Of course MAAN follows Shakespeare’s traditional comedy structure but modern critics have their own agenda that a comedy, being such a complex genre, should conform to. Since the time of the ancient Greeks critics have struggled to define it, Plato described it as a series of events you would ‘blush to practice yourself’. Susan Snyder who writes for the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Company, states that - ‘Comedy involves men of middling estate, its perils are small scale, its outcomes peaceful’. This is an excellent summary for the majority of Shakespeare’s plays; however it is not necessarily accurate in relation to MAAN. It is true to say that a comedy involves ‘men of a middling estate’, in MAAN the protagonists share the company of the Prince Don Pedro, and are socially superior to the watchmen such as Dogberry and Verges.
Lady Macbeth: Shakespeare’s Modern Day Medea Author and critic Judith Cook explains, “Lady Macbeth…has continued to intrigue and puzzle most commentators [and] critics over the centuries” (120). Lady Macbeth’s character is intriguing in that she is strong, persuasive, and committed, and Shakespeare understood the importance of presenting interesting characters. Former British professor Emrys Jones writes, “Much of Shakespeare’s power comes from his skill in choosing subjects that arouse interest and attention” (15). Shakespeare was a man who took what was popular at his time and adjusted those stories to create his works. In the case of Macbeth, critics have long recognized that Shakespeare borrowed extensively from Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1577).
This is a major reason why everyone in the play, again excepting Teiresias, believes Oedipus to have a first-class mind. Oedipus is renown for this deed and thought by his subjects to be very clever in doing of it. Y3. John P. Carroll, in his interesting study of the extraordinary number of questions posed by Oedipus in Oedipus Rex (one in each nine lines of text uttered by him), concludes, “King Oedipus was endowed at birth with the heritage of the ‘riddler’s mind,’ which by constant use throughout the course of his life he sharpened and brought to greater Philosophy and Literature, © 2006, 30: 562–566 Charles B. Daniels 563 perfection than it ever had had in his
Both plays are classics in every sense of the word, and their success can be directly correlated to the immense substance of their eponymous characters: the dark prince, and the ill-fated king. Not surprisingly, the main themes of each play are embodied in their lead character. Hamlet’s inner moral conflict, his academic musings about the nature of life and death, and his articulate assessment of decisiveness seem to be Shakespeare’s way of asking the audience to consider their own opinions on each of these issues. The lines of Sophocles’ Oedipus are dripping with thematic meaning. The playwright’s messages of fate, irony, responsibility, and universality are wrapped within the persona of Oedipus (Macdonald 148) (Miller 215).
It may be hard to read Shakespeare for some, but for others who can take the time and understand the “ingredients” that it took to create this amazing play, love it and bask in it. Red, sticky, and warm. Three words that make a reader think of blood. Macbeth is said to be Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, with blood being used approximately a hundred times throughout the play. Blood means death, death means drama.
‘The Tragedy of King Richard the 3rd’ was a revolutionary play of its time due to its appeal of all classes ranging from the noblest Queen to the street pheasant. King Richard also explores the concept of what it means to be evil; Pacino’s film reflects this giving an insight on the faces, motives and free will of Richard. Shakespeare’s integrity lies in his accessibility to an audience and his ability to explore values within his plays. King Richard is a man who presents copious ideological characteristics and also throws into confusion many traditional values set into the mindsets of the Elizabethan and post-Elizabethan peoples. The opening lines of the play have Richard speak directly to the audience in the form of a soliloquy ‘Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious by this son of York,’ this metaphor is a direct link to the character of Richard, a man who is discontent.
Along with Shakespeare's countless amounts of contributions made in the English language, his plays also shift the perspective of life for much of the world. In Hamlet (one of his most widely known works of literature) Shakespeare uses the character Hamlet to exemplify the complex workings of the human mind. By using the encounters that Hamlet faces, Shakespeare demonstrates the direct effect that one's perspective can have on a particular situation, and in the way the mind works. Another example is a passage taken out of the play Othello: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.” This passage quoted by the character Lago, is referring to jealousy; more specifically, jealousy over a spouse.
Lastly, in line 137, Hamlet employs the emotion-laden words “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable” to yet again bring about his thoughts of suicide and say that this is how the world is -- gloomy. In the passage, Shakespeare greatly exercises the use of diction, but also has an extraordinary use of structure. Structure is utilized throughout Hamlet’s soliloquy to bring more understanding to his thoughts. His use of enjambment in many lines of the passage (135, 137, 139, 140, 143, 144, 145, 147, 148, 149, 151, 152, 154, 155,
Motifs in Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one of the most important pieces of literature written in the 16th century. A play filled with laughter, happiness, and sadness, it was one that is still remembered and reenacted even in today’s time. Shakespeare’s Hamlet was a play that was not only a form of entertainment but also a story with moral values that the audience could take with them. A reason why this play is so well known and controversial is that it posseses an important element to it known as a motif. Motifs, commonly known as themes, are constantly represented throughout the play.
William Shakespeare created stories with so much detail and commotion that he was able to get inside of his audience heads, almost always without their consent or knowledge. In Henry IV, one of the most recurring themes is honor. To demonstrate honor, I think of a strong moral character and adherence to ethics and principles, which encompasses a large amount of other characteristics and qualities that I will explore. Shakespeare’s writing ability allows us to explore the many facets of honor he had woven into the play. Throughout the play, different characters expose the audience to both positive and negative examples of honor through various scenarios.