...According to the Paperback Canadian Oxford Dictionary, to be mad is to be "insane" and to have "a disordered mind." Throughout King Lear, there are several different characters who one would question if they are in an orderly state of mind. The Earl of Kent, Edgar, the Fool, and King Lear all portray varying degrees of madness. Some have alternative motives behind their madness while others are simply losing touch with reality around them. The Earl of Kent is a close advisor to King Lear. Lear decides to split up his kingdom between his two daughters, Regan and Goneril, and to banish his youngest daughter, Cordelia, from the kingdom. Kent strongly advises Lear to keep reign over his own kingdom and insists that Cordelia should not be renounced. With these displeasing remarks to Lear, Kent is banished from the kingdom as well. Instead of leaving the kingdom, Kent returns under a disguise to continue to watch over Lear. While trying to gain a place in the king's company, Kent plays the role of a somewhat senile old man who has extreme loyalty to his king. Take, for instance, Kent physically and verbally attacking the servant, Oswald, for no more reason than to gain a laugh from the king and reinforce his loyalty to the king. These acts, while they do have good reason behind them, lead to Kent being put in the stocks. Some will say that to risk being caught while banished from the kingdom is mad. It is an even madder deed to take company with the one who has banished you in the...
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...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Justice King Lear is a brutal play, filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters. The play’s succession of terrible events raises an obvious question for the characters—namely, whether there is any possibility of justice in the world, or whether the world is fundamentally indifferent or even hostile to humankind. Various characters offer their opinions: “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; / They kill us for their sport,” Gloucester muses, realizing it foolish for humankind to assume that the natural world works in parallel with socially or morally convenient notions of justice (4.1.37–38). Edgar, on the other hand, insists that “the gods are just,” believing that individuals get what they deserve (5.3.169). But, in the end, we are left with only a terrifying uncertainty—although the wicked die, the good die along with them, culminating in the awful image of Lear cradling Cordelia’s body in his arms. There is goodness in the world of the play, but there is also madness and death, and it is difficult to tell which triumphs in the end. Authority versus Chaos King Lear is about political authority as much as it is about family dynamics. Lear is not only a father but also a king, and when he gives away his authority to the unworthy and evil Goneril and Regan, he delivers not only himself and his family but all of Britain into chaos and cruelty. As...
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...How does Shakespeare explore the theme of ‘Justice’ in King Lear? It is often assumed that the role of ‘Justice’ within a play is to serve as the source of goodness and anti-thesis of suffering, however in ‘King Lear’ Shakespeare utilises the theme of Justice to portray powerful messages, providing not just a contrast to the deterioration within the play but an explanation for the anguish witnessed. The notion of ‘Poetic Justice’ or deserved retribution is arguably denied by Shakespeare in ‘King Lear’, revealing the dangers of ‘unnatural evils’ and their far reaching consequences through its absence. The uncomfortable dramatic irony throughout Gloucester’s journey to his attempted suicide as he calls out for his ‘dear son Edgar,’ unaware that he stands before him, leaves the audience desiring union and peace for the victim of a horribly vivid crime. Despite this, resolution is never achieved, the eventual union causes only further death and is reported alongside Edgars regret, ‘’Never - O fault - revealed myself’, and bitter comments about Gloucester's ‘flawed heart’. As a result Shakespeare builds pity for the character of Gloucester to an unbearable level, denies the audience an opportunity for ‘catharsis’ and hence Gloucester's fate feels poetically unjust. In a society that saw suicide as a deadly sin, synonymous with questioning God’s wisdom and an ingratitude for the sacrifice of Christ, the real significance of Gloucester’s hopeless situation lies in it serving as...
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...Title: The Tragedy of King Lear Author: William Shakespeare DOP: 1606 Genre: Shakespearean tragedy Writing Style: Play Setting: King Lear's castle in Albion England. Goneril's home. Gloucester's castle. The Cliffs of Dover Plot: Act I. Shakespeare's dark tragedy, King Lear begins with the fictional King of England, King Lear, handing over his kingdom to daughters Regan and Goneril whom he believes truly love him. King Lear intends to stay with each daughter consecutively, accompanied by one hundred loyal knights. Angry that Cordelia his youngest daughter does not appear to love him as do Goneril and Regan, Lear banishes his youngest daughter Cordelia, and Kent, the servant who attempts to defend her. Cordelia leaves and is taken by the King of France as his Queen. Edmund, the loved but illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester plots to have his elder brother Edgar's reputation ruined. Edmund tricks his father Gloucester into believing that Edgar wanted to kill him. The disrespectful Goneril conspires to have her guest and father, King Lear, driven out of her house. Kent, who has now disguised his identity to serve King Lear, earns King Lear's respect by defending his name. Goneril offends King Lear and dismisses fifty of his knights. Lear starts to realize Cordelia was not so disrespecting. Lear decides to leave for Regan where he is sure to be treated properly. Lear instructs Kent to deliver several letters to Gloucester. The Fool teaches Lear several riddles. Act II....
