iii Although

Gloucester disinherits his legitimate son and Lear disinherits the daughter who shows the truest feeling regarding her love for him, even though she will not use fancy words to pretend she loves him more than she really feels. This is not because Reagan and Goneril are so clever -- Cordelia's suitors see her worth, even though she is disinherited, as does Lear's fool. Vanity causes Lear to be blind to the truth, and Gloucester is literally blinded because of his folly in supporting Edmund.

Sometimes it is said that young people do not live up to their responsibilities. In Lear, it is the old who do not live up to their responsibilities -- Lear wants to behave like a foolish child, give up his right to rule, and simply enjoy himself at both daughter's expense. Gloucester, paranoid of being overthrown, turns against the son who loves him. In failing to…… [Read More]

King Lear Was Written Around

Because justice is not administered according to moral arguments -- Lear also argues that since laws are made by the same people, they cannot be moral ones -- it is reduced to who holds power at a given moment in time. imilarly, the death of Lear's daughter, Cordelia, at the end of the play suggests that not even the gods or the divine powers which rule the universe have a sense of justice. "What! art mad?" Lear retorts. "A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears." And then follows a terrific indictment of the rich and powerful "which is the justice, which is the thief?") that sums up under the same metaphor of blindness all hakespeare has had to says about Commodity-servers from King John on: "Plate sin with gold, / and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks; / Arm it in…… [Read More]

King Lear Stands as an Excellent Example

King Lear stands as an excellent example of one Shakespeare's tragedies, and in certain senses it is the most obviously "classical" in its sense of tragedy. The basic plot of the play involves Lear, who is the aging King, deciding to step down and divide his kingdom between his daughters, Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia according to their willingness to declare their love for him. While Regan and Goneril willingly flatter his pride given the prospect of worldly remuneration for their praise, Cordelia refrains resulting in her disinheritance. In this moment, we have the classical powerful figure, Lear, making a decision based on his vanity (classically defined as hubris) that will cause all of the rest of the horrible events in the play. Thus, we see that Lear fits the pattern of what is typically considered tragic, so how can there be room for comedy? Unfortunately for those who prefer easy…… [Read More]

King Lears Downfall of Recognition 'I Know

King Lears Downfall of Recognition

'I know what you are," says Cordelia to her sisters Goneril and Regan. Alas, her father does not perceive the brutality and mendacity in the hearts of his older children -- and Lear pays a heavy price for his failure to recognize their true characters. (I.i.270, p.1258) Because Lear also fails to see the goodness of his youngest daughter, or even to recognize the guise of his loyal Lord Kent when the man wears the clothes of an impoverished servant named Caius, King Lear must lose everything he owns, before he achieves any spiritual understanding.

King Lear begins the tragedy that bears his name the very pinnacle of his society, and ends the play as one of its lowest creatures, a demented, mad elderly man cradling the body of his dead daughter. He wishes to abdicate responsibility for rule to his daughters and their husbands,…… [Read More]

Compare and Contrast King Lear and Othello

King Lear and Othello

illiam Shakespeare's King Lear and Othello are both tragic plays where many of the main and supporting characters die. Both characters are powerful men in charge of land and the citizens within that land but lose their power because of their own foolishness. Although Lear is a king at the start of the play and Othello is only a soldier, the two men both fulfill the role of the leader of their respective communities. This is not the only thing the two main characters have in common. In both stories, the main characters, Lear and Othello, make decisions which lead to the deaths of those they care about and a great deal of other violent consequences. Each character believes someone who lies to them, turns against an innocent person who did nothing wrong to them, experiences a period of madness, and ultimately makes choices which lead…… [Read More]

Shakespeare's King Lear

Edward bond's lear vs. shakespeare's king lear

Political Potential

Influenced by etrolt recht

Plot: eginning of Transformation

Marxism in Lear

Governments into Power

Christike Political Figure

Governmental Autocratic Attitudes

Epic Theatre: Political Effect on Audience

Patriarchal Constraints

Cultural Power

Political Repercussions

edward bond's lear Vs. shakespeare's king lear

Lear was a play that was produced back in 1971 and it was not just any play. Lear had three-act and it was created by the ritish dramatist Edward ond. Many considered it to be an epic rewrite of William Shakespeare's King Lear which it was indeed. However, some may be unaware that the play was first produced in 1971 and it was done so at the Royal Court Theatre, featuring Harry Andrews who took on the title role. Later on, it was brought back to life ore revived by the Royal Shakespeare Company with ob Peck, sometime in 1982 and rejuvenated…… [Read More]

Edward Bonds Lear vs Shakespeare's King Lear

Edward ond's Lear vs. Shakespeare's King Lear

Adapting Lear for modern audiences:

Edward ond's Lear vs. Shakespeare's King Lear

Shakespeare's King Lear is considered one of the greatest tragedies of human literature, as it grapples with the question of the nature of humanity, human goodness, and the purpose of life. Lear is envisioned as an existentialist hero in some modern adaptations of the play, although for many years the mad king and his faithful fool and youngest daughter were sentimentalized in more conventional representations of the tragedy. For example, a 1681 production of the actor and author Nahum Tate "cuts out the Fool, gives the play a happy ending, and rewrites and replaces much of the original text.[footnoteRef:1]" ecause Lear was not a sufficiently optimistic play in which the good were rewarded and the wicked were punished, Tate wrote that Shakespeare's play seemed to him "a heap of jewels unstrung…… [Read More]

