"Hippolyta and Titania are consorts who defy their Lords, but ultimately submit to their lordship". Examine how Shakespeare treats the female characters and explores the role of women in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

"Hippolyta and Titania are consorts who defy their Lords, but ultimately submit to their lordship". Examine how Shakespeare treats the female characters and explores the role of women in the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is said to be written between 1594 and 1596. It is also thought it was written around the period 'Romeo & Juliet'. Similarities between the two do occur between the plays, for example the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe' which is performed by Peter Quince's men has the same tragic ending as 'Romeo & Juliet'. William Shakespeare at this time was the play writer for Elizabeth I .Shakespeare therefore gave the female characters in his plays, some sort of power. By doing this Shakespeare could not irritate the Queen by creating a play which was based on male characters. During the time of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, there were religious tensions between Catholics and Protestants. The Queen tried to treat the two religions equally and by encouraging them to live in peace. (1). Despite her attempts to bring about peace within the religious community, she was ruling a country torn apart by religious tensions. Also during the time of Queen Elizabeth's life was in danger, her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots wanted to have her killed. Fortunately for Queen Elizabeth, her cousins' plot was uncovered and she was tried and sentenced to death in

  • Word count: 1903
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"His nature is not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity." Consider Tennessee Williams' presentation of Tom in the light of this statement

"His nature is not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity." Consider Tennessee Williams' presentation of Tom in the light of this statement The character of Tom in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie is perhaps the most interesting in the play, in that he is in some ways the most real character, even more so than Jim, in a world of memories. The main reason for this is that Tom is Williams' autobiographical character, which is especially evident in the narrative aspect. The early life of Williams was very much like that of Tom, with the same sort of domestic problems occurring, and so through Tom we have a window into Williams' life. Therefore Tom is going to be shown in a generally flattering life, as he is a reflection of Williams, and thus we see a character who is quiet, artistic, caring, tender and deeply regretful of having to abandon his mother and sister to their fate. Tom's actions throughout the play cement his quiet, caring nature, except for the odd argument, although even when he loses his temper completely he never strikes anyone, but does have some quite cutting things to say. However, at the end, he does the unexpected, leaving his mother and sister to fend for themselves. I do not believe this makes him remorseless, as he is within his rights to leave, and Laura isn't completely helpless - only in her mind (Jim's analysis

  • Word count: 939
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"How does Dickens' create mystery and suspense in his writing?"

"How does Dickens' create mystery and suspense in his writing?" Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. Most of his books were written in the mid-eighteen hundreds and some of them include Great Expectations, Hard Times, and Little Dorrit. The three I will be referring to are Oliver Twist, The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Back in Dickens' time there was a lack of education, a huge wealth divide between the rich and the poor, and the environment was unpleasant compared to todays. Dickens' creates mystery and suspense in his books through techniques of writing language, the background, the characters, and the weather. Dickens often has moralistic themes to his books, in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge changed from being a horrible man who hated Christmas, into a nice, pleasant gentleman, who came to like Christmas. One of Dickens' main techniques is his use of language. He used elaborate descriptions, alliteration, repetition, listing and onomatopoeia. An example of his elaborate descriptive writing is shown in 'A Christmas Carol' - "A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner." Another example of Dickens use of language is also in 'A Christmas Carol' -"The phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached." This is an example of tripling, and the word 'gravely' again refers to death. This piece of writing certainly does create mystery and

  • Word count: 1147
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"How far do you agree that we are moved to sympathy, even to admiration, by Richard's journey to awareness?"

