Comparing Eliot’s Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
The first major difference between Eliot’s Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra comes with the very first simile. In Shakespeare’s original the barge in which Cleopatra sits is compared to a burnished throne burning on the water, whereas in Eliot’s parody it is only a chair that she fills like a throne, glowing on the marble. Eliot’s character comes across, therefore, as far less ‘enormous’ and larger than life than Shakespeare portrays Cleopatra who seems very great, even in comparison with her barge, which she fills as if it were a throne - her majesty makes the barge seem tiny in comparison; Eliot’s character only makes a chair look like a chair. Again, with the water on which Cleopatra’s barge floats burning, and the marble on which the chair stands glowing, Shakespeare’s image if far greater than the one Eliot creates, being strange and somewhat mystical, as opposed to Eliot’s chair’s entirely possible glow.
Cleopatra, in the same way, has ‘pretty dimpled boys’ fanning her, ‘like smiling cupids’, whereas in the passage from The Wasteland, there are merely golden Cupidons, observing the scene, one peeping out at her, another hiding his eyes behind his wing - instead of serving an immediate, yet subtle purpose, as Cleopatra’s are, fanning her.
Other images of Eliot’s, in contrast, are much larger than Shakespeare, but again succeed in making Eliot’s character look small and insignificant in comparison. Eliot describes the enormous amount of adornments around the room, including her ‘vials of ivory and coloured glass’, which contain many perfumes, which are described as ‘drowning the sense in odours’ and again it is the lack of subtlety t...
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...speare tends to prefer the use of metaphor to that of simile - whilst Homer often used extended simile to illustrate his point, and often went off on very distinct tangents, Shakespeare tends to prefer the more modern construction of metaphor, rather than having to protect himself as an author with words like ‘like’ or ‘as’.
Eliot may well have chosen this passage for its eccentricities, and it succeeds in creating a powerful and provoking parody, as well as being a very good contrast to other parts of The Wasteland, poetically, including the very next part, which is more modern, and simple. It is also interesting that Eliot chose to almost blend the Shakespeare in with other more ordinary bits of literature - the passage begins with only slight changes to the words of Enobarbus’ speech, but soon becomes considerably different to the original Shakespeare.
The most obvious stylistic device used by Eliot is that of personification. She uses this device to create two people from her thoughts on old and new leisure. The fist person is New Leisure, who we can infer to be part of the growth of industry in the 19th century. He is eager and interested in science, politics, and philosophy. He reads exciting novels and leads a hurried life, attempting to do many things at once. Such characteristics help us to create an image of New Leisure as Eliot sees him.
Tremblay's article on the Americanization of Quebec culture is slightly more than a decade old, yet most of the information he provides is still relevant today. In his article, Tremblay takes a look at the invasion of Quebec 's airwaves by American content. His title refers to a belief in his mind that the Quebecois culture will one day be integrated into that of America , which in turn will lead to Quebec throwing itself into the melting pot of American culture.
TREMBLAY, Gaëtan (1992). "Is Quebec Culture Doomed to Become American?", Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol.17 , nº 2 ["Sense and Nonsense: Perspectives on Cultural Issues"]. Online at , consulted on November 26, 2002.
Thomas Stearns Eliot was perhaps one of the most critical writers in the English language’s history. Youngest of seven children and born to the owner of a Brick Company, he wasn’t exactly bathed in poverty at all. Once he graduated from Harvard, he went on to found the Unitarian church of St. Luis. Soon after, Eliot became more serious about literature. As previously stated, his literature works were possibly some of the most famous in history. Dr. Tim McGee of Worland High School said that he would be the richest writer in history if he was still alive, and I have no choice but to believe him. In the past week many of his works have been observed in my English literature class. Of Thomas Stearns Eliot’s poems Preludes, The Journey of the Magi, The Hollow Men, The Waste Land, and Four Quartets, I personally find his poem The Hollow men to be the most relatable because of its musical allusions, use of inclusive language, and his opinion on society.
