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Historical context for Shakespeare's plays
Essay on Shakespeare's historical plays
Historical plays of Shakespeare
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An Analysis of Much Ado About Nothing Written between 1598 and 1600 at the peak of Shakespeare's skill in writing comedic work, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's wittiest works. In this comedy, Shakespeare's drama satirizes love and human courtliness between two couples who take very different paths to reach the same goal: making the connection between inward and outward beauty. Much Ado About Nothing shows different ways of how people are attracted to one another, and how their realization and definitions of "love" relate to their perceptions of inward and outward beauty. The play is set in Messina, Italy, a small province facing the Straits of Messina, in northeastern Sicily, at the estate of the governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, Don John, his brother, Borachio his servant, Bene*censored*, a young lord, and Claudio his best friend are all returning from war, and have been invited to stay with Leonato for a month. Shakespeare's antagonist Don John, bears much resemblance to Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V, half-brother to the King of Aragon who defeated the Turks at Lepanto and returned to Messina after his victory in October of 1571 (Richmond 51). Don John of Austria had many of the qualities that Shakespeare's Don John did, he was not on good terms with his brother, and although he tried with much effort to gain status, he was frequently humiliated in attempts to bring himself fame. Shakespeare was known to draw parallels between his characters and actual historical figures, in an attempt to produce a sort abstract history of the times (Richmond 49). Upon returning from war, Claudio saw a young woman named Hero that he had seen before going to fight, and felt a strong attraction to her. Claudio expressed to Bene*censored* his attraction to Hero, Leonato's daughter, and Bene*censored*, with a mouth as loose as oiled hinge immediately told Don Pedro of the attraction. Don Pedro, being much closer to Leonato than any of the other veterans were, told the governor Leonato about Claudio, who in turn informed his daughter Hero of him, all with the lightning speed of gossip. Claudio's attraction to Hero is described by Shakespeare with skill as he puts emphasis on the Claudio-Hero relationship that is forming but at the same time keeps it in the background. Claudio is clearly attracted to Hero's outer beauty and knows nothing of her inner beauty, but after conversing with his friend Bene*censored* and then Don Pedro he decides he will marry Hero.
Claudio cannot come out and just say that he has feelings for Hero, he has to seek approval from his male counterparts first. While talking to both Benedick and Don Pedro, Claudio describes his feelings as passion first (I.i.219-220), and then he says, “That I love her, I feel” (I.i.228), indicating that he knows he feels something for Hero, but he is unsure of exactly what his feelings mean.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Hero and Claudio represent the Elizabethan norm in marriage. Claudio is the shrewd, hardheaded fortune hunter and Hero is the modest maiden of conduct books and marriage manuals, a docile young woman. It is important to note that Claudio is more concerned with advancement in Don Pedro's army than he is with love. Therefore, Shakespeare illustrates to the reader through the near tragedy of mistaken identity that Claudio must learn that marriage is more than a business arrangement and become worthy of Hero's love and affection. Source: Ranald, Margaret Loftus. "As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks: English Marriage and Shakespeare". Shakespeare Quarterly. Vol 30, 1979: 68-81.
Mark Twain once said, "Lie--an abomination before the Lord and an ever present help in time of trouble." Twain's description of deceit gives it a type of double meaning. This idea of lying being used for good as well as evil is not unheard of. Many time people find it necessary to lie to maintain a greater good or save a life. However, all too often, people lie for self-serving, immoral purposes. In this quote, Twain elegantly shows the delicate balance between good and evil in the performance of the same act. Furthermore, Twain also shows this complex thought in his portrayal of characters in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twains novel emulates his quote, juxtaposing the good and bad aspects of stretching the truth. Throughout the novel, Twain provides numerous commentaries on the morality of characters. His display of deception in the story continually serves to improve the reader?s understanding of a character?s moral integrity, based on the nature and intent of the lie. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses the lies of numerous characters to better define the moral ambiguity of those characters.
Malcolm X embraced true Islam when he made the pilgrimage after he left the Nation of Islam and found the truth about his leader Elijah Mohammad. After leaving the nation of Islam, he started to search for the answers to his questions. He found all what he need in his trip to Mecca. However, before this changing...
The latter half of the 20th century was a time of rapid progress for the civil rights movement in America. Leadership of this movement was unorganized and those pursuing racial equality would not always rally behind the same person, and there were even separate organizations such as the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. The most common comparison between civil rights leaders is between Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who advocated nonviolence and passive resistance and was Christian, and Malcolm X, who is often thought of as the face of radical and violent civil rights activism and is associated with Islam. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley who spoke with Malcolm while writing the autobiography, sheds light on
William Shakespeare said: “Women may fall when there's no strength in men” (Romeo and Juliet). Throughout history gender role have been a big, whether someone is a feminist or someone believes there is no equality between males and females; everyone has different opinions when it comes to the matter of gender roles. The same thing can be said about William Shakespeare who was a feminist (Shakespeare of Stratford). This ideology can be seen in his play Much Ado about Nothing. In this comedy Shakespeare focuses on two pairs of lovers named Claudio and Hero who are set to be married in a week but before their marriage day, they plan to conspire with Don Pedro, the prince of Aragon to trick their friends Beatrice and Benedick to admit their love for each other. Don John, the brother of Don Pedro, meanwhile plots to prevent marriage of Claudio and Hero by accusing Hero of being unfaithful. Don John initially succeeds in his plan as Hero is accused and ashamed at the marriage ceremony, but at the end Claudio and Hero are united and marry each other. Also, Beatrice and Benedick finally declare their love for each and dance at the end of the play. Shakespeare uses a lot of sources for this comedy and one of them is “Orlando Furioso” written in 1591, which gave Shakespeare the idea of Hero and Claudio’s marriage and Don John’s plot to prevent it. Another source Shakespeare used to write the play is the courtier written in 1588, which gave him the idea of the romance between Beatrice and Benedick. And also “La Prima de la Novelle” written in 1554 by Matteo Bandello gave Shakespeare the idea of putting the setting in Messina, Italy (Shakespeare in quarto). Because Shakespeare was a feminist, some of the women appear as supporting and central...
