Essay About Criticism of Shakespeare's Plays
When attempting to read criticism of Shakespeare plays one idea is clear: if the review was written more than five or ten years ago the essay is likely to be exclusive when it comes to the women in Shakespeare. Little attention had been given to the women of Shakespeare prior to the seventies feminist movement. The women in King Lear deserve attention just as women in every Shakespearean play do. A common idea among critics is that the women perpetuated evil and were not worthy of acknowledgment for anything else.
Goneril and Regan are believed to be vicious, evil women and Cordelia the small, sweet daughter and while this interpretation may be true there are other aspects to consider which are not typically presented when reviewing these female characters. Each of these women is worthy of acclaim for her strengths of character as well as in opposition to the male characters and various subplots within Lear.
A common interpretation of Lear is one of the juxtaposition of good and evil within the play. Many traditional critics have made this idea their primary focus in interpretations which often ignores the feminist and class conscious theme that are also present in King Lear. Most recent critical essays of King Lear do make note of the class struggle within the play; however, critics tend to ignore the gender struggles which upon thorough reading are clearly as obvious as the class issues. I have chosen an interpretation of King
Lear from 1960, by Irving Ribner and set it in contrast with a 1991 review by
Ann Thompson. There are some interesting points made in both essays and some stark differences in ‘what and who' are the important themes and characters in
Lear.
In Irving Ribner's essay, “The Pattern of Regeneration in King Lear,”
Ribner focuses on Lear's regeneration as a result of the “suffering” he must undergo(Ribner 116). In the opening section of his essay, Ribner makes clear that he will approach his interpretation of King Lear from the perspective of
Lear's spiritual rebirth. Ribner focuses attention on the suffering of Lear and of the process of rebirth through suffering that Lear is able to do. Lear is indeed the tragic hero but must go through great pains to achieve such notoriety.
As Lear's madness progresses he is able to come closer to his epiphany. Lear becomes humble and succumbs to the fact that perhaps he is imperfect as father and king(Ribner 127-129). Humility is necessary for Lear's regeneration and it is through his process of pain that he is able to achieve rebirth(Ribner 128).
Coming of Age in Mississippi is the amazing story of Anne Moody's unbreakable spirit and character throughout the first twenty-three years of her life. Time and time again she speaks of unthinkable odds and conditions and how she manages to keep excelling in her aspirations, yet she ends the book with a tone of hesitation, fear, and skepticism. While she continually fought the tide of society and her elders, suddenly in the end she is speaking as if it all may have been for not. It doesn?t take a literary genius nor a psychology major to figure out why. With all that was stacked against her cause, time and time again, it is easy to see why she would doubt the future of the civil rights movement in 1964 as she rode that Greyhound bus to Washington once again. The events that had occurred to her up to the point of the end of the book could clearly have disheartened anyone.
The play of "King Lear" is about a search for personal identity. In the historical period in which this play is set, the social structure was set in order of things closest to Heaven. Therefore, on Earth, the king was at the top, followed by his noblemen and going all the way down to the basest of objects such as rocks and dirt. This structure was set up by the people, and by going by the premise that anything that is man made is imperfect, this system cannot exist for long without conflict.
The Coming of Age in Mississippi is an emotional real life experience. Which explains vivid events that Anne Moody had lived throughout her civil rights movement. She was one of the persons that was involved and supporter of the movement in Mississippi and New Orleans, and Canton. Anne Moody was happy she was going to meet Martin Luther king a well speaker and supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. She was happy that she attended the March on Washington she described the people what she was wearing the artist that attended the event. Saying what a group of men held banners that said Bury Jim Craw. She compares her life in Canton where she couldn’t get much sleep and wishing she could dream like Martin Luther King. It’s been a hard process
King Lear is often regarded as one of Shakespeare’s finest pieces of literature. One reason this is true is because Shakespeare singlehandedly shows the reader what the human condition looks like as the play unfolds. Shakespeare lets the reader watch this develop in Lear’s own decisions and search for the purpose of life while unable to escape his solitude and ultimately his own death. Examining the philosophies Shakespeare embeds into the language and actions of King Lear allows the reader a better understanding of the play and why the play is important to life today.
In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she describes what it was like to grow up during the Jim Crow era of the Deep South in poverty in a household of five and constantly growing. As Moody developed into a woman she dealt with many hardships. She overcame the adversities of being a girl of color during this time. Moody’s education helped her understand the full effects of everything happening around her.
