...Elements of Drama: A Review of Hamlet Elements of Drama: A Review of Hamlet The way an artist creates a sculpture is similar to the tactics of a drama writer. While artist focus on the color and shape of their creations, writers of drama focus on specific elements. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses plot, character, setting, staging, and theme to create a well-rounded story. One of the first elements of drama is plot. Considered to be the foundation, plot is the idea in which the setting and characters surround (Mays, 2014). As a stack of dominoes, lined in a row, the plot of a story creates a similar effect. As each domino falls, it enables the rest to follow suit. Plot is comparable, because the events within a story usually lead to the next. The drama, Hamlet, revolves around a prince seeking revenge for his father's death. As the story begins, Hamlet's father has died, and his mother marries her husband's brother, the new king. Soon, Hamlet realizes, after meeting with the spirit of his father, that his dad was murdered. The spirit convinces Hamlet to seek revenge. Pretending to be mad, Hamlet conspires to kill the king. During his scheme, Hamlet pretends to despise his crush, Ophelia, and accidentally kills her father. The death becomes reason to send Hamlet away. As Hamlet travels back to school, Ophelia's brother seeks revenge on Hamlet for his father's death. Hamlet returns and is informed of Ophelia's suicide, along...
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... straightforward answer. A dramatic text is a text that has been written for it to be delivered by some form of media, for example theatre, film or television. A performance text on the other hand is a version of the dramatic text, which is what ultimately gets performed. Therefore, to put it simply, a performance text is a version of a dramatic text that has been annotated and altered for the actual performance. This complicates the role of dramatic text, as there can be various different performance texts just for one dramatic text. Therefore you have to question, after a certain period of time, if the performances turn further and further away from what the dramatic text is trying to convey? Considering William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is such an ‘iconic text of world theatre’ (Lavender, 5), you can compare the role of the dramatic text when it was first published and performed in around 1603 with performances leading up to the present day. This is something which doesn't only differ depending on what time period it is being performed or how renowned the text is but it differs from performance to performance mainly because of the various different concepts the directors have with this singular play. However, factors such as the set or audience can also have a considerable effect. Nevertheless, ‘we have to develop Shakespeare’s plays, if we are to perform them at all’ (Elsom, 6). As time passes, new theories are put into place and old ones need to be revisited...
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...demonstrate the idea that revenge arises from the pain of the aggressor. In the view of this statement and in relation to ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ it is important to define what pain actually is. Pain relates to grief in terms of Hamlet grieving for his father’s death. It also relates to suffering and injury – be that of the mind or body. There are instances in ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ where the motivation for revenge may arise from the emotional pain of the aggressor; there are however acts of revenge shared in these plays that cannot be explained as a confession of pain but rather as a result of self-preservation and duty. Somroo explains that ‘The motive of revenge is a primitive emotion to be found in natural man, though it is a dangerous emotion.’ Somroo explains that revenge is primitive therefore it can be explained as an impulsive emotion born of pain or suffering. This shows that suffering and revenge are closely linked; the idea that revenge is born out of pain has excited audiences throughout history as a theme of revenge tragedies. In this genre of play both Webster and Shakespeare use the theme of revenge to show that it has consequences for every character that is unfortunate enough to be involved as it often results in multiple and an almost comical amount of dead bodies. Shakespeare more than Webster has used the character of Hamlet to explore a motivation for revenge deep within the character in their pain and affection for the cause of revenge. ...
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...Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, and is widely regarded today as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet. As quoted in an article,” The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry"”. In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance, and is currently an active part of education curriculums. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. It is safe to say that although Shakespearean plays were set in the Renaissance Era, they are still the epitome of English literature and are revered by theaters, performers and audiences alike due to their remarkable credibility in portraying everlasting political, social and moral issues. http://www.neptunetheatre.com/content/Shakespeare_hat_trick His plays move from romantic to tragic, humorous to serious so much so that he not only caters to all tastes but also all times by portraying the political situation of his times as well as the way of living. Even Romeo and Juliet, considered by many as a die –hard romantic scripture actually highlights political issues. One of the main political aspects of the play was when count Paris uses...