Kennedy's King Lear Very Much

O fool, I shall go mad!" (Lear II.iv, 283-286). Gloucester, speaking of the injustice in the world, after he has been betrayed and blinded by Regan and Goneril, remarks, "As flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods, They kill us for their sport." (Lear, IV.i, 36-37). This remark makes the audience aware that the characters know that the events in the play seem both capricious and unjust. Finally, Lear addresses the injustice of the world and the specific injustice done to Gloucester, by asking, "What, art mad? / a man may see how this world goes with no eyes." (Lear, IV.vi, 150-151). Taken together, these three statements demonstrate that the play demonstrates tremendous loss, but also shows that man can triumph over that loss.

Hazlitt's "King Lear: An Analysis of the Play by William Shakespeare."

William Hazlitt believes that Lear is Shakespeare's best play, because it is the…… [Read More]

Animal Imagery in King Lear One of

Animal Imagey in King Lea

One of the most appaent motifs in Shakespeae's King Lea is the use of animals. This pape attempts to undestand the choice of animal motifs and the ole it is intended to play in conveying the playwight's message.

The fist efeence to an animal in the play is ight at the beginning, when King Lea says: "Peace, Kent! Come not between the dagon and his wath" (1.1.125). Hee, King Lea is efeing to himself as the dagon, which myth paints as a fie beathing unfiendly animal. Thus, King Lea uses the metapho of a dagon to descibe his ange with his daughte Codelia and advises the Eal of Kent against defending the subject of his wath.

The dagon is used as a metapho again by Edmund, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Glouceste, albeit in a diffeent context and with a diffeent meaning when…… [Read More]

Shakespeare's Tragedy King Lear Puts Across an

Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" puts across an episode involving a king, his three daughters, and various important members of their kingdom as they come across events that put their humanity to test and that provide each of them with circumstances where they have to demonstrate their ability to distinguish between right and wrong. The play presents audiences with cruelty, suffering and the general feeling that divine powers are uninterested in the well-being of people. One of the principal elements in the play is related to morality and to whether it can be considered to exist in a world where evil and righteous people are provided with a similar treatment. The theme of justice dominates the play and influences audiences in acknowledging the fact that people are mainly responsible for making the world a reasonable place.

Most readers of "King Lear" are likely to agree that the play exaggerates the concepts…… [Read More]

Fool in King Lear Is One of

Fool in "King Lear" is one of the complex characters that is allowed, under a veil of foolishness, to say anything in front of the King, because he is considered to be partially irresponsible and, as such, cannot be punished for the things he says. The result is a confusing set of remarks, but many of these have underlying significance and effect on the play itself. The fact that he is able to speak his mind freely allows the author to sometimes put in his own remarks and observations as to the way the action of the play is constructed, without actually being one of the characters of the plays.

The Fool starts his speeches in Act I, Scene 4, where one can identify two types of speeches. In one type, he is making comments on the actions of the King, notably on the way he banished his daughter. However,…… [Read More]

Blindness in King Lear

Blindness in King Lear

In illiam Shakespeare's play King Lear, common notions of sight and blindness are complicated and subverted the story of the Earl of Gloucester, who has his eyes gouged out following his betrayal at the hands of his illegitimate son Edmund. hen he is able to physically see, Gloucester is blinded by the machinations of Edmund, Goneril, and Regan, and it is only when he is blinded does he come to understand the reality of the situation. By examining the first scene of Edmund's scheming against Gloucester and Edgar, Cornwall's gouging of Gloucester's eyes, and Gloucester's eventual death at the climax of the play, one may see how the play warns against the illusory nature of appearances and the unreliability of sight, a warning made implicitly in the central plot through Goneril and Regan's false proclamations of love for Lear but demonstrated explicitly in the parallel story…… [Read More]

Feminine Evil Depicted in Shakespeare's King Lear

Feminine Evil Depicted in Shakespeare's

King Lear and Macbeth

illiam Shakespeare's notoriety for creating memorable characters that are realistic as well as fantastical is demonstrated through his female characters in the tragic plays, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare was obviously considering familial relations and reflecting on how to parents could produce children who are so starkly different from one another when he wrote King Lear. Additionally, by creating the ungracious, self-centered daughters, Goneril and Regan, the poet is also commenting on the fact that women could be as powerful and aspiring as men, which leaves them open to the possibility of being just as evil. King Lear's daughters were not subservient to their fathers and they certainly were not submissive housewives. This notion of the independent, aspiring woman is further emphasized in the calculating, power-hungry character of Lady Macbeth. The concept of a delicate, docile wife is thrown out the…… [Read More]

Hamlet and King Lear

William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, the title character is a young, brooding man in his early twenties who is faced with the murder of his father by his Uncle, who becomes his stepfather. Despite being well aware of the terrible actions of his mother and his stepfather, Hamlet takes quite a lot of time deciding what measures need to be taken. On the contrary, King Lear (of Shakespeare's play titled King Lear) begins the play in the exact opposite mindset. His reign as king is drawing near, and his vision regarding the circumstances of those around him is quite clear. However, King Lear almost immediately begins his downfall into madness, while Hamlet's journey to clarity begins.

