...The Different Flavors of Love Presented By Shakespeare Madhumeta Ganesh @30024 We believe love to be a pure and sweet emotion/virtue shared between two or more creatures; compassion, self-sacrifice and a strong connection between a couple represent the love involved in a relationship. However, in the plays Much Ado About Nothing and Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare shows that either man uses love to achieve his own goals (like Claudio who wants to marry Hero as she is the perfect Elizabethan woman) or love is influenced in man by other people (like Beatrice and Benedick) or the intensity of love even brings about the death of lovers (as in Antony and Cleopatra). In addition, some characters explain their actions by professing or implying that they did them out of love (or heart-break due to lost love) when that is not actually the case. A key scene in Much Ado About Nothing occurs when Claudio publicly declares Hero to be sexually promiscuous just because he apparently saw her speaking to a man outside her bedroom window; Claudio’s tries to redeem his honor in the eyes of the public while giving people the impression that he is a betrayed and heart-broken lover who is shaming Hero. Similarly, in the Battle of Actium which takes place in Antony and Cleopatra, we see Caesar making a grave mistake of following Cleopatra when she sails away mid-battle. “Egypt, thou knew’st too well My heart was to thy rudder tied by th’ strings, And thou shouldst tow me after.” (3.12.60 – 62) ...
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...Antony & Cleopatra Essay A rewrite The theme of duty versus pleasure; the dramatic element of conflict, and the characterization of Antony v. Octavius in Act 1 of the drama Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, sets up the rest of the play and contributes to Antony’s overthrow and Octavius’s victory. The theme of duty versus pleasure is directly advertised in the opening of the play which directly foreshadows the dreadful decisions Antony makes which directly lead to his downfall and Octavius’s victory. The beginning of the play begins with Philo and Demetrius’s conversation, which demonstrates the theme of duty vs. pleasure. For instance, Antony states “There’s not a minute of our lives should stretch without some pleasure now. What sport tonight?” (Act 1, scene 1, page 7). In this quote Antony is telling Cleopatra that they should not just waste time instead they should have a romantic time together. This quote specifically focuses on the theme of pleasure and further signifies how Antony is avoiding his duties towards Rome. Antony presents his carefree attitude when he says “not a minute of our lives should stretch” the readers can easily elaborate upon his downfall as he does not put any focus towards Rome. The words “not a minute” elaborate how all Antony wants is pleasure and Cleopatra by his side. Also, the quote creates a romantic tone as Antony is showcasing his love for Cleopatra. This quote contribute to Antony’s downfall because it highlights Antony’s...
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...position of either their father or their husband. Even more restricting than economic rights were the social and political rights of women. They were expected to be silent observers, submissive to their husbands. Women who attempted to assert their views were seen as a threat to social order. This is significant in that the maintenance of social order was an extremely important aspect of Elizabethan society. Shakespeare is highly sensitive to his target audience in every step of the writing process. He actively plays upon the beliefs and fears of the Elizabethans. With characters such as Goneril and Cleopatra, Shakespeare demonstrates the devastating effects of female rebellion against social order. Shakespeare invokes sympathy in the audience by creating characters of extreme feminine virtue such as Cordelia, Miranda. However, Shakespeare often creates ambiguous emotions in the audience by introducing an element of intelligence and boldness in the case of Isabella and Desdemona. Despite the relative insignificance of women in Elisabethan social order, Shakespeare uses them in many significant ways. He seems to be extremely sensitive to the importance of women in society even though they are often overlooked. The idea that men are often a product of the women in their lives is indirectly suggested in the significant impact women have on men in the plays. Isabella has a profound influence in the lives of Angelo and Claudio; Desdemona, by no true fault of...
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...answer to reach the conclusion it seeks, and some of these questions are: how does the authors use their characters to convey their messages to the audience? How does the playwright portray his Eastern (Orient) character? How does the play reflect the political situation of its age? Did the writers succeed in passing their ideology to their audience? In short, this research aims to deconstruct the stereotypical assumption about the Restoration era as a continuation of the Renaissance age or as Hussein AlHawamdeh comments that "I think their [some of critics he mentions in his dissertation] analysis of Restoration drama as a continuation of the Renaissance anxiety, … is problematic" (Alhawamdeh, 7). What I am going to emphasize in this research is that the restoration drama is unique in itself, and it is not a continuation of the renaissance drama. Another thing, Dryden and Davenant when they adapted Shakespeare's plays, they used a discourse that fits the political situation of their age, by adapting plays written by a well-known playwright like Shakespeare they make it easier for them to get into the mind of the audience to convey their message of peace...
