How do the characters fit into the story? Did any of the characters seem out of place? Did the play give any indication of the theatrical elements of set, costumes, lighting, etc… and were they appropriate. Was there anything that particularly helped you to understand the play; or was there something distracting that kept you from understanding all or part of the play? Perhaps take a look at the characters and
How would one's race and background affect his or her reaction to the actions within this play? Give an example of two types of people and how and why they may react to it.
Explore the ways that Tennessee Williams constructs the character of Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire and Willy Russell constructs the character of Rita in Educating Rita in light of the opinion that they have the desire to escape reality and fulfil their fantasies. Despite being set in different periods of history, both plays ‘Educating Rita’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ share similar themes of the fine line between fantasy and reality, and losing yourself in the former. In 1945 Tennessee Williams began work on the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, and with the war ending in the same year, the play to reflects the cultural tensions of World War 2. Many felt uncomfortable being an environment with so many nationalities they were only a few years ago at war with. Cultural tensions are present in Blanche’s remark that Stanley is a ‘Polack’; during World War 2, the Polish were seen as the enemy; Blanche using this insult is not because she is against Polacks, but is her taking advantage of the frequently used insult at the time.
In the first act of Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare establishes two important conflicts that will carry throughout the play. Look back in the text and decide what these conflicts are. In order to find them, keep in mind the definition of conflict. • Which characters are clashing with others in the story? • Which characters are facing an internal battle with their own thoughts or feelings?
For Lear, Kent and Edgar clothing is of great significance as they have all had to add an element of disguise into their lives for different reasons as clothing is the simplest to change. Shakespeare uses clothing in King Lear as a metaphor for Lear’s struggles and epiphanies. In the great storm, Learn strips of his clothes as a way of metaphorically stripping himself of deceit and sheds some of his inner arrogance and pride. Lear comments on how clearly he can now see due to the lack of crown and robes, he has an epiphany whereby he realises that, ‘unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor, bare, forked animal as thou art’, without clothes he is bare, and his power and status is stripped. The garments are lessening in value through the storm and all these battles, especially when he strips them off completely.
After the initial reading of Dr. Faustus and The Tempest, acknowledging Dr. Faustus as a source text for The Tempest was taxing. Knowing that Shakespeare read and studied Dr. Faustus caused greater reflection and determination to find some links between the two pieces of literature. Focusing additional attention on the main characters revealed some similarities. Although the plots are very different, there are some similarities in character development. Antonio is comparable to Lucifer.
Re-read the extract from Act 1 Scene 2 (page 34-41). Explore the presentation of The Romantics/Romanticism in this extract and elsewhere in the play Romanticism is one of the dichotomous themes in 'Arcadia' paired oppositely with Classicism. Throughout the play, representations of each era are shown to be at odds with each other. Stoppard explores the incompatibility of emotion and knowledge through the characters who reflect the themes of the play. In this extract, Hannah and Bernard's dialogue about the latter day Sidley Park display and explain the movement from the Enlightenment to Romanticism for the audience as they discuss the Sidley Park hermit.
4 (Oct., 1997), pp. 521-553 Cook is a professor who studied the social sciences and got BS at Lewis Clark College, MA at Rutgers University, and PHD at Rutgers University as well. He is interested in Taoist, and published his famous work “Hiding the world in the world” in 2003. Zhuangzi’s relation to the Confucian school is reexamined.This essay analyzes the Confucius’ image of “musical perfection” and concludes with an examination of Zhuangzi’s “Butcher Ding” Story. This source is useful for research on Confucius’ image of “musical perfection” and his relation to the Confucian school.
H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume One, Fourth Edition (New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1979). Barron, W. R. J. Trawthe and Treason: The Sin of Gawain Reconsidered (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980). Benson, Larry D. Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1965). Blanch, Robert J. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Reference Guide (Troy, NY: The Whitston Publishing Co., 1983).
“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.