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...Themes Although Romeo and Juliet is classified as a tragedy, it more closely resembles Shakespeare's comedies than his other tragedies. The lovers and their battle with authority is reminiscent of As You Like It and The Winter's Tale. "Characteristically, those comedies concern themselves with the inborn, unargued stupidity of older people and the life-affirming gaiety and resourcefulness of young ones. The lovers thread their way through obstacles set up by middle aged vanity and impercipience. Parents are stupid and do not know what it best for their children or themselves . . . [Romeo and Juliet] begins with the materials for a comedy - the stupid parental generation, the instant attraction of the young lovers, the quick surface life of street fights, masked balls and comic servants" (Wain, p. 107). Indeed, one could view Romeo and Juliet as a transitional play in which Shakespeare merges the comedic elements perfected in his earlier work with tragic elements he would later perfect in the great tragedies -- Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. This mixture of styles ultimately hurts Romeo and Juliet, exposing the immaturity of the playwright. The heroes of the play must contend with external forces that impede their relationship, but, unlike the great tragic heroes, they are devoid of the inner struggle that makes for great tragedy. The influential Shakespearean scholar, A.C. Bradley, went so far as to neglect the play entirely in his well-known collection of lectures...
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...is of Gwen Harwood’s Poem, “Mother Who Gave Me Life” <Read “Mother Who Gave Me Life” (MWGML)> Throughout this poem I think Gwen Harwood explores a universal theme of loss as a distinctive feature throughout her poems, in particular loss of loved ones, which can be valued by contemporary audiences today due to it being an issue that is faced by everybody in their life at some point. When a loved one is no longer part of an individual’s life, one may experience grief and as a result realise the role and importance of that loved one. From my perspective, Harwood presents the concept of loss of loved ones through MWGML with the euphemism “You left the world so”, which highlights that her mother was not only a loss to her life but also a loss to the world, suggesting that she had great value and respect for her mother. There is a similar significance placed on her mother’s life that is stressed with the use of alliteration in “lived nearly thirty thousand days”. This presents the idea that she lived daily as a mother contributing to the lives of her children. Harwood also introduces a cloth motif in her poem, through the line “when she died she was folding a little towel” to highlight the importance of her day to day life. Harwood then sustains this motif later in her poem with “a fabric of marvels”. This motif, combined with “lived nearly thirty thousand days”, reinforces the concept that every day of her life was important. Also through the use of the...
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...King Lear Themes Table Themes Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5 Critics Overview Shakespeare's dark tragedy, King Lear begins with the fictional King of England, King Lear, handing over his kingdom to daughters Regan and Goneril whom he believes truly love him. King Lear intends to stay with each daughter consecutively, accompanied by one hundred loyal knights.! Angry that Cordelia his youngest daughter does not appear to love him as do Goneril and Regan, Lear banishes his youngest daughter Cordelia, and Kent, the servant who attempts to defend her. Cordelia leaves and is taken by the King of France as his Queen...! Edmund, the loved but illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester plots to have his elder brother Edgar's reputation ruined. Edmund tricks his father Gloucester into believing that Edgar wanted to kill him...! The disrespectful Goneril conspires to have her guest and father, King Lear, driven out of her house.! Kent, who has now disguised his identity to serve King Lear, earns King Lear's respect by defending his name. Goneril offends King Lear and dismisses fifty of his knights. Lear starts to realize Cordelia was not so disrespecting. Lear decides to leave for Regan where he is sure to be treated properly...! Lear instructs Kent to deliver several letters to Gloucester. The Fool teaches Lear several riddles. We learn of possible conflict between evil sisters Regan and Goneril. Edmund further manipulates...
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...insults could have a different purpose and meaning. In todays world, everyone is politically correct and meticulous about racially insulting people. Therefore many people, like Vienne-Guerrin, can consider the insults in The Merchant of Venice to be unsettling when truthfully they are simply reflections of their time period. Vienne-Guerrin makes a major flaw in comparing The Merchant of Venice to Much ado about Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The three of these plays have completely different plots and characters. Each of these plays have a different message, therefore each have their own style of humour. Therefore, it is not logical to compare them to each other. Each Shakespeare is it's own work of art with different themes and motifs. One may enjoy King Lear more than Macbeth, but that does not make Macbeth a poor story without humour. It is a matter of opinion and what ones style and preferred genre of story...