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...Cleopatra’s Sexual Dominance The struggle to find a well-rounded female character in literature is a task in itself, yet William Shakespeare has outdone himself with his version of Cleopatra. She is a queen, a lover and a mother, juggling the complexity of fitting into mainstream Roman society. Shakespeare’s humanly complex characterization of Cleopatra shows the prevailing female sexuality and the influence it has over men. Throughout the entirety of the play Antony and Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen is the topic of almost every conversation between the Romans. She is called a differentiated amount of names, all resonating as a negative connotation. She’s been called ‘whore’ ‘witch’ and ‘wench’ numerous times throughout the play. It felt...
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...from a metaphor in that the latter compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing.[2] Contents 1 Uses o 1.1 In literature o 1.2 Using 'like' o 1.3 Using 'as' o 1.4 Without 'like' or 'as' • 2 Compared to metaphor • 3 See also • 4 References • 5 External links Uses In literature • "Curley was flopping like a fish on a line."[3] • "The very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric."[4] • "Why, man, they both bestride the narrow world like a Colossus."[5] • "But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile."Charles Dickens, in the opening to A Christmas Carol. • "Vincent is as strong as a lion" Using 'like' A simile can explicitly provide the basis of a comparison or leave this basis implicit. In the implicit case the simile leaves the audience to determine for themselves which features of the target are being predicated. It may be a type of sentence that uses 'as' or 'like' to connect the words being compared. • She is like a candy so sweet. • He is like a refiner's fire. • Her eyes twinkled like stars. • He fights like a lion. • He runs like a cheetah. • She is fragrant like a rose. • Gareth is like a lion when he gets angry. • “For hope grew round me, like the twining vine,” (Coleridge - Dejection) Using 'as' The use of 'as' makes the simile more explicit. • She walks as gracefully as a cat. • He was as hungry as a lion. • He was as mean...
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...himself dictator and absolute ruler of Rome and its territories. * In 44 B.C.E. Julius Caesar ordered the senate to make him dictator for life. (Caesar’s actions threatened to end the Republic once and for all. * Fearing this change, a group of senators plotted and executed the murder of Caesar on the Ides of March. * Although the senators succeeded in ending Caesar’s life, they did not realise at that time that the Republic had died with him. Rome would now become an empire. Power Although the biggest argument in Julius Caesar is the change of power in the rulers of Rome, Shakespeare tries to show us many different kinds of power and the use of it. As we can see during the play, people with power use power just for their convenience. During the first part of the play, Shakespeare introduces the characters and the situations. He makes us notice how powerful everyone is. Throughout the different meetings and the dialogues, we can feel the power of the personalities of some characters, which in the nearly future is going to make a difference. The rulers of Rome have so much power that they can control the freedom of the people as we can see when...
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...Early European Theater • The writings of this period were primarily hymns, sermons and similar theologically oriented works. • Latin became a literary medium. • Major preserves of learning are the monasteries. • 8th century Europe returned to greater stability under the Carolingian kings. ➢ Charles Martel – defeated the Moslems at Tours in 732 AD, through his innovative use of armored horsemen as the principal military force, initiating the development of knighthood. ➢ Charlemagne – extended his realm into the Slavic territories and converting non- Christians on the way. Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope and pronounced him as the successor to Constantine. The scenario was the first attempt to establish the Holy Roman Empire. • Charlemagne’s death caused Europe to break into small units isolated from each other and from the world. • Moslem controlled the Mediterranean and the Vikings, still pagans, conquered the northern seas. Early Middle Ages • Life was relatively simple. • Feudalistic patterns were fully established. ➢ Manor (large estate)- headed by a noble man, assumed absolute authority over the peasants who worked his land collectively. ➢ Vassals – supplies the lords a specified number of knights upon demand and the lords in return were bound to protect their vassals. The Theater (500- 900 AD) • The theater revived during the early Middle Ages. • After the Western Roman...
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...Shakespeare’s King Lear is considered by many to be one of his most powerful pieces. Its universal themes and messages that seep through have inspired many other works and allowed room for several adaptations. In his influential critical essay on Hamlet, T.S. Eliot suggests that one could “examine any of Shakespeare’s more successful tragedies…” and always “… find this exact equivalence” (1919). His term ‘objective correlative’ encompasses the phenomena of emotional reaction being created in the audience by the writer or poet or playwrights combination of images, objects or description which evoke the appropriate emotions. This balance of emotions inspired by a narrative determines the success of the objective correlative. Directors in film use the camera to produce and emotional algebra, through which a sequence of images added together form a more complex and prompt emotional reaction in the audience. This essay hopes to explore and discuss the artistic formulas used in Sir Trevor Nunn’s...
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...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 and index. ISBN 978-1-60413-723-1 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4381-3425-3 (e-book) 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpretation. I. Bloom, Harold. II. Heims, Neil. PR2976.W5352 2010 822.3'3—dc22 2010010067 Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities...
