7) Critic Ben Brantley called the latest production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It ‘exhilarating’.”…
As the result of change, an individual is able to be inspired to go through a personal journey which will assist them in finding themselves rather than influence society to change their perspective, however their experiences can bring a societal shift to the stereotypical beliefs of individuals. Throughout Shakespeare's comedic play As You Like It, love is an ongoing catalyst that allows an individual to inspire ones personal journey. In addition, Gwen Harwood's In the Park allows individuals to gain new experiences as a result of the, arguably, negative change into motherhood. This reflects upon how a personal journey can effectively change the stereotypical beliefs that society hold on parenthood. Evident in both these texts, change has played a crucial role in bringing new experiences to individuals which provide them with opportunities to change their attitudes as well as influence the society to.…
Shakespeare seems to be using Gloucester as a tool to provide more insight into the…
Love is one of the most common elements of Shakespeare=s comedies. In Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare=s most famous comedies, this idea is found throughout the play. Obviously love is not only common in the works of Shakespeare; it is a theme in real life as well. A close examination of Much Ado About Nothing shows that several of the character=s situations are also common in real life. Benedick and Beatrice, two of the main characters, both have very strong feelings and opinions about love.…
William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a pastoral comedy featuring characters who flee to the Forest of Arden in order to take refuge from the societal constraints of city life. The leading female characters, Rosalind and Celia, flee to Arden after Duke Frederick, Celia’s father, banishes Rosalind from the kingdom; like Rosalind’s father, Duke Senior, Rosalind is condemned to live in banishment. Rosalind and Celia decide to disguise themselves as Ganymede and Aliena, a gentleman and a feeble woman, concealing their true gender and class identities. Jean Howard, a literary critic, indicates that female crossdressing threatens the sex-gender system as well as the social order; she views crossdressing as a symptom of an unstable society and contends…
One of the fundamental concepts of belonging is that to another person through the bond of love or friendship. It is a relationship that emerges from the seed of acceptance, understanding and respect, and leads to the most fulfilling opportunity for belonging. In Shakespeare’s As You Like It, love is the key aspect of belonging, mainly through the characters of Rosalind and Orlando. Through Shakespeare’s use of dialogue and imagery, we are able to witness the level of harmony and acceptance between the lovers. Rosalind’s dialogue to Celia “my affection has an unknown bottom, like the Bay of Portugal” shows her extensive infatuation with Orlando and how she believes she truly belongs with him. Orlando also shows infatuating signs of passion towards Rosalind. We see in Act 3, Scene 2 where he hangs his love poems to Rosalind on trees and praises her immensely. The imagery within these scenes demonstrate to what extent a man is willing to go to for the love of another person to obtain the subsequent level of emotional connection and belonging. Orlando’s dialogue “the fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she” conveys his love and sense of compassion towards Rosalind; and how he wishes to belong by her side.…
The most influential writer in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glover in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590, he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical acclaim quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603) and James I (ruled 1603–1625), and he was a favorite of both monarchs. Indeed, James granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing upon its members the title of King’s Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. At the time of Shakespeare’s death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless.…
Shakespeare makes the question tricky by placing it at the centre of Much Ado About Nothing, in a world that depicts a glossy and sophisticated society that accepts everything by how things look and sound rather than how they actually are. The story follows two couples of lovers who must overcome a variety of difficulties and differences in order to discover and reveal their true feelings for each other. Filled with a variety of quirky characters, plot twists, quarrels and quaint situations Much Ado About Nothing is often considered to be one of William Shakespeare's funniest and most sophisticated…
King Lear is not the only one of Shakespeare's plays to contain a comical scapegoat; in the Merchant of Venice, Gobbo is used to bring comedy and irony to an otherwise serious play, although his supposedly comical exploitation of his father's blindness in the first act may also prepare us for the theme of cruelty which is evident in the play. We may further suggest that the fool's surreal and absurd comments in King Lear ("thy bor'st thine ass on thine back o'er the dirt") imply the disorder within the hierarchy as a whole. However, as Touchstone in As You Like It is used as a comedic device by Shakespeare, so the fool is sometimes used for comic effect, employing the Elizabethan/Jacobean euphemistic "thing" as a synonym for penis. The fool in King Lear is an example of Shakespeare using the fool as a voice to bridge the gap between the audience and the stage. The "all-licensed fool" makes many of his quips at the expense of the king. Due to his role…
William Shakespeare was noted for his marvellous works in making plays such as Much Ado about Nothing and Romeo and Juliet. It is these two plays that will be analysed, comparing the love scenes, and showing how women, love, power and marriage in the time of Shakespeare, as his plays have a reflection on some aspects of the culture at his time.…
In the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare, shakespeare develops characterization for Rosalind in Act 4, Scene 1. He develops characterization by his word choices. Rosalind is the daughter of the banished Duke Senior. She stayed with his uncle, Duke Fredrick, and was also banished. Rosalind and Celia made an escape with Touchstone to find the Forest of Arden to find Rosalind's banished father. Rosalind is characterized as curious, self-opinionated and forgiving. In this essay you will learn of reasons why Rosalind is characterized as curious, self-opinionated, and forgiving.…
The ideas of love and family are popular in literature and often express the writer's own feelings on them. Shakespeare is a famous playwright who would often cover these subjects. It is often debated how Shakespeare viewed these ideas because of some of his contradicting works. However in his works, Shakespeare often has lovers put in struggle and families that do not seem to care. Shakespeare takes a negative outlook on how family much family cares for and knows about each other, and also how loves drives people to do crazy things, but everyone has a match.…
This Shakespearean classic tells the tale of a young couple who fall deeply in love finding themselves separated from their happily ever after by their family’s century long conflict. Romeo and Juliet meet and immediately fall in love, their relationship progressing rapidly and living under fear of their family’s reactions they make panicky, over-stressed decisions and find themselves digging their grave deeper and deeper. Shakespeare’s inclusion of puns makes the play feel a bit lighter at times adding much needed humor to this tragedy while his use of metaphors makes amplifies the romance and tension of the play. Setting the play in sixteenth-century Verona, Italy added to the drama and exotic nature of the play, showing royalty, foreign laws and customs.…
Shakespeare in King Lear articulately portrays an exploration of personal identity and universal suffering. Throughout this play, characters are forced to redefine and rediscover themselves through uses of disguise and status. Therefore, according to Shakespeare, identity is changeable and fragile, and its concept can be changed through acting. Shakespeare has employed character transformation in most of his works. In As You Like It, Rosalind and Celia are forced to disguise themselves as lower class citizens to find truth, innocence, and love. In Measure for Measure, the Duke disguises himself to reveal the innocence of Claudio and the deceit of Lord Angelo. However, the use of disguise in King Lear shows a great significance in class distinction and portrays a positive light on lower class.…
William Shakespeare’s “Othello” I feel is one of the most interesting plays Shakespeare wrote. It’s hard to put down a play because you don’t know what happens next. What I think made this play great was that it has a villain behind the motive, which makes the play more interesting for me. “Othello” takes you on an adventure that makes you aware of whom you can and cannot trust; and who are your true friends. You can’t always believe what you hear.…