Compare and contrast Macbeth‚ Macduff‚ and Banquo. How are they alike? How are they different? Is it possible to argue that Macbeth is the play’s villain and Macduff or Banquo its hero? Is the matter more complicated than that? Macbeth is the “bravest” soldier‚ very noble‚ courageous. He is also the honorable Thane of Glamis‚ but he is not a virtuous one. Macduff is very loyal Scottish nobleman‚ courageous and is also a Thane of a city. Banquo is a brave‚ courageous noble general who like Macbeth
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Iago’s character. Was he a ‘skillful villain’? Or perhaps he was a ‘mysterious creature of unlimited cynicism’? Or was he simply a ‘wronged man’? More sinned against than sinning? What is your view of this complex character and how would a contemporary Shakespearean audience have responded to him? In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’‚ the reader is introduced to the character Iago. There are many different interpretations of his character‚ was he a ‘skillful villain’? Or was he a ‘mysterious creature of
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Traditional criticism has tended to view Goneril and Regan as villains‚ a view which modern feminine criticism has tended to challenge. How do you respond to their characters and roles? King Lear is a tragedy written by the famous playwright William Shakespeare around the years 1603- 1606. In Shakespeare’s time it was believed that‚ as stated by Helene Cixous in ‘Sorties’ that either a woman is passive‚ or she doesn’t exist. His characters Goneril and Regan go against this belief as they are the
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the villain of Wuthering Heights. Explain this statement fully. In the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte‚ the heroic and villainous qualities play a significant role in understanding the character Heatcliff. Heatcliff’s passion‚ his mysterious origins and his contrast between hatred and love helps the reader understand the character Heatcliff. As a hero he displayed his true and endless love for Catherine. But the personality that Heatcliff develops as an adult of super-human villain due to
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Gothic hero-villain‚ Heathcliff is a mysterious figure who destroys the beautiful woman he pursues and who usurps inheritances‚ and with typical Gothic excess he batters his head against a tree. There is the hint of necrophilia in Heathcliff’s viewings of Catherine’s corpse and his plans to be buried next to her and a hint of incest in their being raised as brother and sister or‚ as a few critics have suggested‚ in Heathcliff’s being Catherine’s illegitimate half-brother. Heathcliff as a Monster/Villain
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traditional idea of a hero‚ even though he retains his heroic virtues. However‚ the original idea has slightly changed over time. Therefore‚ in the Victorian literature‚ this type of hero often either loses his Byronic features or becomes almost a villain. Hence‚ I am going to deal with those analyses that I find relevant in relation to one of the most interesting phenomena in literature and modern culture that still keeps holding peoples’ attention. Within the next passages‚ I ’m going to deal closely
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more significantly seen through the actions of our main protagonist‚ Heathcliff. Maybe one the darkest character in all of English literature‚ Heathcliff is indisputably brutal‚ cruel‚ malicious and outright ruthless. From the onset of his arrival at Wuthering Heights he begins to show spitefulness as he is seen blackmailing his older brother‚ Hindley‚ into giving him his desired horse. Also the description given of Heathcliff as a child describes him with dark features which could indicate what
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his traumatic experience at Wuthering Heights‚ and—as he writes in his diary—spends four weeks in misery. Heathcliff pays him a visit‚ and afterward Lockwood summons Nelly Dean and demands to know the rest of her story. How did Heathcliff‚ the oppressed and reviled outcast‚ make his fortune and acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange? Nelly says that she does not know how Heathcliff spent the three years that he was away and that it was at this time that he apparently acquired his wealth
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influence Catherine’s decision to marry Edgar so that she will be “the greatest woman of the neighborhood”. Heathcliff is the product of his environment. The residents of Wuthering Heights are that of the working class‚ while those of Thrushcross Grange were higher on the social ladder. The residents of Wuthering Heights aspire to be on the same level as the Linton’s. This is evident when Heathcliff and Catherine peek through their window. Wuthering Heights is always in a state of storminess and its
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was the attitude of Victorians towards sex‚ love‚ and marriage? It is ironic that Catherine chooses to marry Edgar based on his social status and money when she really wants to marry Heathcliff. In Nelly’s words‚ she begins "to adopt a double character" ...‚ acting one way with the Linton’s‚ another with Heathcliff she wants to be respectable in society. She will marry Edgar because he is rich and handsome and because he loves her‚ not because she loves him. Q.D. Leavis believes Brontë chose in order
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