Shylock - Victim or Villain?
Shylock Victim or Villain? By Pritesh Dave 10M The Merchant of Venice is a very racially controversial play. This is because the plays main story is about racism towards Jews. In the days of Shakespeare, many of the people were anti-Semitic. The Jews were just starting to migrate to England and the racism towards them was motivated by their success. The Christians believed that the Jews were "aliens" and they shouldn't be involved in the Christian was of life. Also, the Jews in Britain were extremely successful, some more than the Christians. They were allowed to lend money and charge interest, as it was not forbidden by the Jewish religion like it is for Christianity. During the 16th Century, many plays were written which involved Jews. The Jews played a "stock character". They were normally villains or a comic character. The Christians who would play the Jews in the play would dress up in traditional Jewish costume and would speak in an exaggerated accent. This would instantly indicate that this character was the villain or the comic character. The audience would boo and jeer at this character. At the end of his play this character would be made a fool out of and would lose most or everything important to him/her. For example, the Jew would die, the Jew would lose his daughter or wife, he would have his money and land taken or he would be forced to change religion. They
She dwelt among the untrodden ways-Analysis
She dwelt among the untrodden ways -By William Wordsworth In the elegiac poem "She dwelt among the untrodden ways", by William Wordsworth, a sense of loss and grief is conveyed as the personal feelings of the poet are described to us. We are told throughout the poem of the poet's deep love for an unmarried woman named 'Lucy'. We are also told that she is unnoticed by all others, but him. The poet describes to us where Lucy 'dwelt', her beauty, his love for her and her 'death' in this poem. In the first stanza we are told that Lucy dwelt among the 'untrodden ways besides the springs of Dove'. This implies many meanings. Literally, it refers to where she lived. The phrase 'beside the springs of Dove' gives us an image of a fairly remote area, away from the city, closer to nature. It also tells us that she lived in isolation and solitude. The reason for this however is not clear; maybe she chose to live there or was forced by some circumstances to do so. Metaphorically, it could be referring to the deeper aspects of her life, such as what she did or who she was. The use of the word 'untrodden' tells us that she did not presume a 'normal' lifestyle, or she chose to do something that was not accepted by society. To be precise, we can say that she chose an 'extraordinary' or 'unique' way of life which could be called 'eccentric' by some. If we look closely at the sounds in the
Poetry from other cultures
Poetry from other cultures Compare and contrast the notions of culture and identify in 'Half-caste' by John Agard and 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. The poems I have chosen to analyse are 'Half-Caste' by John Agard and 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. I have decided to focus on these poems because I believe they project strong messages and discuss the issues of identities and mixed race. Furthermore, both poems are autobiographical and the poets are from different cultures to each other. As readers, it is very interesting to understand their different views about mixed race backgrounds as we are from a different culture to them. John Agard is a respected Caribbean poet who has won the Paul Hamlyn Award in 1997. On the other hand, Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan and has achieved the Poetry Business Prize in 1991. Both poets confess the difficulties of living in different cultures and not knowing their fixed nationality. John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in Guyana. His mother was white and Portuguese but his father was a black Englishman, therefore making him half-caste. He began to write poems at the age of sixteen and many were published in the school magazine. In the 1970's he moved to England where he not only progressed to become a literary poet but also moved on to develop into a performing poet. From there, he has
The supernatural in Macbeth
The supernatural in Macbeth The Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters, are part of the supernatural element of the play. Without them, the play would surely not have taken the path that it did for either Macbeth, nor Lady Macbeth would have been driven, by greed and lust for the crown, to the extent of murder and regicide. Although the witches only feature in a few scenes, their presence is essential and they are the characters who drive Macbeth to the position of King and eventually to his death. In the following I will assess the roles that the witch play and decide how important they actually were. Firstly, the appearance of the witches, give us a better idea of their character. They are described as having "choppy fingers, skinny lips and beards." When Banquo meets them, he says "That not look like the inhabitants o'th'Earth and yet are on it?" He says they look imaginary and when they disappear, he describes them as "bubbles of the Earth" Clearly they are going to influence Macbeth's life in a 3.major way. The witches also speak in riddles and paradoxes. They make it purposefully hard to understand the truth about what they mean. Some examples are "Fair is foul and foul is fair" (implying all good is bad and all bad is good) Another example is when a witch says, "When a battle's lost and won" Later on in the story, we realise that nearly everything the witches do
Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est'.
Dulce et decorum est In this poem, by Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est' Owen was attempting to across the full horror of the First World War. In great detail get he describes a soldier suffering and dying in a gas attack. The poem is written from the point of view of an eyewitness who was there before during and after the attack. Owen finishes by asking the reader to tell their children the truth about the war and not the 'old lie' that it is sweet and fitting to die for your country, 'Dulce et decorum est pro pratria mori'. In the poem 'dulce et decorum est' (which means it is sweet and fitting) The poem is narrative and in sections. The first section is the men going to rest the second is .the gas attack in the trenches. The third is the man having bad dreams to do with the incident. The fourth is explaining if you had seen what he had seen you would not want to tell your children of these awful conditions. The rhyme scheme goes ABABCDCDEFEF I did not notice this at first, this is very good poetry and the words are well thought out. The similes in this poem are very good 'flound'ring like a man in fire or lime' this means the man was going all over the place and it was like he was on fire. There are also a lot of metaphors 'Men marched asleep' this is because the men were so tired it looked as though they were asleep. This poem has got a very sad, dark and somber feel
Compare 'The Soldier' written by Rupert Brooke and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' written by Wilfred Owen.
