A morality play includes allegorical drama, in which characters personify moral qualities or abstractions. “It achieves a beautiful, simple solemnity in treating allegorically the theme of death and the fate of the human soul—of Everyman’s soul as he tries to justify his time on earth” (Everyman, Encyclopaedia). “Everyman” is meant to communicate a simple moral lesson to the audience. “The author of “Everyman” presents the hero’s changing attitudes towards death and towards himself as the result of a series of encounters with other characters” (Goldhamer, 88). Many of the characters represent influences on the lives of people and the character Everyman represents all people.
Edson constructs her protagonist to flow parallel to John Donne’s philosophies, resurrecting the metaphysics he made timeless. The body encompasses the metaphysical emotions that humans experience. The particular concern of death is paramount to the work John Donne has written. In ‘Death be not Proud’ Donne personifies death, humiliating its existence ‘Death shall not be proud.’ The 17th Century poet claims Death to be insignificant, thus telling his audience that it should not be feared. It is here that Donne rejects the medieval ideals of death being daunting.
In the case of Frost’s poem, “Home Burial”, and Poe’s short story, “A Cask of Amontillado”, the theme of death plays an essential role in each piece of literature. Although the theme of death is dealt with differently in each piece, “Home Burial” and “A Cask of Amontillado” rely heavily on miscommunication between characters to explore the theme of death. Death itself, in each story, couldn’t be used any differently. In a literal sense, the death of a couple’s child and subsequent burial begins the action of “Home Burial”, while in “A Cask of Amontillado”, the death of Fortunato and premature burial are the resolution to the story. So, “A Cask of Amontillado” concerns itself mainly with the theme of revenge and “Home Burial” concerns itself with the theme of mourning, in the scope of the overall arching theme of death.
Many scholars have read this line, and taken the meaning as a rhetorical question, which shows that everything seen may not be true, and the actual character of the main players may not appear to be obvious. Shakespeare uses the final words, and lines leading up to the death of some of the main players, to show their true character, and to reveal themselves to the audience. This can be seen, when Hamlet shows that he reveals that he truly wants himself to die a noble prince, Claudius reveals his true self to the audience as the murderous villain that he is, Laertes also shows his true character in his final moments by making things right and tries to retain his honor and nobility. In the case of Laertes, as he dies he shows regret for what he did. In the events leading up to his demise, Laertes is corrupted by Claudius and his evil motives.
Through this passage of Macbeth’s soliloquy, I think Shakespeare intends to bring out the ideas of violence. Therefore, in the following context I am going to discuss how Shakespeare conveys the concepts of violence via his utilization of words, and further discuss that is it really so wrong with violence, and how violence exists in various forms in modern society. Violence is a topic which people often tend to avoid mentioning about, because people nowadays think it is a negative action that needs to be judged and prohibited by conscience and moral standards. However, Shakespeare brings it to a discussion in the play of Macbeth by the plots of murder (that is a form of violence). In the following context I am going to discuss the elements of violence from the quotation of the soliloquy when Macbeth is trying to murder Duncan.
In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast John Updike’s “Dog’s Death” and Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. The basis of comparison will be the themes, narrative styles, uses of personification, content, form, tones, and languages, among other aspects. I chose these two poems because they talk about an issue of universal relevance to each one of us, which is death. Both poems explore the subject of death, and they show how it is unavoidable, in spite of our efforts to pre-empt it or our pre-occupations. In the poem ‘I Could Not Stop for Death’, the speaker says: “And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too” (6-7).
The foil can contrast with the protagonist in different ways, such as their physical characteristics like in Sherlock Holmes, or in the case of Hamlet, not having a father. A tragic foil is a foil that is found in tragedies. These foils they differ in their ethics and actions. Examples of this are Banquo as a tragic foil of Macbeth and Billy Costagin as a tragic foil of Colin Sullivan. Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare.
Tragedy, a literary genre, has undergone sufficient change over textual history. This can be seen most extensively in the change of narrative conventions and how far the themes of the text can be seen as a reflection of contemporary society. There are several ever present traditions in tragedies. One of these is that the protagonist of the tragedy brings about their own downfall (most often death) through their own actions. These actions are normally arising from their ‘tragic flaw’, which is an undesirable element of their character, like Macbeth’s ambition or Hamlet’s indecisiveness.
1. Discuss and illustrate the poets perception of war in two of the poems you have studied. (you are expected to choose one of Owen’s poems only. Do not use both Owen’s poems. Throughout both poems, Dulce et Decorum Est and An Irish Airmen Foresees His Death, both poets Wilfred Owen and W.B Yeats both have different perceptions of war at that time.
In this essay I will explore the ways in which Orwell and Shakespeare use characterization in the two different texts. I will cover the contrast between the two texts, contrast between the characterization in the two different texts, he contrast that they have over time, inner conflict between the character in both texts; Macbeth and Banquo from the play ‘Macbeth’ written by William Shakespeare, Snowball and Napoleon from the novella ‘Animal Farm’ written by George Orwell . I will specifically be focusing on the conflict in Macbeth, contrast between- again looking at the differences between Macbeth and Banquo but this time also looking at Napoleons lack of inner conflict and also the contrast between his actions and words, finally I will also cover the contrast between Napoleon and Snowball. Although both texts where written at completely different time periods, Macbeth written in the early 17th century and Animal Farm which was published in 1945 , so it’s a battle between early 17th century verses 20th century literature. Though they both deal with the same concept that he who hold great power is not far from or is already corrupted they are both presented in different ways.