"How far do you agree that we are moved to sympathy, even to admiration, by Richard's journey to awareness?" Because King Richard is the eponymous character of this play, it is his emotional journey which readers follow in details. Through the play, numerous traits of his personality are clearly exposed, giving readers plenty of evidence on which to form opinions. In the opening scene of the play, Richard at first comes across as an authoritative ruler, with full control over the situation and an evident sense of fairness and justice. This gives readers scope to feel admiration for him, because he is apparently displaying vital qualities in a good monarch. However, it is not long before Richard slips up and allows his weakness to be exposed. After regally announcing, "We were not born to serve, but to command", he immediately falters and adds "Which since we cannot do..." This shows from the beginning that Richard is not a king capable of impressing us with authority and strength of mind, which I found to weaken the chance of me admiring him. "Richard II", as well as being a play about history, can also be seen as an exploration of psychological depth. Richard is a character who always makes his emotions known, through introspective, lyrical and highly metaphorical poetry. This allows us to trace his journey to awareness far more empathetically. Personally, I agree at

  • Word count: 871
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"How is Brutus portrayed as a tragic hero?"

English Essay "How is Brutus portrayed as a tragic hero?" Throughout the works of Shakespeare, tragedy has always been a vital foundation and a key to his immense successes. His fine mastery of the art became legendary amongst the audiences that watched his various plays. Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of the tragedy he could combine into a stage performance. An Irish poet named Oscar Wilde who was a novelist, dramatist and critic in the late eighteen hundreds once wrote, "There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." This has an exact correlation to the play Julius Caesar where the tragedy lies in the greed of a man who wants too much. This particular play is based entirely upon dreadful choices leading to demise. The character Brutus in particular is a key personality to the structure of the play in his fall from honour. Being a man of utmost glory and loyalty becomes his biggest weakness. In Act 1 Scene 2 we are presented with the pressure that Cassius weighs upon Brutus' mind. In lines 79-80 the truth of Brutus' troubles become clear. In the heat of conversation he says "What means this shouting? I do fear the people choose Caesar for their king". This is the turning point in the play as the stepping stones begin to fall in place and Brutus reveals to the viewers his deep down uncertainty to the decision of

  • Word count: 1269
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"How is the theme of 'universal indifference' portrayed in The Outsider and Candide"?

Kirby Kruger "How is the theme of 'universal indifference' portrayed in The Outsider and Candide"? Albert Camus's thought-provoking story of The Outsider and Voltaire's whimsical satire Candide both question faith and mankind's tendency to explain away events through the mystical nature of spirituality. Both authors seem to consider the idea of evil as part of a Divine Plan, or as an ultimate cause of good, as weak, and on the whole, unsatisfactory. They respond differently to this, though; Camus rejects religion completely, while Voltaire approaches the notion more cautiously by mocking mankind's fickle justifications for evil and blind faith. The first section of The Outsider almost seems irrelevant to the philosophical climax that dramatically completes Meursault's simple character. Through the striking contrast of the initial structure and fallaciously predictable content of the earlier sections, Camus delivers the message unexpectedly and dramatically. As a first-person narrative, the reader expects to finish the book with Meursault sincerely narrating his unremarkable life as he grows accustomed to jail; yet the change of setting does not really bring upon any renewed interest. Instead, the subtle introduction of the Patrician, whose irrational and blatantly irritable beliefs eventually annoy Meursault to the point of an philosophical outburst, whereby he declares

  • Word count: 1759
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"I will put Chaos into 14 lines"

Edna St. Vincent Millay's "I will put Chaos into 14 lines" sonnet is very vague on the surface. If you dig deeper, there could be a variety of interpretations. One interpretation is that this sonnet could be about a man. 'Him' is referred to constantly throughout the sonnet. If you go with that theory, then the sonnet would be about a relationship with the man who seems chaotic to the narrator. The 'I' is trying desperately to make some sense of 'him'. Her goal is to 'make him good' (14). That is only one possible argument, which could be argued, based on textual clues. The more likely interpretation is that this sonnet is about writing a sonnet. What helps lead the reader to that conclusion is evidence from the first line: "I will put Chaos into fourteen lines" (1). 'Fourteen lines' is typically the length of a sonnet, and this particular sonnet is 14 lines. Now that we know what this particular sonnet is about, what does Millay have to say about writing sonnets and how does she say it? These questions will be explored in this paper. The first step is to look at the sonnet structure itself. This is a Petrarchan sonnet and follows the typical structure for this form. There is an octave, sestet and there is a rhyming scheme. The octave follows the typical rhyming scheme of ABBAABBA. The rhyme scheme in the sestet is CDCDCD and is a variation to the typical rhyme scheme. "What

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"In 'Antony and Cleopatra', Shakespeare is particularly interested in the psychological burdens that those in positions of power must endure". Examine the different representations of leadership in the play.