World War One Folio Piece Erin McDougall 4A1 Lately we have studied two poems that were written during the time of World War One. They were 'The Soldier' written by Rupert Brooke and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' written by Wilfred Owen. Both of these poets were soldiers involved in fighting during World War One. 'The Soldier' is an uplifting and optimistic poem looking at the positive side of dying for your country when going to war. I think the poet Rupert Brooke wrote the poem to send home to his family to reassure them if he died it would be peacefully and not in pain. In the first stanza Brooke is saying that if he dies while away in this foreign country, that he'll leave a part of England there. The following quotation is an example that he is English through-and-through: "A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam." He was born and brought up with a certain kind of English lifestyle and culture. He then goes on to describe the flowers and winding paths making us think of England as idyllic and peaceful. He uses personification in the first line of the quote. It compares England to a woman giving birth to a child and bringing it up. In the second stanza Brooke describes England as a country of no evil and that he will remember it forever, he'll always have happy memories from the past when he lived in England. Some
My most unforgettable Trip occurred about 3 years ago during the summer vacation, when I and my sister were embarking on our journey to Spain due to relocation.
My Unforgettable Trip My most unforgettable Trip occurred about 3 years ago during the summer vacation, when I and my sister were embarking on our journey to Spain due to relocation. The day of the trip I laid in bed thinking about the friends of mine whom I was going to leave behind. Thoughts kept coming in. A night before we planned the journey from a city in Nigeria to the capital to catch the plane the next day. We didn't book to take a van. So thought of waking earlier to get to the station were they hire cars and taxis for travelling because we could drive down due to the far distance. So the day came when we had to travel and got to the station as planned. When we arrived at the hire station we seemed to have some problems with our luggage because they were too much for a car our taxi so we had to book for a van to be able to take our luggage. We waited for a long period of time to find the perfect car that would fit our luggage but they seemed to too small or parked up. My aunty who was going to accompanied me and my sister to the airport got so angry because she tend to get very hot tempered because we didn't have a very long period of time to waste before our plane could take off because the journey from were we where to the airport was about 3 hours long. And we had to be their before 7pm. It was about 12pm we hungry so we went for food everyone looking
Making Close Reference to Language, Imagery and Verse Form, Consider the Ways in which the Horror of War is Presented in Exposure.
Making Close Reference to Language, Imagery and Verse Form, Consider the Ways in which the Horror of War is Presented in Exposure. Does Owen Present this More or Less Effectively Here or in Other Poems From the Selection? In 'The Exposure', Owen presents the theme of the Horror of War mainly through the imagery of the nature; Owen uses the nature to describe the feelings of the soldiers, as well as help to expand their fear and helplessness throughout the poem. Although not as noticed, the use of senses helps illustrate the horror and futility of war, by showing the suffering in detail of what the soldiers are put through, but not explaining as to why they are having to wait, whilst surrounded by destruction. In the first line, Owen states that the physical atmosphere is attacking them like the enemy would: "Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that attack us..." Here the use of 'our' in the first line of the poem creates a sense of empathy for the soldiers and Owen. As well as this, the personification of the winds creates the image that the soldiers are being attacked at all sides, by different enemies. This adds to the horrors of war by implying there is no escape for the helpless soldiers. Throughout the majority of the poem, the darkness is described as metaphysical: "The poignant misery of dawn begins to grow" By stating that the darkness has
Poetry from other cultures - a study of 'Search for my tongue', 'Half-caste' and 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan'.
Poetry from other cultures This essay is about three poems ,which are 'Search for my tongue','Half-caste' and 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan'. These peoms are from people who are from other cultures, or of mixed races. There are many difficulties that people may experience if they are from another country or culture, or they are not white or of mixed race. The first problem would be not fitting in. A person may not fit if their culture and clothes are different to everyone elses or if their skin isn't the same colour as everyone as everyone elses.People from other countries or of a mixed race or who dont have white skin can experience other very serious problems.A person from another culture may get racially assaulted, or bullied by another person of another culture,This is a serious crime nowadays.Somone may harm a person of another race because he/she feels that they shouldn't be different or, that he/she doesn't know much about the culture or religion.Another problem that was triumphed over years ago was feeling second class or inferior to everyone else.This isn't a problem nowadays, but years ago people from other countries were treated second class because of their skin colour, the poem's have similar problems that we have just gone over with you. 'Search for my tongue' by Sujata Bhatt, is about an indian girl, who moved to England and had to learn a new language
"Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes.
"Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes In a successful Dramatic Monologue the voice of a speaker is an important element. Show how particular features of the language used by the speaker are effective in revealing the speaker's personality to the audience. "Hawk Roosting" by Ted Hughes is a successful Dramatic Monologue in which the voice of the speaker, the Hawk, is an important element. Many features of the language Ted Hughes uses in this poem reveal various aspects of the personality that the Hawk has acquired to the reader. One of the most distinct aspects of the Hawks personality is of arrogance. In stanza two the reader is told of the many advantages that the Hawk believes nature has given to him especially: "The convenience of the high trees! The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray are of an advantage to me." Ted Hughes' use of the word "convenience" shows that the Hawk assumes that the trees are there for his use and have only been formed for his advantage. The use of the word "buoyancy" to describe the air not only suggests the air's great ability to keep the Hawk high in the sky but it also indicates the Hawks slight cheerfulness and resilience. His arrogance is continued in the following line where he describes the position of the earth below him: "And the earth's face upward for my inspection". This metaphor suggests that the Hawk feels superior and more important