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...Waiting Many critics consider Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, rst performed in Paris in 1953, the most important twentieth-century play in the Western canon. Despite the undeniable historical and aesthetic signi cance of Waiting for Godot, however, the question poses itself: to what extent may an absurdist play—about two bums waiting on the side of a country road for a person who never arrives— still strike us as relevant today? is question cannot be answered univocally, but depends on the interpretive choices made in the actual process of producing Beckett’s play on stage. My goal as the director of this Kennedy eatre production is to create a thoroughly contemporary experience that evades the usual clichés many have come to associate with Beckett’s style, such as monotony and leadenness. From this vantage point, I will now identify two major challenges to any stage production of Waiting for Godot in 2010—challenges relating to the historical and metaphysical background of the play. e setting (country road, tree), costume items (bowler hats, halfhunter watch), and habits of the characters (the pipe-smoking Pozzo), as well as the poverty and frugality of the two protagonists (a diet of turnips, radishes and carrots for Vladimir and Estragon), clearly suggest earlier historical periods such as the Irish Potato Famine from around 1850, the wasteland of northern France in the wake of the trench warfare of WWI, or America’s Great Depression in the 1930s. e names of the characters...
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...Sophocles' Oedipus is a perfect fit to Aristotle's Ideal Tragic Hero. Oedipus follows all of the rules, with a hamartia, an anagnorisis, and a peripeteia. The audience is introduced to the hamartia, or tragic flaw, of Oedipus early in the play. Oedipus believes he can dodge the oracle given to him at Delphi that he will kill his father and marry his mother. By leaving the city of Corinth and heading to Thebes, Oedipus thinks that he can outsmart the will that the gods have for him. However, the audience knows that one cannot run away from an oracle. The oracle will come true no matter what is done. Therefore, the hamartia of Oedipus is his belief that he can evade his oracle. Oedipus' anagnorisis, recognition, later comes when he is told that it was he who killed the former King Lauis and that he is, in fact, now married to his own mother. The city of Thebes had been searching for King Lauis' murderer in order to drive him out of Thebes to save the city from the plague. With this anagnorisis Oedipus is finally led to his peripeteia, or downfall. First of all, Oedipus is put to shame in front of his entire city because of his incestuous act of marrying his mother. But, more importantly, he realizes that he had not successfully avoided the oracle. In order to try to save himself he blinds himself. If he is not able to see the truth with his own eyes, he should not be able to enjoy the gift of sight. http://personal.monm.edu/ysample/aristotle.htm Oedipus follows ten of the points...
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...Dear Senior: In less than a year, you will be preparing for your freshman year of college. By that time, you should be familiar with a wide range of English, American, and Global literatures. The list of masterworks on the back of this sheet offers a guide for what are considered seminal works in the English-language tradition. We will read and discuss several of the texts during next year’s Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course. (I AM NOT ASKING YOU TO READ THEM ALL – DON’T BE SILLY!) Reading ahead and reading a work twice is always advisable. In any case, a broad background of reading will benefit you on the AP English Literature test, as well as in your college English classes. Summer Reading: Bulfinch, Thomas The Age of Fable: Stories of Gods and Heroes^^ Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor* Hamilton, Edith Mythology^^ Shakespeare, William MacBeth Optional: Cotterell, Arthur & Storm, Rachel The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Mythology# These books should all be available at your local library or bookstore (you may also order online). *If you do not already own a copy of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, you should get a copy. We will be referring to it throughout the year as we dissect and discuss literary works. ^^I have provided .PDF copies of these works through Edmodo. Please do NOT print copies of these works. #This book is a great resource to have for college, particularly if...
