"Macbeth's ambition caused him to commit the crimes - Nobody else influenced him" - Discuss.
"Macbeth's ambition caused him to commit the crimes. Nobody else influenced him." Discuss. Throughout the play Macbeth commits a number of crimes. This is due to a number of reasons; some when other characters in the play influenced him, however they are only reflecting his own secret desires, and some when his "ambition caused him to commit the crimes". Macbeth is first perceived as courageous, strong and a good general. He is co-leader of Duncan's army along with Banquo. He is described as "brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name" and "Noble Macbeth" and even "Bellona's bridegroom" - a fit husband for the Roman goddess of war. All hold him in high regard. He is rewarded with the title of Thane of Cawdor, although Macbeth is unaware of this yet. In Act 1, Scene 3, the three witches meet with Macbeth for the first time, whilst Banquo accompanied him. He is initially shocked by their appearance and is stunned by their prophecies that he will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. "Second witch: All hail, Macbeth! Thane of Cawdor! Third witch: All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!" Macbeth questions their prophecies but the witches vanish. Soon after, Ross and Angus arrive and tell Macbeth that he has become Thane of Cawdor. He then chooses to see this as a sign that he is also destined to become king of Scotland and for the first time we see his
"Man for the field and woman for the hearth, man for the sword and for the needle she, man with the head and woman with the heart, man to command and women to obey" to what extent does Tennyson's poetry conform to these gender stereotypes?
"Man for the field and woman for the hearth, man for the sword and for the needle she, man with the head and woman with the heart, man to command and women to obey" to what extent does Tennyson's poetry conform to these gender stereotypes? Lord Alfred Tennyson was one of the best poets of the 19th century, his works inspiring writers even today. Tennyson uses a lot of his own experience and beliefs in his poems; it is probable that they were his medium for spreading his 'message'. One of his poems, Ulysses, tells of a brave King of Ithaca, Ulysses (also known as Odysseus) who lead the Cephallenians against Troy. Ulysses is very much a figure of masculinity, he is a brave warrior king who has travelled the oceans and is an important icon in Greek mythology. In this poem Ulysses tells of how he yearns for more adventure and finally decides to make one last voyage in search of a "newer world", he is old and it is implied that he will not return alive. As well as being adventurous and brave Ulysses takes great pride in leaving his son his kingship, "This is my son Telemachus, To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle-", it is quite stereotypical of a man to want his first born son to rule after him. The only mention of Ulysses' wife is "Match'd with an aged wife," which is hardly a positive comment, she is female and therefore is nothing to do with Ulysses' adventures and deeds,
The Tollund Man
Becki Lee The Tollund Man Coursework The Tollund Man is one of Europe's best-known bog bodies. He was found, alongside The Grauballe Man in the early 1950s. Bog bodies recovered from the past are quite wide spread throughout Northern Europe, especially in Denmark, Germany and Ireland. The peat perfectly preserves the bodies due to anaerobic conditions, although the bodies are found blackened, their fingertips, hair and clothing are all still intact. Seamus Heaney uses the bog bodies in his poetry to "uncover, in their meditations, a history of Ireland's conquest, first by Viking's and later by the English". 'Tollund Man' opens quietly and effectively like Glob's initial description, "an evocative and poetic prose", and it is mirrored by the structure of quatrains which is divided into three sections. The first verse is mostly monosyllabic, 'some day I will...to see his peat...' making the words sound hard, which sets the scene as it is a serious subject. There is also no repetition of vowels or consonants which shows a lack in fluency. The repetition of p in the words 'peat' and 'pods' makes the verse sound very pronounced. Moreover, the smallness of his head is defined by the short i's and alliterated p's of the monosyllabic words in the first verse. "The balance of the initial and final p's in the fourth line seals the
Snowdrops (short story) analysis
What happens in Snowdrops? This story is important as much for what we do not learn directly as for the surface narrative. The story appears to be about a boy and his day at school. He goes to a primary school in Wales - in a town that seems like the author's hometown of Merthyr. Apart from a few very specific details that tell us this, the town could be almost anywhere. His teacher has promised the class that they can go outside to look at the snowdrops that are now coming up. While the children are looking at the snowdrops, they can see a funeral procession passing the school. The boys' parents have spoken earlier about a young man, killed in a motorbike accident, and it is his funeral. Evidently the teacher knows this, for she stands watching and crying. The story that Leslie Norris does not tell directly, but tells indirectly by hints and clues, is about the love between the young man who has died and the teacher, Miss Webster. The themes of this story The title of the story suggests one of its themes - of course it is about snowdrops literally. But for the reader and for the children in the narrative, snowdrops symbolize the renewal of life that comes in the spring, or perhaps eternal life beyond the grave for those who have died. We also see, in the contrast of the adult conversation and the viewpoint of the child the idea of childhood and growing up. There may be
Choose three contrasting poems that you feel show the difference in the attitudes and experiences of those people who were part of World War One. Analyse them in relation to how they demonstrate the experiences and feelings towards war at the time.
