Shakespeare incorporated the theme of madness to serve a motive for Hamlet in order to deceive others. Hamlet planned everything from what he was doing to what he was going to do. Hamlet did in fact pretend to be mad, just so he could follow through on his plan to avenge his father’s death. He acted like he was mad because he did not want to directly kill Claudius, because he wanted to make him suffer. Hamlet also knew that he could not tell anyone that Claudius has murdered his father or that he had seen the ghost of his father because no one would believe him.
The curse on Thebes serves as the conflict in the story. Oedipus plays the force moving to resolve the conflict by seeking the late king’s killer. He learns early on how to lift the curse, but is unable to because of his failure to realize that he is the murderer of Laïos. He is the force that opposes the protagonist’s motion in that it is his inability to accept guilt and his ignorance of this guilt that delays the removal of the curse. In addition, Oedipus’ role as the antagonist is concretized by his having caused the conflict: he is guilty of the murder of Laïos and is therefore the bringer of the curse.
The character of Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear a complex antagonist whose quest for power, and the treatment he deserves from society fuels the subplot. Cunning, deceitful, and a villain, Edmund will do whatever it takes to achieve his objectives, even if it means betraying the people who love him most. Edmund plays a key role in setting the stage for the disaster waiting to unfold, which is the subplot. Initially, the audience sympathizes with Edmund’s character; society treats him poorly, and his own father publicly embarrasses him. In Act 1 Scene 1, when Kent asks Gloucester if Edmund is his Gloucester’s son, he replies “his breeding hath been at my charge” (1.1.9) yet Gloucester “blushed to acknowledge [Edmund]” (1.1.10).
The role of fate and free will is much more complex in Shakespeare’s King Lear. A quick perusal of the plot gives a story of good and evil characters exercising their own free wills. King Lear foolishly divides up his kingdom to his two deceitful, older daughters and ignores Cordelia, his honest, dutiful daughter. The older daughters have evil plans to overthrow their father. There is a similar subplot involving the Earl of Gloucester.
Williams suggests that Richard perceives his hatred as his fuel for passionate revenge, but it is the anxious yearning for acceptance which he instead misinterprets. In the opening scene, Richard is “determined to play villain” [2], his decision to claim the throne, that he again places himself a victim to course of nature, which he blames for being “cheated of feature” [3], be his unnatural guide to his reign. Imperfectly shaped, he is noticeably attracted to objects that are as equally flawed as he is, which deters him from ever escaping his constraints and truly obtaining the so called ‘normal’ lifestyle that his surrounding others have refused him. The play opens immediately chastising Richard’s contorted body, emphasizing his impotence. William’s states, “Richard
The symbolism of dark and light is relevant as Macbeth’s light which is his conscious is starting to play him and become unravelled with evil thoughts leading him astray. In context, the quote is when Macbeth finds out that Duncan intends his son, Malcolm to become king. The alliteration ‘deep desires’ displays that Macbeth, here, is overcome by ambition, this leads Macbeth to want to hide his ambition in darkness and reflects on the evil of his ambition. The quote also highlights the depth of this ambition driving him to do
The protagonist of Shakespeare’s Richard 111 incontrovertibly commits acts of evil throughout the play: the deaths of Clarence, Hastings, Rivers, and of course the -Princes. However, to judge Richard simply as a villain ignores the full complications of his character and the implications of the society in his actions. Richard lives in a time of moral anarchy and social upheaval; the war of the roses causes Richard to grow up in a world where morals and conscience are cast aside for wealth and power. Other than the greed Richard has for, and the enjoyment that Richard gets from chasing the throne, Richard’s main reason for the throne is because he cannot “play the lover”, and this is born so much from his deformity as the society around him. Ultimately it cannot be said that Richard is not a villain, but it would be ignorant and indeed naïve to suggest that his rise and fall were explicitly of his own inherently evil fashioning.
On the contrary when he locks up Nelly and Cathy we see him as an evil villain attempting to fulfill his malevolent plan of revenge. What is trying to be said is that Bronte through the deep character of Heathcliff evokes ambiguity and contradiction through his intentions, the blurred lines that make him a hero or a villain and lastly the contradiction of either pity or anger the reader feels towards Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. To begin with, Bronte effectively evokes uncertainty through the fact that Heathcliff wants to be with Catherine but at the same time wants to exact his revenge on Hindley for separating him from Catherine and making his life childhood miserable. The ambiguity is shown by Bronte is the fact that the reader does not know whether Heathcliff’s intentions have sincere or malicious intent. For instance, when Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights and returns a reformed man with exceptional manners, the reader is
Macbeth responds, in brief, as a loyal thane to the Scottish king, but the prospect unnerves him. * The audience could see Macbeth’s ambition leading him to cursed thoughts which has been greatly *enforced and twisted* by the* malicious* witches. *The caution from the first apparition causes Macbeth to start a bloody massacre across England, killing families of people who may threaten his position. After this point in the play, we see *that *Macbeth* has* turn*ed* into a ruthless tyrant* in the hope of avoiding fate*, so desensitized to humanity that even the suicide of his wife *could not arouse grief from him. * All he could muster was* “She should have died hereafter”.
Iago, the perpetrator in the play, misuses his position and power to satisfy his own needs, leading to the imbalance of society and his own demise. The audience begins to uncover his motives, through Shakespeare’s use of language, and writing techniques, which questions the ethical basis of authoritative figures, which leads their depravity. Through Shakespeare’s play, he explores the traditional belief that the exploitation of power for personal gain leads to the destruction of the community and the individual. This concept has been seen throughout history and continues to keep Shakespeare relevant to modern audiences. “Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.” (Hoffer, E, 2009) Power as its own entity is unsoiled but when a man is given the chance to hold great power, his innermost desires impinge on his decisions and judgments, causing him to become engrossed with his own supremacy.