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...ASPECTS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1066-1500) Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Latin After the Conquest: dramatic changes in language and cultural temperament Old English literature: Middle English literature realistic,matter-of-fact,unromantic, growing audience, a panorama of most serious, often melancholic, diverse folk of many social classes (castle, monochrome gray, loyalty to the lord, barnyard, town); the appearance of leasure desperate courage in defeat, class and an audience of women rigorous adherence to the tribal code; new type of secular entertainment: major theme: agony of the lordless man, code continued but became chivalric social alienation, noble and heroic deeds; agony of alienation, physical hardships for audience: almost exclusively male;lords and the sovereign lady thanes - no mention of lower classes, strong courtly flavour, …So they duly arrived The sumptuous bed on which she lay in their grim war-graith and gear at the hall, Was beautiful. The drapes and tassel, and, weary from the sea, stacked wide shields Sheets and pillows worth a castle. of the toughest hardwood against the wall, The single gown she wore was sheer … And made her shapely form appear. … And the troops themselves She’d thrown, in order to keep warm, were as good as their weapons. Then a proud warrior An ermine stole over her arm, questioned the men concerning their origins: White fur with the lining dyed ...
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...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...
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...ARTS TEACHERS’ GUIDE Grade 9 ARTS Teacher’s Guide Unit I WESTERN CLASSICAL ART TRADITIONS GRADE 9 Unit 1 ARTS TEACHERS’ GUIDE GRADE 9 Unit 1 WESTERN CLASSICAL ART TRADITIONS LEARNING AREA STANDARD The learner demonstrates an understanding of basic concepts and processes in music and art through appreciation, analysis and performance for his/her self-development, celebration of his/her Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and expansion of his/her world vision. key - stage STANDARD The learner demonstrates understanding of salient features of music and arts of the Philippines and the world, through appreciation, analysis, and performance, for self-development, the celebration of Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and the expansion of one’s world vision. grade level STANDARD The learner demonstrates understanding of salient features of Western music and the arts from different historical periods, through appreciation, analysis, and performance for self-development, the celebration of Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and the expansion of one’s world vision. CONTENT STANDARDs The Learner: demonstrates understanding of art elements and processes by synthesizing and applying prior knowledge and skills demonstrates understanding that the arts are integral to the development of organizations, spiritual belief, historical events, scientific discoveries, natural disasters/ occurrences and other external phenomenon ...
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... (Redirected from The tempest) This article is about the Shakespeare play. For other uses, see The Tempest (disambiguation). The shipwreck in Act I, Scene 1, in a 1797 engraving by Benjamin Smith after a painting by George Romney The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skilful manipulation. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to lure his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to the island. There, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio's lowly nature, the redemption of the King, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonso's son, Ferdinand. There is no obvious single source for the plot of The Tempest, but researchers have seen parallels in Erasmus's Naufragium, Peter Martyr's De orbe novo, and eyewitness reports by William Strachey and Sylvester Jordain of the real-life shipwreck of the Sea Venture on the islands of Bermuda, and the subsequent conflict between Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers. In addition, one of Gonzalo's speeches is derived from Montaigne's essay Of the Canibales, and much of Prospero's renunciative speech is taken word for word from a speech by Medea in Ovid's poem Metamorphoses. The masque in Act 4 may have been a later addition...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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...re tu ra li CAPE Modern te ng Languages Literatures nE e siniEnglish ur e at l er g it En sin ur e at er it L Caribbean Examinations Council ® SYLLABUS SPECIMEN PAPER CSEC® SYLLABUS,MARK SCHEME SPECIMEN PAPER, MARK SCHEME SUBJECT REPORTS AND SUBJECT REPORTS Macmillan Education 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW A division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Companies and representatives throughout the world www.macmillan-caribbean.com ISBN 978-0-230-48228-9 © Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC ®) 2015 www.cxc.org www.cxc-store.com The author has asserted their right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 This revised version published 2015 Permission to copy The material in this book is copyright. However, the publisher grants permission for copies to be made without fee. Individuals may make copies for their own use or for use by classes of which they are in charge; institutions may make copies for use within and by the staff and students of that institution. For copying in any other circumstances, prior permission in writing must be obtained from Macmillan Publishers Limited. Under no circumstances may the material in this book be used, in part or in its entirety, for commercial gain. It must not be sold in any format. Designed by Macmillan Publishers Limited Cover design by Macmillan Publishers Limited and Red Giraffe CAPE® Literatures...
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... London; Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh; Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT. © 2010 Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and cultural institution. WPTC Performance Guides may be duplicated at no charge for educational purposes only. They may not be sold or used in other publications without the express written consent of the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company. Weston Playhouse Theatre Company Weston Playhouse Theatre Company DEATH OF A SALESMAN Study Guide for Teachers TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Interview with Director Steve Stettler The Playwright Arthur Miller in his own words Inspiration for Death of a Salesman Writing Death of a Salesman The Characters Synopsis The Setting Themes Motifs...
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