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...Выполнила: студентка 4 курса гр. 02194 Бадмаева Л.Б Проверила: преподаватель Федотова Н.А Analysis “The man of Destiny” The text under analysis is entitled “The man of Destiny”, written by a prominent playwright George Bernard Shaw. George Bernard Shaw was born in 26th of July in 1856 in a middle class family in Dublin. He was the second (after Shakespeare) the most popular play writer in the English theatre. His first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Besides, he is known of his outspokenness and “barbed humor”, brilliant dialogues, full of witty paradoxes and often bitterly satirical. Bernard Shaw’s main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Among them are “Saint Joan”, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Pygmalion and “The man of Destiny”. The man of Destiny is an 1897 play. It was published as a part of Plays Pleasant, which also included Arms and the Man, Candida and You never Can Tell. The story takes plays in the 17 century. It consists play of dialogues that includes author’s remarks in brackets. Bernard Shaw called his play “The man of Destiny”, because it was a name given to Napoleon Bonaparte as reflecting his own belief, for he was a fatalist. The story is referred to Drama. Drama is a genre of literature represented...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH LINDA NEAL UNDERWOOD S E R I E S E D I T O R S : W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare developed many stories into excellent dramatizations for the Elizabethan stage. Shakespeare knew how to entertain and involve an audience with fast-paced plots, creative imagery, and multi-faceted characters. Macbeth is an action-packed, psychological thriller that has not lost its impact in nearly four hundred years. The politically ambitious character of Macbeth is as timely today as he was to Shakespeare's audience. Mary McCarthy says in her essay about Macbeth, "It is a troubling thought that Macbeth, of all Shakespeare's characters, should seem the most 'modern,' the only one you could transpose into contemporary battle dress or a sport shirt and slacks." (Signet Classic Macbeth) Audiences today quickly become interested in the plot of a blindly ambitious general with a strong-willed wife who must try to cope with the guilt engendered by their murder of an innocent king in order to further their power. The elements of superstition, ghosts, and witchcraft, though more readily a part of everyday life for the Renaissance audience, remain intriguing to modern teenagers. The action-packed...
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...introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically tragic themes: the role of fate and fortune, the inevitable nature of tragedy, and the isolation of the tragic hero. This teacher’s guide will be divided into several parts: (1) a brief literary overview, including a synopsis and commentary on the play; (2) suggestions for teaching the play, including activities, discussion questions, and essay topics to be used before, during, and...
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...A ROOM OF ONES OWN [* This essay is based upon two papers read to the Arts Society at Newnharn and the Odtaa at Girton in October 1928. The papers were too long to be read in full, and have since been altered and expanded.] ONE But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction--what, has that got to do with a room of one's own? I will try to explain. When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of a river and began to wonder what the words meant. They might mean simply a few remarks about Fanny Burney; a few more about Jane Austen; a tribute to the Brontës and a sketch of Haworth Parsonage under snow; some witticisms if possible about Miss Mitford; a respectful allusion to George Eliot; a reference to Mrs Gaskell and one would have done. But at second sight the words seemed not so simple. The title women and fiction might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and what they are like, or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; or it might mean women and the fiction that is written about them, or it might mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and you want me to consider them in that light. But when I began to consider the subject in this last way, which seemed the most interesting, I soon saw that it had one fatal drawback. I should never be able to come to a conclusion. I should never be able to fulfil what is, I understand, the first duty of a lecturer to hand you after an hour's discourse a...
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...Asconius and Appian suggest? These contrasting accounts in the ancient sources warrant further investigation. This thesis seeks to explore the nature of Fulvia’s role in history to the extent that the evidence permits. Fulvia is most famous for her activities during Antony’s consulship (44 BC) and his brother Lucius Antonius’ struggle against C. Octavian in the Perusine War (41-40 BC). But there is a discrepancy among the authors as to what extent she was actually involved. Cicero, Octavian and Antony, who were all key players in events, provide their own particular versions of what occurred. Later authors, such as Appian and Dio, may have been influenced by these earlier, hostile accounts of Fulvia. This is the first study in English to make use of all the available evidence, both literary and material, pertaining to Fulvia. Modern scholarship has a tendency to concentrate almost exclusively on events towards the end of Fulvia’s life, in particular the Perusine War, about which the evidence is much more abundant in later sources such as Appian and Dio. However, to do this ignores the importance of her earlier activities which, if studied more fully, can help to explain her later actions in the 40’s BC. This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first provides an introduction to the topic and a biography of Fulvia. The second is a review of the modern scholarship ii on Fulvia. The third focuses on the contemporary sources,...
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