For instance, in Romeo and Juliet there are many references of destiny being caused by the stars. In the prologue, Romeo and Juliet are described as “A pair of star-crossed lovers”; stating that the two lovers are cursed by fate, God, and the stars (Act I, scene i). Along with this, in act iii scene I, Romeo refers to himself as “fortune’s fool”. This statement means that he feels like a man who is made a fool of by fortune and fate. When in fact, he is made a fool by his own actions.
He learns that to continue to pity the sinner’s sufferings is to show a lack of understanding of Gods justice and mercy. In Canto III Virgil and Dante pass through the Gate of Hell that is inscribed “Abandon all hope, you who enter here,” it is through these gates in The Vestibule of Hell where we get our first glimpse of Gods justice. The offenders are titled by Dante as, the Opportunists, in life these souls never chose a side; they never fully supported good nor evil, for their own personal advantage. Accompanying these souls are the Angels that refused to take sides in the Rebellion of Angels. In hell these souls eternally chase a blank banner; allegorically this represents the futility of their activity on earth.
Macbeth is a study of the human potential for evil; it illustrates—though not in a religious context—the Judeo-Christian concept of the Fall, humanity's loss of God's grace. We see the triumph of evil in a man with many good qualities. We are made aware that the potential for evil is frighteningly present in all of us and needs only the wrong circumstances and a relaxation of our desire for good. The good in Macbeth cries out poignantly through his feverish imagination, but his worldly ambition, the influence of Lady Macbeth (though she too has an inarticulate angel struggling against her own evil), and the instigation of a supernatural power all combine to crush his better nature.By the end of the play Macbeth has collapsed beneath the weight of his evil, and the desperate tyrant has so isolated himself from society—and from his own moral sensibility—that for him life seems "a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing' (5.5.26-28). Macbeth's despair strikes a responsive chord in modern audiences and readers partly because it resembles an existentialist response to the uncertainties of modern life.
Rochester, the Byronic Hero The Byronic hero is a protagonist modeled after the works of Lord Byron, and perhaps after Byron himself; he was known to repeatedly use a similar formula when creating the heroes of his tales. Generally these characters were darker in nature than typical heroes, more tormented and melancholy than the average protagonist. They are often times marked by mysteriousness, brooding, immorality, an air of supernaturalism, and other qualities of an anti-hero. In this regard, Edward Rochester meets the criteria of a Byronic hero. From the introduction of Rochester we can glean a mental image of how he appears; he is described by Jane Eyre as having a grim appearance and being attractive in a mysterious way, as his features are not beautiful.
A ‘tragedy’ in theatre is a play in which ‘good’ turns to ‘bad’, and ends with the downfall of the hero and/or heroine. The question of what caused the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet has been argued by many English scholars. Romeo and Juliet is centred around a strong feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, and this is often held accountable for the tragic death of the two lovers: ‘Capulet, Montague See what a scourge is laid upon your hate That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.’ (V.3.291-3) Although this may contribute to the disastrous outcome of the play, it cannot be held entirely to blame. Right at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, the Chorus tells us that we are to see a pair of ‘star-crossed lovers take their life’. (Line 6).
According to Brown, “The dramatist depicts incidents which arouse pity and fear for the protagonist [Antigone], then during the course of the action, he resolves the major conflicts, bringing the plot to a logic and foreseeable conclusion (Brown, para 5). The tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. Tragic heroes are not all good and not all bad. Creon suffers a great deal due to his tragic flaw and destructive pride. Creon believes the gods make him suffer the loss of his wife and son as punishment for his pride.
This act shows that Malvolio is a fool, but not only a fool and desperate fool, whose persona changes when it comes to the love of Lady Olivia. Malvolio is not the average Shakespearean comic fool who is played by an actor for laughs. Shakespeare’s creation of Malvolio is perhaps for more of a sinister agenda? A cruel mockery of a stereotypical uptight puritan with a joke taken too far, for example the letter in act 2 scene 5. A puritan is: somebody who lives by a strict moral or religious code, especially somebody who is suspicious of pleasure.
His protagonist’s unforgiving reaction to each individual in the poem may be a reflection to what he feels in reality. Dante the pilgrim, from a reader’s point of view, is being influenced by these sinners in hell. This caused him to react in “sinful attitudes” to some characters
As it can be seen in the whole play how simply others accept whatever he says or\and wants\suggests them. On the contrary, I found a number of human moral vices in Iago from jealousy to homosexuality. Jealousy, Iago finds himself far beneath the nobility of persons around him. The honorable Othello, the chaste Desdemona and others which leads him to destruct them. To remove people who reminds him that his nothing but a gentility and honor pretender, he plans to havoc their lives one by one.
He possesses an exterior glitter which is really sinister and which misleads everyone in the play. Iago’s jealousy and deception is brought about by Othello giving Cassio a promotion over himself and the play starts with Iago complaining to Roderigo, about ‘The Moor.’ Jealousy is a major theme in Othello and this is illustrated though characterisation and the use of imagery. From the beginning of Othello, it is established that Iago is driven by jealousy himself and uses it as his tool to bring about the downfall of Othello. Responders are immediately alerted to his scheming nature when he states “I follow him to serve my turn upon him.” The characterisation of Othello from the calm and reasoned military leader to the blind, enraged ‘blacker devil’ that responders witness in the end emphasises the potent poison that is jealousy. There isn’t a shred of the Othello from Act one left by the tragic ending of the play as highlighted by Lodovico “thou Othello, that wert once so good.” The mere possibility of Desdemona’s unfaithfulness and the question of her fidelity are unbearable for ‘valiant’ Othello, he would rather “the general camp, Pioners and all, had tasted her sweet body” than to have doubts floating in his mind.