This is used as a device to introduce the idea t of ‘knowledge for knowledge’s sake’, which is one of Stoppard’s key themes. It also demonstrates the contrast between Romanticism and Classicism, as each of the characters is representative of one of these ideals. From the beginning of Act 1 Scene 2 and within this extract, it is made obvious to the audience that as a character, one of Bernard’s major purposes is to create comedy through his unabashedly terrible personality. His deceitful nature is introduced when he asks Chloe to lie to Hannah about his name, due to the fact that he wrote a derogatory review of her book yet still wishes to use her intelligence. As an audience, we are already aware of this before Hannah makes the discovery, which increases our sense of disgust at his deceitfulness.
His language is full of anger and hatred and the audience would quickly catch on to Iago’s bitter character. The tone is unpleasant and Shakespeare portrays this with his choice of lexis, such as “Tush”, an abrubt, onomatopoeically harsh word, and “curses despise me if I don’t”, things that would lead the audience to question the morals of the character. The subject of discourse in the first lines of the play are all about hate, “Thou didst hold him in thy hate.” And the audience start to understand what Iago is made of. Lexis such as “Moorship” show how low Iago stoops, as he picks on anything he can in his criticism, including Othello’s race. From line 7 through to line 8, Iago has a long rant about Othello, as he felt he had been done an injustice when he was not chosen as lieutenant.
Felix Cole English 10 H Monica Espinasse Barbed Words Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet evokes a world where a nation can be seen as a diseased body and language can be used as a lethal weapon. Madness, defined in the dictionary as, “engaging in actions that are senseless or foolish”, is an issue that multiple characters deal with throughout the play. Many would say that Hamlet’s actions are very irrational, but everything he says and does eventually helps him achieve his desires. Despite how things seem Hamlet is an intelligent character who ultimately is in his right mind. The death of one’s father and a ghostly visitation thereafter are events that would challenge the sanity of anyone.
Such indecision in action is explored extensively through Hamlet's procrastination concerning "vengeance…for a dear father murder'd". Struggling with the divisiveness of slaughtering Claudius, Hamlet's brooding soliloquies best reveal his indecision and apathetic intellectualism. The rhetorical musing 'To be or not to be...whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer…or to take arms against a sea of troubles" exhibits, in its mere length, Hamlet's universal struggle with morality and hesitancy. Positioned to slaughter Claudius in Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet rationalises his inaction and indecision, "To take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No".
The soliloquy can be broken down into three sections: Hamlet’s consideration of the player’s acting ability, his self-berating for being cowardly and doing nothing, and his resolve to stage a play to ‘catch the conscience of the King’. The notion of the revenge tragedy is a very complex issue in Hamlet, as it both adheres to and breaks away from the conventions of this genre. Some notable conventions of dramatic delay, the degeneration of the hero, and the play-within-a-play are utilized by Shakespeare. In this excerpt alone, the concept of the Mousetrap is included in the final rhyming couplet – “The play’s the thing / Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”, the hero, Hamlet, breaks down his own self and sees himself as cowardice and feminine, which he ultimately blames for his inability to act – his delay. The use of characterization in this excerpt is crucial to the demonstation to the inaction of Hamlet, as well as the theme of illusions and reality.
The theme of deception in Shakespeare’s plays The typical themes of Shakespeare’s works, especially his plays, often reflect popular moods, problematic occurrences and typical traits of human nature from his time which are relevant even today. One such theme is deception. The idea of deception in Shakespeare’s plays has many different faces. In one instance, it is accidental, as in The Comedy of Errors. In another instance, it is used as defense against greater harm, as in Othello.
Mini King Lear essay Thankless Children Throughout the tragic play King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, it can constantly be seen that although both King Lear and Gloucester’s weak characteristics in the beginning of the play have an influence on their suffering and tragedy, it can clearly be seen that it is the “thankless children” and the desire for power of Goneril, Regan and Edmund that ultimately contributes to their fathers downfall. The weak characteristics of both King Lear and Gloucester can clearly been seen in the first Act of the play. Gloucester, an ally of King Lear, is embarrassed of his illegitimate son, Edmund, and is inappropriate in constantly using derogatory terms to refer to his son. King Lear on the other hand, through greed, forces his daughters to declare their love for him through words, before he “divests” his rule, kingdom and all his possessions to them. “Which of you shall we say doth love us most” Act 1, Scene 1, Line 52.
In Act III of Shakespeare’s play “King Lear”, madness is expressed in many of the character’s speeches. Lear, Edgar and the Fool all demonstrate a great deal of wisdom and insight when they discuss the chaos going on throughout the Act. Each character has a unique way of expressing their opinion. By Act III, Lear’s life is in turmoil; the daughters he loved so greatly have betrayed him, leaving him powerless. The rage that Lear feels is unbearable; he was so angry that he ran into a life-threatening storm.
Hamlet and Claudius contradict one another in a variety of ways making them enemies throughout the play. Prince Hamlet is perceived as the protagonist in the play for many reasons, one of them being because he displays an elegant intensity in everything he does, making him very amiable to the audience. When Hamlet is truly indecisive, brutal, revengeful, and hateful. When Hamlet speaks to others, his words are thought out to be hurtful to whomever he is speaking to. “You should not have believ'd me, for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it.
Hamlet is “tortured by the Crassness of the world he sees and by the crudities of the action demanded of him” states F.Richard while critiquing Hamlet. The titular character of the play, Hamlet, is indecisive and goes through a variety of problems in his quest for revenge. He is supported or schemed against by a variety of characters, many of whom act as a character foil to Hamlet. A foil is used as a parallel and contrasts the main character, letting us better see his various traits, reasoning behind decisions or important differences. In Hamlet, his prominent character trait of indecisiveness and other traits are revealed and better seen when compared and contrasted to the rest of the cast.