The Tempest by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is not simply a light-hearted comedy; it is a study of the abstract. Shakespeare shows that the divide between the dream world and reality is inconstant and oftentimes indefinable. Meanwhile, he writes about the power of the intangible emotions, jealousy and desire, to send the natural and supernatural worlds into chaos. Love and desire are the driving forces of this play’s plot, leaving the different characters and social classes to sort out the resulting pandemonium. While the overseeing nobles attack the predicament with poise and logic, the tradesmen and nobles stricken with love recede to foolishness. Yet, it is not the ‘wise’ nobles who find any truth within the haphazard happenings of

A society consists of diverse cultures, looks, values, and beliefs. In a world with one predominant culture, those perceived as different from the norm are associated with negative images and treated inferior to the superior culture. The negative images associated with color, specifically blackness, has a detrimental effect on the victims who are racially stereotyped. The character Othello is a unique character in English literature, because unlike the other members of society, Othello is an outsider in Venice. He is a black man living in a white world, married to a white woman, and a leader of white men in battle. Othello is persuaded that his wife, Desdemona, is cheating on him, leading him to murder her. Some argue that because Othello was the typical black stereotype he killed Desdemona, but evidence suggests that Othello viewed his own racial identity as undesirable for Desdemona and killed her out of honor and self-hatred. Henceforth, the long-term psychological effects of racism affects an individual’s self-identity and his or her relationship with others.

In Césaire’s A Tempest one of the main characters, Prospero, decides to remain on the island with Caliban and live out the rest of his life there. He remains there because he thinks the island needs him to be its ruler. As time continues, we see the deterioration of his mind and body. He becomes feeble and weak. He appears to see opossums overrunning the island and he attacks them to "protect civilization". Prospero seems to be hallucinating, and because of this can be seen as a crazy old man who has reached the end of his life. However, in this paper, I will argue that the opossums and other things he experiences aren’t just hallucinations he creates from being in a weakened state, but actually the realization of what he 's done in the

Another crucial aspect of love and the disorder that often follows in its wake is the idea of irrationality. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses the motif of dreams to show how irrationality and love are connected. By Act 5, Scene 1, all of the play’s romantic conflicts have finally been resolved. As Theseus and Hippolyta reflect on the tumultuous relationships of Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena, it becomes clear that they each have a different opinion on the subject. Although the young Athenians claimed to have awoken from a strange dream to find their conflicts resolved, Theseus and Hippolyta are not so sure whether to believe their story. Theseus, the more cynical of the two, believes that the four lovers were simply driven to insanity by love, and that the fairy world was probably just a figment of their imaginations. Hippolyta, on the other hand, believes that there is more than meets the eye to this story, and that it could be the truth. Both give interesting reasons for their viewpoints.

In William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” two worlds are distinctly contrasted throughout the play. These worlds serve to be the extremes both in thought and action. One world is the Athenian state; which is governed by order, law and reason; whereas, the forest or fairy world lies within the domain of imagination, where anything is possible. While both worlds are paralleled in the play, they have complex interactions in which the characters succumb to influences to influences from both of them. The ruler’s of these two worlds, Theseus in Athens and Oberon in the Fairy world, play critical roles in the events of the story in which their actions and decisions transform the lives of the young lovers. Theseus’ initial rulings for

In William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” two worlds are contrasted throughout the play. The Athenian state is governed by order, law, and reason; the forest or Fairy world lies within the realm of the imagination where anything is possible. While both worlds run parallel in the play, their inhabitants are influenced by one another. Their rulers, Theseus and Oberon, play critical roles in the events of the story. Theseus acts compassionately with a sense of duty, order and respect; his initial rulings for Hermia provide the exposition for the comedy (May 75). Oberon acts compassionately as well, but acts on a whim and resorts to trickery if it suits his desires; his actions direct the complication in the plot (May 75). Their

Despite the numerous physical contrasts between the forest and Athens in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the two settings symbolically are very similar. Coupling the two locations allows the play to question the idea of actuality versus dreams. Throughout the play, Shakespeare juxtaposes Theseus’ Court with nature to parallel reality and fantasy, and resolve the obvious differences between the two in order to illustrate that elements of reality are present in fantasy. The two settings, at first glance, are strikingly divergent. Athens represents reason and wisdom, which is representative of reality.

