From how people structure their speeches to how they use words, the audience can understand a lot about their traits and personalities. This is used by many authors in literature, and it is called characterization. Characterization is the method in which the author reveals the attributes of characters. In the play, Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare uses speeches by two Greek leaders to further their characterizations. This story takes place during the Trojan War, in which the Greeks fought the Trojans over the theft of Menelaus’ wife, Helen. While the main story of the play revolves around the two lovers, Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare incorporates many aspects of the war as well. In Act I Scene III, Agamemnon, the general of the Greek army, encourages the Greek army by motivating them to persevere through the long lasting war. He believes that the Gods are trying to test them, and Troy will eventually crumble if they show constancy. On the other hand, Ulysses, one of the Greek leaders, responds to Agamemnon with another speech emphasizing that the reason for the failures of their camp is the absence of hierarchy. This exchange exhibits Agamemnon’s imperfect character and Ulysses’ intelligence through their rhetoric, which also relates to their roles in the Greek army. Throughout his speech, Agamemnon is unnecessarily verbose in sharing his predictable point, and the repetitive structure of his speech displays incompetence in leadership. At the start of his address, he poses a rhetorical question, “What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?” (1.3.2), asking his soldiers about why they look so downhearted. He replies to this by stating that all people have their “checks and disasters,” (1.3.5), referring to obstacles and setbacks, and that they should continue to be persistent. He uses the imagery of a knot that diverts the course of growth and how the growth of the Greek army will be prevented with the lack of determination. As the speech continues, he presents another rhetorical question:“Why then, you princes,/Do you with cheeks abashed behold our works/And call them shames,” (3.1.17-19) which was essentially the identical as the opening question. It also has the same word choice of “cheeks,” and
In William Shakespeare's play, Othello, he teaches the audience a valuable lesson and gives insight to how flaws in our character can be used to bring about our downfall. He uses clever characterization methods to teach that a human's inner turmoils and characters flaws can be used against them and lead to their downfall. His use of characters such as Othello, the tragic hero, and Iago, the villain, work together to create the overarching theme and lesson of this piece.
The female characters portrayed in Aeschylus and Sophocles’ works have considerably different personalities and roles, yet those females all have the common weaknesses of being short-sighted and stubborn. They intensify the conflicts within their families while being inconsiderate of the impacts that they may bring to their nations and societies, which leads to consequences that they are incapable of taking responsibilities for. Clytemnestra and Antigone, two major characters in their respective author’s works, possess different motivations for their deeds in the stories. While Clytemnestra is driven by the desire of revenge to murder her husband Agamemnon, Antigone acts against Creon’s will and strives to properly bury her brother. Despite having different motivations and personalities, Clytemnestra and Antigone both commit
The tragedy of Othello, written by William Shakespeare, presents the main character Othello, as a respectable, honorable, and dignified man, but because of his insecurities and good nature, he is easily taken advantage of and manipulated by his peers and alleged friends. The dynamic of Othello’s character significantly changes throughout the play. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. Othello’s motivation in the play appears to be his love and concern for his wife Desdemona, which ironically, ends up being his downfall in the end.
In William Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello is the tragic hero. He is a character of high stature who is destroyed by his surroundings, his own actions, and his fate. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by the characters. Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Chronologically through the play, Othello’s character
Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men.
‘Tragic hero’ and ‘tragedy structure’ are terms coined by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, both informally defining the features a character must embody to be considered a protagonist. Sophocles play ‘Antigone’ includes Aristotle’s theories of ‘tragic hero and tragedy structure’ and personifies the features within his protagonist. The players of Antigone are introduced by the chorus as; ‘Antigone the girl who will rise up alone and die young,’ and ’Creon, king of Thebes, bound to the duties of rule’. Sophocles has included Aristotles ‘tragic hero’ traits in both the characters, and in this regard Creon takes the crown as protagonist, exemplifying all of Aristotle's features. In regards to Aristotles ‘tragedy structure’, Creon again fulfils
In “The Trojan Women,” there are four enduring women who dominate the play and only two men who say anything at all. Moving us with their rants and dramatic reactions, these women engulf the audience in overwhelming grief and irresistible pride. Euripides emphasizes these four women to help us understand one of his main themes. Hecuba with her pride, Cassandra with her virginity and uncanny wisdom, Andromache with her misery and heartache, and Helen with her powerful, seductive reasoning all represent superior illustrations of feminism throughout the play.
