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Characterise shakespeare plays short topic
Shakespeare literary analysis
Critics point of view on contrasting characters of the tempest
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Caliban is one of the primary antagonists in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. It is impossible to understand the Tempest without first understanding the character of Caliban. Through the exploration of the character of Caliban the reader gains an understanding of his importance within the play and that he is simply not just black and white, there is also a great deal of grey. It is the characters ambiguity that enables him to be human inside although appearing bestial on the outside.
Caliban is a great example of a character being much more than one dimensional, almost to the point of being nearly a real person. While there is a great emphasis on the pure and the good, everyone has within them a darker side. Which is that of depravity and evil thoughts. This is what makes us human. It is how we deal with these thoughts and balance them that makes us a person. It is also the way in which this almost, 'alter ego' manifests itself to both to yourself and the rest of mankind, that distinguishes between good and bad people:
'This thing of darkness, I must acknowledge mine'
Arguably, The Tempest is a play that focuses upon the character of Prospero and his power to punish verses his power to forgive. Many scholars believe that the play is also nearly an autobiographical work, written towards the end of Shakespeare's literary career. This idea is reinforced throughout the play, especially towards the end and in the epilogue:
?...my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer.?
Epilogue: 15-16
And
?I'll break my staff,
Bury it in certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book?
5:1:54-57
Therefore, our understanding of Caliban's position in th...
... middle of paper ...
...our understanding of Caliban and The Tempest as a play is therefore one of great importance.
He puts an angle on Prospero's character that other aspects of forgiveness and that of the wronged Duke simply do not cover. He shows up Prospero's faults and the fact that Prospero is only human, capable of anger, hatred, and punishing those who are guilty in his eyes.
Works Cited
Bevington, David. The Necessary Shakespeare Third Edition. United States: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2009. Print.
Cengage, Gale, Michael L. LaBlanc Ed.” The Tempest (Vol. 72) - Introduction." Shakespearean Criticism. Vol. 72, 2006. eNotes.com. 2003. 29 Oct, 2009.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. 5th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 1574-603.
Karl Marx was a German philosopher who studies at the university of berlin. He was a Hegelian. He was very active in the political scene, thus springing his desire to combined philosophy, political science and economics. Marx believes that we are the product of our environments but we also have the power to change our environment. He believed that human beings can shape the environment that we live in through our abilities. He also believes that philosophers should not only interoperate the world, but they should be able to change it (Citation). Marx believed that history is all based class conflicts. He uses the example of the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the oppressive class, they consist of the rich, upper class,
An eight-year old boy walked in to his grandmother’s room to find her not breathing. He instinctively called 911, not knowing what his grandmother’s or mother’s wishes were. That should have been the end to his grandmother’s suffering, but it was not. In this instance, doctors insisted on keeping his grandmother on life support, despite his mother’s request and his grandmother was incapable of articulating her wishes. She didn’t want her mother on life support. Today in modern “democratic” medicine, physicians are suppose to serve and advise, and only in extreme situations of incapacities, emergencies, lack of available health care proxies, or patient’s waivers of decision making should they decide for a patient. Euthanasia should be the decision of the individual, not family, not government, and not the medical community.
Good, a word used by all, but most not truly knowing what the true concept of good actually is. What is good? Good, in my own understanding, entails an act or statement that is, not only morally and perceptively correct in the eyes of others, but also in one's own eyes. There is a sense of accomplishment; a sense of achievement felt when something good has been done. This feeling usually does not only pertain to the individual, but also to those around him who might have benefited in one way or another from his/her good deed or statement.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Second Revised Ed. United States of America: First Signet Classics Print, 1998. 1-87. Print.
In Act I of the play, Prospero finally tells Miranda the woeful story of how she and he arrived on the island. From the beginning, Prospero plays his subjects and his sympathetic audience as pawns in his game of manipulation. He explains that twelve years ago he was the Duke of Milan, but being enthralled with his studies, he left most of the governmental responsibilities to his brother Antonio. Antonio, hungry to be "Absolute Milan" himself (1:2, p.6), proceeded to betray him with the help of King Alonso of Naples. When Miranda asks why they were not killed, Prospero sighs, "Dear, they durst not,/ so dear the love my people bore me" (1:2, p.7). From the beginning, Prospero portrays himself as a distinguished scholar and beloved leader unjustly victimized by his power-hungry brother. Who would suspect such a humble man of being psychologically manipulative? Prospero succeeds in deceiving many with this credible guise.
