Leontes Irrational Judgment

In the play Hamlet Shakespeare teaches us a valuable lesson; namely, not to allow revenge to overcome us. Indeed, one should not be satisfied with a clear-cut division between the good and the bad, the successful and the rejected. Deception can be used as an instrument of convenience and a weapon of destruction leading us to conclude that the mere appearance of things may be deceiving. The murder episode described by Capote is a metaphor of the family’s estrangement. It removes the family from the domain of the reality and realism to transform it by means of the Gothic imagery into a powerful symbol of an average American family (Olsza, 2009). Meanwhile, Hamlet's behaviour becomes more erratic; his acting mad seems to cause Hamlet to become temporarily insane and lose his grip on reality. This proves that acting on psychotic impulses, even at the spur of moments, usually involves disastrous consequences. Hamlet and In Cold Blood are commonly recognized a classic play and a novel of human

This dichotomy between external blames and internal repentance is used by Shakespeare to demonstrate the tragic nature of King Lear from more than one plane, showing how two different personalities respond to two similar fates.

Destiny, something we determine or is your fate already set in stone? Pity and tragedy words used to describe William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for hundreds of years. The play was tragic in the end, but Romeo and Juliet's last breaths were the cause of their own irrational decisions.

Texts reflect their context and paradigms but transcendental texts that explore aspects of humanity can resonate through time and remain relevant and accessible to audiences. William Shakespeare’s introspective play, Hamlet, explores the complexity of the human condition by reflecting ideologies such as justice, loyalty and morality. Although these deeply human ideas ensure the plays resonance, they are somewhat secondary to the depths of Hamlet’s human struggle. These thematic concerns reflect how flaws in the values of society descend into corruption. Through an exploration of the characterization, Shakespeare invites a re-evaluation of the values that shape human nature. The textual integrity of Hamlet makes it of distinctive

Teenagers brains aren’t fully developed during their teenage years, and this partially explains why Romeo made juvenile and naive decisions throughout Romeo and Juliet. In an article by David Dobbs, he states, “This process of maturation, once thought to be largely finished by elementary school, continues throughout adolescence.” This quote is relevant because it may have a say in the explanation of Romeo’s irrational decisions that I am about to discuss disregarding his fate. For example, in Act 3 Scene 1, Romeo states, “Now Tybalt, take the villain back again, either Thou, or both must go with him.” Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt after Tybalt killed Mercutio.

Lady Macbeth is a great example of how ignoring one’s conscience can lead to self-destruction. Upon receiving Macbeth’s letter about meeting

Before I had watched the play, I had believed that Camillo had been the alternative of Leontes and Polixenes because even as a servant of both kings, he displayed more nobility and wisdom; yet still a shred of doubt planted by classmates lurked in my mind. Were his intensions to be selfish and were they predetermined? Was he not trustworthy and loyal? Was he treacherous? Did he deserve punishment? These questions joggled in my head as the play began and I waited intently for Camillo’s depiction. At the same time, I held on to my first expectations of Camillo. I had thought he would be portraited as an honorable person with good judgement, but I was not sure what to expect when it came to the portrayal of his contradicting behavior.

It is a tragedy when a great man speaks the devils truth; it is even more tragic when the devils truth is believed by everyone. In Williams Shakespeare’s, Hamlet secrecy is a common theme between most characters leading to their death. This play written in 1599-1601 tells a story about a fallen King named Hamlet senior and his son Hamlet junior’s life. This story also follows the kingship of Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle and murderer of Hamlet senior. Surrounded by death and misery this is a tale of a family who has felt the deep consequences of deceit by the hands of a powerful figure. When a man of great capabilities keeps secret, lies and lack communication it affect the ones around them. The first instance is when Claudius and Polonius keep

Shakespeare’s most prevalent theme within the play King Lear is moral blindness which is relevant in today’s society as a result of the expression of power and control. King Lear, Gloucester and Albany are three prime precedents that Shakespeare fuses being morally blinded into. Their actions of misjudgment of character prominent by Lear’s and Gloucester misjudgment of their children and Albany becoming persuaded by Gonerill and manipulated, which they find themselves in a situation of moral blindness leading to a tragic downfall by making powerful decisions which they will all eventually come to regret.