Both men are extremely powerful, though Hamlet never reaches his height of power. King Lear is an older gentleman, with three daughters who are of the marrying age. When the play begins, King Lear is…… [Read More]

Literature King Lear

Shakespeare spent much of his literary career writing wonderfully descriptive plays that not only entertained in his time, as well as ours, but also managed to teach lessons or morals to the audience. King Lear is no exception - there is meaningless violence that strips the world of justice and good, and the foolish (King Lear and Gloucester) are left with the realization of what they have done, and the role they have played in the disastrous and brutal happenings throughout the plot.

King Lear's basic flaw at the beginning of the play is his desire to put on appearances - most notably his desire for the appearance of love and devotion as opposed to actual love and devotion. In Act 1, he questions his daughters "which of you shall we say doth love us most?" (I.i.49) and is most pleased with his two treacherous daughters, Goneril and Regan -…… [Read More]

Power Explored in King Lear

Sometimes, as we see in King Lear, the thirst for power leads to nothing but trouble. It should be noted that the power did come but it was not enough to erase what had already happened. As a result, of this power hunt, King Lear and Cordelia discover what true love is all about. Gloucester and Edgar also learn the value of love. In "The ife of Bath's Tale," we see that power is ugly as the knight only acts to fulfill his desires. However, he is redeemed when he comes around and finally realizes true love and can appreciate it. Both of these stories tell cautionary tales about the power of love and the love of power.

orks Cited

Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead Books. 1998.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The ife of Bath's Tale," the Canterbury Tales. Nevill Coghill, trans. New York: Penguin Books.…… [Read More]

Truth and Lies in King

e may look at King Lear and see a bunch of messed up people but those people are some of the most realistic characters Shakespeare ever created. The best piece of advice to be gleaned from the play is to simply not allow any amount of wealth to blind one from truth. This is difficult because wealth attracts all kinds of people who feign affection. However, Lear illustrates that we can see beyond money and, if we try hard, we can do so and not have to lose our fortunes. People reveal who they actually are over time. The smartest thing anyone can do is pay attention and remember things. King Lear and Gloucester also show us that we are never too old to learn valuable lessons. e should never believe we know everything or even enough. An open mind and a bit of skepticism goes a long way when…… [Read More]

Worlds Depicted in Shakespeare's King

As the king finally dies, Edgar speaks to him and Kent admonishes him, wishing to "let him pass" (V.iii.377). Kent understands that the tragedy s over now and King Lear can finally have the peace that he deserves. It should also be noted that in death, Lear also receives the justice he deserves as well. Edgar is still hanging onto the man and does not want him to die just yet but Kent sees the relief in death, noting, He hates him/That would upon the rack of this tough world/Stretch him out any longer" (V.iii.377-9). The two comment on how the king "endured so long" (V.iii.381) his painful life on earth. They knew what it was that the king realized in his final hours. His attitude toward family and material things had been reversed. The king taught them the meaning of value, which was exhibited in the previous scenes with…… [Read More]

Hamlet Othello Lear in His

Dissidence for Sinfield is the element in a text that seeks to contradict the dominant ideology of the text, or of the culture in which the text was produced (Sinfield agrees with Marx that these are the same thing). Subversiveness is similar, perhaps even identical in objective; the difference is that to be subversive, a text must be successful in its dissidence. For that reason, one must consult the historical impact of a text to determine whether it was subversive or merely dissident. In Othello, one could say that Othello was dissident in his challenge of racial assumptions, where Iago was subversive in overthrowing the hierarchy that supports Othello.

3.

In his article "The Breakdown of Medieval Hierarchy in King Lear," Alessandro Serpieri locates in the tension between the hierarchical system and those who are exiled or exile themselves from that system a mirror for the falling away of the…… [Read More]

Love and Duty in Lear and Screwtape

Screwtape and Lear: hat Both Say About Duty and Christian Love

The underlying perspective that both King Lear and The Screwtape Letters share may be called a Christian perspective, in which duty, humility and sacrifice are indirectly valued as the best ideals, though, of course, Screwtape also notes that "duty comes before pleasure" (Lewis 21). hile Cordelia represents Christ in Lear, the ordeals of ormwood's patient resemble the crisis of identity that Lear suffers. The relationship between sanity and goodness is established in both works, and that relationship serves to underscore the main theme which is the greatness of Christian living and the tragedy and violence that results from unchristian living. The texts thus serve to complement one another and both agree on man's place in society (which is that he should subordinate himself to God rather than to Self or appetite or Satanic pride, etc.). So while the material…… [Read More]

Power Is Depicted in William Shakespeare's King

power is depicted in William Shakespeare's "King Lear," Book I of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Francis Bacon's "Of Plantations" and "The Idols" from his "Novum Organum."

Shakespeare's depiction of power in King Lear shows how cunning, ruthless people come to gain political power at the expense of those that show qualities that one would desire in a leader: nobility, honesty and integrity. Shakespeare's key focus is the transition of power from one king or leader to his progeny. In King Lear, the title role decides to abdicate the throne and divide his kingdom equally between his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Whereas the first two flatter him, Cordelia is honest and is ultimately punished for it: she loses her inheritance. In another part of the story, two brothers fight for control of a dukedom.