Choose three contrasting poems that you feel show the difference in the attitudes and experiences of those people who were part of World War One. Analyse them in relation to how they demonstrate the experiences and feelings towards war at the time. The three poets that I am choosing to write about are, Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, and Rupert Brooke. The reason that the three poems contrast is the tone and content of the poem. Rupert Brooke had idealistic views of the war; his poems were seen as moral support for the soldiers. Siegfried Sassoon's poems showed the realistic view of the war, the brutal truth. Thomas Hardy is more unique than the other two writers he wrote about idealistic views, but he never actually went to war, he never had the first hand knowledge that the other two poets had, his poetry was speculation and imagination. In my essay I will analyse a poem from each poet and try to demonstrate the feelings, emotions and experiences towards war. Siegfried Sassoon's 'Suicide in the Trenches' is written realistically in its views of the war. Sassoon had been born into English aristocracy and privilege and was educated in England's finest universities. When WWI broke out, Sassoon enlisted in the army and distinguished himself as an officer. Within a short time, however, his attitude about the war changed as a result of the brutality he witnessed in the
"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter - With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale
"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter "With close reference to one of the tales, discuss how Carter draws upon and subverts conventions of the fairy tale" Usually fairy tales are told to children to teach them a moral lesson in life or as is mostly the case, help them tell the difference between good and bad. Angela Carter is someone known to take elements from fairy tales and turn them into well written, exciting, compelling complex dramas of a Gothic nature filled with sexual innuendo, a combination of different narrations (mainly first and third), strong heroic female characters and the evil villain - the male. "The Bloody Chamber" is a modern interpretation of the "Blue Beard" (character below) fairy tale which uses this very formula to create an exciting and dramatic story. In a nutshell both stories are about young women (in their late teens, on the verge of turning into womanhood) who marry a wealthy man and leave a life of modesty behind them. The young women are given a set of keys which allows them to explore every room in the house - except one (the 'bloody' chamber) , if that room is entered, dire consequences shall follow (death). Naturally the young women ignore the advice of their intimidating, menacing and much older husbands to enter the room and fall into the trap set up for them and like every disobedient child, they MUST be punished. With reading the
"The British are bad news to the Irish" - "Explore critical views and explain your own viewpoint as to whether this is the point Brian Friel is making in his play Translations."
