Essays on Plays

1426

Mercutio Character's Portrayal in Two Film Adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

3 pages / 1270 words

Many film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of “star-crossed lovers” have been made, both in the original setting and more modern ones (Shakespeare Prologue. 6). Two movies that exemplify this are Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1997)....

Film Analysis Romeo and Juliet

1427

Critical Response to a Modern Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet

2 pages / 768 words

Ludicrous car chases, intense hot pink hair and a world where Prince songs are sung as hymns; is this what Shakespeare wanted when he wrote Romeo and Juliet over 400 years ago? Baz Luhrmann’s film adaption of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, is a kaleidoscopic, punk version of...

Film Analysis Romeo and Juliet

1428

The Concepts of Acting and Ruling in Hamlet and Henry Iv

6 pages / 2634 words

Within Hamlet and 1 Henry the Fourth are examples of Shakespeare including the trade of acting within the text as a central theme. Hamlet certainly shows us his skill as an actor throughout the play, but there is a more blatant preference to acting in...

Acting Hamlet Henry IV

1429

Henry Iv and as You Like It: The Relationship Between Older and Younger Males

5 pages / 2183 words

Compare the relations between older and younger men in the following extracts; pay close attention to the use of dramatic language and the opportunities offered by the text for different emphases in production: 1 Henry IV, 2.4.109-62 (Bevington ed., pp. 182-6) and As You Like...

As You Like It Henry IV

1430

King Lear’s Fool and Don Quixote’s Squire: Comparative Study

3 pages / 1251 words

The first time the Fool enters in Shakespeare’s King Lear he immediately offers Kent his coxcomb, or jester’s hat. Lear asks the Fool “My pretty knave, how dost thou?” (1.4.98) This initial action and inquiry of the Fool is representative of the relationship between the...

Don Quixote King Lear

1431

Oedipus The King as an Example of The Perfect Aristotelian Tragedy

3 pages / 1459 words

Aristotle’s passage Poetics (350 BC) was written the century after the composition of Sophocles Oedipus the King (428 BC). Despite their chronological separation, the two texts relate in incisive ways. In particular, Aristotle used Oedipus as the foundation for his explanation theory. For Aristotle, a...

Oedipus Rex Sophocles

1432

Interpretation of Oedipus The King Through Aristotelian, Sophoclean, and Freudian Perspectives

2 pages / 1014 words

Considered by many as the greatest of classic Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King (“Oedipus Tyrannus”) by Sophocles  is set in the remoteness of ancient Greece and has come down to us in the form of a tragic myth allegedly inspired by true events and actual...

Oedipus Rex Sophocles

1433

Analysis of King Lear in Terms of Aristotelian Tragedy

5 pages / 2092 words

According to Aristotle in his book Poetics, the cathartic effects of a tragedy are its purpose, which is mediated through its form. An examination of Shakespeare’s King Lear in relation to the Aristotelian elements of tragedy – focusing on his compliance with Plot and inversion...

Aristotle King Lear

1434

The Artist as Interpreter in The Play a Midsummer Night's Dream

5 pages / 2241 words

When James Joyce was a teenager, a friend asked him if he had ever been in love. He answered, “How would I write the most perfect love songs of our time if I were in love – A poet must always write about a past...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1435

Antigone and a Midsummer Night’s Dream: Comparison of Juxtaposing Antagonists

4 pages / 1612 words

The success of the narrative arc of both Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone and Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream heavily rely on character interactions with the natural world. In each play respectively, the protagonists must purpose and negotiate elements of nature to achieve their particular objective....

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Antigone Sophocles

1436

Female and Male Friendship and Sexuality

4 pages / 1740 words

In his comedies, Shakespeare critically examines the nature of female and male friendships as they relate to sexual desire. Specifically, Shakespeare contrasts the strong, faithful bonds of female sisterhood with the chaotic, contentious character of male rivalries. Without men, the women of Shakespeare’s comedies are...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1437

The Dualistic Nature of The Supernatural in a Midsummer Night's Dream

5 pages / 2467 words

As critic Ronald Miller so eloquently declared, “The complex and subtle intellectuality of Shakespeare’s comic art was never better illustrated than by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and, in particular, by Shakespeare’s employment of the fairies in that play” (Miller 486). It may be added that...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1438

The Phases of Comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

2 pages / 813 words

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a journey through the three phases of a Shakespearean festive comedy. The audience is taken from unhappiness to confusion to finally reunion. Anything is possible in this story and the reader must engage in verisimilitude in order to...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1439

Hamlet and a Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Themes of Uncertainty and Doubt

4 pages / 1778 words

In the tragedy Hamlet and the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare presents two plays that are very different in context but quite similar in foundation. Both plays examine reality throughout the narrative structure. In Hamlet, reality is consistently in question because of the pervasive...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Hamlet William Shakespeare

1440

The Means of Shakespeare’s Theater Representation

3 pages / 1319 words

Theatre began as a presentation of stories and ideas, mostly revolving around festival times in the calendar of the church year. This concept was carried on in Shakespeare’s times and is exemplified in his plays Twelfth Night, or What You Will and A Midsummer Night’s...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Twelfth Night William Shakespeare

1441

Exploration of The Nature of Love in a Midsummer Night's Dream

3 pages / 1584 words

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of an imagination all compact” (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 7-8). This quote by Theseus encompasses the notion of love as being an illusion, a product of the imagination. Love is equated with lunacy and poetry, both...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1442

Bottom and Titania: The Unlikely Copule in a Midsummer Night's Dream

4 pages / 1685 words

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the love juice is a liquid so potent that no being can resist its effects, not even the fairies, who wield a considerable amount of power over nature. This love juice can be seen as a device that Shakespeare uses...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream William Shakespeare

1443

The Independence of Helena's Character in a Midsummer Night's Dream

2 pages / 1026 words

In William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia seems to be the strong woman, while Helena is seen as weak and easily dominated. In Gohlke’s article, for example, she describes the “exaggerated submission of Helena to Demetrius” (151), thereby voicing an opinion that is common throughout...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Character William Shakespeare

1444

The Significant Role of Nick Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

3 pages / 1499 words

A Midnight Summer’s Dream is exceptional in that it features more than just one story unfolding at once. Although the quartet of lovers and the fairy world is often the focus of the play, the rude mechanicals and their attempts to produce a play of...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Character William Shakespeare