Assessing the capital structure of any firm is important for investors attempting to determine if...
1-William Shakespeare. King Lear edited by Russle Fraser.(New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1982). All future references will come from this text.
Most police departments utilize the traditional pyramid structure to differentiate specialized functions, authority, and leadership. Studies from Peak et al., (2012) indicate that numerous police agencies experimented with other methods of structural leadership styles, and most of them prefer the traditional pyramidal configuration because it emphasizes “rapid leadership and division of labor particularly in catastrophic incidents” (p. 28). Police departments in the United States are considered as bureaucracies for two of the following reasons: (2) heavy reliance on rules, regulations, policies and procedures; and (2) pays
The results obtained from the cooperation of Modigliani and Miller in 1958, was an attempt to prove that the financial decisions should not be significant in the perfect conditions of the market, after being published the Modigliani and Miller theory became the main theory of the capital structure.
Through Lear, Shakespeare expertly portrays the inevitability of human suffering. The “little nothings,” seemingly insignificant choices that Lear makes over the course of the play, inevitably evolve into unstoppable forces that change Lear’s life for the worse. He falls for Goneril’s and Regan’s flattery and his pride turns him away from Cordelia’s unembellished affection. He is constantly advised by Kent and the Fool to avoid such choices, but his stubborn hubris prevents him from seeing the wisdom hidden in the Fool’s words: “Prithee, tell him, so much the rent of his land comes to: he will not believe a fool” (Shakespeare 21). This leads to Lear’s eventual “unburdening,” as foreshadowed in Act I. This unburdening is exacerbated by his failure to recognize and learn from his initial mistakes until it is too late. Lear’s lack of recognition is, in part, explained by his belief in a predestined life controlled completely by the gods: “It is the stars, the stars above us govern our conditions” (Shakespeare 101). The elder characters in King Lear pin their various sufferings on the will of...
The first stage of Lear’s transformation is resentment. At the start of the play it is made quite clear that Lear is a proud, impulsive, hot-tempered old man. He is so self-centered that he simply cannot fathom being criticized. The strength of Lear’s ego becomes evident in the brutal images with which he expresses his anger towards Cordelia: “The barbarous Scythian,/Or he that makes his generation messes/To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom/Be as well neighboured, pitied, and relieved,/As thou may sometime daughter.” (1.1.118-122). The powerful language that Lear uses to describe his intense hatred towards Cordelia is so incommensurable to the cause, that there can be only one explanation: Lear is so passionately wrapped up in his own particular self-image, that he simply cannot comprehend any viewpoint (regarding himself) that differs from his own (no matter how politely framed). It is this anger and resentment that sets Lear’s suffering and ultimate purification in motion.
William Shakespeare, poet and playwright, utilized humor and irony as he developed specific language for his plays, thereby influencing literature forever. “Shakespeare became popular in the eighteenth century” (Epstein 8). He was the best all around. “Shakespeare was a classic” (8). William Shakespeare is a very known and popular man that has many works, techniques and ways. Shakespeare is the writer of many famous works of literature. His comedies include humor while his plays and poems include irony. Shakespeare sets himself apart by using his own language and word choice. Shakespeare uses certain types of allusions that people always remember, as in the phrase from Romeo and Juliet, “star-crossed lovers”.
In the “Three Greened-Eyed Monsters: Acting as Applied Criticism in Shakespeare's Othello”, Geoffrey Bent claims that actors can serve an important, if not, a better hermeneutic, or a method of interpretation than academic critics. Generally, when one wants to know how a play will turn out they resort to scholar interpretations from the web or renowned universities. Academic critics appear to be credible when claiming bizarre interpretations with just a piece of supporting text. Unfortunately, this form of interpretation seems to shrink the credit given to actors as interpreters, who are dedicated to bringing a piece of text to life. The audience, who has already been influenced by outside sources, often overlook actors when in actuality actor
Across the Universe of Time: Shakespeare’s influence on 21st century society. It is harder to imagine a more universal writer than William Shakespeare. Rarely, if ever, is one of his many plays not being performed anywhere in the world and similarly rare is the tertiary English student who has not examined his work at length. His plays, sonnets and poems are common fodder for high school English departments across the globe.