Essays on Plays

1920

The Society in ‘as You Like It’ Ends in Heteronormativity

3 pages / 1345 words

From the viewpoint of our world today, Shakespeare’s era seems about as conservatively-minded as a society could get. Shakespeare completely demolishes this notion, with his progressive suggestions of a normalcy in homosexuality and transgenderism in his comedy, As You Like It. He first introduces these...

As You Like It

1921

"As You Like It" and "A Midsummer Night"s Dream": Feminine Homoeroticism

5 pages / 2166 words

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, feminine homoeroticism emerges as an interplay of passive and aggressive opposition. Women take the sphere of romantic love — one sphere to which they have access in the midst of an oppressive patriarchal order...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream As You Like It William Shakespeare

1922

The Depiction of Race in Branagh’s Adaptation of ‘as You Like It’

2 pages / 822 words

“In the latter part of the 19th century, Japan opened up for trade with the West. Merchant adventurers arrived from all over the world, many of them English. Some traded in silk and rice and lived in enclaves around the ‘treaty ports.’ They brought their...

As You Like It

1923

Celebrating Women and Castigating Men in a Midsummer Night's Dream and as You Like It

4 pages / 1992 words

William Shakespeare is an author who is known best for his tragedies, such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar: plays in which the heroes lose. However, Shakespeare also wrote comedies, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and As You...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream As You Like It

1924

The Sorrows of Jaques in Shakespeare’s as You Like It

3 pages / 1464 words

“Cleanse the foul body of th’infected world / If they will patiently receive my medicine” (Shakespeare 304). William Shakespeare addresses an ailment known as melancholy through the character Jaques in As You Like It. In this quote, Jaques blames the outside world for imposing their...

As You Like It

1925

Analysis of The Theme of Love and Deceit in Twelfth Nigh

5 pages / 2342 words

Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies, a comedy does not demand the ‘the degree of concentration and belief’ required by tragedy. As a result, an audience of a play ‘is amusedly aware that it’s all a play, a game that they are sharing with the actors’. FN1...

Twelfth Night William Shakespeare

1926

The Role of Enobarbus in Shakespeare’s "Antony and Cleopatra"

3 pages / 1347 words

Introduction In William Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” the character Enobarbus plays a multifaceted and crucial role. As a trusted follower and close friend of Antony, he serves as a confidant to the protagonist, offering a unique perspective on the unfolding events. Enobarbus also assumes the...

Antony and Cleopatra Character

1927

Love and Power in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

2 pages / 1195 words

The title characters of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra are difficult to fully understand due to their seemingly illogical actions towards one another. At times, they seem to be in direct opposition to each other’s causes, yet still fully and passionately in love with one another....

Antony and Cleopatra

1928

Antony and Cleopatra Act 2 Analysis: Character Development

4 pages / 1716 words

With six of its seven scenes set in the West, Act Two of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ by William Shakespeare largely concerns the politics of Rome. Act Two is important in further developing the characters of Antony, Octavius, Cleopatra and Enobarbus. Within this Act, we find,...

Antony and Cleopatra

1929

Controversial Victory: Does Caesar Realize Complete Triumph

5 pages / 2182 words

By the end of the play, the eponymous, tragic hero Antony has lost the battle of Actium and ultimately kills himself after the defeat. Due to this many would say that Caesar has achieved a complete victory over his rival; however, is it this simple?...

Antony and Cleopatra

1930

Instances Where Stagecraft Has Been Employed in Antony and Cleopatra

2 pages / 1186 words

Shakespeare uses stagecraft in a number of different ways to create dramatic effects in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. Jacobean stages were very simple, not much more than an empty wooden platform thrust into the middle of spectators with no scenery to raise or lower. The sheer...

Antony and Cleopatra

1931

Controversy and Parallelism in Antony and Cleopatra

4 pages / 2119 words

To its original audience, experiencing political change as the new rule of James led to the expansion of the British Empire, Antony and Cleopatra resonates with the “infinite variety” they were experiencing and the vast changeability of the modern world. While the water imagery that...

Antony and Cleopatra

1932

Duty and Desire in Antony and Cleopatra

2 pages / 1060 words

In his play, Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents duty and desire on a metaphorical spectrum through the individual narratives of several characters including Antony, Cleopatra and Pompey. When presenting duty and desire in Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare does so in such a way where duty...

Antony and Cleopatra

1933

The Portrayal of The Relationship Between Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare

6 pages / 3055 words

Introduction The love shared between Antony and Cleopatra serves as the central theme in Shakespeare’s play. Despite their claims of an unparalleled affection, their actions often cast doubt on the sincerity of their emotions, leading the audience to question the authenticity of their love amidst...

Antony and Cleopatra

1934

The Soldiers with Horns

8 pages / 3852 words

Military prowess is a quality attributed to many of Shakespeare’s male characters. Great military men such as Hotspur, Lear, Hal and Julius Caesar share a proclivity for the military arts with Othello and Marc Antony. As a superior dramatist, Shakespeare employs specific literary techniques in...

Antony and Cleopatra

1935

From Calamity to Real Life: Shakespeare’s ‘antony and Cleopatra’ and Samuel Johnson

5 pages / 2191 words

William Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra and Samuel Johnson’s exploration of Shakespeare’s techniques and his verity within theatre in ‘The Plays of William Shakespeare’ both engage the topic of the representation of reality. The play itself follows the destructive nature of the Roman general Antony...

Antony and Cleopatra

1936

Act 3 Scene 11 Analysis: Actium and The New Outlook on Antony

3 pages / 1299 words

The Battle of Actium is one of the more pivotal moments in Antony and Cleopatra. Mark Antony, having lost the battle, undergoes a period of self-reflection and emotional trauma which changes our perception of the character. The analysis of the extract given attempts to discuss...

Antony and Cleopatra

1937

Western Versus Eastern Values in Antony and Cleopatra

1 page / 773 words

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare constructs conflicts between world empire and human passion. The sensual and wasteful opulence of the East, where ‘the the beds are softer’ is juxtaposed to the cold, bare efficiency of the West. Egypt stands for passion, sensuality, and decadence, Rome...

Antony and Cleopatra

1938

The Mutable and Puzzling Nature of Cleopatra as Presented by Shakespeare

2 pages / 941 words

Of Shakespearean representations of women, it is perhaps the inexhaustible character of Cleopatra that is the most elusive of classification, which seems fitting given Antony and Cleopatra’s own defiance of dramatic genre with its tragic, comedic and historical elements. Shakespeare explores the paradoxical and constantly...

Antony and Cleopatra