...Insight Text Guide Sue Tweg King Lear William Shakespeare contents Character map Overview About the author Synopsis Character summaries iv 1 1 2 4 Background & context Genre, structure & language Scene-by-scene analysis Characters & relationships Themes, ideas & values Different interpretations Questions & answers Sample answer References & reading 6 10 14 24 39 55 59 64 66 iv I ns i g h t T e x t G u i d e ChARACTeR mAp Edgar Legitimate son of Gloucester, disguises himself as ‘Poor Tom’. Leads Gloucester to Dover, fights and kills Edmond, becomes king. Wise fools Companions in storm Kent Truth-teller. Disguises himself as ‘Caius’. Loyal, noble servant to Lear. Offends via discourtesy to Lear Match wits Defends, speaks boldly Defends and helps Teaches patience and saves father’s life Fool Truth-teller; endures the storm. Is possibly hanged. Teaches Lear compassion Cordelia Truth-teller. Youngest daughter, loves Lear and heals him. Loses battle and is hanged in prison. Loves Loves Offers kingdom to Edgar – accepted Gloucester Believes Edmond’s lies about Edgar. Saved from suicide by Edgar after Edmond has cause his blinding by betraying him to Cornwall. Needs Foolish old fathers meet in storm Blinds King Lear Divides his kingdom, rejects Cordelia, rejected by Gonerill and Regan. Goes mad, healed after storm by Cordelia. Dies after Cordelia is hanged. Fails to show Lear how to value Cordelia King of France...
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...make women appealed to him indeed. In order to provoke Othello’s jealousy toward Cassio, Iago uses Cassio’s good appearance and manners to aid in his plan, Iago says:“a knave very voluble; no further conscious able/ than in putting on the mere from of civil and humane seeming「…」is handsome, young, and hath all those/ requisites in him that folly and green minds look after”(Shakespeare 2-1 230-240). Therefore, Cassio’s attractive appearance makes him a likely target for Iago’s jealous plot. Secondly, Cassio’s vulnerable character makes become him marginalized. For instance, Iago entraps Cassio into a drunken fight when he offers Cassio wine while he is on duty. Cassio’s weakness spot is alcohol; he explains to Iago: “I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking”(Shakespeare 2- 3 26). However, Cassio does not insist on resisting the offer of drink, which is exactly what Iago wanted in order to achieve his plan. That is eventually results in Cassio’s discharge. Therefore, Cassio’s appearance and his personalities becomes the key factor to causes his marginalized status. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Othello. Oxford University Press, 2009....
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...Shakespearean theatre Fact 1 - The Globe Theatre had a 1500 plus audience capacity. Up to 3000 people would flock to the theatre and its grounds Fact 2 - There was no heating in the Globe theatre. Plays were performed in the summer months and transferred to the indoor playhouses during the winter Fact 3 - The Globe was built in a similar style to the Coliseum, but on a smaller scale - other Elizabethan Theatres followed this style of architecture - they were called amphitheatres. Fact 4 - Elizabethan theatres were also used for bear baiting, gambling and for immoral purposes Fact 5 - Elizabethan theatres attracted huge crowds - up to 3000 people Fact 6 - Shakespeare and his company built TWO Globe Theatres! Fact 7 - The Globe theatre was built by a carpenter called Peter Smith together with his workforce. They started building in 1597 and it was finished in 1598 Fact 8 - Many Londoners were strict Protestants - Puritans in fact, who abhorred the theatres and many of the people they attracted and in 1596 London's authorities banned the public presentation of plays and all theatres within the city limits of London. All theatres located in the City were forced to move to the South side of the River Thames Fact 9 - At the start of the play after collecting money from the audience the admission collectors put the boxes in a room backstage - the box office Fact 10 - All theatres located in the City were forced to move to the South side of the River Thames...
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...Samantha Bennett ENG102 03/26/1 Tom Olsen Hamlet The play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is about a prince whose father is murdered by his brother. The entire play is Hamlet trying to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet’s uncle wants to be the king so he marries hamlet’s mother Gertrude. The conflict is very serious because his own family wants to kill him. His cousin is the one doing all the dirty work. The conflict is hazardous to everyone because one wrong move and more than the main people will die. There is a lot to be learned in this play from themes to whether or not the characters are believable. There is a main theme of revenge. Hamlet wants revenge against his uncle for killing his father. He is also upset with him because his mother got remarried so quickly after he died. Throughout the play he tries to find evidence that his uncle murdered his father. The sub theme of hamlet is madness. Hamlet has an antic disposition, which means he acts in a frivolous way. It’s hard to tell if hamlet actually does go mad or if he is faking it to confuse the king and his followers. Hamlet puts on a good show of going mad so no one suspects a thing. Another sub theme is lies and deceit. Hamlet is someone who craves honesty and hates being lied to, but his life pretty much revolves around having to lie to everybody. There are a lot more themes in this play ranging from religion to family. The main themes are the ones we focus the most on when reading...