"In 'Antony and Cleopatra', Shakespeare is particularly interested in the psychological burdens that those in positions of power must endure". Examine the different representations of leadership in the play. As is often true of the study of history in general, the people who dominate Shakespeare's historical plays are those in positions of power and authority. This is simply because such people will be the ones to effect history in the most significant way. In 'Antony and Cleopatra' we see several different leadership figures, who show all of the range of burdens, strains and qualities that those in positions of power can have (such as Antony himself, Cleopatra, Caesar, Lepidus and Pompey). In terms of leadership, Classical Renaissance ideas can be very helpful when trying to approach Antony and Cleopatra for the first time. The traditional idea of heroism and leadership was summed up in the quality known as 'virtus', which describes the characteristics of a virile nature, military strength, and old ideas of chivalry and honour. Renaissance artists such as Machiavelli in 'The Prince', modified this to emphasise calm ruthlessness and intellectual power. As we shall see, these two opposing views of what a leader should be (the traditional and renaissance ideals) are reflected in the struggle between Antony and Caesar. Antony, representing the old 'virus' values, is defeated and

  • Word count: 1948
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"In Batiste's determination to continue the struggle lies the essence of Blasco Ibaez's optimism. La barraca is a novel of protest, not of hopelessness" (G. Cheyne). To what extent do you agree with this statement?

"In Batiste's determination to continue the struggle lies the essence of Blasco Ibañez's optimism. La barraca is a novel of protest, not of hopelessness" (G. Cheyne). To what extent do you agree with this statement? I do not fully agree with the above opinion given by Cheyne. I do think that what he says is partly true but to say that the novel is lacking the theme of hopelessness would be wrong. It is more apt to say that the novel displays both a sense of protest from its characters and also a sense of hopelessness. In this essay I intend to explore the themes of hopelessness and of protest, discussing how they interact and thereby provide a sense of fate in the novel. Furthermore I will talk about what devices Blasco uses to emphasise these themes to the reader. From the beginning of Batiste's arrival in the huerta, the fields in which he works and lives have a sense of doom attached to them. Pimentó assures the huertanos that Bastiste's farming of the fields will not be successful and his efforts to do so would be stopped: Él, lo único que podia asegurar es que el tal sujeto no cogería el trigo, ni las habas, ni todo lo que había plantado en los campos de Barret. Aquello sería para el demonio.1 I would say that the way in which the whole of the village side against Batiste is a negative value of society that Blasco wishes to display through the device of the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"In Mrs. Tilscher's Class" by Carol Ann Duffy deals with one central theme. The theme of growing up is the main idea within the poem and is repeatedly imprinted throughout the poet's childhood

In Mrs. Tilscher's Class "In Mrs. Tilscher's Class" by Carol Ann Duffy deals with one central theme. The theme of growing up is the main idea within the poem and is repeatedly imprinted throughout the poet's childhood. This theme leads on to the more abstract idea of the child already maturing into a great poet. Her mind's eye is unbounded as she transforms her classroom into a place of riches and resides in her own world of imagination. Written improbably through the 2nd person viewpoint, the poem expresses these ideas personally to the reader, hence allowing us to empathise with the poet. The poet is able to recall several aspects of her primary school days, and is consequently able to paint a picture of her memories from the viewpoint of a young child. The writer not only conveys an inviting warm atmosphere of a 1960's classroom, but also unveils a liberal outlook to her childhood. A colourful classroom with numerous displays is made known to the reader: "The classroom glowed like a sweet shop." The classroom is made into a place of riches with this visual simile, used to radiate wonders of the child's mind. The word "glowed" in this line is a metaphor all on its own. The metaphor allows the reader to visualise the sweetshop gleaming due to the light refracting through the glass jars and translucent sweets. The poet can also bring to mind the teacher's

  • Word count: 2352
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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