Shakespeare's presentation of the character of Richard III

Shakespeare's presentation of the character of Richard III If an actor wants to star as Richard III in a play he must first know all there is to know about the character of Richard III. For example Richard's behaviour, the way he thinks and reacts, these are all aspects of Richard's character. The actor must know these because Shakespeare gave very few stage directions in his plays, therefore if an actor wants to make an impressionable performance he must understand the way Richard's character, to understand this one must look at how Shakespeare was trying to portray the character of Richard III. The first soliloquy is split into three parts. The first part deals with his clever word play 'our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments' which is a fancy way of saying we no longer use our weaponry. Another example of his word play would be when he uses 'man' to address Brackenbury. Brackenbury uses 'your grace' implying some sort of respect towards the person being addressed but Richard uses 'man', which is mocking or at least degrading as Brackenbury is being referred to as a common man. Not only this but a few lines further down Richard puns on the word 'nought', meaning nothing, with the word 'naught', meaning to have sex with. Therefore mocking Brackenbury again as Richard is implying Brackenbury's sexual exploits. These examples clearly show how much control Richard

  • Word count: 3633
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What makes the opening of Romeo and Juliet so effective?

What makes the opening of Romeo and Juliet so effective? There is no dought that the opening to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is very effective in Baz Luhrmann's new film. Unlike most films we are told at the start what is going to happen, we are told it is inevitable. This works very well, as most people know what happens in Romeo and Juliet so doesn't spoil the film. Shakespeare wrote the prologue but Baz Luhrmann updates it using news media. The first thing that we see is a television in the middle of a dark room being switched on, as the camera gradually zooms in on the television we realise that it is a news broadcast. The presenter is reading Shakespeare's original prologue about a feud between two families. The camera continues to zoom in so that an image of a broken ring becomes clear in the corner of the screen. The camera then makes you feel as you are entering the news broadcast and out in to a giant city where we see flashes of opposing things between the two families. We are shown two enormous skyscrapers with the names Capulet and Montegue in large capital letters on top of them. To reinforce the conflict between the two families Baz Luhrmann starts off by putting the prologue across in numerous ways. First it is read by the news presenter using the original lines written by Shakespeare, and then secondly by a voice over while we are still watching the

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  • Word count: 1010
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Lab report: food dehydration. This experiment focuses on the follow four questions: 1, to calculate the moisture contents on the dry basis of carrot and potato samples; 2, to assess the possible influence of pre-dehydration such as blanching on the qua

Lab report: food dehydration . Introduction In food preservation, dehydration is a common used approach. It is one of the oldest but also a simple and safe way to preserve food. It is process to remove moisture or water away from food. In a low moisture environment, yeast, bacteria and mold cannot grow (Andress and Harrison, 2006). Therefore, dehydration is helpful to minimize the growth of microorganism that is a major reason of food deterioration. At the meantime, drying also reduces the activity of enzymes that cause degradation of some nutrients. For fruit and vegetables that contain high level of water, they can go bad easily if inappropriate storage approach is applied. It was estimated 25-30% of total fruits and vegetable produced is wasted due to spoilage (Ramaswamy and Marcotte, 2006). Furthermore, dehydrated food is usually smaller and lighter and thus is convenient to transfer or store. There are several ways to achieve dehydration in industrial production, such as heat, dry air, air movement, in the sun, in the oven and using a food dehydrator (Ramaswamy and Marcotte, 2006). For some kinds of food, pretreatment such as blanching is required. Blanching which is a process of briefly precooking of food in steam or boiling water is helpful to reduce activity of enzymes, to skill spoilage organisms and to shorten drying time. However, beside the time of storage,

  • Word count: 3105
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Discuss the every changing relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Discuss the every changing relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. By A. Inceman 11s 2003 From the very beginnings of the play, Lady Macbeth is viewed as very controlling, strong, and certain; saying that Macbeth 'Shalt be what thou art promised´. This shows Lady Macbeth´s command, she is ordering Macbeth to become what the witches have foreseen, not questioning whether he will achieve it, or even not try. From the very start therefore we see just how powerful Lady Macbeth is, if she can command her husband to murder the king of Scotland. Her power is also shown in the way she taunts Macbeth, saying he is 'too full of the milk of human kindness´. This shows how cold Lady Macbeth is, as milk is the food of new born children, she is implying Macbeth is too much like a kind child to murder anyone, which is another method used to pressure Macbeth on into killing his king. Her coldness and control is again shown when she begins to plot Duncan´s murder with Macbeth, she says he should 'look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it´, more advice for the killing of his king, and 'leave the rest to me´ shows her cool control over the matter. Lady Macbeth also shows a more helpful side, offering help. 'I may pour my spirits in thine ear´, which although seemingly providing a contrast to her cold hearted plotting earlier, is in fact another way in which she is

  • Word count: 2509
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Enzymes Extra.

Enzymes Extra A catalyst is an enzyme that increases the rate of a reaction by changing the way a reaction takes place. It usually stays the same and does not change at the end of a reaction. You would call this an uncatalyzed reaction in a cell and may take place eventually, but not at a rate fast enough for survival. Let's say for example the hydrolysis of proteins in our diet would occur at a point and time without a catalyst, but not fast enough to meet the body's requirement for amino acids. The chemical reaction must occur at an extremely fast rate under mild conditions of ph 7.4 and a body temperature of 37°C it is very important for the body to remain this warm. The heat from our bodies assists with the speed of whatever necessary molecules that are being used in our bodies. A biological catalyst is known as an enzyme and catalyzes nearly all the chemical reactions that take place in the body. A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy and it is not used up in the reaction. There are many types of enzymes and each one plays an important role in the function and maintaining of cells. The names of the enzymes describe the compound or the reaction that is catalyzed. The name of enzymes come from or is derived by replacing the end of the name of the reaction or reacting compound with the suffix "ase." A

