What is the role of apparitions in Macbeth? Throughout the play, Macbeth sees various apparitions, each at an important point in his story. The apparitions can be perceived as a visual manifestation of his declining mentality. When Macbeth feels most guilty and remorseful of his actions, he hallucinates, and these visions symbolize his compunction. When…
Ghost: “The serpent that did sting thy father’s life/ Now wears his crown.” (1.5.776-77) The fact that Claudius killed the King by pouring poison into his ear while he was asleep was revealed to Hamlet in the very first Act of the play. The only ones who initially know of this are Hamlet and the…
The “to be or not to be” soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1 is significant in showing Hamlet’s tragic flaw; his inability to decide and inability to take action. The main purpose of this soliloquy is to establish Hamlet as a characteristically reflective, analytic, and moral character which leads to his tragic fall. In this…
Hamlet and Ophelia’s relationship is very complicated, and many critics have questioned whether Hamlet genuinely loved Ophelia. Hamlet genuinely loved her before his father’s death, and this is shown by the love letters they have from before. However, after Hamlet’s father’s death, he develops trust issues and resentment especially towards women after his mother’s haste…
Shakespeare presents corruption as the cause of Denmark’s decay. Claudius’ corruption acts as the poison that leads to Denmark’s decay of stability and security. Likewise, Hamlet corrupting his own morals causes his own mental decay as well as the decomposition of the State of Denmark as his insistence of following his revenge is at the…
King Lear is often viewed as one of Shakespeare’s more complex, enigmatic plays, with a well-defined and multifaceted titular protagonist, one who is steadily developed throughout the course of the narrative. As the story progresses, Lear is placed under constant, immense emotional and psychological stress as the situations and people around him change, and he,…
In Shakespeare’s Henry V, Shakespeare gave Henry the role of a war hero while in history Henry was a great king. Shakespeare gives amazing qualities to his characters; he gave Henry, an ordinary king, the quality of a responsible leader. He also made the king a deeply religious hero. With all the qualities given to…
It can be justified that the murder of Desdemona was her own fault, but there were also some other aspects like circumstances, vengeful malice of Iago, fate, free nature of Desdemona, lack of intermingling love between couple, Desdemona’s ambivalence tongue in depicting the character of Cassio, and Othello’s limited experience and inability in other spheres…
During 1591 and 1595, William Shakespeare wrote the play “Romeo and Juliet” set in thirteenth-century Verona. As one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays out of thirty-eight, it tells of the tragedy of two star-crossed lovers who meet and fall in love. However, as pure as their love is, in the end, everything goes wrong because…
Act 5 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, acting out washing her hands Lady Macbeth: This is the moment we see all of the fears and conscience finally catch up to Lady Macbeth. The moment that she finds out about the murder of Macduff’s wife and children, and that of Banquo,…
Act 4 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Macbeth visits the Witches and is given three new prophecies: 1) to beware of Macduff; 2) that no man who is born of woman can harm Macbeth; 3) he is safe until Burnham Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. Hecate is the goddess of the witches and…
Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1: Banquo thinks about the prophecy when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enter to invite him to the banquet that night. He goes riding with his son, Fleance and Macbeth thinks about his fear of Banquo. Some men arrive whom Macbeth sends off to murder Banquo. Banquo’s suspicion rises…
Act 2 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Macbeth hallucinates, seeing a dagger in front of him. Banquo and Macbeth grow more fearful and suspicious of each other. Macbeth goes as far as to test Banquo’s trust in the statement ‘If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis, it shall make honor for…
Act 1 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1: Three Witches get together and start plotting. There are 3 witches. I learned that they’re somehow related to darkness from the introduction mentioning thunder, lightning etc. Evil and Darkness Scene 2: Duncan hears that Macbeth and Banquo have won them the…
In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era play, Macbeth, the paradox of “fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Shakespeare, 1.1.12) is a recurring theme that eventually leads to the downfall of the protagonist, Macbeth. He, who is the thane of Glamis, is faced with a difficult choice; killing Duncan in order to become king or, let himself…
Titles influenced by Shakespeare. There are a number of books, novels and collections whose titles were directly taken from some of Shakespeare’s lines from his plays or poems. Islam (2010), a Bangladeshi author, wrote an article about works titles by being influenced by Shakespeare. He has identified some writers like Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Somerset…
Act 1 What did Lear decide to do? He decided to give the country to his three daughters. Why does Lear ask how much his daughters love him? In order to decide how to share the country between them. What will happen when he gives them the country? His daughters will rule instead of him.…
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is a tragedy that sets forth in Rome around 44 B.C. As all Shakespearean tragedies, Julius Caesar includes a tragic hero whose predetermined fate and hamartia bring about his downfall and in doing so, bring catharsis and poetic justice to the reader. In this tragedy, the tragic hero is Marcus…
As most Shakespearean tragedies, “Macbeth” is the story about a tragic hero whose desires bring about dismal self-destruction as well as recognition from the reader’s part. For the most part, “Macbeth” can be considered about ambition and how power corrupts all, yet looking more in detail, the play is about heinous actions and the guilt…
Shakespeare’s original play, Romeo and Juliet and Luhrmann’s appropriated version, both investigate different types of conflict. The two texts are set in completely contrasting social and historical contexts of Elizabethan England to Southern California in Verona Beach. Despite the contrast of the two settings, both texts explore the external conflict which stemmed from the family…