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...Travelling Players in Hamlet: New Historicist Issues Travelling Players in Hamlet: New Historicist Issues In Hamlet, Shakespeare makes use of a play within a play, as the device through which Prince Hamlet hopes to prove King Claudius’s guilt in the murder of the old King Hamlet. This idea suggests itself to Hamlet in Act 2, Scene 2, when Rosencrantz tells him that a group of actors will soon be arriving at Elsinore, at which point their conversation digresses briefly to the circumstances surrounding these itinerant players. In the space of the next 45 lines, Shakespeare informs his audience of several important issues affecting the real actors of his time. This is of particular interest from the viewpoint of New Historicism, which treats literature as a part of history, and as an expression or representation of forces on history (Holman and Harmon, 318). New Historicism emerged as a theoretical movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s with one of the earliest proponents being Louis A. Montrose. In his essay “Professing the Renaissance: The Poetics and Politics of Culture,” Montrose says that the focus of New Historicism “…has been upon a refiguring of the socio-cultural field within which canonical Renaissance literary and dramatic works were originally produced; upon resituating them not only in relationship to other genres and modes of discourse but also in relationship to contemporaneous social institutions and non-discursive practices”...
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...Each story, whether fiction or non-fiction has important characters that aid, change and/or effect the end result. Edmund, an important character, if not the most important character in the novel King Lear has an effect on almost all the events that occur. Without Edmund, Goneril and Regan would not have been pitted against each other, Gloucester would not have had his eyes gauged and his drive for power may have gone a different route. Edmund’s actions changed the course of the novel by contributing too many deaths and downfalls. Edmund created and became caught in the middle of a spiraling love triangle. Both Goneril and Regan, who were already wed, were now vying for the attention of Edmund. The competition for the affection of Edmund was one of negative result. Both had become so consumed that even the moral thing was not considered. After Regan declared that as a partner, Edmund is an equal, Goneril’ jealousy began to boil. This is where we clearly see the results of Edmunds actions: “Now, sweet lord, You know the goodness I intend upon you: tell me, but truly, but then speak the truth, o you not love my sister?”(V. 1. 7-10.) Regan is questioning Edmunds relationship with Goneril. From here the jealousy evolves. Goneril had poisoned Regan, and with the shame and guilt lying over, Goneril then committed suicide. If not for Edmund, and his love triangle, both sisters would have lived. Most thought of Edmund as a nice gentleman, kind and friendly, but once power was at...
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...father's wishes and marries the husband of her choice, Othello, to a broken betrayed and murdered girl. Throughout the play we are able to notice that Desdemona's character slowly breaks, her confidence begins to shatter as her husband begins to lose his trust towards her and slowly the audience is able to see their relationship disintegrate. Furthermore, the confidence she had from the beginning of the play is gone and replaced by the feelings of betrayal and lose of trust. Throughout the play she has been targeted by jealousy and tragic forces. I think Desdemona in some sense is a tragic heroine, looking at Shakespeare’s and Aristotle's definition of tragedy, one can say that Desdemona is a tragic heroine to some extent. William Shakespeare created his plays and characters from the Aristotelian concept of tragedy. Aristotle a Greek philosopher, defined tragedy consisted of the main protagonist as the tragic hero. Aristotle claimed that for a protagonist to be called a tragic hero/heroine they must have at least 3...
