William Shakespeare’s The Tempest centers on power struggles and how various characters in the play try to dominate or control others. The lust for power is widely shared by the characters in the play. Caliban wants to regain his island from Prospero; Prospero wants his status back as the Duke of Milan. Sebastian also tries to kill his brother Alonso, so that he will be next in line to the throne. The play consists of a series of treacheries and conspiracies against authority.
Set in 1604/5 ancient Britain, Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ explores a number of key themes. One character in particular would be subject to much scrutiny in terms of his characters personality traits. Edmund, can be seen as a personification of evil as he is presented as a Machiavellian, who will do what ever it takes by whatever means necessary in order to get what he wants. Ultimately, he turns against his brother Edgar and father Gloucester because of his ‘“illegitimacy” and conspires to turn his father against Edgar by falsifying a letter and planting ideas to remove his father from his powerful position. Driven by the need for power and status, Edmund sides with other evil characters such as Goneril and Regan who have the same motives as him.
He plays on Laertes’ hunger for revenge on his father’s killer and uses Laertes’ feelings to achieve his goal. By this we see Claudius accomplish objectives by controlling people around him. Besides manipulation, Claudius achieves much by sinful acts. During the course of the play, Claudius breaks two of the Ten Commandments. The first is “you shall not kill” and this is broken by his crime of killing his brother.
We know that it isn’t right for Macbeth to become the king, as Malcolm is the heir to the throne. If Macbeth uses brutal force against nature to become king, there will be retribution. Because of Macbeth’s ambition to start his journey of becoming king, he decides to kill King Duncan. Macbeth, through Lady Macbeth’s persuasions and the witches’ prophecies, decides his very first step of becoming
Corruption Corruption is often fueled by many factors. Many factors lead to corruption in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Macbeth, written by Mordecai Richler and William Shakespeare, respectively. The importance of money and social prowess leads to corruption in both novels. Furthermore, both works prove how one will often be willing to sacrifice everything they have in order to get what they want. In the end, however, it is seen in both novels that when you let yourself succumb to poor moral judgement, you will certainly be doomed.
This misinterpretation, committed in pursuit of power, leads Macbeth to perform certain actions which result in the death of the king, the death of Macbeth’s friends, and eventually his own demise. At the start of the play, Macbeth is seeking a great amount of power. His wife, Lady Macbeth says to him, “When you durst do it, then you were a man;” (Act 1, sc. 7, line 56), suggesting that they have either considered or committed murder for the sake of their own advancement in the past. Macbeth further condones this in his action to the witches’ prophecy that he will become king.
This study will examine the most stark contrast between the characters of Oedipus in Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Macbeth in Shakespeare's play of the same name. That contrast is based on the conscious involvement of Macbeth in his own evildoing and doom, and the lack of awareness accompanying Oedipus own evildoing. That is, Macbeth set out deliberately and determinedly to murder for personal ambition and gain, while Oedipus slew his father without knowing who he was, and wed his mother without knowing who she was, thus bringing destruction upon not only his own head but the entire city over which he ruled. It might be argued that Oedipus consciously slew the old man he met on the road, did not have to kill him over a minor traffic dispute, and therefore can be said to have directly participated in the destruction which ultimately resulted from that act. However, again, the difference is that Oedipus acted impulsively in a state of rage, whereas Macbeth committed acts of violence and murder as a result of careful scheming which he determined would result in his own personal gain.
Robin Hood current mission was to rob the rich and give to the poor. Robin Hood needs to change it because the band is getting to large and everything is starting to cost too much. Robin Hood current objective is how to get Prince John from the throne. That objective did not need to be change because Prince John was a vicious and volatile man that has power to put trouble on Robin Hood and his band. The current strategies of the group are impose a fixed transit tax, expand the band geographically, kill the sheriff, or get the old kill back in power.
He will find a person who is deemed a hero in the eyes of society and destroy every part of it. As we see in Shakespeare’s Othello, the sociopathic nature of the anti-hero, Iago, and the essential nature of the protagonist, Othello, create the perfect storm for a classic dramatic tragedy. Othello’s role as an outsider makes him an easy target for jealous, sociopathic Iago, which results in his fateful fall from grace and ultimately seals his destiny as a tragic hero. Iago embodies an accurate portrayal of a sociopathic personality in this tale of undercover treachery. He displays all the tell tale signs which embody such a character.
Short Story Essay on "The Ransom of Red Chief" When two criminals kidnap a young boy, the outcome usually is not a very good one. “The Ransom of Red Chief”, by O. Henry (O. Henry Handout), ironically twisted in several ways, follows Bill and Sam, who kidnap Johnny Dorset, also known as Red chief. They capture the victim using a plan in order to receive a ransom of two-thousand dollars, and through several disastrous situations with the boy, they end up paying the father, Ebenezer Dorset to take him back. These characters, Bill and Sam, are acting as as the villains in this particular story at first. The story takes place down south, in Summit, Alabama.