When the Miranda Rights were established, police were having a more challenging time getting information from suspects. Suspects were more likely to obtain their right to counsel or answer question more vaguely, leading to longer and less effective interrogations. Officers looked for other ways to get confessions without violating the Miranda Rights. Many psychological techniques became more common, such as the “good cop bad cop” routine; one detective seems to grill the suspect while the other detective appears to be protecting the suspect, creating a trust between the “good cop” and the suspect. Officers also now inform the suspect of all the terrible things they may face if they’re convicted of the crime, and seem to help the suspect by promising a less severe punishment if the cooperate with the police. “For a while, police tried such things as polygraphs to determine if the suspect was being deceptive, but polygraphs and polygraph training are expensive, and the results are almost never admissible in court” (Layton, 2011)....
The Canadian Charter was a foundation for Trudeau’s political maneuvering to make the French language part of a national discussion on equality in Canadian life. The dominance of the Anglophile traditions and language rights were considered to be far more elevated in terms of social standing and political rights. In this manner, Trudeau was able to generate a Quebecker resistance to this dominant form of oppression through language, which became the premise for the Official Languages Act of
In conclusion, after exploring the theme of this poem and reading it for myself, Eliot has created this persona, in industrialised England or somewhere else. A man of low self-esteem, you embark on his journey as he struggles with a rational fear of being rejected by a woman.
During T. S. Eliot’s time many of his contemporaries including himself were in the custom of alluding to classic works of poetry. They incorporated references to notable texts like Dante. Eliot especially is a main perpetrator of alluding. Eliot has the ability create a picture for the reader and provide historical context to his works. A contemporary of Eliot, Pound, once said you should try to “be influenced by as many great artists as [they] can” (Pound 95). Eliot is following what Pound said by incorporating allusions in his works.
The Variety and Range of Enobarbus' Dramatic Contribution to the Play Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare uses Enobarbus in a number of ways during the play 'Antony
Quebec is a distinct society within Canada (Darkside). With its own civil code, language, and a single dominant faith (Roman Catholic), French Quebec is defiantly distinctive from the rest of Canada and many Quebecois are fighting to preserve that distinction (Darkside). Francophones of Quebec are fighting not only to preserve this distinction but also to be recognized as an entity separate from Canada with acknowledged cultural differences ranging not only from religion, but from ethnic roots which spread to linguistic differences as well. This desire to preserve their culture is what makes them a politically relevant example of a country pursuing nationalistic causes. We will explore the ethnic and linguistic traits and cultural events that inspire Quebecois nationalism.
Shakespeare makes this scene significant and dramatically effective through dramatic irony and by using two very different, charismatic figures.
Closely related to subversive comparisons, Shakespeare also makes use of exaggerated similes. Unlike his contemporaries, Shakespeare introduces his Mistress in negative conventional terms. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun / cor...
Among the tragedies of Shakespeare Othello is supreme in one quality: beauty. Much of its poetry, in imagery, perfection of phrase, and steadiness of rhythm, soaring yet firm, enchants the sensuous imagination. This kind of beauty Othello shares with Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra; it is a corollary of the theme which it shares with them. But Othello is also remarkable for another kind of beauty. Except for the trivial scene with the clown, all is immediately relevant to the central issue; no scene requires critical justification. The play has a rare intellectual beauty, satisfying the desire of the imagination for order and harmony between the parts and the whole. Finally, the play has intense moral beauty. It makes an immediate appeal to the moral imagination, in its presentation in the figure of Desdemona of a love which does not alter ‘when it alteration finds’, but ‘bears it out even to the edge of doom’. (139)
Shakespeare’s dramatic theatre performances have long endured the test of time. His tales of love and loss, and even some history, make a reader think about events in their own life and what they wish to accomplish in life. Though written for the stage, Shakespeare’s plays have life lessons that readers of the great works can take put into effect in their own lives. Some may say that his plays are out dated, and are something of the past; though they were written in the 1600’s, they have morals and themes that can apply to life. “You've got to contend with versification, poetic license, archaisms, words that we don't even use any more, and grammar and spelling that were in a state of flux when the works were written,” says Pressley in an attempt to explain how to read Shakespeare. Once read and understood, however, one can start to compare and contrast different plays. The ways in which Shakespeare’s two plays King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing are similar out numbers the instances they are different, even though one is a Shakespearian tragedy while the other is a comedy.