Regardless of how one chooses to live their lives, there always seems to be a desire for something more. Despite the difficulty to understand certain meanings in life, it seems that numerous authors grapple with this desire for knowledge. In the GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, Christ and his disciples struggle with understanding truth. Christ serves as a teacher for the disciples in this area as he explains how “…the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the upright,/to throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth” (Matthew 13:49-50). This passage explains to the disciples how as long as they live free from sin, they will be able to better understand hell and live a fulfilling life. Meanwhile, in OEDIPUS REX, Oedipus spends all of his time searching for the perpetrator in King Laius’s murder. On the other hand, in ANTIGONE, the characters each seem to go different routes in discovering truth. Although Antigone believes she owes “…a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living…,” indicating she seeks truth in the rules of the gods, Creon, the King and Antigone’s uncle, pursues the truth by strictly abiding to the rules of man. Ismene, Antigone’s sister, takes a middle stance by seeking a balance between the rules of man and the rules of the gods in hopes to find truth. Unlike Antigone, Ismene is more concerned in finding peace in her life, whereas Antigone and Creon seem more adamant about doing the right thing. In THE
Shakespeare 's complex play Othello holds numerous pressing issues within its intricate layers that seem to leap out to modern society. One such issue seen by many is the representation of women. Women within the play can be characterized as submissive possessions and temptresses. This ideology, though commonplace in this time period, appears controversial to the modern eye as we deconstruct the characters of this play. This dominate patriarchal society present within the setting merely conditions this belief further as it is prevalent within the characters dialogue.
In William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, there are numerous of dramatic purposes that the characters serve in the building of the story. One major character that stands out is Friar Laurence who is a wise and holy man respected by everyone in Verona. However, you should not let that presentation of him fool you. There are a variety of times Friar Laurence has committed sins of dishonesty and deception. The few but many dramatic purposes Friar Laurence has in Romeo and Juliet include: being a mastermind with medicine, peacemaker, and the main reason for Romeo and Juliet’s death.
William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Othello is a duplicitous and fraudulent tale set alternatingly between Venice in act 1, and the island of Cyprus thereafter. The play follows the scandalous marriage between protagonist Othello, a Christian moore and the general of the army of Venice, and Desdemona, a respected and intelligent woman who also happens to be the daughter of the Venetian Senator Brabantio. Shakespeare undoubtedly positions the marriage to be viewed as heroic and noble, despite Othello’s hamartia and subsequent downfall that inevitably occurs. Their marriage is then sabotaged by the jealous Iago, Othello’s ensign and villain of the play. While Iago’s ostensible justification for instigating Othello’s demise was his failure to acquire Othello’s position as lieutenant, Iago’s motives are rarely directly articulated and seem to derive from an obsessive, almost aesthetic pleasure in manipulation and destruction. Through the genre of the play, being a Shakespearean tragedy, and the structural devices employed by Shakespeare such as plot development, exposition, foreshadowing, dénouement, dramatic excitement, and catharsis, the key ideas of jealousy, appearance vs. reality and pride are developed and explored.
Always preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you – Martin Luther. When I first read this quote, a thought of me in high school came to my mind. When I was in high school my catholic religion teacher use to constantly give me detentions because I didn’t want to take flowers to a Virgin Mary statue. I use to end up getting in an argument and actually telling her that one of the commandments say do not worship any idols, and she will fight back saying it is part of the gospel. But did she really know what the gospel was?
Teens in the stage of growing up needs the trust and support from their family and friends to be able to survive in this world. Most teens are like puppets who become the person that their parents want them to be, but as they mature into adults, they have their own desires and ways of thinking, which enable them to break free from the puppet control and become who they really are. In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, the playwright used the Nurse, Lord Capulet, and Friar Lawrence to show how taming the wills of the teens and forcing their wishes upon them could turn the play Romeo and Juliet into a tragic love story.
Within this Narrative, Antigone frequently uses the emotional values of others to convince them of what she believes to be right.The first illustration of this phenomenon is when Antigone compares her willingness to face death as the result of giving her brother an honorable burial, to her sister Ismene's unwillingness in doing the same.The main character feels as though it is her personal and moral obligation to retrieve the afterlife that’s been taken from her brother.Therefore, she does not agree in abiding by Creon's man-made legislation and makes it her mission to concede to the laws of the gods. Asking for her sister's help, she hopes to obtain reliability, only to find her too intimidated by Creon, Their uncle, and king. Accordingly,
William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice presents a man who is undone by his own insecurities, as well as strong female characters who lead to the downfall of the men. The character of Othello allows others to control how he feels and this leads to a tragedy that could have been prevented. The source of this tragedy comes from within himself. His character is completely wrapped up in his wife Desdemona’s character and interestingly enough, as soon as her character starts to decline from the words of Iago, so does Othello’s. Unable to stand on his own, Othello is more concerned with outwardly appearances than Desdemona. He puts more pressure on her, than he does himself in regards to his character and how he
This is the secret diary of Reverend Hale, one that is disguised by one of the gospels to prevent any un-favored eyes from looking upon this. I am writing on the third night after the arrival in the so called bedeviled town. Ever since I have left my home I have not slept. It seems that all day I run around like a mad-man attempting to purge the calamity of Salem. This village would be like any other, if not for the evil permeating this town. That is my sole mission from God now, to seek out the Devil and restore liberty to all. I am ordained by The Almighty, and I shall see it through.