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...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
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...Most comedies can be criticised for a lack of seriousness - Is this affirmation true or not? By definition, comedy is a species of the dramatic genre which satirizes events, be them social or moral (moral conduct of a people, a social group). It does that by ridiculing characters, among which conflicts can arise. Comedy aims to straighten those hard (defects) social and human laughter, therefore, having a moralizing role. The main ways of achieving comic are irony, satire and sarcasm. used to create a ridiculous grotesque, illustrating both immoral aspects (standards) that happen in our society as well as human character dominated by strong moral. The main artistic medium is comic, an aesthetic category includes situations and ridiculous characters, vices and habits, being sanctioned by laughing and watching it, so straighten them. Comedian illustrates the contrast between essence and appearance. of serious and ridiculous, between illusion and reality, between effort and its results, between goals and means, etc. Forms of comic are very different: the comic situation, comic character, comic language, manners comic, comic cover, comic name etc. Comedy appeared as tragedy, in ancient Greece, manifesting as a joyful procession with the public in the end of a party organized in honor of the god Dionysus, with acid jokes, satirical songs with lyrics lines causing ironic laughter and fun needed for the revival of this God. Tragedy and comedy are the oldest theatrical events...
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...THE BARD & CO Book Review - The Bard & Co: Shakespeare’s Role in Modern Business Editors – Jim Davies, John Simmons & Rob Williams Published – Cyan Books Year – 2007 Place – London No author perhaps has had the kind of influence Shakespeare has had on our lives in different forms. This book is another example of Shakespeare’s influence, this time on the business world of today. Twenty six contemporary writers have paired with a Shakespeare play and one of the lead actors of the First Folio list to give us this delightful new insight of the play and the role. The book is a delightful collection of essays on Shakespeare’s role in contemporary business world. That we have very little biographical sketch to go by demands that “imagination has had to work harder than memory”. And given the “breadth, vivacity, wit and life” of Shakespeares’ plays and their performances, one cannot help but imagine that those actors would be chuckling in sotto voce behind their masks, at our attempt “to capture some sense of their lives and their contribution to the world” It is fitting that a book on Shakespeare’s role in modern business should be introduced by Dominic Dromgoole, the artistic Director of Globe Theatre. According to him, the theatre actor is the most impermanent of all artistes, considering that once a play is over, there is no remanence of his work except the printed “dramatis personae at the beginning of the published play”. He bows in obeisance to that “mysterious...
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...lamentation for the dead 3.Sonnet –can be distinguished by its form for it always consist of 14 rhymed lines 4.Idyll –a descriptive poem of rural or pastoral character which expresses the poet’s feeling of his immediate landscape 5.Song –has a particular melodious quality 6.Simple Lyric –includes all those lyric poems that don’t belong under the other types c.Dramatic Poetry - focus on the characters feelings- designed to be spoken or acted on stage These are plays whose dialogues are written in the form of poetry1. Comedy –a dramatic play of light and humorous character w/ a cheerful or happy ending 2.Tragedy –portrays struggle of a strong –willed protagonist against fate Ex. 5 great Shakespearean Tragedies ~ Hamlet –indecision~ King Lear–parental love~ Macbeth –ambition~ Othello –conjugal love~ Romeo and Juliet –young love 3.Dramatic History –a dramatic play dealing w/ past historical event 4.Farce –a comic play marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot 5.Melodrama–characterized by heavy use of suspense, sensational episodes, romantic...
