Once again…use examples to justify throughout the paragraph. Mood: What is mood? Why is it such an important element of drama? What mood/s were created throughout the play? Consider the audience and style of the play in this paragraph.
Moral Ambiguous Characters Throughout Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the moral ambiguity of the central character, Dorian Gray, becomes more and more distinct. The story starts with Dorian being venerated by the artist Basil Hallward, and throughout the story the reader learns of Gray’s several wrong doings. Meeting Lord Henry almost straight away negatively influenced Dorian. He had started out blameless and innocent, but by the conclusion had been the cause of numerous deaths, all because of his selfish wish to stay beautiful forever. “His actions show a character who insists the soul is real, but loves the gaping chasm between the beauty of his body and the corruption of his soul” [ (Wilde 105-123) ].
Petruchio, a wealthy and unmarried gentlemen from Verona, wishes a wife. Katherina is incredibly ill tempered and somewhat childish, however her large dowry is an irresistible temptation to Petruchio and he marries her against her vicious protests; however, due to her unfavourable temperament, he soon finds everything about her displeasing(?) and begins to ‘tame the shrew’. This taming is unconventionally achieved by (and so adequately described as) "kill[ing] a wife with kindness" (4, 1, 174). “I pray you, husband, be not so disquiet.
Antigone was very heroic and brave at first, Creon now punishes her, and she does not fight back, but she simply badmouths her father. “O Oedipus, father and brother your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine (7.40-41) says a coward Antigone. Creon, on the other hand who is supposed to be the strong king of the land, does not manage to control his anger, and fights his own son in an argument. This can be considered a sense of pride, since Creon did not want to change his opinion. Part of being a tragic hero is having a destruction.
Marshall was grateful the bullies had loosened up on Avalon because he was madly in love with her ever since the first day he laid eyes on her, but on the other hand, he was also devastated he was getting all this undeserved hate. Avalon wasn’t aware how much all of this bullying was harming Marshall, she didn’t realise that all this bullying was slowly and painfully killing Marshall on the inside. Avalon was blind towards Marshall’s feelings for her because she had always had the impression that he was homosexual because he was more in touch with his feminine side. Marshall
It is inevitable as death. Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is no exception to this rancid portrayal of women. Though they may seem ignorant of all the corruption around them, women are still responsible for the corruption throughout the play. Gertrude and Ophelia are both manipulative characters that entice men around them and ultimately become the motivation for all of the tragic events throughout the play. Despite the general opinion that “Hamlet” contains the weakest women in Shakespeare’s works, the unraveling of the main plot can only be attributed to them.
At the beginning of the play we see Othello as a noble and valiant general of Cyprus who is highly respected. However in the final act we see Othello as a ‘green-eyed monster’ overcome by his passion, jealousy and quick anger. After Brabantio warns Othello about Desdemona, “She has deceived her father and may thee.” Othello replies “My life upon her faith!” This strong language evokes his overconfidence in himself, and how he assumes that nothing can happen when both of them deeply love each other. Othello starts to become suspicious, angry and confused when he hears what Iago thinks, misjudges what Desdemona says, and wonders what Emilia believes. Shakespeare’s use of black imagery appears quite often to describe Othello’s true character, including Emilia calling him “the blacker devil”.
There may seem to be many motivations for villains throughout the times but as we study these scoundrels we find that generally they are motivated by pure jealousy, or a need of superiority. They utilize manipulation, both physically and mentally in order to achieve their goals and show a lack of remorse. Stephan King’s “Misery”, provides us with a very graphical depiction in Annie Wilkes a sadistic, mentally unstable retired nurse, who has a desire for power and control. Annie goes to tortuous extremes on her captive Paul Sheldon to realize this. Iago from Shakespeare’s play Othello is also a power hungry villain who enjoys having people under his control, he is driven by extreme jealousy and the motivation, revenge.
How does Shakespeare attend to the problem of knowledge in Othello? My thesis is that there is an epistemic crisis in Othello. Tragedy is an epistemological problem. It is the outcome of the problem of knowledge. Thesis underlines the notion that the play has an attitude towards the audience.
Desdemona is Othello’s wife who he is madly in love with and Iago preys upon Othello’s jealous personality and trusting nature to convince Othello of his wife’s infidelity resulting in the ultimate downfall of Othello – death. Othello’s downfall is caused by his own weakness due to his trusting nature and willingness to believe anything he is told. Early in the play, it becomes evident that Othello is blind to Iago’s evil when Iago says “I am not what I am” (I.i,65). This statement foreshadows Othello’s downfall as it is his trust in Iago, which causes it. Othello believes Iago’s lies and always listens to his advice throughout the play.