Play Essays

Frailty is defined as being fragile, foible, and having a moral weakness (Oxford Dictionary). At one point during the play Hamlet, Hamlet states, “Frailty, thy name is women” (i.ii.146), generalizing that all women are frail. During the period Hamlet was written, the society was patriarchal, therefore, the women were very …

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, he explored many different issues, such as ambitions and appearance and reality. Many clever techniques were used to present these themes, for example contrast imagery and the use of characters. For presenting the theme ambition, Shakespeare used contrast in the character Macbeth. At …

“Literature opens a dark window on the soul, revealing more about what is bad in human nature than what is good.” This quote means that literature will show all sides to a person not just their good side. It will show how evil a person maybe even though they may …

The early scenes of “Othello” establish Iago’s character and allow the audience to learn of his nature. He plays two different people, the disguise of the trusty and loyal ensign and the one whom hides behind this disguise. Act One, Scene One is the most important because it foreshadows the …

In the play “Hamlet,” Shakespeare’s characters are confronted with the timeless question: How can one determine what is actually true from what only seems to be true? Throughout the play, the theme of appearance versus reality is constant. This theme is played out from the beginning, with Claudius’ attempt to …

One of the underlying themes in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear is the concept of the generation gap. This gap is mainly illustrated between the family. The older generation is Lear himself, and the younger generation consists of his daughters Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. In the second plot of the play, …

We as readers have too often become one-sided on a particular topic and failed to consider other possibilities. Even today, over fifty years after Arthur Miller’s essay Tragedy and The Common Man; we still associate tragedy with the highborn and their plights. However, Arthur Miller stimulates our minds by explaining …

Never willing to accept defeat before her husband does, Linda Loman deals with her family on a daily basis. She has a husband, Willy who is a salesman searching to achieve the American dream both for himself and his sons, whom he quarrels with as much as he loves them. …

Both Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham are presented as two very disturbed characters – Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” and Miss Havisham in the poem Havisham by carol Ann Duffy. Both women in each of the texts that I have analysed come across as being disturbed, Being disturbed in …

Liberal humanism is a traditional way of doing English. We have all been instilled and programmed to do English in a traditional way without even realizing it. The values and beliefs which forms English remains hidden in the theory of Liberal humanism. F.R Leavis was a preacher of the traditional …