William Shakespear's Tempest
Explain how you would direct a production of Act 1 Scene 2 of the Tempest. What do we learn about the character of Prospero from the play and from this scene in particular? William Shakespeare wrote The Tempest in 1610, it was one of the last plays he wrote before his death in 1616. It has been said that Prospero's character is mirrored around William Shakespeare, Shakespeare based Prospero on himself. The Tempest is about a usurped duke, Prospero, who is set adrift on a small boat with his daughter Miranda by his evil brother Antonio. Prospero and his daughter end up on an enchanted island where Prospero begins to learn magic, using his magic he frees Ariel from a tree and enslaves Caliban, a hero and villainous task. Twelve years later, Prospero see's a royal boat passing the island carrying Antonio, Alonso, the king of Naples who helped usurp Prospero. Sebastian, Alonso's brother and Gonzalo, the kindly courtier who gave Prospero food, water, clothes and the vital magic books. Prospero summons a tempest, with the help of Ariel, and wrecks the ship onto the island, separating them into four different groups. This deed makes Prospero quite the villain as there were many innocent sailors aboard the boat that had done nothing against him. This part of the play is very much like a game of chess, and Prospero is the player. Prospero manipulates how all the characters move to
Shakespeare has made Caliban the most violent and savage character, but has also given him some of the most beautiful lines in the play to show that he has two sides to him, a split personality. And that he is not exactly as evil as what other people perc
The tempest There is a sign of another tempest when the scene opens up with another thunder storm, which gives us a reminder of Prospero's power over Caliban. The tempest is also a symbol of Prospero's magic over Caliban, which suggests this is what the threat Caliban is under, which also indicates that Caliban is confined within the island with no freedom. Caliban is viewed as some one who is not knowledgeable and literate. This is shown from the view of Miranda in page 77, in which she tells him, "... gabble like a thing most brutish" This suggests that Caliban is uneducated and in addition to this it also shows that he did not have the right upbringing in his life as his mother was a witch named Sycorax which suggests he was associated with evil magic during his upbringing. From Prosperos's perspective, Caliban is presented as a slave. This is shown in Act 1 scene 2. Where, Prospero refers to him as his "... my slave..." This indicates that Prospero has authority over Caliban and is possessive over him. However, he also shows that Caliban's role is as a slave who follows orders from his master Prospero. Miranda and Prospero are most united and linked together when they are against Caliban. Miranda says "Abhorred Slave". Also Prospero says "thou poisonous Slave". They both hate Caliban Passionately and display this with hateful words. Miranda addresses to the same
Tom Jones is a great novel of English Literature
Ruiz, Juan R. ENC1101, Dr. K. Claus, 09-21-04, Essay #1 Tom Jones, Episode #1 Tom Jones is a great novel of English Literature; it presents a dilemma raised in a humorous way. The 18th century masterpiece develops in the countryside of England at the village-like place of Summerset. Sexual temptations, moral assumptions, and unique characters make the story as captivating a creative painting from Picasso. Most important; the character of Tom Jones is very identifiable for his realistic approaches, sexual adventures, and heroic actions. The novel tells the story of a bastard child found by a wealthy man with great heart: Squire Allworthy, "the lord of the country manor"(Tom Jones the novel play, 1963). He found this infant in the sheets of his bed one night as he prepared to sleep. This is of course Tom Jones. As a growing kid, Tom gets himself in trouble all the time with the unwelcome help of Master Blifil (Allworthy's sister's son with evil, greedy Captain Blifil). Tom is a child of great heart and passion. However, anything Tom ever does seems wrong and punishable because Blifil and his two professors, who also hate Tom are always on the lookout for his vulnerable actions. Tom is best friends with Sophia Western, the blonde, lovely daughter of the next-door neighbors. She and Tom play together all the time as kids while Blifil tries making their lives miserable.
