Many writers aim to identify the similar and contrasting features of their characters in order to addresses varying issues within the texts. These issues within the text In the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan and the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the writers’ use of juxtaposition is used to accomplish a more profound understanding of the internal relationships of the characters and external relationships with the other characters in the texts. Essentially, through the use of juxtaposition, both writers are able to enhance the message of the theme and exemplify character development.
In the novel Atonement, McEwan juxtaposes the unique but conflicting ways that his characters perceive and understand their world. McEwan intentionally
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McEwan effectively shows that “She would.simply wait on the bridge,calm and obstinate, until events, real events, not her own fantasies, rose to her challenge, and dispelled her insignificance.” (77) Though it is not possible to see the world in a subjective way through Briony’s contemplation, Briony as an author is confused between what is true and what is not.Through the juxtaposition of Briony’s false perceptions, McEwan is able to showcase the importance that perception has on the understanding of the truth. Ian McEwan also uses juxtaposition to address Briony’s character development by showcasing the true qualities of her character under tough circumstances. McEwan uses war as a way of understanding how it affects the psychological as well as physiological pressures of Briony. It is seen that as a result of Briony’s actions, Robbie is drafted to war. McEwan communicates the life of war by describing certain emotional sights like “ It was a perfect leg, pale, smooth, small enough to be a child’s” (192). Robbie’s need to throw up after seeing such a sight juxtaposes the conversation between two corporals describing all of the gore that they have seen. Robbie’s experience in war makes him waiver feelings of guilt due to the dehumanizing intensity of survival. However, McEwan shifts the guilt towards Briony as she is trying to atone for her mistake. She becomes a nurse despite her
In the beginning of the novel, Briony was “… [O]ne of those children possessed by a desire to have the world just so” orderly and as filled with private secrets as she was (McEwan 4). She believed in creation and recreation; for example, when she witnessed Cecilia and Robbie by the water fountain, she had a “temptation for her to be magical and dramatic and to regard what she had witnessed as a tableau mounted for her alone” (McEwan 37). To Briony, “The truth had become as ghostly as invention” (McEwan 39). This quote demonstrates the foundation of Briony’s original thought process, which was that every “show” is finite, which gives her the freedom to write about the incident through not only her eyes, but other people’s eyes as well, like Cecilia and Robbie (McEwan 39).
Through Shakespeare’s use of minor characters in his play, Hamlet, the playwright was able to subtly develop Hamlet’s character. In using minor characters, Shakespeare emphasized certain traits which the main character held. These minor character also personify the motifs of contrast between a sickly interior versus healthy exterior and contrasting life and death; the minor characters’ embodiment of these motifs further establish for the audience the importance of these motifs within the play.
Juxtaposition tells us about the characters because it describes their personalities. Juxtaposition can tell us about 2 characters at the same time. It shows what type of person the speaker is, and it shows what type of person the speaker is talking to is. William Shakespeare’s use of juxtaposition helps make Romeo and Juliet a more complex story. It makes the personalities of characters seem clear yet complex. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to make his characters seem more complex in Romeo and Juliet.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet serves as one of the most multi-faceted characters in the entire play with critics often deeming his personality “paradoxical”. Ultimately, Hamlet provides the audience with the epitomy of internal contrast and instability by rapidly transitioning through periods of caution and rash action, introversion and extroversion and calculation and spontaneity.
Tony Robbins said, “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others”. Shakespeare’s writing has had many different ways of being presented because people perceive it in different ways. Whether it is a literal representation or a spin, directors like to show viewers the way they perceive the text. In the movie version of Hamlet the director, Kenneth Branagh, wanted the viewers to find Shakespeare interesting and full of action and drama. Kenneth chose the right direction to go in to keep the audience’s attention but it
When comparing two different Hamlet movies I found that one scene in particular was obviously more different than the others. I compared Columbia pictures 1996 version with Kenneth Branagh playing the role of Hamlet versus BBC’s 2009 Hamlet in which David Tennant played the honorable role of Hamlet. When comparing both movies I found a lot of similarities but there was one major difference when I compared the “To be or not to be” scene. The scenes vary in multiple ways whether it is lighting, focus, camera movements, and even the actors that play Hamlet.