Here Shakespeare illustrates a contradiction between well-meaning, honest people and manipulative, power-hungry people. One…… [Read More]

Daughters in Literature Requires a Thorough Analysis

Daughters in literature requires a thorough analysis of gender roles and norms. The concept of daughter is directly linked to gender roles, as being a daughter entails specific social and familial responsibilities. Daughters' rights, roles, and responsibilities vis-a-vis their male siblings can therefore become a gendered lens, which is used to read literature. This is true even when the daughters in question are not protagonists. For example, Sonya in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is not a protagonist but her supportive role has a tremendous impact on main character Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. Likewise, no one of King Lear's three daughters is the play's protagonist but they nevertheless propel the plot of the play and are central to its outcome. Virginia oolf's To the Lighthouse barely features any of the Ramsay daughters, and yet there are ample textual references to the role of daughters in families and correspondingly, the role of…… [Read More]

Myths - The Other Side of Wonder

Myths - "The Other Side of Wonder"

Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear.2

So run the lines from Cheng Tao, describing signifying, identifying myths - always there explaining existence and every facet of life, explaining the reason behind every man's actions:

So, myths.

For what is a myth? Lillian Hornstein3 describes it best. "A myth is the traditional tale common to the members of a tribe, race, or nation, usually involving the supernatural and serving to explain some natural phenomena. Given as an example is the tale of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, abducted by Hades and brought to the underworld but allowed to return to earth and visit her mother for six months. Thus, we have the varied alternations of the season on earth.

Shall we consider the social-cultural effects of myths positive or negative?

To the…… [Read More]

Obscurity of Real Feeling and Intentions in

Obscurity of Real Feeling and Intentions in King Lear and Hamlet

"Nay madam, I know not seems," says Hamlet to his mother Gertrude. (Act 1.2) By this he means he is not pretending to mourn his beloved father. Hamlet's mourning suit of inky black fabric truthfully expresses his feelings. However, Hamlet does deploy language later in the play to both obscure and reveal his true feelings. After he learns the truth about Claudius, he pretends to be mad to apparently divert suspicion from himself. However, although his madness is a simulation, he often uses the cover of madness to tell the truth, such as when he calls Polonius a fishmonger, or a pimp, as Polonius 'pimps' his daughter Ophelia for his own political gain.

In contrast, Claudius' display as a king is always a lie -- he pretends to love Hamlet in Act 5, even while he has arranged the…… [Read More]

Speak What We Feel Not What We

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.

The beginning of the play "King Lear" depicts a society based upon an intricate network of verbally expressed falsehoods, within the context of the royal family. King Lear asks his three daughters to speak about their love for their father, in exchange for a portion of the kingdom he is dividing up. Goneril and Regan are practiced in deceptive language and praise their love for their father beyond all measure. However, Lear's youngest daughter Cordelia refuses to flatter her father. Rather, she merely speaks that she loves her father as she is bound to, as a daughter should, and no father is all to a daughter -- what of her sister's husbands, she points out?

But rather than see Goneril's and Regan's mendacity, Lear is outraged at this refusal of his favorite daughter to speak as he wishes her to…… [Read More]

Antiquity and Renaissance

Confessions of Augustine, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, "On the Oration and Dignity of Man," Petrarch's poetry, and Shakespeare's drama "King Lear" are both products of societies in which the dominant religious ethos was Christian rather than pagan. However, although all texts share this similar historical feature, fundamentally opposing views of the self are articulated through the theological texts in contrast with the works of lyric and dramatic poetry.

This may seem counter-intuitive to a casual reader, as both Augustine's Confessions and "King Lear" makes use of pagan and Christian modalities of selfhood. A closer reading suggests that while the former does so to validate the Christian concept of the supreme value of the inner life of the self as illuminated by God, the latter does so in a way that ultimately expresses a view of human inner life that is nihilistic, confusing, and cannot necessarily…… [Read More]

Dying Is William Faulkner's Story

But since their sense of righteousness is flawed, their plans fall apart and the ending is quite disastrous as owe explains: "When they reach town, the putrescent corpse is buried, the daughter fails in her effort to get an abortion, one son is badly injured, another has gone mad, and at the very end, in a stroke of harsh comedy, the father suddenly remarries" (138).

Addie and Cora represent two different versions of right. For Cora faith is on lips all the time and she expresses righteousness through words, for Addie, actions are more important and thus she appears vain compared to Cora but has a deeper and more accurate sense of right and wrong. While Cora appears with utterances such as "I trust in my God and my reward" (70) and "Riches is nothing in the face of the Lord, for e can see into the heart." (7) Addie…… [Read More]

Samuel Johnson Marks Himself as a Man

Samuel Johnson marks himself as a man of keen sensitivity when he acknowledges in his review of Shakespeare's King Lear that he was "so shocked by Cordelia's death, that I know not whether I ever endured to read again the last scenes of the play till I undertook to revise them as an editor" (1765). This may seem like a fair assessment from the man who gave the English language of the first and greatest and wittiest dictionaries of all time; but upon a second examination, it may perhaps reveal something about Johnson and his age that is so foreign to the ideas which Shakespeare presented in King Lear that he could do nothing but recoil in horror. Johnson was, after all, an Anglican -- of the Church that persecuted Campion (Jesuit priest) and Lyne (the woman martyred for harboring Catholic priests during the Protestant takeover and memorialized in Shakespeare's…… [Read More]

Explication Shakespeare's Sonnet 138 When Love Swears Made Truth

Shakespeare is often revered as one of the world's greatest authors. His works, which have now become legend, are the subject of intense study and review. In many instances, many of today's popular motion pictures, dramas, and movies have used elements of Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. Many of these tragedies have been adapted for modern viewing. Hamlet, Othello, and Macbeth, for instance, have seen multiple motion picture releases and have captivated generations. In addition, many of Shakespeare's tragedies have become common works on Broadway, further justifying their importance in English literature.…… [Read More]

Presidential History

Shakespeare structures his play King Lear, the first scene reveals how frustrated Lear is with his younger daughter Cordelia, who cannot find the words on command to express her love for him.