  • Word count: 1390
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Science
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Describe what a spectator would enjoy at the five-day olympics

Describe What a Spectator Would Enjoy in the 5 Day Olympics It is thought that the first Olympic Games were held in 776BC in Olympia, and were continued every 4 years until 393AD, when the king Theodosius I terminated them as part of his battle to enforce Christianity as the state religion. The historic origins of the games aren't fully known, however, many myths exist to explain them. There are four main legends: one involving Pelops and his fight to win the Olympic kingdom; another explains how Heracles won a race at Olympia and vowed the games should forever continue at 4 year intervals; the next claims that Zeus created the games as a celebration of his defeat of the Titan Cronus; and the last told of a prophetess who advised King Iphitos of Elis to hold the Olympic games in honour of the Gods. This he did, and was also advised that wars should stop during the 5 day festival as a sign of respect to the Gods. The games themselves were a collection of athletic, combat and equestrian events usually held at the hottest time of the year, which coincided with the lull in agriculture. They were attended by many because of the celebration of religion as well as sport, as athletic ability was said to be a gift from the Gods, and because everyone was guaranteed a safe journey to and from Olympia. However, for visitors to the games, there were strict regulations to abide by. Only

  • Word count: 1558
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: Classics
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Explore the different types of love in William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Explore the different types of love in William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. In 'Romeo and Juliet' there are many different types of love expressed between characters. The audience witnesses sexual, parental, friendship and formal love among Shakespeare's characters. The main love story line is of a 'true' love from Romeo and Juliet. The play also contains other smaller story lines between other individuals who share a love for one another. The prologue tells us that this play will take us through many forms of love. It starts the play telling the audience of the "fearful passage of their death-marked love". This tells us right from the beginning that it is going to be a tragic play where "star-crossed lovers take their life". This is referring to Romeo and Juliet's love, and how their desire for one another is the cause of their death. This makes the audience intrigued to know why their love is so strong. After the prologue Romeo is talking with Benvolio, his friend, in a dreamy, irrational way. Romeo is speaking in rhyme throughout this scene. He says, "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs, Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes". From this the reader may assume that Romeo takes love very seriously, it is also represents a stereotypical form of love poetry. This may indicate that there is nothing special about his love with Rosaline. In this scene

  • Word count: 1576
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Probably composed in late 1606 or early 1607, Macbeth is the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies, the others being Hamlet, King Lear and Othello.

Probably composed in late 1606 or early 1607, Macbeth is the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies, the others being Hamlet, King Lear and Othello. It is a relatively short play without a major sub-plot, and it is considered by many scholars to be Shakespeare's darkest work. Lear is an utter tragedy in which the natural world is amorally indifferent toward mankind, but in Macbeth, Shakespeare adds a supernatural dimension that purposively conspires against Macbeth and his kingdom. In the tragedy of Lear, the distraught king summons the goddess of Chaos, Hecht; in Macbeth, Hecate appears as an actual character. On the level of human evil, Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy is about Macbeth's bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden pathology of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds. As an integral part of this thematic web is the play's most memorable character, Lady Macbeth. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural, phantasmagoric realm of witchcraft, insomnia and madness. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. The current trend of critical opinion is toward an upward reevaluation of Lady Macbeth who is said to be

  • Word count: 682
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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George Bush and His

George Bush and His "War" Against Terrorism When George W Bush came to the presidential office of America at the beginning of the year 2000, there was already a lot of controversy that surrounded him. He was appointed Governor of Texas in 1995 and as of 7:30pm, December 7, 2000, 152 people have been executed during Bush's office as governor. This makes Texas Governor George W Bush the most-killing Governor, in the history of the United States of America. This list can be found on the website http://www.bushkills.com/murders.html. Even his run for presidency was controversial: it is still not certain if Bush actually won; many believe that it was his opponent Al Gore. Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, in which 2 airplanes flew into the World Trade Centre and 1 into the Pentagon, causing the deaths of more than 3000 people, he made his most controversial move yet: his "war against terrorism". Following the aftermath of September 11, it became a common assumption (in the Western Hemisphere especially) that Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist group, the Taliban was behind the atrocities. There was little evidence to support this claim: the US inspectors found what was supposedly a passport belonging to one of the terrorists aboard one of the planes that hit the World Trade Centre, which links him to Osama Bin Laden. Even now, almost a year after the

  • Word count: 1253
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: History
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Othello - Consider the significance of Act 3 Scene 3 to the play as a whole. What impressions does this episode make on the audience and by what means? How does Shakespeare prepare the audience to find this episode believable?

Amy Gilmour 11SC Consider the significance of Act 3 Scene 3 to the play as a whole. What impressions does this episode make on the audience and by what means? How does Shakespeare prepare the audience to find this episode believable? Othello was written by Shakespeare around 1602 and was set 35 years previously to that time (around 1571) during the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare got the idea for the play from the Italian Novella 'Gli Hecatommithi' and only changed minor details slightly. He kept the same plot but some of the characters and themes in the play were very different. The play itself is a tragedy and includes the things that Aristotle defined as what a tragedy should include. Firstly, a protagonist, this is Othello. He is the protagonist as the play shows the story of his fall from a place of eminence as is required in all tragedies according to Aristotle. Othello is a tragic hero in that he portrays a man with much greatness. Othello also has many weaknesses. In order to really understand the character of Othello, we have to understand him as a tragic hero with greatness and weakness. At the beginning of the play his life is in order, as he was married to the beautiful Desdemona, the younger daughter of a well-respected Senator, Brabantio. However, Othello is a Moor, and their marriage was frowned upon. In the play Othello is seen as a 'moor' therefore an

  • Word count: 2204
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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