The tragedy based play, Hamlet, was written by William Shakespeare between the years 1601 and 1603. The play is a story about revenge, what is morally correct and wrong, and is themed around the previously aforementioned topic, tragedy. The main character, Hamlet, has been struck with the tragedies of his father’s quietus and the quick re-marriage of his mother to his uncle. Now as with any great argument there needs to be a main point, a claim so to speak, and the claim to this argument is about whether Hamlet’s behaviors are in agreement with the societal expectations and political views during the Middle Ages. To make things easier, names will be given to those who are on both sides of the claim, so those who are in agreement with the claim will be called the defense, and those who expostulate the claim will be the prosecution. With this argument, the prosecution, those who disagree with the claim, will be the side that is being argued for and believed in.

In The Winter’s Tale, the fate and happiness of women lie with men, however, men can only gain lineage, and subsequent power, through the female act of birth ‘‘No barricado for a belly’’(1.2.205). The only element a man cannot control in a woman is the most important to him, her fidelity. Hermione, Paulina, and even his lost daughter Perdita, represent the role women played in a male-centric society, but in vastly different ways. The King devalues Hermione as Queen, mother, and woman and uses degrading language ‘‘hobbyhorse/ slippery/ flax-wench’’ (1.2.275) to publically humiliate her in his court as judge, jury and executioner. Although a passive, obedient, and willing wife, Leontes only views her as his inferior, not the other half of his monarchy. When he does discriminate against her, Hermione does not wish to upset her husband and only hopes that he will regain control over his emotions ‘‘My life stands in the level of your dreams, Which I’ll lay down’’ (3.2.78), and offer her what she is due to her ‘‘A moiety of the throne’’(3.2.37). At her husband’s request, Hermione’s success of enticing Polixenes to stay at court is her ruination, and she suffers for it. Of the two women in his life, Hermione fails in establishing a balanced relationship with Leontes, and it takes 16 years for Paulina to

A literary critic of Hamlet, Patrick Cruttwell, explores in his writing titled The morality of Hamlet- ‘Sweet Prince or ‘Arrant Knave’? the purpose of religion during Elizabethan times to set moral value sets that often conflicted with man’s nature. Additionally, Cruttwell states the actions in the play aggressively clash with the religious values of the time period. Shakespeare illustrates throughout the play that not abiding by the only moral structure of the time period, religion, man is doomed to self destruction by giving into his chaotic Dionysian nature.

Jealousy and judgement, or rather misjudgement, seem to be major themes in Shakespeare’s plays, in which most judgements are assumed by no logical basis or intellectual wit. King Leontes, unlike Othello, comes to his conclusion by his own means, without any outside verification of truth or logical explanation for his jealousy. However, there are many similarities, based on their situation, between him and Othello. Both men transform, emotionally, into beast like figures whose actions ultimately end their lineage. Although Perdita remains alive, and is able to carry on King Leontes’s bloodline, his name will die with her marriage to Florizel. Othello and King Leontes also adapt a diction

In Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale”, we see a jealous king convinced he is search of the truth. He will expose his wife and her alleged philandering, but his determination to prove this actually changes this search from one for truth to one for myths—creations, false truths. In essence. Leontes runs into the conflict of defining art versus nature, where art is the view of the world he constructs to prove his paranoia true. Nature itself can exist without art, but the art here is the mangled perception through which Leontes will seek to define Nature. In summation, “The Winter’s Tale” investigates the conflict between art and nature—creation versus enhancement—and seeks to find out if

Shakespeare presents Hermione as a remarkable woman starting from her first utterance, the personal pronoun “I”. This drives the audience to believe she is independent, which connotes to freedom, allowing her to say to Leontes “you, sir, charge him too coldly”. Also, this would have shocked traditional audiences as woman were inferior and were reliant on men as they were essentially possessions. Also, she only talks when Leontes says “speak you”, as a defence in court she said she loved Polixenes even so and no other than” Leontes “commanded”. Furthermore, she addresses Leontes as “sir” not by his personal name meaning he’s superior showing Hermione’s inferiority. Hermione could be argued as normal as woman had no rights. As Hermione was impertinent to Leontes saying “you, sir, judge him too coldly”. This would have shocked the traditional audience but instead of telling Hermione off Leontes congratulates her saying “well said Hermione”. This shows Leontes and Hermione’s love. Shakespeare shows Hermione to be the better person and Leontes as the tragic hero. Shakespeare could be being counter-cultural conveying kings are corruptible not (as believed in culture starting with James the 1) infallible. Shakespeare is objecting to the divine rights of kings using Leontes as he is not adhering to this concept. Shakespeare does this in most of his plays under king James for example in Macbeth king Duncan makes a mistake (culturally unthinkable). Shakespeare uses a semantic