King Lear and Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, are two plays that reveal similar thematic elements, yet possess fundamentally different plot structures. Driven by the suffering and rage of two complementary characters, both plays suggest injustice through ‘good’, but ultimately flawed characters. This shared overarching theme is, however, conveyed differently within each of the works, as one employs two mainly disparate plot threads, while the other relies more heavily on the interaction between the two central plots. Yet the ultimate purpose of this dualism remains the same within both King Lear and Hamlet, in that Shakespeare’s use of the double plot illuminates the tragic elements within both plays, emphasizing core injustices through
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a work of immense depth in character development, most notably the personal, moral and psychological battles
The struggle between one’s passions and one’s reasoning for any situation has been well brought upon in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Handmaids Tale by Margret Atwood. The struggle confined by passion and reasoning develops the character in both of these stories by the end. Along with the development of the character, this conflict of self vs. self develops the major theme of the story too which supports the whole purpose and meaning of the text. The development of a characters intellect and personality is seen in both pieces of literature, in Hamlet, Hamlet the main character struggles to find a balance between his reasons and passion sculpting his thoughts and progressively forming his personality while in Handmaid’s Tale, Offred the main
From early on in his career, Ian McEwan has proved himself to be a novelist very much interested in the morals of individuals, often positioning himself to explore diverse moral questions and dilemmas that human beings are challenged with, as conveyed clearly in his metafiction novel, Atonement.
An individual's response to conditions of internal and external conflict is explored throughout literature. In his play, Hamlet, Shakespeare delves into the themes of appearance versus reality, lies versus deceit, rejection versus self doubt and tragedy, and in doing so attacks the frivolous state of humanity in contemporary society. In order to explore these themes, however, he uses several forms of conflict to project his opinions and expand his ideas relating to the themes of the play. Internal conflict, as well as external conflict are dominant features of his works, and in Hamlet are made evident through a succession of dire events which can attack and destroy
The rise of industrialism in modern England following World War II brought with it a dramatic restructuring of the social and economic order. The transition marked the decline of status from traditional family ties and the increased focus on money as a means to attain a position of influence. This meant that the growing industrial class of the time would stop at nothing to make a profit, often exploiting the vulnerable in the process. This social restructuring would also require old rules of propriety and order to be disregarded. Additionally, technology would play an increasingly important role in society as a means to gain power quickly. The novel Atonement explores these changes in a historical context, though the issues it raises
In the face of dissension, one faces an emotional contradiction in resolving the matter: forgive, and progress as a person, or exact revenge, and experience blissful satisfaction. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet, he examines the lives of Denmark royalty after the murder of their king at his brother’s hands. The play is wrought with revenge, and begs the eternal struggle of revenge versus forgiveness. Essentially, Hamlet shows forgiveness as being preferable to revenge through the use of situational irony. Every character in Hamlet experiences a wrongdoing at the hands of another, and attempts to avenge themselves, only to induce pain on themselves later on.
The internal conflicts prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet are the reason why the play is viewed as a classic. Conflicts are imperative in tragic plays as conflicts are the stimulus for catastrophe in the end. The characters in Hamlet face inward conflicts that are equally important as their outward conflicts. Three characters who especially exhibit this are Hamlet, Claudius, and Ophelia. The conflicts that these characters face play a major role in their downfalls and, ultimately, their deaths. Through Claudius’ struggle to conceal the murder of King Hamlet, Ophelia’s guilt for Hamlet’s madness, and Hamlet’s inaction due to fear, Shakespeare conveys that each character faces a dilemma, in which there are no simple solutions.
As our world spins and spins, the older the story of Hamlet gets. It’s always interesting to look or read something that is old, because it makes us wonder what it was like and how things were different. Reading stories such as Hamlet, a great story written by William Shakespeare, gives us a large imaginary image of what it could of been like for him, or others. In this topic, I will talk about how our timeline vs. Shakespeare/Hamlet’s timeline and how we are so eager to read a book that shows history.