The different portrayals of female characters Antigone and Lysistrata illustrate the fundamental nature of the proper Athenian woman. Sophocles' Antigone allows the reader to see that outrage over social injustices does not give women the excuse to rebel against authority, while Aristophanes' Lysistrata reveals that challenging authority in the polis becomes acceptable only when it's faced with destruction through war. Sophocles and Aristophanes use different means to illustrate the same idea; the ideal Athenian woman's ultimate loyalty lies with her polis. This Greek concept of the proper woman seems so vital when considering Athenian society because both a tragedy and comedy revolve around this concept. The differing roles accorded to
Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. As the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Throughout the play,
William Shakespeare presents the character Othello as an excellent leader in the play, Othello. The hero has strength, charisma, and eloquence. Yet Othello cannot reason. The battlefield and Senate are, at least in Othello, depicted as places of honor, where men speak truly. In addition, the matters of war and state are relatively simple; no one lies to Othello, all seem to respect him. He never even has to fight in the play, with the enemy disappearing by themselves. This simplistic view does not help him in matters of the heart. His marriage is based on tall tales and pity and his friendships are never examined; he thinks that anyone who knows him love him. Thus the ultimate evaluation of
Its main characters are women each with differently complex personnalities. Hecabe was the queen of Troja, her situation makes her a tragic character and atracts pity. On the other hand, her daughter the princess Cassandra is dedicated to the gods; she bears the curse of having the ability if foresight yet never being trusted, thrown onto her by the god Apollo. Finaly Hecabe's daughter-in-law Andromache, proud and noble. The protagonists being so different, they each will have a different approach to the play's events. Furthermore Menelaus, one of the play's two male characters, is considered weak in contrast with the strong female personnalities present. The trojan women also question the god's power and men dependence on them. The gods in the play are depicted as flawed, therefore assimilated with simple
The action takes place over one day, the play goes back to the Trojan War and carry on in the play Oresteia. The turning point is Agamemnon and Cassandra being killed.
Homer’s Iliad is undoubtedly focused on its male characters: Achilles, primarily, but also Hector and Agamemnon. Nevertheless, it seems that the most crucial characters in the epic are female. Homer uses the characters of Thetis, Andromache, and Helen as a basis for comparison to the male characters. Homer wants his audience to see and understand the folly of his male characters in choosing war over peace, aggression over kindness, and honor over family. While the behavior of these characters clearly speaks for itself, the contrasting attitudes and behaviors of the female characters proffer an alternative; in comparison, the reader can hardly fail to concur with Homer’s message that war, aggression,
Comedic films and theatrical productions generally focus on the average human. This excludes people with extraordinary amounts of influence or power such as kings, queens or superheroes. Grecian comedy dissects the social or personal aspects of an average human’s life and uncovers their foibles and frailties. A minor weakness will usually lead to the character falling into some form of temptation which stands as the climax of the plot. This minor weakness of the character helps develop the storyline. For example, the play, Lysistrata, centers around the Grecian army and their wives. Aristophanes presents sex as a weakness of men and women in Greece in the play. The temptation for the army wives is to relinquish the sex strike that they
In reading texts that describe the mythical story of the Trojan War, it would be difficult to ignore the tragedy that the story emanates in its character’s actions and their consequences. Homer’s Iliad explores the tragedy of Achilles, whose preoccupation with glory has its tragic consequences of death and grief. It also shows the War’s resounding effect on those outside of the battlefield and the families of the warriors, as does Euripides’ Women of Troy, reflecting on family as the unforeseen victims of war. Furthermore, the play Rhesus is shown to give a more elaborated perspective of tragedy for individual characters. An examination of the Trojan War from the Trojan and Roman perspective further reveals tragedy on both sides. The gods’