This sets Lear up to place his trust in her two older and conniving sister, Goneril and Regan.

In the second scene, a similar situation begins to develop for the Earl of Gloucester, who has two sons.

His situation is more complicated.

All three of King Lear's daughters are born legitimately (within marriage) to him.

However, the Earl has one legitimate and one illegitimate son.

The legitimate son, Edgar, stands to inherit his father's title and property.

Edmund, as a bastard son, is not likely to inherit anything.

The Earl has not denied Edmund's parentage, but Edmund is painfully aware, and resentful of, his second class status.

As Scene ii of Act I opens, Edmund is in his…… [Read More]

Shakespeare's Play Macbeth Women Play Influence Macbeth

Shakespeare's play Macbeth, women play influence Macbeth a brave vibrant soldier, ready die king, a murderer? Discuss witches predictions portrayed Jacobean era ambitious Lady Macbeth husband deranged.

illiam Shakespeare's play Macbeth provides an intriguing account involving concepts like greed, the influence women have on men, and the overall idea of human nature in dubious circumstances. Macbeth is the central character and he comes to employ deceiving attitudes as he becomes more and more overcome by greed. hile it is actually normal to see a person being obsessed with power and coming to act in disagreement with principles he or she previously believed in, Macbeth is also significantly influenced by women who he interacts with and it is only safe to say that they play an important role in making him commit regicide.

Macbeth is somewhat dependent to women, not from a sexual point-of-view, but from a point-of-view involving him wanting…… [Read More]

Printing Press and the Internet

)

"Sonnet 130" by Shakespeare and "Sonnet 23" by Louis Labe both talk about love, as so many sonnets do. Their respective techniques however, differentiate them from each other. Shakespeare uses a rhyme scheme that became known as Shakespearean rhyme scheme or English rhyme. He writes about love in a sarcastic manner though. He is mocking the traditional love poems and the usual expressive manner in which women are often compared to. It is ironic in a way because Shakespeare himself also uses the very techniques in his previous writing when he is writing from a man's point-of-view and describing a woman. But in this sonnet he uses the technique of mocking this exaggerated comparison. Usually women are compared to having skin as white as snow, however, in reality, Shakespeare points out, women don't really fit this description, "If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun."

Louis Labe…… [Read More]

Sight Verus Blindness Be Sure

Look with thine ears: see how yond / justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in / thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which / is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen / a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?"(IV. vi. 166-171) Lear's words are very interesting: he urges Gloucester thus to listen inwardly to his deeper sense of perception and not trust merely his eyes. By a sort of re-imagining process he would thus be able to "change the places" of the thief and the justice in his mind and realize who is the real villain. Thus, Lear finally realizes that insight comes from closing one's eyes on mere appearance and looking beyond the gilded surface. The metaphor of the glass eyes that he tells Gloucester he should find for himself is also significant: he must judges by having insight and not by merely seeing: "Get…… [Read More]

Shakespeare's Insistant Theme Imagery Use

he's gone forever! / I know when one is dead, and when one lives; / he's dead as earth." (King Lear V.iii.256-260)

Titus Andronicus is the central figure and tragic hero of the homonymous play by William hakespeare. He is a General of Rome and father to Lavinia and Lucius. He is a brave solider of Rome who has spent the last ten years of his life fighting Rome's enemies. Although very successful and praised for his heroic acts, Titus Andronicus now feels incapable of assuming the role his country had envisioned for him. Moreover, despite the fact that in the beginning he is seen as a model of piety, and praised for his adherence to tradition and custom, it is precisely this inflexibility - "For now I stand as one upon a rock / Environed with a wilderness of sea, / Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by…… [Read More]

Media and War The

In the novel, Howad is foced to seve as an U.S. secet Agent by the Blue Faiy, a caee that eventually led to his own death.

Mothe Night epesents the fictional memois of Howad W. Campbell J., an Ameican who seved as a secet agent fo the Ameican Amy duing the Second Wold Wa. Giving that the actual autho of the novel seved himself as a soldie duing the same wa, the question of whethe o not the autho esembles the potagonist in the novel is undestandable. Pehaps one of the visions they shae is the eality of facts, Mothe Night being Vonnegut's only novel that does not featue fantastic elements. Vonnegut wote "We ae what we petend to be, so we must be caeful about what we petend to be," as the final moal fo his novel and one thing Campbell and Vonnegut shae afte all is thei vocation…… [Read More]

5 Of Shakespeare S Works

literacy -- that which is mastered only by Prospero and Miranda, and sought after by Caliban who is considered illiterate in comparison to the pair. Caliban's antagonistic relationship with Prospero is one which the author believes is waged over this literacy and which is so crucial because it is both literal and figurative. Literally it represents the smoothness of language which the aforementioned pair possess; figuratively it involves the books that Prospero has which endow him with magical abilities to cast spells and actuate spirits such as Ariel. The author buttresses this opinion by ascribing significance to Caliban's attempts to counteract Prospero's powers by destroying his books, thereby making Prospero's literacy on par with his own illiteracy.

