The portrayal of servants in Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s plays is contrasting. In Jonson’s city comedies servants are depicted as unethical, manipulating their masters’ greed and egocentrism in order to fulfill their own plans and goals. On the other hand, in Shakespeare’s pastoral comedies servants are portrayed as loyal, devoted, reliable and helpful to their masters.
To be more specific, in Jonson’s city comedy “Volpone” the city is portrayed as a dog- eat-dog, antagonistic competitive world which is profit orientated, where everything is commodified. In other words, it is a society that is governed only by greed and profit. Therefore, almost all of his characters are greedy for power, money, food, alcohol or sex. Jonson satirizes that
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Jonson’s connection to Aesop's Fables is obvious, as all the character names in Volpone recall animals, insects or birds. For example Volpone means fox in Italian, Mosca means Fly etc. In that sense, “Volpone” draws from a tradition of Aesopian beast fables. Jonson wants to create an allegory of greed and also emphasizes that social and religious principles yield to greed and avarice; human beings are reduced to the level of beasts and lose their elevated status.
Therefore, Volpone is a magnifico, a noble man of the Venetian Republic, clever but totally selfish and lustful whose only purpose in life is to accumulate gold. He is so materialistic that not only has he replaced God with gold, but he also worships his gold as his God. He always tries to deceive and take advantage of other people, usually naive characters. His servant Mosca (which is an Italian word used to describe a kind of fly that is fed on dead meat) is a parasite. A parasite does not hunt, does not work in order to survive. Similarly, Mosca is a human being who is lazy, who does not struggle in order to acquire a livelihood. Mosca is also very clever and canny. He is absolutely necessary for Volpone, because he is the one who can put his master’s
Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘A Doll’s House’, written in 1879, and Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘Goblin Market’, written in 1862, both demonstrate that an appetite for power, knowledge, sex, and money have an ultimately destructive affect upon their characters.
I will show understanding of the plot, character and themes and Shakesperes use of language and dramatic devices within the play.
Service in love often has a positive connotation which suggests a profound love, whereas possession generally receives a negative connotation suggesting a superficial love. However, Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare explore in depth the roles of both possession and service in love and reveal to their readers which one is ultimately the superior way to gain love. The stories of “The Knight’s Tale” and The Tempest are different thematically, yet the thread which unites them both expresses similar ideas regarding love, possession and service. Both William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer show the reader love cannot be claimed; it is earned through service of the heart. By examining the similarities in “The Knight’s Tale” and The Tempest
Arlecchino has an enduring magical power, a testimony perhaps to the mystery of it origin. He is a servant and jester, usually to Pantalone, but also frequently Il'Capitano, or Il' Dottore. He wears a tight-fitting long jacket and trousers, sewn over with random, odd-shapen patches of green, yellow, red and brown
William Shakespeare is the world’s pre-eminent dramatist whose plays range from tragedies to tragic comedies, etc. His general style of writing is often comparable to several of his contemporaries, like Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s narrative poem, “The tragical history of Romeo and Juliet”. But Shakespeare’s works express a different range of human experience where his characters command the sympathy of audiences and also are complex as well as human in nature. Shakespeare makes the protagonist’s character development central to the plot.
Roles are played depending on the audience set before the actor, who must decide the characteristics they want to portray. These societal roles are often manipulated in a manner by which the actor feels as though they have control towards an end goal they wish to achieve. However, the roles are not always met in the way expected and the traits in the role an individual plays results in either personal destruction or salvation. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, the importance of role portrayal and facades is essential for Prince Henry/Hal, King Henry and Falstaff because not only does it set their images in the public perception, but it allows the reader to see a glimpse into the true mind of the character.
The differences in styles of language truly brings alive the plays' various characters, from the lowliest drawer to the noblest knight. The playwright's audience would have been composed of a similarly diverse spectrum of society, from the groundlings at the foot of the stage, to the members of the court in attendance, and these disparate members of the audience might very well have come away from the plays with different interpretations of
The theme for honour and fidelity apply for both men and women in Shakespeare’s play ‘much ado about nothing’. Honour and fidelity is represented very differently for men and women as it would have been for the people in Elizabethan times. In this first section of the essay, I will be exploring double standards and Shakespeare’s awareness of the double standards between sexes and his feminist approach, the differences of honour and fidelity for men and women and upper class and lower class comparisons.
In Chaucer’s “Franklin Tale” the plot revolves around a married couple: the knight, Arviragus, his young wife, Dorigen, and a young squire, Aurelius who importunes and attempts to Dorigen. The characters can be said to oscillate between desire and their ego honor which affects what they say and do. Lacan’s definition of desire tells us that we desire for recognition from this “Other.” Our desire is to become what the other person lacks. Duby’s model of courtly love is a concept that focuses on chivalry, nobility and women being at the center. In this paper, I will examine what the story reveals about the relation each character has to his or her desire, how they act in accordance to their desire and the role magic or illusion plays in the plot and how it affect characters’ relation to desire.
Many would perceive madness and corruption to play the most influential role in Hamlet. However, it could be argued that the central theme in the tragedy is Shakespeare's presentation of actors and acting and the way it acts as a framework on which madness and corruption are built. Shakespeare manifests the theme of actors and acting in the disassembly of his characters, the façades that the individuals assume and the presentation of the `play within a play'. This intertwined pretence allows certain characters to manipulate the actions and thoughts of others. For this reason, it could be perceived that Shakespeare views the `Elsinorean' tragedy as
There is no denying that Shakespeare is a definitive playwright. He has presented us with classic works that have set the precedent for drama and the theatre. Among Shakespeare’s more notable plays are his tragedies. In the tragedy his protagonists are often given flaws in their character and hence, are suitably named tragic heroes. The downfall of these protagonists is often a result of their own character flaws and unfortunately, they suffer a doomed and unhappy ending. While the tragic hero is flawed they must also be honorable and worthy of the audience’s understanding and sympathy. On a quest for righteousness the tragic hero often goes through immense suffering which is why the audience can feel bad for him. For the most
In many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, the playwright draws a connection between the moral health of the kingdom and the corruption of the ruler himself. In Hamlet, he explores the extent to which corruption influences characters. By utilising animal and nature imagery, Shakespeare exemplifies how sexual and political vices corrupt characters and ultimately lead to their demise.
Mosley, Joseph Scott. The Dilemma of Shakespearean Sonship: An Analysis of Paternal Models of Authority and Filial Duty in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Diss. 2017.
In the opening scenes, Shakespeare displays to his audience the affluent society of Illyria, where aristocracy is its major component, festivity is the social norm, and leisure is the way of life. Orsino and Olivia, elegant and wealthy members of the nobility, are at the center of people’s discussion—they seek love; Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, the rich knights ranked high in the social hierarchy, “care not for good life” (II.iii.34)—they seek pleasure. However, the Illyrian society of aristocratic customs and sense of licence is established upon the laborious work of those who are excluded from the indulgence in festivity, and whose financial ability and social status do not afford this social liberation.
The Theme of Appearance vs. Reality in William Shakespeare's Works Characters within one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragic plays,