All of the characters who experience misfortune in Othello bring it upon themselves. Discuss the truth of this statement

Essay: Othello All of the characters who experience misfortune in Othello bring it upon themselves. Discuss the truth of this statement. Many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies portray characters that eventually experience misfortune by the end of the play. Othello is a prime example of depicting various characters that each come to their own downfall because of a critical weakness. In the play, Othello’s mislead insecurities in his wife’s love for him, Roderigo’s foolish trusting nature, and Desdemona’s submissive naivety all illustrate Shakespeare’s usage of a critical weakness in creating each character’s own downfall. Othello, who slowly becomes increasingly jealous of Cassio, begins to reveal his key weakness of being mislead to insecurity in his innocent wife’s love for him. Scene 3 of Act 3 is crucial as it outwardly reveals the slow but important transition of Othello’s peaceful state to one of constant insecurity, shown through the short and direct dialogue given by Othello. In the previous acts, he would rarely ask such questions; he would openly display his thoughts. However, it becomes clear that he starts to respond much differently. He starts to demand Iago many direct questions such as, “Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?” (3.3.38), and, “Why of thy thought, Iago?” (3.3.108). These regard the touchy circumstance of Cassio’s

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Alfred Tennyson and Wilfred Owen present different ideas about war in their poems, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "Dulce et Decorum est". Write about these poems and their effect on you.

Lucy Victoria Haig Friday 3rd December Alfred Tennyson and Wilfred Owen present different ideas about war in their poems, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "Dulce et Decorum est". Write about these poems and their effect on you. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, about The Battle of Balaclava which took place in 1854. Tennyson wrote the poem using information from an article in The Times and it remembers the bravery of the outnumbered cavalry men who were wrongly sent into battle. "Dulce et Decorum est" was written by Wilfred Owen during the First World War. It was written to show the truth about war and to illustrate that it is not a good thing to die for your country. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" has six verses. The third, fourth and fifth stanzas concentrate on the battle itself. The main part of the battle is depicted in verse four and tells how the soldiers were "sabring the gunners" and how "Cossack and Russian reeled" portraying the victory of the Light Brigade. The final stanza is a message from the poet to "honour the Light Brigade" and not to forget what the six hundred men did. The poem has a constant rhyming pattern all the way through with words like "blundered", "hundred", "thundered" and "wondered" or "shell", "fell" and "well". Having this rhyming pattern throughout makes the poem seem to flow

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Analyse William Golding's choice of language during and after the killing of Simon. Why does the language use change?

Analyse William Golding's choice of language during and after the killing of Simon. Why does the language use change? "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" This is the chant that begins the section, increased in its violence as it now says "kill the beast" representing the feelings of the boys. They want to destroy the beast but can't find it as it is inside each of them. This causes them to get ever more angry and frenzied, starting a ritualistic "dance" with "the chant" beating "like a steady pulse". This is reminiscent of Simon's experience earlier when a "pulse started to throb in his temple", just before he went into a fit. This suggests that the boys are also going into a trance or fit, but a much more dangerous one, unaware of their actions. They lose their individuality and start "the throb and stamp of a single organism", again with the throbbing and stamping inducing images of a trance-like ritual. Also the symbolisms of circles and the weather are repeated. The circle now "yawns emptily" waiting to catch someone inside. The weather is threatening, "Thunder boomed...the dark sky was shattered...scar...blow of a gigantic whip". This is a great contrast to the clear skies earlier in the book that symbolised peace. Now they begin to become terrified by the weather and the trance and out of this terror "rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind". This is

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What is the importance of the land in Twentieth Century Irish Poetry?

What is the importance of the land in Twentieth Century Irish Poetry? Land in the Twentieth Century was very important to the Irish nation, and this is portrayed through the works of certain pieces of poetry, written by native countrymen Thomas Kinsella and Seamus Heaney. The poem 'Wormwood' is expressed by Thomas Kinsella in a powerful and descriptive manner where the reader can experience the deepest thoughts of the writer, in his or her own way. The reader feels a sense of involvement as Kinsella sets the scene in the dank woods: "In a thicket, among wet trees, stunned, minutely Shuddering, hearing a wooden echo escape." Kinsella informs us of a tree, which he is in fact bewildered by. How he has never come across a tree like this before. It has a certain grace and elegance due to its individuality. The sheer size of the tree he finds mesmerizing, and describing the slenderness of how the tree appears to the naked eye: "The two trees in their infinitesimal dance of growth Have turned completely about one another, their join A slowly twisted scar..." Then Kinsella's dreams are shattered, as a kind of axe breaks the bond between these two trees. As this axe shatters the tree it also shatters the dreams of Kinsella: "A wooden stroke: Iron sinks in the gasping core. I will dream it again." Wormwood was one of Kinsella's poems which he wrote during the twentieth

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Why is Bottom such a well-loved character? Explain with reference to 'A Midsummer Nights Dream'

Why is Bottom such a well-loved character? Explain with reference to 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. It was written in 1595 so was one of his earlier plays. Nick Bottom is one of the main characters in the play and is easily the funniest and most well loved. By well loved, I mean that he is well liked my other characters in the play and especially by the audience. He figures in many of the scenes in the play and crosses into the different 'worlds' within the play. He wanders into the world of the fairies during the play and also into the Royal World! Both of these worlds give Bottom a chance to show a bit more of his comical character. The play itself was aimed at an audience of Kings and Queens. It was written just after the plague had swept through the country killing thousands of people so this may have influenced Shakespeare into writing a play with a touch of humour in it. Shakespeare is undoubtedly the best play write that has ever lived and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' has always been one of his most popular plays. There are many main characters in the play that all have an important role within the play. Bottom may not be the main character, however he is the character that the audience will remember the most about once the play has finished. Bottom gets his slightly comical name from being a working

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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