With its entangled double plots and eloquent use of words, Much Ado About Nothing is a story that has the ability to entertain the masses both young and old. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language along with situation creates such vivid imagery for which carries the drama from beginning to end. For example, when we look at Act 1 Scene 1 of the play ...
The William Shakespeare tragedy Othello features various types of love, but none compare to the love we find between the protagonist and his wife. In this essay let us examine “love” as found in the play.
Of the people whose names are mentioned in history, some men like Thomas Edison are praised for their genius minds, while others such as Adolf Hitler are criticized for leaving a depressing legacy behind. While it is relative easy to notice the type of legacies these two men left, legacies of other men are often vague and they seem to be imbedded in gray shadows. This is how many people view the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X during his lifetime had influenced many African Americans to step up for their rights against the injustices by the American government. One on hand, he has been criticized for his hard stances that resemble extremism, while on the other hand he has been praised him for his effort in raising the status for African Americans. The extremes in viewing his life from the modern day perspective have often come from reading his climatic speech The Ballot or the Bullet that he gave in many cities across America in 1964. When he was with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X favored Blacks to be separated from the Whites, and during this time he strongly opposed White Supremacy. This also seems quite prevalent in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. However, one events during the last year of his life reveal that he wanted the Blacks and the Whites to coexist as peaceful Americans.
When speaking of supervision in the community, the offender is obviously out and about in the community just under a certain type of monitoring, checkups and visits, and rules to be followed. Within diversion programs, offenders can keep their job when they mess up, not face stigmas, avoid a bunch of costs, and if they complete the programs the actual crime itself can be dropped off their record. I personally think that is the big difference, as humans we are all judgmental at some points; when people find out a person has committed a crime they are treated differently. When diversion programs are used, they do not publish that information, so the person will not feel attacked, judged, and excluded from society. (Edwina Rogers,
Don Pedro and his men return from the war and visit the house of Leonato and his brother, Antonio. This sudden meeting reunites Beatrice with her archrival, Benedick, and it is here that Claudio and Hero fall in love.
Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.
The main difference between these two couples involves how they learn the art of love. At the beginning of the play, Claudio is the first one out of all the lovers to express his affections for someone else; however, he seems to have the weakest grasp on the concept of love compared to everyone else. Claudio hints of his growing feelings for Hero when he asks Benedick what he thinks of her (I.i.161). Benedick, who has a disdain for marriage, is not very helpful to Claudio. However, he does manage to draw out of Claudio the reason for his inquiry: “In mine eye, she is the sweetest lady that ever I look’d on” (I.i.188).
shame and doubt. This second stage appears in a child’s early years. The primary focus of this stage is the general development of a greater sense of one’s control and autonomy- very similar to what Erikson believed about the importance of toilet training at this particular stage of development. Erikson recognizes that it is crucial for a child to learn and establish at least some sense of independence- successfully of course. This stage also covers the period of time when the child must learn, or begin to learn to control his or her bodily functions; meaning he or she must learn to gain control over food choices, selection of clothing/toys. Children who do not lack of this stage feel not only confident, but also secure, whereas those who do lack of this stage are found to gain a sense of inadequacy, frailty, instability and
He learns through pranks that no matter how funny the joke is, someone could get injured as seen with Jim and when he gets bitten by the rattlesnake. He learns to judge the intent and outcome of a lie like other children do, and learns the consequences of what could happen if he lied (Mitchell, Thompson 289). He also learns to start considering others, and even shows some quality of having a high moral reasoning level (Developmental Psychology 141). Through society and his experiences with Jim, he learns that some white lies can also protect people as long as it does not lead up to more lies that would cause more problems (Ethics 378). Unlike most people who either draw the line between lying is immoral or morally wrong, he draws the line between harmful and harmless lying. His motives for lying changes over time, and changes from lying to escape punishment to lying to cover up for Jim, just like how other children change their motives over time (Stouthamer-Loeber 269). Through the Duke and the King, he learns the difference between immoral and morally correct lying. He sees that lying to deceive people and scam them out of their money is utterly wrong, and that lying like them would lead to appropriate consequences. Huck develops the ability to separate lies from sin and responsibility, and learns the value of his society (Ethics 878, Tomonari, Feiler 278). Because of his adventure down the journey, he finds his own identity after trying out numerous roles and learns the moral causes and effects of white lies, lying for protection, and lying for manipulation (Blair-Broker, Ernst