Intergenerational Conflict in Shakespeare

The popular view of Hal as a dishonorable scoundrel is what brings King Henry IV, his father, to compare him to the high-strung and vibrant young rebel, Hotspur. King Henry's constant tirades stating that he wished Hotspur was his son

The role parents play in a child’s development is critical. They are the people who have the most influence on them, effecting most aspects of even their adult life. When too controlling, the role of a parent can have lasting negative consequences for the child. In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the author shows that loss of an authoritative parent leaves people trying to replace the loss of that control in unhealthy ways that destroy the person. This can be seen in the lives of Ophelia, Hamlet and Laertes, who all loose a controlling father.

In Shakespeare’s play Henry IV Part 1 Prince Hal’s world influences him to transform into a strong leader that will influence . With all the detail of politics and the diverse of social status of the Tavern, the King, and the Rebels; each sector of this story has compiled together to create Hal from a rebellious boy into a persona with ideals and experience.

Redemption often manifests itself in those who seek affirmation from those around them due to their own actions. During the 14th century, as the Christian influence continues to spread across Europe, self-awareness begins to increase among the population, and with it, the need for acceptance. When acceptance paired with self-awareness welds itself to the hearts of a nation, people increase the need of redemption, rather than forgiveness. Especially common in royalty, the need to prove one’s worth often guides the choices made in sporadic moments. Throughout Henry IV, written by William Shakespeare, the theme of redemption weaves itself into the life of Prince Hal as he seeks approval from his father as well as from himself, to demonstrate that redemption becomes necessary in order to truly be at peace with oneself.

The main role of a parent is to urge their child to make the right decisions in order to guide them through a healthy life. During a child’s life, helpful guidance is necessary to ensure a bright future. Authoritative figures are influential through how they behave toward certain subjects, such as religion, sports, and politics. These figures leave an impression on their children as they grow into adults. Throughout The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, the protagonists face challenges with influences ranging from their views on feuds, marriage, and the presence of authoritative figures.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that involves young lovers, their “untimely death,” and a feud between their two families. The Capulets and the Montagues war against each other. The feud continues to escalate and provides the background for the story of these “two star-crossed lovers.” This literary masterpiece is still relevant today since it involves parental ambition, family fighting, and young love.

Prince Hal shows a great deal of insight in this revelation; his words show that he realizes he has a twofold boundary to overcome: first, he is seen as overly juvenile and flighty by most of his father’s men; second, and more importantly, Hal knows that he has no claim to the divine right to rule, as he is not of Richard II’s bloodline. It seems, then, that Hal knows full well “the way that men respond to the image of royalty, and [is] no less instinctive a politician than his father,” and is in fact “the creator as well as the creature of political mythology, the author as well as the hero of his legend” (Ornstein, 137). By rising phoenix-like out of the ashes, Hal knows that he will make a more compelling impression on England than if he had been conventionally “princely” all his life, and plays this dramatic advantage to

William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, composed during the last years of the 16th century, is as much as character study as it is a retelling of a moment in history. Though the play is titled for one king, it truly seems to revolve around the actions of the titular character's successor. Indeed, Henry IV is a story of the coming-of-age of Prince Hal and of the opposition that he must face in this evolution. This process gives narrative velocity to what is essentially a conflagration between two personality types. In Prince Hal, the audience is given a flawed but thoughtful individual. Equally flawed but more given over to action than thought is his former ally and now-nemesis, Hotspur. In the latter, Shakespeare offers a warrior and a man of action and in the former, the playwright shows a politician in his nascent stages of development. The contrast between them will drive the play's action.

The theme, family, in The Tragedy of Hamlet is major theme with lots of major points. This play is notorious for how it dwells on the issue of incest. In Shakespeare’s time, incest was a sin against God and the state. Queen Elizabeth I asked the Church of England to come up with a list of rules about marriage, basically a list of relatives who couldn’t marry, including in-laws. Also another focus is how politics can impact the dynamics of family. The values brought on by a parent are vital in developing a characters values and sense of purpose.

heir to the throne.  The King realizes that to keep order, a ruler and his heir

Egeus tells the Duke that his daughter can marry Demetrius, not Lysander. Hermia replies ". . . If I refuse to wed Demetrius," Egeus replies "Either to die the death,

In AMND Shakespeare constructs a similar conflict around a father-daughter relationship, as Egeus wants his daughter Hermia, to marry Demetrius and not her lover, Lysander. Shakespeare draws upon ancient Greek mythology to portray his characters and their respective philosophies. Egeus displays Apollonian attributes as he paternalistically favours a strict adherence to the law above all else, even to the point of death: ‘As she is mine, I may dispose of her…or to her death according to our law.’ (1.1.43) Egeus commoditises his relationship with his daughter, as he considers her a possession to be controlled and exploited. Like Polonius who commands Ophelia to ‘set your entreatments at a higher rate’ (1.3.122), Egeus’s diction is replete with the language of commerce as he tries to trade his daughter: ‘and she is

One of the underlying themes in Shakespeare's play, King Lear is the concept of the generation gap. This gap is mainly illustrated between the family. The older generation is Lear himself, and the younger generation consists of his daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. In the second plot of the play, Gloucester represents the older generation, and his sons, Edmund and Edgar exemplifies the younger generation. Both younger generations can be divided into two distinct groups. Goneril, Regan and Edmund are the villains in both the plots and Edgar and Cordelia are the loyal, faithful children. This little twist adds to the effect of the generation gap in the play. There are many comparisons that can be made and confrontations that occur

Henry laments over the fact that Hal is not the son he would have liked, religiously alluding to the unruliness of his son that he has no control over is the punishment from God as a result of his usurpation of the throne. This religious allusion reflecting on Henry’s sins demonstrates the both the political power the King obtains, as he deposed the previous King, but also the powerlessness he has in correspondence to the Lord, and his own conscience. In addition, Henry use of the term “grafted” describes Prince Hal’s connection to Falstaff and the subsequent rejection of his more important blood relations and thus his role as the heir to the English throne. It can be argued that Hal purposely attempts to separate himself from the royal role that his father sets for him, understanding that his father usurped the Divine Right of Kings and thus sought the company of individuals that would successfully result in the disapproval of his father and the Royal Court. Hal finds companions in the rouges in which inhabit the Boar 's Head Inn and Eastcheap, including the thieving surrogate father Falstaff. However, while the two locations and companies are considered to differ starkly, Shakespeare successfully mirrors the separate destinations in first two scenes between the Royal Court and the “Rouge Court” found in the Boar’s Head Inn. Whilst the occupants are of the Inn are freely labelled as thieves, the occupants of the

3. Egeus wants to complain to Theseus about his daughter Hermia. Egeus wants her to marry Demetrius but she is in love with Lysander. He wants her to choose either Demetrius or death.