Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage. Her talent for persuasiveness and deception starts a chain of destructive events and she definitely contributed to the conversion of Macbeth from well respected soldier to a repugnant, bloody tyrant. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a woman “of direst cruelty” and had largely a negative impact on Macbeth. At the start of the play Macbeth had the potential for greatness but because of Lady Macbeth influence this potential remained unfulfilled. If he continued on the ethical path he was on he very well may have rose in rank importance without his stir.
This shows the context where marriage would be used to enhance a families place in society rather than for love. Being in the first scene, structurally, this suggests to the audience that the play is going to have a running theme of disruption because straight away we are introduced to the fact that there are contrasts in the characters desires. This is enhanced by the fact that Egeus disrupts Theseus and Hippolyta to tell them of his daughter’s disobedience, which provides a visual display to the audience that the upcoming events are not going to run smoothly. The theme of disruption extends to include the supernatural world in act 2: scene 1 which suggests a lack of hope for the human world because those with powers are unable to live in equilibrium. In the argument between Titania and Oberon, Titania says ‘but with thy brawls, thou hast disturbed our sport.’ This shows the disruption in their relationship; the phrase ‘our sport’ showing how close they used to be, behaving in a lively, energetic way which suggests childish behaviour brought about by being in love.
To a great extent, modern audiences would find the portrayal objectification of women very much ominous, especially in the case of Hero. Shakespeare’s depiction of the interactions between Claudio, her future husband and Leonato, her father prior to Hero’s public shaming conveys this. In act two scene one Leonato says to Claudio ‘take of me my daughter, and with her my fortunes’ (2/1/280). Here the two men are discussing the giving of Hero as if she were an object to be traded and that his adult daughter is in no position to decide who she marries. Shakespeare presents the stranglehold that men have over women and furthers the notion that men view women as items to be controlled in Messina culture.
“The Decision a director makes in the portrayal of a character reflects their own context as much as Shakespeare’s.” Evaluate (compare and contrast) Orson Wells’ portrayal of Desdemona with regards to the above statement. You should refer to other versions of Othello that you have studied in your response. A director or playwright often produces a creative text reflective of his or her own context. Shakespeare however, also challenged his own context through his ideas in the play ‘Othello’. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Desdemona reflects and challenges the role of women in the renaissance period by including the ideas of independence, sex and infidelity.
This would have been impossible for him, given the lack of documentation about some of the key players of the Salem Witch Trial. Instead, Miller developed his characters to fit the play. For example, an entire scenario of the relationship between Abigail Williams and John Proctor were created to drive the story’s plot forward. This allows the reader to understand one of the different motivations we can relate to (love) for crying ‘witch’ on a fellow settler. Abigail Williams cried witch on Elizabeth Proctor (John Proctor’s wife) to eliminate Elizabeth.
Act 2 Scene 1 is used to be the point of which the issues start to become apparent, with the ensuing psychological and emotional effects on Katherina now she is being subjected to Petruchio entering her life. However, Shakespeare has designed Taming of the Shrew as a comedy, and these issues become an underlying feature, and not the play’s main focus. Act 2 Scene 1 is the first meeting between the two characters and their initial interaction is quite explosive. A social concern that is made clear through the exchange is the lack of respect Petruchio has for Katherina, which is influenced through the fact that the play was written in the time of a Patriarchal society, and women had to get married if they wanted to be respected – even if it meant losing all their finances and belongings to the possession of the husband. Petruchio bombards Katherina with compliments as soon as she walks in such as “bonny Kate”, “prettiest Kate in Christendom, Kate of Kate-Hall, my super-dainty Kate”, while being consistently referential to Katherina as being his through the use of the possessive pronoun ‘my’, even though at that point, they had barely just met.
Romeo and Juliet is conflict of civil war between two families that cannot be resolved until a pair of lovers sacrifices their own life due to their family issues. Some individuals may have the internal strength to overcome the external problems, but not everyone does, in this case the two lovers don’t have that courage and strength to continue living because of the deep family grudge. Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet film is a modern interpretation of the original play by William Shakespeare. It is about his understanding of how the play works. It is a film full of risk taking, misunderstandings and an ominous sense of disaster, which is common in Shakespearean tragedies, but this movie takes it to a whole new level of suspense and surprise.
“Is Hamlet less about revenge and more about fear and loathing of female sexuality?” In Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy Hamlet, a number of themes, including remarriage and death, contribute to Hamlet’s harmatia, his fatal flaw. It can be argued that the Hamlet’s hamartia, his fear and loathing of female sexuality, provoked by his father’s murder and his mother’s hasty remarriage, makes Hamlet a play more concerned with female sexuality, than revenge. Shakespeare uses Hamlet as a vehicle for Elizabethan society’s views on incestuous relationships: that to marry any member of your family was wrong, which was based on the Old Testament book of Leviticus 20:21. Gertrude’s incestuous relationship with Hamlet’s Uncle is the main focus of his loathing; their relationship appals him, “...sweat of an enseamed bed stewed in corruption” Hamlet claims their union is unnatural; Shakespeare’s choice of repugnant imagery lends emphasis to his reaction. ‘Enseame’, the fat that is produced from a cooked animal, reflects the repulsion which Hamlet feels towards his Uncle.
At first Macbeth agrees, but later Macbeth is having second thoughts on his decision. But Lady Macbeth is sure that being king is what Macbeth wants and that this is the best for both of them. So in response to Macbeth’s uncertainty, she manipulates him by questioning his manhood and his love for her. At one point she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself ‘‘Unsex me here’’…/’’come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall’. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections, when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself.
Macbeth was not a man to naturally incline to perform malicious deeds, but he had“dark and deep desires” for power. Macbeth’s character was physically strong but mentally weak, and it was this weakness that instigated the downfall and change of Macbeth, whereas Lady Macbeth seemed to be quite the opposite of her husband. Being that Lady Macbeth’s determination was far superior to that of her husband’s; she was able to convince him into murdering Duncan while assuring him that he would succeed. At one point in the play she exerted ample power over Macbeth calling him a coward and demonstrating just how determined she was for her husband: “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man.” It is no surprise to me why Macbeth would act without hesitating, as it was this self-confidence as