The most interesting aspect of this article is that its focus on literacy is one which is only shared between the previously denoted three characters (and perhaps Ariel) whose fate is linked to…… [Read More]

Cordelia and Portia Two Characters in Shakespeare Who Shine

Women in Shakespeare

In The Merchant of Venice, the life of Antonio is saved by Portia, who disguises herself as a male lawyer in order to confront the Jew Shylock and turn the tables on him in a witty and discerning exploitation of legalism. Similarly, in King Lear, it is Cordelia, the despised daughter of Lear who alone of all his daughters remains loyal to the King and, in the end, saves his life even though it costs her own. Thus, in these two plays Shakespeare shows not only that women are equal to men in a world that declared them unequal but that in many respects the patriarchy that existed could not have existed without the help and, ultimately, saving actions of the women. This paper will show how Dusinberre is correct in assessment that Shakespeare viewed the sexes as equal by providing examples from Lear and Merchant of…… [Read More]

William Shakespeare's Macbeth Introduction to

She declares that a man who snatches what he desires is actually a true man. Lady Macbeth burdens herself by seducing his husband into committing the murder afterall. Although, initially she has the strength and potential to deal with the task of abetting in a murder and thinks she will be able to forget all about it once she becomes the Scottish Queen but eventually conscience overpowers her vices. She dies of guilt and anguish.

(iii) Banquo

Like Macbeth, Banquo, is also a nobleman of Scotland and a general in rank.To some extent through Banquo and Macbeth, the writer has offered a comparison of choices made by men in similar circumstances. When Macbeth was foretold of his rule on Scotland, so was Banquo made aware that his descendants would one day be wearing the crown. Like Macbeth, Banquo is a man of high rank and status and hence of an…… [Read More]

Shakespeare Tragedies

Shakespeare Never Read Aristotle?

Or, the dynamic forms of catharsis and tragic flaws in Shakespeare's plays

Shakespeare's most beloved plays are his tragedies. If one were to list his best and most popular plays: Othello, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and so forth, one would find the list comprised almost entirely of tragedies. So it would not be amiss to say that much of the modern literary conception of theatrical tragedy is shaped and influenced by Shakespeare. At the same time, the definitions of the tragic form as understood at the roots of theatrical history (in Greco-Roman times) continue to be part and parcel of the official comprehension of tragedy. Many critics have sought to fore Shakespeare into the mold of tragedy defined in Aristotle's Poetica, and many others have rightfully protested that he was not cast from that mold, and that in fact he owes little to it.…… [Read More]

Shakespeare Richard III

Duke of Gloucester

Shakespeare's ichard III, The Duke of Gloucester, may not bear much resemblance to the real king in character and appearance but in this play, he is certainly the most dominant and a fully developed figure that serves as both the protagonist and villain of the play. For critics, it is hard to decide whether ichard III can actually be called a tragedy because here the protagonist appears less a tragic figure and more a vain, cruel and malicious king who was ruthlessly ambitious and killed people not for the love of his country, as most other tragic kings did, but advance his own objectives.

It is widely believed that Shakespeare's ichard III was based on Sir Thomas More's description of the king. Other historians have often described him as a courageous and warm king, a description widely different from the image we get from Shakespeare's play. In…… [Read More]

Reversal of Nature in Macbeth

"(Bloom, 41) Any act of evil is seen thus to change the basic structure of the universe and to transform nature into a desolated chaos.

It is not only the natural, physical environment that becomes extremely chaotic through evil, but the human nature as well. All through the play, Lady Macbeth calls upon the forces of evil to keep at bay the "compunctious visitings of nature." It is thus plainly shown that there can be no enactment of malignancy without a reversal of human nature: "The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements. Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; / Stop up the access and passage to remorse, / That no compunctious visitings of nature /…… [Read More]

Globe the Development of the

hen the lease expired for the original location, the Burbages reassembled the theater on the South Bank of the Thames in 1599. This was considered to be one of the 'seedier' districts of London. As well as play-going (a disreputable practice in and of itself), bearbaiting, bull-baiting, and prostitution, were other popular spectator sports on the South Bank (Cummings 2003). hen the first Globe burnt down in 1613 "an auditor whose breaches were on fire" was "doused with ale," given that "liquid refreshments" at the tavern were always nearby at the Globe (Burgess 80).

Shakespeare had a financial interest in the theater, as well as acted with and wrote for the Burbage's company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Shakespeare and four other investors and actors, including John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope and ill Kemp, owned the remaining 50% in equal shares and Shakespeare profited as much from owning the…… [Read More]

Paul's Case Faust -- in

Paul is rather lazy. He does not like to flatter other people, since he sees himself as superior to others, thinking he possesses greater refinement and culture. In contrast to another young man in the story, the young man who marries a serious woman to discipline his appetites, Paul has no desire to do so.

