In Jacobean times women were seen as inferior and even in the Victoria era, thus she required external forces to crush her conscience to allow her to fulfil her ambition. Yet she is afraid her feminine qualities will prevent her from achieving the murder of King Duncan. Which would gradually lead to her mental breakdown. Regicide was considered a mortal sin in Jacobean times, one God couldn't forgive. Whereas Browning’s protagonist in The Laboratory sustains her feminine qualities this is reflected in the line “The colours too grim” in which she is referring to her dislike of the colour of poison and that it needs to be 'brightened' up in order to convince her victim to drink it.
Similarly in The Duchess of Malfi, when the Duchess’ attempt to deceive her brothers and conceal her marriage leads to her death. However self-deception is also a recurrent theme in both of the plays, in Othello, it can be argued that Othello’s self- deception proves just as destructive as Iago’s, as by deceiving himself of his true nature and labelling himself as “one not easily jealous,” he continually supresses his feelings of inner turmoil until he breaks under the influence of Iago. F R Leavis agreed with this stating, “The mind that undoes [Othello] is not Iago’s but his own.” The role of deception would be nowhere near as essential to the play without the influence of Iago; described by AC Bradley as the “artist of evil” his ruthless manipulation of the other characters in the play ensures not only the destruction of Othello, but his own. Self- deception plays a crucial role within Othello and The Duchess of Malfi; it allows the audience to see further into the characters personality and gain a deeper understanding of them as a character. Othello himself is the most palpable example of self- deception within the plays as from when the audience is first introduced to him in Act One Scene Two, he believes
The unflinching pessimism in regards to this matter help to support one of the main themes in Phaedra: passion is a dangerous thing that must be controlled at all times. At the beginning of the play, the reader discovers that Theseus – king of Athens and husband to Phaedra – is assumed dead. Phaedra is suddenly thrust into close proximity with Theseus’ bastard Hippolytus. She panics and begins acting in manner that everyone thinks strange for her. Finally, she admits to her nurse and confidante that she loves “the son of that Amazon mother” (Kline 264).
It is through the comparison of the Othello’s language at the start of the scene and his language as the story progresses that Othello’s loss of control and depravity of his mind is reflected. At the start of the scene, Othello presents himself as confident: in his love with Desdemona and within himself. He is loving and devoted towards his new wife stating that he “will deny thee nothing”; although as the scene progresses, it is clear that Othello is losing control of his mind as he is overcome by jealousy and rage. The man behind this calculating act is Iago. Shakespeare uses the dramatic device of the Machiavel to portray Iago who manipulates Othello in order to prompt jealousy within him.
The Friar is central in the display of one of the themes of Romeo and Juliet, which is the idea that man has the capacity for both good and evil within, “Two such opposed kings encamp them still/ In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;” (2.3.27-28). As he ponders the conflicting nature of mankind he stumbles over a thought which quite accurately predicts the outcome of his actions with Juliet and Romeo. He says, “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,/ And vice sometimes by action dignified.” (2.3.21-22). His misapplied virtue turns to vice in that his well-intentioned desire for the cessation of the feud leads to disastrous consequences. Although in the end some good comes of it and the feud is ended.
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” explores true love in amongst feuding families whilst exploiting the notion that deception leads to catastrophic misfortune. The young poetically portrayed Romeo’s inability to control unchecked emotions, directs him to being disloyal amongst family and his “star crossed [lover]” Juliet. Furthermore, Juliet’s love for “(her) Romeo” causes her to turn a blind eye to his disloyalty and hastily act on his “banished”, through these actions she uses trickery to deceive her family and because of her love affected decisions. Friar Lawrence along with the nurse, cause confusion for the hasty lovers which renders to heightening the family’s feud. Shakespeare presents the concept that deceptive decisions lead to tragic events.
Shakespeare uses it as opening lines to introduce the idea of love being harmful and painful from the very beginning of the play, truly making it a theme throughout the play. It conveys to the audience that he doesn’t want to love her but can’t seem to help it, which in turn makes audience question if they would love if they had a choice in it. Shakespeare creates a sense of Pity for Orsino and his situation in the audience, with him almost physically hurting because of the strength of the emotional pain love is causing him to endure. As many people will have felt a similar way before – if not as intense a pain – from the very start of Twelfth Night we can empathise with the characters.
Shakespeare's Presentation of Othello as Responsible for his Own Downfall Shakespeare’s Othello consists of the themes betrayal, love and dishonesty. At the centre of this play is the tragic downfall of Othello at the hands of his so called friend Iago. In this essay I will be discussing the reasons for and against Othello being responsible for his downfall through looking at critical interpretations of his character and actions. In some ways you could say that Othello was highly responsible for his own downfall as he was easily manipulated by Iago showing him to be gullible and naïve. Iago manipulates Othello by making him suspicious through inference, “Ha I like not that”.
Both women are contrasting representations of Hedda. From the opening of the play her [Hedda’s] relationship with Aunt Julie is a strained one. Hedda views Aunt Julie as a symbol of what she herself loathes and could at the same time could quite easily become. Aunt Julie epitomises the idea of the domestic, dutiful woman with no true purpose of her own. She instead finds her purpose through the lives of the male characters and the arguably mediocre success that Tessman has had.
More than these, I think Lear is motivated by his idea that he is a good man. One thing that supports is when Kent says “I’ll tell thee thou dost evil,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 175) and Shakespeare writes the king as reacting in a frenzy, going so far as to say “This moment is thy death,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 190). By portraying the king in this way, Shakespeare causes us to judge him as unstable and mental. While his actions thus far have been rash, him reacting in this way, and him banishing his daughter saying, “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood,” (Act I, Scene I, Lines 117-118). From these thing, it is made clear that Lear is not only rash and insecure but also thoughtless and stupid.