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...OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE • Palaeolithic nomads from mainland Europe; • New inhabitants came from western and possibly north-western Europe (New Stone Age); • in the 2nd millennium BC new inhabitants came from the Low Countries and the middle Rhine (Stonehenge); • Between 800 and 200 BC Celtic peoples moved into Britain from mainland Europe (Iron Age) • first experience of a literate civilisation in 55 B.C. • remoter areas in Scotland retained independence • Ireland, never conquered by Rome, Celtic tradition • The language of the pre-Roman settlers - British (Welsh, Breton); Cornish; Irish and Scottish Gaelic (Celtic dialect) • The Romans up to the fifth century • Britain - a province of the Roman Empire 400 years • the first half of the 5th century the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (N Germany, Jutland) • The initial wave of migration - 449 A. D. • the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) • the Britain of his time comprised four nations English, British (Welsh), Picts, and Scots. • invaders resembling those of the Germans as described by Tacitus in his Germania. • a warrior race • the chieftain, the companions or comitatus. • the Celtic languages were supplanted (e.g. ass, bannock, crag). * Christianity spread from two different directions: * In the 5th century St Patrick converted Ireland, in the 7th century the north of England was converted by Irish monks; * in the south at the end of the 6th century Aethelberht of Kent allowed the monk Augustine...
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...planned on studying medicine. The lectures were conducted in a technical French but Joyce’s education had not prepared him for it. Despite his mother’s attempts to get him to return to Catholic Church, Joyce remained unmoved even after her death. Joyce studied at Clongowes Wood College from 1888 until 1892. When the family’s financial state devolved, Joyce had to leave the school. After a brief time at Christian Brothers School, Joyce was enrolled at Belvedere College in 1893. In 1898, Joyce began studying Italian, English and French at University College Dublin. At this time, Joyce also began his entry into the artistic life of Dublin. His literary reviews appeared in Fortnightly Review. His review of Henrik Ibsen received a positive personal response from Ibsen himself. In addition to his reviews, he also wrote some pieces of drama that have since been lost. The writings of James Joyce include Chamber Music, Dubliners, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, Exiles, Finnegan’s Wake. 1914...
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...THE GLENCOE LITERATURE LIBRARY Study Guide for Great Expectations by Charles Dickens i Meet Charles Dickens In addition to writing short stories and novels, Dickens wrote essays and journalistic pieces, and edited a weekly periodical filled with fiction, poetry, and essays. First titled Household Words, the magazine was later retitled All the Year Round. Dickens contributed to this publication several serialized novels, including Great Expectations, and writings on political and social issues. Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He was the second child and eldest son of eight children. Dickens’s father, who worked as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, was a spendthrift who often mismanaged the family money. In 1822 the family moved to London and soon found itself in financial crisis. The family was forced to live in poverty, and Dickens was no longer able to go to school. One of the most traumatic periods of his life began in February 1824, when his father was sent to debtors prison. Young Dickens, only twelve years old, was forced to go to work for several months pasting labels on bottles. This experience was painful and socially humiliating to him, and images of the factory haunted him for the rest of his life. These images provided a backdrop to much of his fiction, which often focused on class issues; the plight of the poor and oppressed; and lost, suffering children. As an adult, he championed social and political causes designed...
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...INSTRUCTOR ABSTRACT Asa Philip Randolph, civil rights leader and trade unionist, was born in Crescent City, Florida on April 15, 1889. He was the second of two sons of James, a traveling minister, and Elizabeth, a devoted member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Both parents were strong supporters of equal rights for African Americans and had an overwhelming influence on Randolph. He and his older brother William would often play childhood games that included role playing in which they worked for African American rights. Randolph and his brother were both superior students and attended the Cookman Institute in East Jacksonville, the only academic high school in Florida for African Americans. Randolph excelled in literature, drama and public speaking. It would be Randolph’s strong family influence and academic ambitions that would provide the foundation for his journey on the quest for fair economic and trade rights and racial equality for African Americans. After graduating high school and working numerous odd jobs Randolph devoted his time to singing, acting and reading. Influenced by W. E. B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk”, Randolph was convinced that the fight for social equality was more important than almost anything else (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Philip_Randolph, 2011). Segregation and racial discrimination against blacks was increasing exponentially each day. In response, Randolph, at the age of 21 in 1910, joined the Socialist Party of America...
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