"It was at the Theatre and at Carnegie Hall that Paul really lived; the rest was but a sleep and a forgetting." (paragraph 29) --The last part of this quotation (in italics) is a sneaky reference to a poem by William Wordsworth, called "Intimations of Immortality." Look up this poem and determine what Wordsworth says about the various stages of life. How does this relate to Paul's story?

Paul lives in a fantasy world, not in the real world. His fantasy life leads to his death. The reference to sleep and forgetting suggests that he…… [Read More]

Othello the Tragedy of Othello

Simultaneously, he forces a man long upheld as honest in the highest Venetian circles into scheming and manipulations; these are roles which Iago takes on too readily, suggesting a certain familiarity, but it must be preserved that no earlier instance is ever presented to suggest that the notables of Venice were in any way wrong to uphold Iago as honest and true. In fact, those same notables are those that appealed to Othello on Iago's behalf in the question of the promotion. Allowing passion to rule what should be societal decisions is Othello's barbarism cracking through the veneer of his civility. Othello, though a great soldier, is no Caesar nor even a Roman at all. His nature is of the wild, and -- like many tamed, wild beasts -- he retains the inner potential to one day bite the hand that feeds him.

And, even after Othello's barbarian passion has…… [Read More]

Shakespeare Used Music in His Works William

Shakespeare used Music in his orks

illiam Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, is recognized all over the world as the greatest dramatist of all times. His plays have been performed more times than those of any other dramatist and have been translated in almost every major language. (Kastan) hile many aspects of Shakespeare's plays have been discussed and analyzed, it is perhaps not so widely known that music has also played an important role in many of his plays. In this paper we shall review the historical background of music in the Shakespearian era and discuss how and why music was used in Shakespeare's works. The type of music used by the playwright as well as some examples of music in specific plays shall also be described.

Historical Background of Music in the Shakespearian Era

The 16th century in which Shakespeare was born was a period when England was…… [Read More]

Medieval Castle Comparison of Roscommon

The gatehouse at Harlech contained spacious chambers or halls, with fireplaces and latrines. There is little doubt that the guardhouse was home to the constable of the castle. Master James of St. George, the Harlech's builder, was himself appointed constable of his creation (Williams 2007, p. 7). The gatehouse was also occupied, in this period, by Sir John de Bonvillars, Deputy Justiciar of North Wales. The larger rooms on each level were fitted with tall windows. The most favored rooms faced the courtyard, the chimneys of their fireplaces making an additional architectural arrangement on the roof of the gatehouse (Williams 2007, p. 21). The view from Harlech is particularly impressive. The sea and the mountains of Snowdonia provide a majestic backdrop to the royal castle. It has even been suggested at oscommon that the castle's original location beside a lake and in the middle of an expansive field may have…… [Read More]

Francis Bacon's Advancement of Learning an Analysis

Francis Bacon's Advancement Of Learning

An Analysis of Bacon's Rationale for riting the Advancement of Learning

hen one analyzes Francis Bacon's Advancement of Learning, he does so by first entering into an era that was primarily dedicated to overthrowing the Learning of the past -- that is to say, it was breaking with the old world and advancing the new. That old world was one of scholasticism, with men like Thomas Aquinas incorporating Aristotelian philosophy into the medieval world and using the pagan to prove the Christian. It was a world where religious truths were accepted on the authority of the Church, and a world where that authority was still in place and still in power. In the 14th century that authority would begin to corrupt (with the papacy's abduction and removal to Avignon) and the natural catastrophe that was the Black Plague. These events (though soon over) left their…… [Read More]

Leadership Approaches Through Literature

representation of leadership in literary works is not identical to the representation of leaders. To take one of the most famous examples in English literature, King Lear may be the highest-ranking leader in the Shakespeare tragedy that bears his name, but his actions are neither wise nor principled; Lear's Fool, the court-jester, arguably displays more leadership over the course of the drama. Examining literary representations of leadership in the past two decades, therefore, will not always entail examining stories about powerful or influential people. In outlining a research proposal to examine how leadership issues are illuminated by recently published works, it is crucial to understand that a proper survey will include a mix of works. Some of these works will examine directly the highest leadership roles, like that of a commander-in-chief, while other works will illuminate leadership from the perspective of the ordinary soldiers who follow that lead. This proposal…… [Read More]

Mental State of Shakespeare's Hamlet

Hamlet's Insanity

Hamlet's sanity has been questioned by critics of the play for centuries: is the Dane merely acting in order to fool the spies following him around the castle? -- or does he actually lose his mind? Part of the difficulty is that both seem possible (Davis 629). The other part is that critics tend to think it an either/or proposition -- as in, either Hamlet is acting or Hamlet is insane. The play, however, provides all the evidence one needs to assert that Hamlet is indeed acting insane initially (feigning madness) but that as the drama unfolds, his grasp on sanity and reason becomes looser and looser until he himself admits that he knows not what he is doing (and his actions essentially become mad). This paper will show how Hamlet is proven to be insane by both referring to the text and to the opinion of scholars.…… [Read More]