How does Shakespeare create the
Introduction A Midsummer night's Dream is a romantic comedy play. This play was written in the 1590s by William Shakespeare. The play consists of two pairs of lovers who run away into the wood on a midsummer's night. While sleeping in the wood the king of the fairies, Oberon tells his servant Puck to drop flower drops onto the eyes of Lysander and Demetrius. This causes confusion because both men fall in love with Helena. Also in the wood a group of workers are rehearsing a play for the wedding of Duke Theseus. Because Oberon's wife won't give him an Indian boy, he turns Bottom's head into an ass's head and makes his wife fall in love with him for revenge and amusement. In the end all the problems are worked out. The lovers are reunited and the mechanicals perform their play at the wedding ceremony. In this play Shakespeare creates three distinct worlds on the stage: the world of the court, the world of the mechanicals and the world of the fairies. He creates these worlds through his choice of language, settings and the characters themselves. Act 1 Scene 1 - The World of the Court In the world of the court we are introduced to some of the main characters and themes of love and enchantment. The people in this scene are upper class. The very first scene of the play is set in the palace of Duke Theseus, The Duke of Athens. Preparations are going underway for the Duke's
Without soliloquies we have little understanding of Hamlet's state of mind. Do you agree?
Without soliloquies we have little understanding of Hamlet's state of mind. Do you agree? The term 'soliloquy,' when defined in literary terms, is described as 'a dramatic convention which allows a character in a play to speak directly to the audience about his motives, feelings and decisions as if he were thinking aloud. Part of the convention is that a soliloquy provides accurate access to the character's innermost thoughts: we learn more about the character than could ever be gathered from the actions of the play.' Therefore, by definition, we have a considerably weaker understanding of a text without soliloquies. Soliloquies played a major part in many Elizabethan plays as they served as a useful narration device for the audience and gave them a clear insight into the character's feelings, motivation and reasons behind their actions at a specific point in a play. They also give the audience an idea of what the character may be doing later in the play as their future actions are also outlined in their soliloquies. It can also be noted that soliloquies take the format of the character's line of thought, which furthers our understanding of the character's mindset. Shakespeare was acutely aware of the theatre's dependence on the audience and his success, specifically with regard to Hamlet, was and is due to the fact that he never forgets the audience and seeks to involve
Hamlet - looking at the history of the play, the genre, Shakespeare himself and the globe theatre in which so many of Shakespeare's plays were preformed.
Hamlet essay Hamlet. One of the, if not the, most famous of the plays written by William Shakespeare. In this, the first section, I will be looking at the history of the play, the genre, Shakespeare himself and the globe theatre in which so many of Shakespeare's plays were preformed. This play, like many other famous plays from this era, was written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was born in a small English town named Stratford-upon-Avon, located in Warwickshire and although the exact date of Shakespeare's birth cannot be confirmed the consensus is that Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. He was baptized on April 26, 1564, at the Holy Trinity parish church in his hometown of Stratford. Shakespeare's parents, Mary Arden and John Shakespeare, had eight children. Shakespeare had two sisters named Joan, one born in 1558 and the other in 1569. No one knows first-born Joan's exact date of death, but it is assumed that she died in infancy. Second-born Joan survived her famous brother by more than 30 years. Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street and is in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Although we have no record of Shakespeare attending the school, due to the official position held by John Shakespeare it seems likely
Analyse in detail Hamlet’s first soliloquy. Discuss how it reveals his confused state of mind.
