Hamlet Essay Identify a key scene which can be seen to be extremely important for a number of reasons. A very dramatic and intriguing key scene in William Shakespheare’s “Hamlet” is the closet scene, Act III Scene iv where Hamlet sees his father’s ghost again and kills Polonius. The scene reveals to us Hamlets madness, violent rage and desire for revenge. I feel the scene was very dramatic and has many consequences for Hamlet and for Ophelia (who goes mad at the tragedy of her father’s death.) The beginning of the key scene is important because, Hamlet has been summoned by his mother, who is furious with him for events surrounding the play-within-the-play, in which it has been suggested clearly that Hamlet’s father has been murdered by his brother.
With his tale of corrupt patriarchy filled with mystery, romance, and tragedy, Horace Walpole bridged the gap between the wantonly romantic and the excessively realistic (Scott 11); filling the space with dark settings, stark characters and tangled narratives. It was the sum of all these parts that became the formula that is still followed today by writers of the genre. This essay will outline various elements of the typical gothic novel, and the way in which they are associated with excess in the themes, characterisation, and style of writing. In doing so, the differences in the techniques used in Walpole’s novel Castle of Otranto, and M.R James’s short story Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad, will be identified and discussed. The primary objective of Gothic novelists is to rouse the reader into eliciting emotional responses such as shock or fear (Hume 284).
To what extent do you think gothic literature is characterised by a fascination with death? Notions of 'death' manifest themselves into gothic texts in numerous ways, throught plot, setting and through both characters perceptions, and reactions to death, thus one interpretation is that gothic literature has become fascinated by death. Death, represents arguably one of the main provokers of human fear. It is the ultimate unknown and stimulates feelings of both horror and terror, the sickening apprehension at the mere thought of death and consequently the dismal realisation.Gothic texts are known for the promise of the sickly addictive combination of both horror and terror, thus it is almost inevitable then, that 'death' too has become an archetypal feature. To an increasingly large extent gothic literature is concerned with and obsession or fascination with death, however some may argue that this notion of death presents merely a sole characteristic of the gothic, and that perhaps there are alternative features that take predominance over it, such as the supernatural.
To someone who’s seen various horror movies, the haunting graphics in The Exorcist left an unforgettable image of evil and will remain a must see movie in my opinion. The Exorcist directed by William Friedkin, staring Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil delivered every possible aspect that makes a horror movie stand out. Throughout the movie, the young actor that played Regan did an excellent job in preforming the demonic head spinning, back bending character. Linda Blair’s performance made the graphics haunting and realistic. Along with Realistic acting and haunting graphics, the plot left the audience anticipating the worst.
Denis brilliantly pours on the psychological edginess by cleverly contrasting the class struggles and emotional baggage that ultimately gives credence to the heinous Papins' crimes. In fact, "Murderous Maids" joins a series of notable films dedicated to the infamous Papin siblings with such fare as "The Maids", "Sister My Sister" and "La Ceremonie". The unstable personal relationships and the soulless conflict behind the brimming madness gives "Murderous Maids" enough tragic fiber to make this a haunting and intriguing affair to behold. Older control freak Christine Papin (Sylvie Testud) and the younger clueless teen sib Lea (Julie-Marie Parmentier) eventually go to work as housemaids for the snooty Madame Lancelin (Dominique Labourier). As we soon learn, the Papin gals aren't just your ordinary servant sisters meant to tend to their duties as assigned.
The hacking and slashing that the Bride doles out to her enemies functions as a cathartic experience for both her and the audience. We don't always see the villains in real life get their comeuppance, so we are able to get revenge vicariously through the characters we see on screen. The violence can also be interpreted as a form of Beatrix's empowerment, who is left vulnerable and weak after the attack on her life. The executions she gratuitously hands
An appropriation of Bram Stokers “Dracula”, Nosferatu explores the concept of the traditional monster with a hideous physical appearance and a motivation to kill driven by the need for survival, a vampire. Heavily influenced by the German Expressionist movement, much of the film is shot in low-key lighting to create a mysterious and eerie tone throughout. Murnau uses special effects such as stop-motion to give the impression of a supernatural speed of time passing when Hutter is on the carriage ride, this suggests a demonic
Rob White: Antichrist is already making headlines because of the explicitness of its sexual violence (especially two acts of genital mutilation). There are comparisons to be made with the current vogue for “torture porn” horror, but a better initial reference point is a group of 1970s films: The Night Porter, In the Realm of the Senses, and Salò, all of which relate sexual violence to mid-century fascism. Antichrist’s concerns are contemporary—gender, ecology, science—and its accomplishment, easy to recognize so long as one is not too distracted by the gore, is to explore these philosophical themes cinematically. Antichrist is also a carefully plotted thriller. Recalling Don’t Look Now, it begins with a child’s death while mother and father (simply credited as “she” and “he,” played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe) have sex.
Iconography includes visual conventions such as expressionistic lighting, nocturnal activities and events, images and interpretations. Barry Keith Grant (cited in Neale, 2007) states “genre movies are those commercial feature films which, through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters in familiar situations”. For example, horror films in order to be considered a horror film will apply certain themes such as the creation and the repression of the “Other”, the evil or bad character within the film – the monster. Other themes and motifs include the symbolic and literal transgression of borders, monstrous femininity, the uncanny and the sublime. Film Genre can also be defined by how a spectator identifies with a film.
How, and with what intended effect on the reader, is the theme of VILLAINY presented by Poe and Chandler in your chosen extracts? Compare literary, linguistic and contextual aspects of each writer’s approach to the set theme. Murder is the villainous act committed in both the Tell Tale Heart and The Big Sleep extracts. The motives surrounding each, the perpetrator of the crime and also the linked themes differ immensely. The Poe extract prepares us for the deed and allows us an insight into the workings of the villains mind through the use of a first person account of his thinking and actions.