Riverside Shakespeare Company

that grips them much to tightly. In The Tempest, characters stranded on a deserted island have their own unique versions of achieving that said abundance. Shakespeare treats the topic similarly in both plays, and

from this clause, for that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause; but rather reason thus with reason fetter: love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” (Shakespeare. Twelfth Night. 3.2.144-156). In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare was able to embody the perfect love triangle between Olivia, Orsino, and

(56)   Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare contradict the impression that Lady Macbeth is all strength:   [. . .] she cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles her father. Having sustained her weaker husband, her own strength gives way; and in sleep, when her will cannot control

indeed, the entire Elizabethan theater scene opened its doors to the low life of the pits, it also accommodated an audience of higher-status, well-heeled, and better educated individuals. As Harry Levin notes in his general introduction to the Riverside Shakespeare (1974), the "Globe was truly a microcosm or little world of man". With its logo of Hercules holding up the earth (as a temporary replacement to Atlas), the Globe Theatre constituted a "little world" in which the social elite

Sonnet 64 of Spencer's Amoretti        Poets, in general, are fond of symbolism and figures of speech.  Instead of wallowing in the concrete and the obvious, it has always been the purpose of the poet to give "... to aery nothing a local habitation and a name."  The writers of love poetry are especially fond of imagery, metaphors, and similar devices, comparing their loved ones to such and such an animal or cosmic event.         It is therefore of no surprise that 16th century

Justice vs. Morality in Measure for Measure and Merchant of Venice   There are many similarities shared between Shakespeare's plays, "Measure for Measure", and "The Merchant of Venice".  The underlying theme of each work is well defined by the phrase "Justice without the temperance of mercy, is power misused".  I will support this claim by drawing upon some of the characters and situations that are consistent in each story. In each story a man's life depends on the interpretation, and

(95)   Samuel Johnson in The Plays of Shakespeare underscores how ambition by the protagonists leads to detestation on the part of the readers:   The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may not be said in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that

The Purpose of Caliban in The Tempest       One of the indispensable themes displayed in The Tempest is the duality of nature and society.  This is made apparent through the character of Caliban.  Caliban is a dis-figured fish-like creature that inhabits the island where the play The Tempest, takes place.              Caliban is the son a witch-hag, and the only native on the island.  In Caliban's first speech, he suggests that Prospero stole the island from him. (Act 1, Scene 1, line

Twelfth Night: A Gender-Bending Journey      Shakespeare enjoyed writing passionate plays about young lovers, but, after a while, the formula became exhausted and the Bard was forced to dig deeper, creatively speaking. Twelfth Night is an example of a Shakespearean love tale with a slight twist to keep things interesting. This play was the “Tootsie” of its time. Twelfth Night takes the audience on a gender-bending journey, while maintaining all the elements of true love throughout. At one point

even more so in the Elizabethan era with two male actors wooing each other as women. Shakespeare is able to pose the question of homosexual love by using "Cesario" as a shield to protect both the characters within the play and the audience from having to deal with the question directly.               Although he avoids denying the Elizabethan romantic conventions with an openly homosexual plot, Shakespeare does upset the norm by having Olivia act as suitor and having the "man" act as the object