entertain and to teach us a lesson about man 's control over the elements and

Love is probably the most important factor in today 's society. That Love can drive us forward, love can drive us back. In Shakespeare 's Othello, the villainous character Iago maintains a well diverse, and deceptive character in the play. Using only his words, we see how he puts magic into the play, to help it move forward and evolve. That we get to see his true identity as he has homoerotic feelings towards Othello. We see Iago try to use his power of speech to try to pursue Othello, but we see him never have gotten close as Othello ignore his advances. That his very own words prevent him from ever be one with Othello. Iago getting rejected for Lieutenancy and at the same time Desdemona being Othello 's closes advisor fuels his rage and drive his vengeance to end Cassio, Desdemona and Othello for all the pain they caused him. Throughout the play we see Iago uses the power of his tongue, the words that roll off of it to seek revenge on them. At the same time he uses words to mask his true feelings towards Othello. That His very words will show his homosexual desire more evident, as he plants sexual scenes into Othello 's head in an effort to pursue him through speech and conversation.

Tragedy is best felt when an innocent person kills himself while not knowing the truth. The best example of that would be the play Othello by the great William Shakespeare. As little as a handkerchief could make a difference if it is a symbol for something. In the play Othello by Shakespeare, handkerchief is first introduced by Othello to his beautiful mistress, Desdemona, as a sign of their love. At the end of the play what gets Othello to take extreme measures by the location of the handkerchief. As the symbol of the handkerchief transforms from a strong symbol of love to a gift then to factor of suspicious and evidence.

In Shakespeare’s Othello, the titular character, an honorable Venetian general, is driven to madness through the deceptions of his honest right hand Iago. Iago plots to ruin Othello and through his deception, he fuels Othello’s insecurities through implanting the idea of infidelity of his beloved wife Desdemona. Othello goes on to murder his wife, and after he discovers Iago’s plot, he kills himself. In a time when women were looked down upon, Shakespeare crafted a drama in which women took part in major roles. Modeled by Elizabethan England the women in Othello were portrayed in a light justified by society as in Othello, these women were nothing more to than objectified possessions, forced to submit to the ever dying will of their husbands. This is displayed by Desdemona and Emilia’s and relationships with their husbands.

Othello is the perfect example that you can’t believe everything you see or hear in life, also that constant self-doubt can push one to the brink of insanity. It is always important to consider your source of information, can the information source be trusted? In the case of Othello, Iago has poured information into his ear that holds no truth or worth. Iago states that, “I’ll pour this pestilence into his ear” (II.III.330). “The Moor already changes with my poison” (III.III.329–336). Despite the obvious fact that Iago is not being truthful to Othello, he believes Iago and his word. Iago ensures him of that, “My Lord, you know I’m your friend” (III.III.6). Othello responds with, “I think you are. And I know you’re full of love and honesty, and you think carefully before you speak” (III.III.6). Othello believes the false accusations that Iago has poured into him. Iago is so sore at Othello that he chose him over Cassio to be his lieutenant. Iago felt he should have been the one chosen to fulfill the duties of the position. Iago has a plan to cast revenge on Othello and will see to it that he carries it out no matter the cost or lives lost.

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.

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Caliban is the primitive monster who belongs to the bottom of the power hierarchy on the island claimed by Prospero. Caliban, the original inhabitant of the island, unwillingly becomes Prospero’s slave as he uses magic to take control of the island. Prospero sees Caliban as the savage and monster who does not acknowledge the order of civilization despite his efforts to educate him. Caliban appears as an inferior and beast-like figure from nature in the eyes of the civilized people in the play, yet his language and behavior throughout the play suggests that he maintains human emotions and adequate understanding of the civilized world, which challenges the European characters of placing him at the bottom of the island’s social structure.

Many times, Shakespeare refers to Caliban from The Tempest as “a natural man”. What did that mean to him, to be a natural man? There are many reasons why Shakespeare would have called him that, including the fact that he just looked completely different than the rest of the characters in The Tempest. He was black and dirty, he looked like a savage. Far more different then the other characters. By the end of the play, Caliban’s character seems a lot less important. Even though his role as a character starts to fade, he had a purpose in the play. He raised many questions in the play, Caliban made us see what we were blatantly ignoring. As stated