Representing Ophelia Ophelia falls to the floor, her screams contrasting eerily with the song pieces she uses as her speech. In an instant she is writhing and thrusting her pelvis in such a gross sexual manner that it becomes clear that, in his film interpretation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh wants to imply a strong relationship between female insanity and female sexuality. Such a relationship is exactly what Elaine Showalter discusses in her essay -- "Representing Ophelia: Women
Life and Education When we consider most traditional Hollywood Frankenstein films, the 'monster' is depicted as evil because he is 'malformed' but this is not always the case. The simple one-to-one relationship of ugly equals evil was not prominent in the Mary Shelley's original book or in more true-to-text films such as The Bride or more recently Kenneth Brannagh's attempt to make the authoritative film interpretation, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In these versions, the monster was portrayed as
of Oz.” These are the lines that are related right away to the famous story. Dorothy’s long, adventurous trip down the Yellow Brick Road is something that everyone loves to read and watch. It is a story that touches all of us. The 1939 MGM film interpretation of the 1900 published book written by L. Frank Baum, brought this story to life for all of those who were unable to go to the 1902 stage performance. I’ll never forget watching the movie for the first time. Seeing the screen turn from black
How Shakespeare Presents the Character of Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing and How Interpretations of His Character Can Vary Claudio is firstly presented, (though he is not in the scene where this takes place) as a brave, young and fresh addition to Don Pedro’s troops and that he is quickly growing to be a hero and this is commented on by the messenger in the scene. He is extremely naïve in the early scenes, he has a very simple and trusting view of the world and the way it works, he
Coppola's Interpretation of Dracula as a Love Story The protagonist and story of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula have been widely interpreted and adapted in films throughout many years. Despite almost a century of time since the initial publication, Dracula has maintained its ability to frighten and mesmerize readers. Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula; however, utilizes the erotic romance of the original novel in order to depict a tragic love story. The film accurately follows the general
Interpretation Alternatives of The Tempest A production of The Tempest should emphasize the idealized methods in which Prospero uses magic to solve the problem of revenge which is so prevalent throughout his tragedies, perhaps the production might be a direct allegory for the magic of the theatre itself. In this conception of the play, the scattering and bringing together of the characters in the script is significant in that theatre also could be said to bring people together and allow them
Branagh's Interpretation of Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare's wonderful comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is an entertaining tale of the trials and tribulations of two pairs of lovers, who must face and overcome both malicious schemes plotted against them and also their own flaws and shortcomings before finding happiness together. Although clearly a comedy, the play is not without its darker moments. Don John plots to ruin Claudio's marriage; he nearly succeeds because Claudio, and most of
The environment surrounding the star-crossed lovers in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet can influence audiences who may interpret the scenes in different ways. The audience can be greatly affected in their interpretation of the story by the mise-en-scene, costuming, and the hidden symbolic meaning. This great piece of literature was edited in two unique and intriguing forms, one Zeferelli directed which was filmed in 1968, and the modern version produced in 1996. The different scenes throughout the
Steven Spielberg’s Interpretation of Philip K. Dicks’s Minority Report In the year 2054 crime has become a thing of the past. The relatively new Pre-Crime system allows the government to operate an elite police force, which with the help of three very talented and unique human beings can see into the future and prevent countless crimes, especially murders before they happen. In Philip K. Dicks’s short story, The Minority Report, the world we live in is nearly infallible. With the reduction of
Varying Interpretations of Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now The true meaning of varying interpretations comes alive when one compares the two film versions of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now have the same basic outline and underlying themes, however the plots, characters, settings, time, purposes, and points of view differ enough to create two extremely different effects and two entirely opposite movies. Both movies depict an insanity: of man in Heart
Visconti's Interpretation Mann's of Death in Venice Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" is a very complex novella. To put it on screen, a director has to pick the most important (or easiest to portray) elements from the mythological, psychological and philosophical lines of the story. The plot would remain largely intact. I am most interested in the story of Aschenbach's homosexuality, so I would be concerned with the strange-looking men, Aschenbach's dreams, and the parallel between the denial
Oliver Parkers film interpretation of Shakespeare's Othello uses cinematic techniques to express to the audience two major themes present in the original play. Appearance verses reality and racial discrimination are both significant themes that Parker focuses on throughout the film. Through the use of camera angles, language, tone, symbols, costuming and voice-over, Parker conveys clarity of the themes for the audience to interpret. Appearance verses reality of deception is a strong theme present
story has been shared worldwide, and with this wide-ranging audience comes a wide-spectrum of varying opinions concerning McCandless. Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Sean Penn presents his own take on the life of Christopher McCandless in his 2007 film adaptation of Into The Wild. Although it may have been a daunting task to undertake, the process of retelling the life of McCandless and projecting
Biblical and Classical Interpretations of the Witches of The Scarlet Letter The theme of witchcraft is woven into the fabric of The Scarlet Letter. The introductory "Custom-House" chapter includes an appeal by the author to remove any witches' curses on his family. Once he takes us back to the Boston of the 1640's, he frequently hints about the cohorts of the "Black Man" who meet in the woods beyond the town. But if the reader understands the classical meaning of the word witchcraft such as
A Freudian Interpretation of Candide Voltaire’s Candide is a humorous work depicting the misadventures of a German man who has fallen from pseudo-nobility and is forced to roam the world in search for his love and his identity. In his adventures, he encounters massive fits of violence, both inflicted by himself onto others, and by those around him. This huge amount of violent behavior brings about startling questions about morality and justice in Voltaire’s time. It becomes apparent that Candide
Constructivism: A Matter of Interpretation The theory of constructivism rests on the notion that there is an innate human drive to make sense of the world. Instead of absorbing or passively receiving objective knowledge that is "out there," learners actively construct knowledge by integrating new information and experiences into what they have previously come to understand, revising and reinterpreting old knowledge in order to reconcile it with the new (Billett 1996). The cognitive structures
meanings. The Tasks and Various Interpretations For each learning paper, Marielle was given eight different ways to interpret “The Divine Image,” by William Blake. Learning paper 1 asked her to read the poem out loud, write down any ideas that came to mind, then write a summary of what the poem was about. She familiarized herself with the poem when she asked questions such as “Do these words contradict each other?” and “Who is they?” This was her interpretation: I interpret this songs to be
An Interpretation of E.E. Cummings' Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town E.E. Cummings (1894-1962) is an American Poet whose works are some of the harder ones to understand. That's what Cummings is known for, his typography, language, punctuation, and his use of capital letters to give words special meanings. It has been stated that he has his own language known as Cummingsian. Cummings has done a lot of experimentation with language along with other poets during the Modernist era. Not only
case for the apparently immoral position”, how he found dramatic monologues the best form to do so, and how he went about it. It keeps going for a couple more pages on things which I will not go into because they have little relevance to any interpretation of “My Last Duchess”. The article as it pertained to my poem was fine; I wish I could have found one which went into more depth as opposed to just discussing immoral characters and our empathy for them. I didn’t particularly care for the lawyerly
was possible and would have been a murder if he connected. In terms of the law it can be further simplified to focus on fault and conduct. All this brings into account the principle of causation. Causation has its origin in a norm; man’s interpretation of nature has a normative juristic character, and has its beginnings in 19th century (Kelsen47). And from that we add to its relation to