Oedipus Exemplifies or Refutes Aristotle's Definition of

Oedipus Exemplifies or Refutes Aristotle's Definition of a Tragic Hero

Aristotle's, the Greek philosopher definition of a tragic hero and tragedy has been influential since he set these definitions down in The Poetics. These definitions were viewed as important during the Renaissance, when scores of writers shaped their writings on the works of the ancient Rome and Greece. Aristotle asserted that tragedies follow the descent of a tragic hero or a central character, from a noble and high position to a low one. A tragic hero posse some tragic flaws, which cause his, fall from fortune, or turnaround of fortune, and to some point, the tragic hero realizes that his own mistakes have caused the turnaround of his fortune. Aristotle also noted that the tragic fall of a hero or a central character in a play stirs up fear to the audience or the reader given that the audience sympathizes…… [Read More]

William Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's

And while it may seem silly upon first reading or seeing the play, it is clear that a Midsummer Night's Dream also has quite serious ideas. Scholars have noted that the play includes a cultural critique of the Elizabethan era in which it is set (Lamb 93-124). Other critics have noted that the play may contain quite subversive ideas regarding the fluid nature of sexual identity (Green 369-370). Whatever way you choose to interpret a Midsummer Night's Dream, the play's goofy characters, outrageous situations, and rich language have ensured the play's status as a classic work of English literature.

ibliography

Casey, Charles. "Was Shakespeare Gay? Sonnet 20 and the Politics of Pedagogy."

College Literature, Fall 1998. 29 November 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3709/is_199810/ai_n8827074.

Gibson, H.N. The Shakespeare Claimants: A Critical Survey of the Four Principal

Theories Concerning the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Green, Douglas E. "Preposterous Pleasures: Queer…… [Read More]

Saussure's Definition of Sign Every

She finds herself in a strange entanglement with her husband's ex-lover, the friendly man, and the young woman who wants "to hold him fast in a re-enactment of the Old Scottish ballad that re-echoes throughout the story" (aterston, 262). However, neither one of these women is able to hold the man fast; "I can't make two women happy," he says (Munro, 103).

The whole idea of "holding someone fast" resonates in different ways throughout the story. Hazel was not able to hold her husband fast and she must come to terms with the fact that she, in some ways, abandoned him before he died -- not "striving toward him" in the past or in the present in memory (Munro, 104).

The song sang in the story is about a young man who is captured by fairies and wants more than anything to go back to human life. The young man…… [Read More]

Shakespeare's Success as a Playwright

hile Shakespeare attracted his fair share of criticism during his day, it is also clear that many of his contemporaries as well as the general public viewed Shakespeare's work in a positive light. For example, Callaghan (2004) points out that, "hile we do not know how much Shakespeare was paid for the plays he furnished his company, it is clear that the greatest part of the handsome fortune Shakespeare had started to amass as early as the 1590s came from his share in the profits of his company rather than from his plays" (405). This relative affluence apparently helped to provide a sort of comfort zone for Shakespeare that allowed him to write when and what he wanted and for whatever audience he desired in ways that contributed to his ultimate success as a playwright as well as the enduring qualities of his works. For instance, Callaghan adds that, "For…… [Read More]

Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the

Greenblatt also provides us with some thought into what be hidden in Shakespeare's strange epitaph. Perspective is also gleaned on many of Shakespeare's works, including the Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear IV. He also goes into how Shakespeare only had one rival, Christopher Marlowe until 1957, when Ben Johnson emerged. The two men were similarly in age and envy. The two men "circled warily, watching with intense attention, imitating, and then attempting to surpass each other" (256). Here we see how healthy competition can spur talent. Additionally, Greenblatt delves into some of the mysterious aspects of Shakespeare's life with a convincing perspective. His marriage to Anne Hathaway is viewed fairly. Shakespeare's early marriage years and why he left for London are still elusive but Greenblatt attempts to ferret out some of the more popular theories regarding these issues. That Shakespeare did, for all intents and purposes, abandon…… [Read More]

Othello One of William Shakespeare's

In the context of Othello, this is not such a reassuring notion because Othello and Iago represent the worst that man can be. The reality of this fact allows us to look upon Othello is disgust and with caution. These two men are known by their first names worldwide not because they are nice but because they are the farthest from it. They are human and they are evil and this combination forces us to see humanity, warts and all. Alvin Kernan agrees with this notion adding that when Shakespeare wrote Othello his "knowledge of human nature and his ability to dramatize it in language and action were at their height" (Kernan xxiii). e love Shakespeare because we can relate to his characters - even if they frighten us.

orks Cited

Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. New York: Riverhead Books. 1998.

Bradley, a.C. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on…… [Read More]

Oldboy an Analysis of Chan-Wook

Mise-en-scene

As Gerald Mast states, "Details develop the film's emotional dynamics" (138), and these details are everywhere in the mise-en-scene. The most important aspect of the mise-en-scene, of course, is the acting. Actors are the most obvious props -- and Oh Dae-su provides ample instances of buffoonery that keeps Oldboy from sinking into the mire of its own violence. Despite all the gore, the film harbors a gentleness and affection, thanks to the acting from Oh Dae-su and Mido. Even the villain provides a handsome face and charming smile -- and an affable voice; even he is hard not to like, as he plays cat and mouse with Oh Dae-su.

The low-key lighting also helps provide the audience with the emotional connection necessary for the kind of mystery the film attempts to be. Scenes are shrouded in darkness -- such as when the heroes find themselves working in the Internet…… [Read More]