Echlin, Echlin. “Doctors and Nurses Should Never Take Part in Euthanasia.” Medical Ethics. Ed. Noel Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 Feb. 2011.
Prospero is really the key character about which the nature of illusion and reality centers. He is the one who appears to have been stripped of all his power, and yet he is truly the most powerful; he lives in a world where he can conjure up an illusion of a storm; he lives between a course of regular human action and magic; and he is perceptive about philosophies on the topic of illusion and reality.
In this whimsical play, Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, after being supplanted of his dukedom by his brother, arrives on an island. He frees a spirit named Ariel from a spell and in turn makes the spirit his slave. He also enslaves a native monster named Caliban. These two slaves, Caliban and Ariel, symbolize the theme of nature versus nurture. Caliban is regarded as the representation of the wild; the side that is usually looked down upon. Although from his repulsive behavior, Caliban can be viewed as a detestable beast of nature, it can be reasonably inferred that Shakespeare’s intent was to make Caliban a sympathetic character.
But why the tendency toward revenge in the first place? What was it about the personality and mental disposition of Prospero that caused him to lust for revenge against his brother, Antonio? And Caliban. Why couldn't Prospero overlook his social naïveté when it came to handling a woman? (1.2.350) In this portion of the website, I will examine those questions and attempt to provide an answer and an insight into the psychology of Prospero.
Karl Marx’s theories about class struggle, communism, and social justice can be known as Marxism. Marxism is summed up in the Encarta Reference Library as “a theory in which class struggle is a central element in the analysis of social change in Western societies.” In contrast the Encarta Reference Library defines capitalism as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods, characterized by a free competitive market and motivation by profit.” Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.
Thus, as far as the political aspect is concerned, Marx and Engels are falsely considered the founders of socialism and all its variants. However, what today is called socialism was developed during the previous century by the French ideologists Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier and their folowers. It is true though that socialism, non-political in both Saint-Simon’s and Fourier’s visions, was decissively influenced by the reformist dimenssion Karl Marx provided it with, reffering to his forerunners as “utopic socialists�. (Florence Braunstein & Jean-Francois Pepin, Les Grandes doctrines, 1995:71) In short, the aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribu¬tion, and exahange. Marxism is a materialist philosophy: that is, it tries to explain things without assuming thc existence of a world or of forces beyond the natural world around us, and the society we live in.
“Absolute natural evil of Caliban in The Tempest in the case of Caliban, it we accept the absoluteness of his natural evil, we must accept what Charney describes as a necessary (and absolute) ‘discontinuity in his character:. . .” (Bloom 128)
The role of language in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest” is quite significant. To Miranda and Prospero the use of language is a means to knowing oneself. Caliban does not view language in the same light. Prospero taught Caliban to speak, but instead of creating the feeling of empowerment from language, Caliban reacts in insurrectionary manner. Language reminds him how different he is from Miranda and Prospero, and also how they have changed him. It also reminds him of how he was when he wasn’t a slave. He resents Prospero for “Civilising” him, because in doing so he took away his freedom.
The Tempest. Arden Shakespeare, 1997. Print. Third Series Smith, Hallet Darius. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest; A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.
In Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, there are two characters who appear to be polar opposites. The characters of Caliban and Ariel both play very important roles in the play. The term caliban is defined as “a brutish or brutalized man,” and the term ariel is defined as “a spirit of the air” (Dictionary). The definitions of these two characters names even show the huge difference in the two characters before readers or viewers even get to know the characters. There are also differences in how the two characters feel about the self-proclaimed king of the island, Prospero. However, regardless of their many differences the one thing that they do have in common is the fact that they are both oppressed by Prospero who has deemed himself king of the island and seek freedom.