Iain Lill Analyse in detail Hamlet's first soliloquy. Discuss how it reveals his confused state of mind. Hamlet's first soliloquy is concerning his mother's seeming lack of mourning for his father and her desire to wed Hamlet's uncle in such a short space of time after his death. The first lines reveal the feelings within himself. His "sullied flesh" describes himself as impure flesh, primarily because he is human, but also because he is of the same flesh as his mother in a physical sense. He wishes upon himself death, that his "flesh would melt,". The metaphor of melting as dew is an indication of his will of complete bodily destruction. There is no thought of a recovery to his normal state of mind here, Hamlet only wishes to be free of his body, with it's despair and bad emotions, and to be either elevated above it or even below it. The fact that he doesn't care whether he is up or down shows he is not thinking of the consequences of his actions, whatever they may be. On the more physical side these first lines show extremely strong suicidal tendencies, but the next lines show that, while suicide is uppermost in his mind, his religion prevents him from doing it. "Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd, His cannon 'gainst self-slaughter." he has been taught that to kill oneself is the highest form of sin against God, as written in his "cannon", or religious law. This
Explore shakespeare's use of the Renaissance idea of fatalism and imagery linked to the theme in the play 'King Lear'
Explore shakespeare's use of the Renaissance idea of fatalism and imagery linked to the theme in the play 'King Lear' In a play about individual tragedies, fatalism plays an important part. Shakespeare effectively uses cosmic imagery to define his characters and to explore the idea of journeys linked to self-discovery by relating it to the imagery of rotating circles. Shakespeare uses Renaissance theology to explain character motivation. In the 16th century there was a great belief in astronomy. People believed in the harmony of the spheres and they were ruled by this idea of thhe natural alignment of the nine planets in their orbits. Shakespeare incorporates this into "King Lear" in highlighting Edgar and Gloucester's superstitious beliefs and using Edmund as a contrast to show that unnaturalness and disharmony are connected. Another symbol of natural alingment of fate used is the "Wheel of Fortune"; a Pagan idea in which life is considered to go round in a circle, a never-ending rotating odyssey in which life works toward its peak and experiences downfall after. In the play, King Lear experiences his own journey on the "Wheel of Fortune" as does Edmund who comes to realise and accept his own fate at the end of the play. The plot moves in opposite directions at the start and merge together to form a circular plot. Both the wheel and spherical references throughout the play
Which Was The Best And Which Was The Worst Roman Emperor? A good emperor is someone who makes the right decisions, doesn't kill people and has a good army
Nicolle Glover 7c Which Was The Best And Which Was The Worst Roman Emperor? A good emperor is someone who makes the right decisions, doesn't kill people and has a good army. A bad emperor is someone who makes all the wrong decisions, kills everyone and has a rubbish army. First of all we have Caligula now Caligula was mad because he had a brain disease. His first sign of madness was when he started making funny faces at himself in the mirror, then he went and told all the senators that he was a god and if they don't worship him they will be fed to the lions. After this he made his horse a senator, he had to answer everybody's questions. And it still got worse next he decided there was something wrong with bald people so they got fed to the lions. His uncle Claudius came up with a sneaky plan, he pretended to be mad as well so that he wouldn't get fed to the lions. Finally he asked his army to pick up all the shells of the beach, in the end his guards got fed up so they just stabbed him. Next we have Claudius now Claudius was lame and had a problem with the nerves in his bottom lip this made him dribble. As Claudius was lame everybody thought he was weak. He conquered Britain and proved them wrong. This was a very big achievement for him because when Julius Caesar tried he failed. Even though he was lame he was extremely clever. His wife Agrippina made him disinherit
King Lear’s Personality.
King Lear's Personality. Lear's basic flaw at the beginning of the play is that he values appearances above reality. He enjoys being flattered and portrayed as an almost god-like figure who deserves constant praise from all those that he comes across. Lear is aging at this point and cannot cope with all the hassle and fuss of a Kings' duties, so he decides to split his duties and kingdom amongst his 3 daughters. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn't want to fulfill a king's obligations of governing for the good of his subjects. Similarly his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He doesn't ask "which of you doth love us most," but rather, "which of you shall we say doth love us most?" We conclude that Lear is simply blind to the truth and asks this question in an almost ignorant way (basically fishing for compliments), but Cordelia is already his favorite daughter at the beginning of the play, so presumably he knows that she loves him the most. Nevertheless, Lear values Goneril and Regan's efforts in outdoing each other in an almost 'auctioning' of expressing feelings. An important question to ask is whether Lear develops as a character, whether he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better and more insightful person or not. In a way the answer is no, as he doesn't
