This recurring theme of the battle between good and evil is not dissimilar to that seen in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, although this Elizabethan drama highlights the deceptive evil that is common in human nature, even under the persona of those considered allies. Unlike the Shakespearian play ‘Othello’, the tragic hero in ‘Dr Faustus’ is initially presented displaying nobility. The very fact the audience would immediately see ‘FAUSTUS in his study’ is an effective structural device implicated to highlight his nobility having been gained through knowledge. This is further supported by Faustus’ first words of ‘settle thy studies’. It would be logical to associate studies with knowledge and nobility, considering its connotations of enlightenment and education.
Iago, who is known as the Machiavellian villain perpetuates the tragedy by bringing forward a hamartia or a fatal flaw from Othello. As soon as the play begins, Shakespeare used dramatic irony to illustrate Othello’s view of Iago as an honest and trustworthy man through his repeated description of “honest Iago” and “a man of exceeding honesty” to the audience. Of course that is not the case, the audience views Iago to be “Janus-faced” and deceptive through his constant declaration of “I am not what I am” and how he “hates the moor”. This juxtaposition is created so that the audience can empathise with Othello. I know I can definitely empathise with him.
Othello: A Tragic Hero Othello is the epitome of a tragic hero. He starts out as a rather respectable and rational General, but was eventually consumed by jealousy and anger. A tragic hero must start out high in power and have tragic flaws that lead him to ultimately a tragedy. Othello’s tragic flaw is that he is easily manipulated, leading him to trust the wrong people. The play begins by showing the readers that Othello is a noble General.
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.
Madness in Hamlet and King Lear The subject of madness is a major theme in two of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies, “Hamlet” and “King Lear”. In both of these plays, a character feigns insanity to carry out a motive - Hamlet and Edgar respectively. However, while it is made quite clear to the audience that Edgar is only pretending to be a mad beggar (“Whiles I may escape I will preserve myself, and am bethought to take the basest and most poorest shape that ever penury, in contempt of man brought near to beast”), it is somewhat less clear whether Hamlet has crossed the line and lost control of his “antic disposition”. Shakespeare gives evidence which suggests that Hamlet is sane by having three other men also witness the manifestation of the ghost of Hamlet’s father. If Hamlet were to have seen his father’s ghost by himself, there would be a greater argument for him being insane from the outset of the play.
How far do you agree that ‘The play King Lear presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers us no comfort at the end?’ Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ falls under Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, with the fact that the characters are royal, and therefore have an enormous amount to lose. Moreover, the destructive downfall of not only King Lear but most of the characters in the play is due to the fatal flaw of pride in the king. The embellished language in the play is mainly in verse, and coupled with the unusual language forms of The Fool and Edgar as ‘Poor Tom’, this further links the play with the traditional definition of tragedy. ‘This fellow has banished two on’s daughters and did the third a blessing against his will.’ Untangling the meaning on The Fool’s words can be difficult, but it is clear he is the voice of reason and wisdom whispering in Lear’s ear throughout the play. Despite all this negativity, it would be a great over-simplification to assume that the overall play ‘presents us with a bleak and cruel world and offers no comfort at the end’, though this is an easy assumption to make given the obvious bleakness that infects the play throughout.
To what Extent is King Lear a Tragic Hero? Aristotle said that tragedy is characterised by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. Aristotle’s definition can include a change of fortune from bad to good, but he says that the change from good to bad is preferable because this affects pity and fear within the audience. Tragedy results in catharsis (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama/play. According to Aristotle a tragic hero must be a noble person and also hold a “high” status in society.
A detailed analysis of the dramatic contribution that Friar Lawrence makes to William Shakespeare’s tragic love story ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Ben Jonson once claimed that William Shakespeare (1564-1616) “wanted art” (lacked skill) and this viewpoint can be instantly refuted by the manner in which Shakespeare handles the role of Friar Lawrence in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The conventional love play, featuring characters who are supposedly doomed from the start and whose “outcome is destined to be lose-lose” (Pam Marshall), can be viewed as a simple story with an outcome which will move the Elizabethan audience. However, Shakespeare can be seen to challenge the ideas of fate, belief through the character of Friar Lawrence and the themes of light and darkness. In this essay, I will look at the role of Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet – in particular, the eventual tragic deaths of the “star-crossed” lovers – and the manner in which Shakespeare uses Friar Lawrence as a means to challenge ideas of fate and light/darkness through his use of language, imagery and metaphor.
But in order to understand the elements that make Macbeth, it is important to analyse the concepts of tragedy. The classical definition of tragedy comes from Aristotle, who states that tragedy is a representation of reality through a complete story. It does not rely in narrative, but in dramatic form and it raises the emotions of fear and pity, promoting a catharsis of them (ARISTOTLE; ACKRILL, 1987, p. 543-544). Additionally, he talks about the tragic hero, a great man who experiences change through misfortune. Aristotle’s theory is suitable to the plays available to him at his time, but it is not enough to embrace all “types of serious plots ending in a catastrophe” that
It has been argued by Goethe that the reason Hamlet failed to avenge his father’s death was because he did not have the inner or physical strength. He argues Hamlet does not have the attributes of a hero. But this can be argued because all throughout the play Hamlet demonstrates that he has the strength, emotionally and physically. Therefore it is obvious that the only reason hamlet did so was because he was a man of great philosophy, so typically he thought too much, and in doing this it became the tragic flaw in his character. Which everyone knows will lead to his downfall.