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...KING LEAR Act One The play opens at Lear’s court, where we meet the main characters. The opening scene is in itself shocking, as Lear forces his daughters to declare their love for him. The one who loves him the most will receive the largest part of his kingdom, which he intends to divide between the three. Lear himself wishes to hand over the ruling of the kingdom to his daughters, while retaining the ‘Pre-eminence, and all the large effects / That troop with majesty’ (Scene 1, Lines 131-2). Goneril and Regan acquit themselves well at this love test. Cordelia, however, dismayed by her sisters’ ponderous words, refuses to take part in the ‘contest’ and tells Lear that she loves him as her duty instructs her. When Cordelia refuses to speak again, Lear casts her off without a moment’s hesitation. Ken attempts to argue with the King, accusing him of ‘hideous rashness’ (Scene 1, Line 151). When Kent further warns Lear that his elder daughters are false flatterers, Kent too is banished. Lear invests Albany and Cornwall with power, and, after Burgundy refuses to take Cordelia as his wife, now that she is without dowry, France takes her for her virtues alone. Goneril and Regan complain, in private, about Lear’s harsh judgement and unpredictable behaviour and worry that they too may be treated unfairly. Edmund, Gloucester’s bastard son, soliloquises about his own situation, revealing his devious intentions towards his brother. When his father enters, Edmund’s...
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...As You Like It Summary How It All Goes Down Sir Rowland de Boys has recently died, leaving behind sons Oliver and Orlando. Since Oliver's the eldest son, he's inherited just about everything. This includes the responsibility of making sure his little bro finishes school and continues to live the kind of lifestyle he's become accustomed to as the son of a nobleman. (By the way, this lifestyle looks like a sixteenth-century version of MTV's Teen Cribs.) Oliver, however, treats his little bro like a servant – he refuses to pay for Orlando's education and never gives the kid any spending money. Also, he tells the local court wrestler it would be a good idea to snap Orlando's neck, but Orlando doesn't know about this. Naturally, Orlando is ticked off that Oliver treats him so badly and he's ready to "mutiny" against his older bro. Instead, he channels all of his pent up anger into a wrestling match, where he beats the court wrestler to a bloody pulp. Orlando's wrestling skillz catch the eye of a local girl named Rosalind, who has her own family drama to worry about. (Ros is the daughter of Duke Senior, who used to rule over the French court but was overthrown by his snaky, backstabbing brother, Duke Frederick. Because Rosalind's dad is living in exile in the Forest of Arden, Rosalind has been crashing at the palace with her BFF/cousin, Celia. Did we mention that Celia is the daughter of snaky, backstabbing Duke Frederick? And you thought your family had issues…) Rosalind...
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...The last act of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is where the play brings all the subplots together and the play comes to a “resolution”, a typical convention in Shakespearian comedies usually signified by a wedding, in this case there are two marriages, one between Viola and Orsino and one between Olivia and Sebastien. One of the comedic aspects of the final act of the play is the ever present theme of false appearances and how that creates confusion and ambiguity amongst the characters but the audience as well. In the last scene, it is used by Shakespeare to bring the characters the together and it is very ironic that the source of confusion in the first place is the very thing that ends the confusion in the play. The false appearance of Cesario causes confusion once again as it introduces the theme of homosexuality in the final scene. Viola expresses her love for Orsino through Cesario saying that “more by all mores than e’er I shall love wife” despite the fact that no one knows that Cesario is in fact a women. The fact that Orsino does not deny this love, shows that he has similar feelings, especially because he says that he Cesario is someone that he tenders “dearly”. This is comedic because it shows the reversal of feelings that Orsino has in a very short space of time. Throughout the play he has been infatuated with the concept of a relationship with Olivia, yet now that he is rejected yet again, he turns to his more homosexual side and accepts Cesario’s love for him. This...
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...larger cause of Prince Hamlet’s misery is Queen Gertrude’s disloyal remarriage. By viewing Hamlet’s state of depression in the Elizabethan perspective, Elizabethans believed that the human body is made up of four basic elements, called humors: phlegm, blood, yellow bile and black bile. Hamlet’s seems to be suffering from what Elizabethans referred to as “Melancholy”. This was associated with too much “black bile” in the body. It is similar to what medicine calls “clinical depression” today, in which it is the state led to lethargy, irritability and distorted imagination. Since this is the 17th rather than the 21st century, Hamlet can’t just move on or seek medication; he must plot a homicidal revenge. By creating such tragic situation, Shakespeare succeeded in creating a strong illustration to the victim that people would feel pity for him and his Psychological suffering. Throughout the play, the audiences tumble upon many quotes and factors that prove Hamlet’s courage and nobility. Hamlet is willing to risk god’s wrath to...
