His Machiavellian traits are most noticeably revealed in the scene in which Henry sets up the three traitors- Cambridge, Gray and Scroop. Here he takes on the Machiavellian idea that ‘It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.’ Just before their unmasking, the traitors bestow Henry with a great encomium of compliments: ‘great sovereign.’ This act demands loyalty from his subjects and demonstrates his astuteness as a leader. However his subsequent brutality could be viewed as unnecessary, a characteristic of an aggressive man rather than a fair minded King. He showcases his brutality by instantaneously having the traitors executed for treason. He quickly adapts an innocent naïve man to the all knowing, infallible King that is not so easily
Contradictions in Brutus’ Character The central theme of the play ‘Julius Caesar’, authored by the celebrated dramatist William Shakespeare, is the conspiracy against Caesar, his assassination and the subsequent civil war between the pro-Caesar faction and the anti-Caesar faction, that causes much blood shed in the country. This is the precise political background which is set for the play. Caesar’s rising power and his popularity among the plebeians is of much concern to the Roman nobility. While a section of them is jealous of him, Brutus is worried that Caesar will rule the country in a tyrannical manner depriving the liberty of the subject. He is thinking of the common good and not the personal convenience.
Oscar Wilde is credited for being a provocateur for change in nineteenth century England. Wilde provides his audience with the opportunity to witness the inner-workings of Victorian society and their rebellion against following the social norms. Oscar Wilde uses the fabricated identities of Jack and Algernon, the main characters of the play, to show the rebellious nature of the aristocracy. Wilde portrays the Victorian upper-class as rigid and the secret lives are necessary to provide the freedom to express who they really are. While the middle-class of England looks up to the upper-class Victorians with respect and envy, both Jack and Algernon dislike the propriety of it all.
The 1919 treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay war reperation to France. These reperations made the people of Germany angry at the treaty and Hitler was able to manipulate and use this by promising not to pay them thereby gaining popularity. Another factor of the treaty of Versailles is the war guilt cause. This required Germany to take full responsibility for world war 1. Hitler instead blamed many others, mainly the Wemiar and the Jews, this also gained popularity with the people of Germany.
This shows war to be a great force to be feared. Another quotation to support this comment of the English being unstoppable and a force of nature is the phrase said by the French King, "rush on his host as doth the melted snow" (3.6.50). This phrase helps the audience watching the play see England as a threat, because even the French, patriotic, King is admitting that not only England, but also Henry, is a force of nature. The next perspective of war is war as a monster. This perspective is used to show, once again, that war is something frightening and intimidating.
When the soliloquy of Cassius in Act 1 Sc. 2 begins it is evident of Cassius’ Epicurean view and his evil desires and intention to use Brutus to murder Caesar, ‘Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus…’ the contrast apparent in Cassius’ statement exemplifies that he uses this knowledge to his advantage to coordinate who he would influence to plot against Caesar. The use of rhetorical devices in Brutus’ soliloquy ‘Shall Rome stand under one man’s awe?’ targets Brutus’ fear of Caesar’s misuse of power and dictatorship further supplementing our understanding of the influence that Cassius had implanted onto Brutus, successfully being able to justify and solidify Brutus’ will to kill Caesar. Cassius twists Brutus’ patriotism towards Rome to motivate Brutus into thinking that Caesar’s intentions for the Roman Public would be used in ways that would lead to the fall of Rome. ‘Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully…carve him as a dish fit for the gods’ the use of a metaphor reveals that his intentions are not to kill Caesar out of spite but instead with regret and considers Caesar as a person of a respectful status.
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.
The support extended by him towards the July 1914 crisis further escalated tensions across Europe, which culminated into the First World War through a chain of events. His rash and poorly conceived and thought out policies fuelled by his attitude towards the Civil Government ultimately forced him to abdicate in 1919 and flee to the Netherlands. Nature of the policies Kaiser Wilhelm II adopted and advocated the ideology of “Welt Politik” or World Politics which was a sharp contrast to the ideology of “Real Politk” used by Otto Von Bismarck. The main aim of Welt Politik was to use aggressive policies, actions and threaten the use of military to get hold of more colonies and ensure that Germany was looked upon as a powerful and influential nation both in the eyes of other European nations as well as the world in general. His decisions could frequently be linked to his impatient and hot headedness.
This was shown by Kaiser Wilhelm in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 1908: “You English are like mad bulls: you see red everywhere! What on earth has come over you, that you should heap on such suspicion?” Despite Kaiser Wilhelm denying there was competition between them, both countries, paranoid the other would attack, sought to seek alliances with neighbouring countries. These alliances were a crucial factor to all aspects of the war. If Germany hadn’t been so power hungry, the war may not have been the same war, we know of today. Germany seem to have believed that war was best way to solve conflicts between nations.
Consequently, they achieve a certain degree of self awareness and knowledge that they did not possess before. Shakespeare, writing in the tragic genre created in Lear and Macbeth, two tragic heroes who achieve anagnorisis or personal discovery through a series of tragic events. Aristotle believed “anagnorisis....when it occurs together with peripetia (adventure) the change of fortune from good to ill or reverse” would lead to “external identification” which is in other words self-knowledge. Shakespeare’s contemporary audience would have understood the theme of self knowledge, in tradegy as it was a popular genre. During that time, it was believed that the death of a King would upset the natural balance of order and society.