"Translations" By Brian Friel "The British are bad news to the Irish" "Explore critical views and explain your own viewpoint as to whether this is the point Brian Friel is making in his play Translations." The quote "The British are bad news to the Irish" is taken from the article "What's On in London" and it was the writer Kenneth Hurren who wrote the column. Kenneth Hurren also wrote in this column, "With Translations it transpires that Friel is not at all foolish and has shrewdly cottoned on to where he was making this mistake in pressing for the withdrawal of Britain and her troops from his country. Fundamentally he is still making the same points, he is still saying that the British are bad news to the Irish; but he is saying it subtly and persuasively in terms of a marvellously eloquent and ostensibly fair - minded play, full of humour and humanity, instinct with grace and understanding." Brian Friel was born in 1929 and has had a successful career as a play-writer he is known for his famous plays "Philadelphia here I come", "Lovers", "Freedom of the city", "Faith Healer" and many more excellent plays. All of Friel's work has had something to do with Ireland and Irish themes. Brian Friel's "Translations" is a play, which is an interpretation of Ireland in the 1830s and the play shows a great change in the society at that time. At the time "Translations" was
Long Days Journey into night - Analysing a scene The place of the scene is the dramatic resolution of the play, to be more exact, the end of it. In this scene, the conflict
Long Days Journey into night - Analysing a scene The place of the scene is the dramatic resolution of the play, to be more exact, the end of it. In this scene, the conflict completely revealed, the reader knows the past and the conflict as well. All the four characters has been there. Jamie and Edmund are in the room, Jamie is sleeping and simultaneously James is coming into the room. He wanted not to speak to Jamie, however the drunken Jamie woke up and started to say poetic sentences and cite from different works in order to make his father furious and start an argument. Edmund is the one who makes them to stop that before Mary comes from her room with full of morphine. Jamie starts to make comments on his mother and creates another conflict with Edmund and James. Mary starts to speak to herself ignoring everyone in the room while the others are staring at her. They are trying to make contact with Mary, without any result. The men start to drink and ignore her; Mary is still speaking to herself. The tensions are very obvious, because in that part of the plot everyone knows what happened to Mary and what is the relationship among the family members. Like in the beginning James Tyrone doesn't want to be with Jamie in the same room, and later their conversation full of anger and hatred, these acts are revealing that they don't like each other. Later on, when Mary comes into
Long Days Journey into Night: Character Analysis
Long Days Journey into Night: Character Analysis In this essay I shall be examining two characters and their actions and roles in the book I shall also be comparing the two characters and examining their relationship with one another. I have chosen to examine Jamie and Edmund. Jamie is considered a failure by our standards; he was neglected as a child by his parents and never loved. He has become an alcoholic, like his father, and has no prospects for the future. He is often described as a 'whoremonger' as he resorts to brothels to make up for the lack of love he receives at home. He is blamed for killing his brother Eugene who died as a baby from illness. Edmund has been ill since he was born and this is often blamed on Jamie. He is the child born after Eugene and is mollycoddled by his mother, Mary who is afraid to let him go. He is beginning to become an alcoholic through his brother's bad influence. He is Eugene O'Neill's double in the play, and has sailed around the world but is now sick with consumption, even though he has no more lines than anyone else the play tends to revolve around him with it climaxing at the forgiveness of his father and brother for all the bad things he has done to him. Both Jamie and Edmund are deeply aware of their mother's drug problem. The first point I am addressing with Jamie is his role as a 'failure'. During the book Jamie is always
Choose three significant scenes during the course of Romeo and Juliet to illustrate Juliet's character - Looking closely at Juliet's words, behaviours and responses indicate how she develops as the play progresses towards its tragic conclusion.
Choose three significant scenes during the course of Romeo and Juliet to illustrate Juliet's character. Looking closely at Juliet's words, behaviours and responses indicate how she develops as the play progresses towards its tragic conclusion. Juliet's character is dramatically portrayed in this play. The two main characters, Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague both change and mature over the progress of the play but Juliet changes from what could be seen as 'girl to woman' in just under a week. There is a definite difference in her personality from the meeting of Romeo to her marriage to him. As the play progresses, we see Juliet maturing and developing into an independent young woman, which is quite different from the beginning of the play when Juliet never thought of marriage or of defying her parents and family. In Scene 1 Act 3 Juliet enters the play alongside Lady Capulet and the Nurse, who approach her to talk about a forthcoming marriage that Lady Capulet and her husband have planned. They want her to marry Paris at the age of thirteen, however with Juliet being so young and unsure of herself, and of what marriage entails, she does not really have anything to say on the issue. Before they start to talk about this subject, the Nurse and Lady Capulet talk about Juliet's age, and Shakespeare seems to make sure that the point she is only thirteen stand out among all other
