The Threepenny Opera Essays

Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi and Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth reveal certain similarities, when juxtaposed. These two texts display the gradual loss of morals between the characters of Macbeth and Pi. This is conveyed through specific events within the two books, such as Macbeth and Pi's lust to kill, their guilt and themselves going crazy, will articulate the loss of their morals. The following analysis will discuss these themes extensively.

‘Macbeth’ is a play in which a Lord and his Lady come into supreme power through acts of injustice and despicable inhumanities. In the play Macbeth there is no main focal theme that overrules the others; the play however has several underlying themes, namely there are important themes i.e. good and evil (like ying and yang), greed and power, guilt and conscience, fear, ambition – this leads to the murder of other people illustrating to the reader that even the most sane of people can result to character diminishing methods to get what they want. These particular themes are the most prominent and when closely looked at, it can help to understand characters and meanings behind the play. The theme of ambition is very important in this play,

Greed is perhaps one of the most destructive forces in this world, it breeds anger, hate, jealousy, and more. The novella “The Pearl” is based on how the finding of a pearl causes greed to be awakened in the hearts of people and cause them to commit evil. During the Novella, Steinbeck develops the theme that greed left unchecked can cause immoral behavior and that is show in the doctor, the attackers, and Kino. All of them are forced by greed to commit sins that they otherwise would not do.

Humanity is inherently flawed. Charles Dickens illustrates this in his novel A Tale of Two Cities as he writes about the lives of the Manettes and the people they draw around them. In this novel, Dickens uses Sydney Carton, a main character in the novel and the lover of Lucie Manette, to reveal his thoughts about the inherent nature of humanity. The characteristics of humanity change and mutate with the experiences of each person and the workings of their own mind, as illustrated by Mr. Stryver’s inhumane and thoughtless treatment of Sydney, the first time Sydney saves Charles Darnay’s life, and Sydney’s love for Lucie Manette.

At one point or another, we have all heard that “love is blind”; this saying is a warning of how love can overshadow the truth. Shakespeare verifies the accuracy of this idiom in his play Othello, where its main character, Othello, a black general, is oblivious to the crimes plotted against him because they are being made by his good friend Iago. Shakespeare's tale begins with a seething Iago who is scheming to ruin Othello’s life because Othello picked Cassio to be his lieutenant instead of Iago. He deviously plans to make it seem as if Desdemona, Othello’s new wife, has committed adultery. Othello is a passionate person and loves Desdemona wholeheartedly, but his passion, while making him an ardent husband and friend, also means he reacts

Lady Macduff thinks that he doesn't love his own country. If he left then they know that he didn't like it where he was. Son also asked his mother what they do with the bad people and she says that the good people hang them. Son is wondering if his father is bad for leaving. His mother told him that he was a bad person for making that wrong choice.

The definition of a tragic hero is that an individual who has a mixture of admirable qualities and a tragic flaw which proves fatal. This suggests Othello is a tragic hero, though qualities such as nobility in thoughts or actions do not consistently portray Othello throughout the play. Despite his brave reputation as a soldier and characteristics of trusting and caring initially with Desdemona, his weaknesses in both his own character and his vulnerability to Iago¡¦ s lies, and the decision of killing Desdemona at last do not make Othello sufficiently noble in thought or action to attain the status of a tragic hero.

One of the important characters in the story that revolve around the theme of love with consequences is

. . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill (Steinbeck)”? In the Pearl, Steinbeck depicts the everlasting battle of good and evil and the power of greed. Steinbeck shows Kino’s struggle between himself and society and his journey to overcome man's greatest evil; greed. Using elements such as characterization and symbols, John Steinbeck creates the theme of good vs.

Many Shakespearian dramas, like Macbeth, are inspired by the ancient Greek notion of tragedy and the fall of man; much of which is powered by one’s lust for greater gains. Correspondingly, the play reveals how ambition creates the capability of deteriorating a man’s morality and world. This is presented through the titular character and his “dearest partner of greatness” (P. 23) and the consequences of their actions.

In man’s eternal struggle for power, he has the possibility to lose the essence of what makes him human. A human 's intellect and emotions are capable of making enormous contributions to society; they are also capable of cruel and malevolent actions alike. Shakespeare vents his feelings of his past grief in Macbeth, and he expresses his deep grief over the loss of his younger brother, his father and his mother in 1607, resulting in the creation of his sinister characters. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, he uses symbols, irony, imagery, and characters to show how greed can consume people and turn them into monsters.

Throughout this essay I will be focusing on comparing the way Shakespeare and Orwell present ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ in Macbeth and Animal farm. Both texts include indistinguishable characters either behaving with their utmost propriety or their ‘ambitions’.

In life, everyone and everything changes. From rocks dotting shorelines to scientific theories, everything in life, biotic or abiotic, undergoes development. The characters in literature are no exception to this law. Throughout each piece of literature, at least one character experiences change as the plot shifts and other characters come into play, thus morphing a character into a new shade of what they once were. At the beginning of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth begins the play, according to one character, as a “valiant” and “worthy gentlemen” (1.2.24), but by the end of the play another character would reasonably describe him as a “butcher” (5.8.35). In Macbeth, William Shakespeare illustrates Macbeth’s internal struggle with his morals and external influences that ultimately leads to his downfall.

To me, one of the most important aspects of theatre is to be a mirror to society or to a person’s individual psychology. A play should be painting a picture of a pre-existing reality, not just making up a new one for entertainment purposes. The best plays are just this, either a complex picture of society as it is or a character study that the audience is meant to take into their own lives. Threepenny Opera does follow this guideline, though it is most decidedly not a character study. The characters of Threepenny Opera are cruel and shallow, meant to prove a point rather than serve as a vessel for empathy. Three Penny Opera is a show that focuses more on society, a show that wants us to question it and ourselves. Three Penny Opera is an important show for modern audiences to see because the issues that it brings up are still relevant. It is important because of it’s messages about our treatment of the poor, and the call to action that it makes on the poor’s behalf.

Hunger is a basic animal instinct; however, humanity has taken that craving one step further, beyond the hunger for mere sustenance. Humans hunger for recognition, for riches and for power; and in their quest to gain them, their motivation can cause them to be nearly unstoppable. Nothing is as important as reaching their highest ambition, whether that be fame, fortune or success. This all consuming ambition often leads humans to commit almost unrecognizable acts of cruelty, as William Shakespeare so aptly showed in his play, King Lear; as the characters displayed some of the worst attributes of humanity in their vicious familial betrayals and backstabbing in desperate attempts to gain power. The individual story of ambition increasing humanity’s