William Shakespeare, born in the mid sixteenth century, is a well-known poet and playwright from England. The topics of his plays range from history and comedy, all the way to tragedy, and focus on universal themes and relationships between characters to express these themes to the general public. Betrayal, incest, jealousy, and love are all common themes in his works. Although one of Shakespeare’s more popular tragic dramas, Othello, at first glance seems to mainly center around the characters Othello and Desdemona and their relationship, the play in reality focuses more so on the evil villain, Iago, and his insecurity which instills in him a hatred of Othello. Iago provides some dark humor to the audience, as he is self-possessed and intelligent, making it obvious when he is lying to another character and making himself seem honest and truthful. The play is one of jealousy, manipulation, and the cunning work of Iago, all combined to bring ruin to Othello. Although Shakespeare’s Othello is considered by some to be a commentary on race, Shakespeare is truly addressing the dangers of blind trust as well as the overwhelming power jealousy can have over even the most respectable mind; he addresses these themes by evolving the characters’ personalities and using dramatic irony to intensify and contrast the characters’ relationships with each other from the beginning to the end of this tragic drama.
In Friar Laurence’s soliloquy duality is present in almost the whole passage. It helps show the development of the foreshadowing of both Romeo and Juliet’s fate of their death. Mostly the duality shown is light vs. dark and good vs. evil duality, but other smaller hints of other duality themes are shown as well. Through these additions to the test, Shakespeare is able to better portray the development of themes in the following scenes. This passage contains a large amount of symbolism and imagery as well, constantly referring to the herbs and plants as Friar is looking in the field. But while there are two different duality examples, they are connected by how they both represent the overall good and bad present in the novel. This duality connects to the particular theme of the inevitability of fate. While fate is not always a bad thing, Friar Laurence sets it up as seemingly bad and almost evil, “And where the worser is predominant,” (II.iii.29) He remarks earlier in that passage as well that nothing cannot be put to both good and bad uses, so he overall is saying that the fate at the moment is seemingly evil, but that Romeo and Juliet can turn the situation around to make it look better than it does. Going back the line about how the bad usually takes control, in the way that the two lovers are handling the situation, they only see it as bad and not the good that it has the ability to be.
"What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate heel and all
Throughout Othello by William Shakespeare, Othello makes numerous poor decisions due to his jealousy. Hitting Desdemona, trusting Iago, and killing Desdemona are among a few of the poor decisions that he makes. The word jealous can be defined as feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship. Othello feels suspicious of Desdemona’s and Cassio’s relationship because of the lies that Iago tells him. Many people try to tell Othello the truth but he only believes the words of Iago. Even Emilia, Iago’s wife, tells Othello that Desdemona and Cassio are not having an affair and their interaction is business only, however; he does not trust her. Without Othello’s jealousy he would not have made these horrible decisions.
Love and jealousy are powerful emotions that can induce behavior that would otherwise not normally be warranted. In Othello, The Moor Of Venice, jealousy is a very important component of the play. Iago uses jealousy to control the Moor, Othello, into committing various acts against his wife, Desdomona, and one of his soldiers, Cassio. It can be deduced that the sheer power of jealousy is the most important theme in Othello because the play shows how a strong General, such as Othello, is subject to this malicious emotion and its trickery, how the strong emotion of love can be transformed into the omnipotent emotion of jealousy, and how jealousy can shroud the truth.
Perhaps the most interesting and exotic character in the tragic play "Othello," by William Shakespeare, is "Honest" Iago. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer toward his goals. He is the main driving force in this play, pushing Othello and everyone else towards their tragic end. Iago is not your ordinary villain. The role he plays is rather unique and complex, far from what one might expect. Iago is smart.
Women, especially Desdemona but Emilia as well, are obviously targets of male violence in Othello. For some reason Shakespeare’s play often put the emphasis on the role of the female characters and their influence on the main male characters. For instance, the result of the passionate love of Romeo for Juliet, the effect of Ophelia’s insanity had on hamlet, and so on. In Othello, Shakespeare made Desdemona and the other women in the play no different; Othello’s jalousie and love made the play a tragedy. Shakespeare made Desdemona the faithful wife of Othello. She was such a kindhearted and wished to make everything work even when the situation where she lost her handkerchief she tried to fix the situation and calming Othello. However, her innocent sympathy towards Cassio made lago’s lies more credible. Overall, one can say that her naïve nature causes her to become a target for the men in the play.