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...wrote these infamous words. William Shakespeare is regarded by some as the greatest author within all of the English language. Regardless of one’s true opinion of Shakespeare’s writings, they continue to cycle their way from one generation to the next. His works still hold significant value within all levels of academic teachings. Shakespeare’s literatures range from poems and plays to sonnets. Once he gathered the notion of how the style of blank verse operated, he began to cultivate it into something unique and one he could call his very own. His latest works was that of sonnets, in which were found to be the last of his non-dramatic works to be printed. It is not certain whether any of the themes within his sonnets have a direct correlation to real life individuals, but one could see the underlying humanistic nature that lies within the lines. In William Shakespeare’s works Sonnet 20, Sonnet 62, and Sonnet 12 he thoroughly develops each of the following; motifs, dictions, and internal rhythms. Within the sub sequential paragraphs one will uncover the explanations, analyzation, and evaluations of each of the three selected sonnets. In Sonnet 20, Shakespeare takes on the concept of homosexuality as the central motif found throughout this particular sonnet. In the beginning, the reader is drawn in by these concrete diction characteristics of a charming and beautiful woman, “with nature’s own hand painted.” Using this type of diction Shakespeare is able to create this vivid appearance...
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...your critical reading around the plays compare how Shakespeare presents the theme of perception in ‘Othello’ with wider references to ‘King Lear’ ‘Any man situated as Othello was would have been disturbed by Iago’s communication…’ (Kenneth Muir). The play Othello displays various distinguishable characters that appear misguided and possess a great lack of perception. I am going to explore the character Iago, who presents a cunning and devious character and address the distinct comparisons with the character Edmond in King Lear. I will also study the methods he uses in order to successfully manipulate and theoretically blind the other characters from the truth. Iago represents the antagonist of the play as the ensign of Othello. Iago is a character with very unique and perplexing characteristics. His actions depict a presentation of great evil yet his intentions are not completely understood. It is clear from the beginning of the play what the character of Iago was capable of with the inconsistency of his apparent loyalty. We first find him in the company of Roderigo informing the father of Desdemona that she is wedded to Othello. ‘I am one, sir that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.’ It is evident from the beginning of the play that Iago is a devious and scheming character who gains the trust of the other characters in order to manipulate them. Throughout the play it Shakespeare clearly attempts to enforce the amount of trust...
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...Tiffany Monroe Critical Analysis IV Ms. Gill 12/14/12 Madness and Blindness in King Lear King Lear by Shakespeare is a play that has many motifs and ideals that are supported by its characters. One motif that is introduced in the very beginning is the relationship between blindness and madness. Although the development of this relationship can be seen within characters such as Glouchester the Earl, and Goneril and Regan, the king’s daughters, it is best illustrated by the king himself. The relationship between blindness and madness illustrated in King Lear teaches that blindness will lead to madness, and madness will lead to enlightenment. No character in King Lear experiences the effects of this relationship like the main character himself, King Lear. In the very beginning he proposes a question to his daughters that he has no way of knowing the true answer of; in essence he asks his three daughters how much they love him to see who loves him the most. Two of his daughters, Goneril and Regan feed him lies, and basically tell him that they love him more than life itself. King Lear’s third daughter, Cordelia answers truthfully; she tells him that she loves him for giving her life, and as much as a daughter should love her father. Because of the King’s blindness, he is outraged by this response. He fails to see that Goneril and Regan were lying to get ahead while poor Cordelia, who he then banishes, is the one who truly loves him. The king...
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...The Value of Shakespeare Today What makes Shakespeare stand out from other playwrights of his era is his deep understanding of human nature and the human condition, the timelessness of his works, and hi exquisite mastery of the English language. The Renaissance (during which he wrote) was a particularly transformative time in English history, initiating a sense of English nationalism and pride in English as a language of art. Some critics continue to challenge his authenticity and relevance making the future of Shakespeare within the curriculum of both secondary school and higher education at stake. Shakespearean Literature still speaks to modernity and is therefore important in the schools. Humanism, mastery of the English language, English nationalism, and pride in English Language as an art is brought forth in works such as, As You Like It, King Henry V, and The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. Students need to learn these works in order to have a broadened understanding of the English Language, culture, and history. William Shakespeare has provided the world with guidelines to the English Language, an understanding of human nature, and the ability to deal with a wide variety of emotional situations through his performative literature. Students will continue to benefit from his works of art for centuries to come. Therefore, a 446-year-old playwright is our children’s best resource and greatest teacher. During the Renaissance, the English Language was undergoing...
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