Tales and stories have been told since the beginning of time, handed down from each generation to the next, and each story has left its mark on the listener even if it is not apparent. Parts of the story are remembered and it is the goal of an author or storyteller to leave an impact of each who hears their tale. The idea is to have a plot interesting enough to hold the attention and then to develop conflict those experiencing will remember. Part of the way this is accomplished is through the characters, not always the protagonist, but the antagonist as well. The villain of the story is an individual the audience will pay close attention to and attempt to understand as the storyline unfolds. “There’s something about antagonists that, I think, inherently fascinates us as readers. We all get at least a little curious about what leads someone to become ‘evil,’ why it is they do what they do, and so on. And considering we live in a world where right and wrong is all about perspective, well-done antagonists can be especially exciting.”(Hansen) Shakespeare develops his antagonists in a way that makes them interesting to the audience and does so especially well in his plays Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet. Each play has an antagonist, or something near one in the case of Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the villains can be very different from one another and strikingly alike depending on the situation. Shakespeare’s creation of profound antagonists helps the audience to identify with what is taking place in each of these texts, as each villain aids in the effect the story has on those who experience it, for they will remember them, if only in some vague way, forever.
The development of Iago, the villain of Shakespeare’s Oth...
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Jamieson, Lee. "Iago Analysis- A Character Analysis of Iago from 'Othello.'" About. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. . Second.
Mabillard, Amanda. "Introduction to Claudius in Hamlet." Shakespeare Online. N.p., 15 Aug. 2008. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. . Fourth.
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Shakespeare’s plays, among other classic works of literature, tend to be forged with the tension of human emotion. The archetypical parallel of love and hatred polarizes characters and emphasizes the stark details of the plot. More specifically, the compelling force of revenge is behind most of the motives of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet. The play opens with the return of Hamlet’s father, a surprising encounter, which ended in his son learning that his father’s death was the result of foul play. By emphasizing this scene as the beginning of the story to be told, Shakespeare clearly implies that the plot itself will be based around the theme of revenge. Through three different instances of behavior fueled entirely by vengeance, Shakespeare creates an image in the reader’s mind, which foreshadows the future of the story and provides insight into the plot line. Even so, despite the theme of revenge being the overarching concern of the plot, the parallels drawn between characters truly strengthen the thematic depth of the piece overall, making the play easily one of Shakespeare’s most infamous and historically valuable works.
...ves the characters. Iago is the protagonist of Othello through strong leading actions, strengths complimented through flaws, and a humor that manipulates the audience’s feelings.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. C. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: Norton, 2005. Print.
Watkinson, A. "Othello: The Ironic Interdependence of Othello and Iago." Novels for Students. 5 November 2004. http://www.enotes.com/othello/743/print
Iago, the villain in Shakespeare’s Othello, is a round character of great depth and many dimensions. Iago works towards an aim that is constantly changing and becomes progressively more tragic. Yet, at times, "honest" Iago does actually seem honest. This essay will explore the complex character of "honest Iago.
Breuer, Horst. "Shakespeare's HAMLET, III.i.56--88." Explicator 40.3 (1982): 14. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2010.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square-Pocket, 1992. Print.
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The use and misuse of magic has an important role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a reoccurring theme, Puck’s use of magic creates humor, conflict and balance in the play.
Shakespeare draws an amazing psychological portrait of a man who became a villain by means of ambition, desire and an imbalance of good and evil. “Macbeth” is a play composed of the disintegration of a noble man’s world. The play begins by offering the audience Macbeth, a war hero, with a high regard from Duncan, the king of Scotland. By the end of the play Macbeth transforms into a universally despised man without a place in the social community. Shakespeare draws an amazing face of a man made to be a villain by ambition, desire and an imbalance of good and evil.
Three stories from the same author, but not just an author. Perhaps the greatest author in human history. His name was William Shakespeare, heard of him? Maybe you have heard of these three stories by him Hamlet, Othello, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These stories have been talked about throughout history because of the similarities and difference in the plots. What is really important to me, is the villains or antagonist in the plays. “Equally well known as the Hero is the Villain. And just as the Hero is actually made up of several distinct qualities, so is the Villain. In fact, for every quality the Hero possesses, the Villain embodies a counterpart.” (Phillips) Each story has certain villains that make the plays, and their names are Hamlet and Claudius, Iago, Puck and Egeus.