Overall, Shakespeare has presented love as a complex theme throughout Act 1 by consistently showing how love can either end in happiness or hurt. Many of the character throughout the play seem to view love as a curse placed onto people and as something that causes indescribable pain; whereas others view love as something that brings them happiness and joy. These two ideas greatly contrast each other exemplifying how complex love really is. Furthermore, the play as a whole shows how love cannot jump over every hurdle placed in front of it and when it fails to make it over that hurdle the characters feel great
At face value this is incredibly interesting but due to Shakespeare’s wonderful presentation of thought-provoking and memorable symbolism, it is striking. There are many vivid examples of this scattered throughout the play but my favourite is when Lear observes “We are not ourselves when nature being oppressed commands the mind to suffer with the body.” This highlights how we can survive physical suffering, and we can survive emotional suffering but we cannot cope with both simultaneously. When both occur it causes severe emotional turmoil and man to breakdown. This incredibly memorable and thought-provoking observation is incredible as it explores the fragility of man in such an interesting way. Preceded by Lear shouting “Hysterica Passio!
The play therapeutically elucidates the mischief that may theoretically derive from a life of solemnity and thoughtlessness. The play appears to be a simplistic comedy, and indeed it may be, featuring the typical characters and conventions expected. Moreover, Twelfth Night follows the traditional structure and form of a comedy with its pleasant resolution. In contrast, Malvolio assures the audience that the complexity of the play is much greater then what first meets the eye. It promises spectators that the theme of hierarchy is purposefully intertwined in the plot to elevate knowledge of the disturbing reminder of
Here the audience not only is able to directly connect to a character, but are also given additional information that can be connected to the plot. Soliloquies are a useful tool that the audience utilizes to connect a character’s inner most thoughts and emotions to the plot of the story. In Act one, Scene two of Hamlet, the very first passionate soliloquy appears: “o that this too too solid flesh would melt […]”. This soliloquy offers a prominent distinction to the controlled and false speech that Hamlet is required to exchange with Claudius and his court. This soliloquy has great significance, because it reveals Hamlet’s profound downheartedness and the reason for his despair.
The definition is concise, but probably not very clear. It’s not easy to define what “absolute perfection” is, especially because of the free will. The passion between Romeo and Juliet is misinterpreted by the two young lovers as love. And all the readers in all these centuries have been interpreting a dramatic idea of love not based on reality but on impulsive feelings as “The ideal Love” . Romeo’s longing for ideal love is the primary driving force behind most of his actions, that reveal themselves as impulsive and stupid.
However, in his ability to do so, he creates for himself an eternal loneliness. Shakespeare’s use of disguise throughout, masks a multitude of underlying problems, some of which remain unresolved even at the play’s end. Cross dressing was a favoured plot device used by Shakespeare within his comedies, as it successfully creates humour for the audience, due to the confusion and uncertainty the interwoven plots create. It features in The Merchant of Venice( Portia and Jessica) and As You Like It (Rosalind), along with Twelfth Night. However, Shakespeare has explored the true complications of disguise, despite the fact that at its surface it acts as a standard comedic tone.
The use of comedy was an effective tool to pique the interest of the viewers. As a result of this need to capture and keep the interest of a disorderly audience, the comedy in Molière’s plays tends to be highly dramatic and can seem at times, in a modern context, over the top. However, the dramatic nature of comedy serves a specific function. One of Molière’s main objectives as playwright was to analyse and often criticise the society in which he lived in. Theatre, for Molière, was a vehicle which allowed him to provide a social commentary on issues of the time and to highlight the faults of
In his play Antigone, the author, Sophocles, uses irony to illustrate the power of women versus men and to portray the true nature of pride. Sophocles conveys how damaging and destructive being prideful can be, as in his play it leads to complete familial destruction, but also how this pride is caused by the disobedience and defiance of others, as Antigone disobeys Creon, and he does this through the use of irony, leading the viewer to examine his own life in an attempt to rectify any possible ironic situations that could lead to the same, but minimized, consequences as those found in Antigone. In the play’s opening Antigone is seen grieving over Creon 's law, but it is this prideful action that Creon took that will cause the unravelling of his world by Antigone: a simple yet confident woman. This law that Creon created was that Antigone’s brother Polyneices, who died fighting against Thebes, is not to be buried but to be left out in the open, while her other brother Eteocles, who died fighting for Thebes, is to be allowed a proper burial. The irony of withholding a proper burial from one brother, and not the other, for political reasons, leads to Antigone’s defiance of the law of the King.
William Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night a play known for its numerous humorous parts, satire, love, uncertainty and foolishness lurk the pages, creating a comedic value. The sub plot present in this piece opposes the traits listed above. Malvolio, the character that makes up Shakespeare’s sub plot, is known for his pompous personality. A series of events in Malvolio’s life, relating to women’s and acquaintances, lead those around him to plan a number of tricks to fool him. The debate surrounding Malvolio’s role in the comedy, has been up for debate for quite some time.
Shakespeare maintains this harrowing perspective for the first three acts, until the end of the third, which features the beginning of few comic moments, perhaps to distract the readers from the insensitive acts and dismal atmosphere that began the play. Orsino and Olivia in his festive comedy, Twelfth Night, demonstrate the norm for Shakespeare’s comedies; where experiences reveal the true personalities of characters; although the reader is already aware of this, and the lack of self-knowledge, as well as the eventual exposure, is humorous and adds to the enjoyment of the play. Evidently, The Winter’s Tale opposes this notion entirely as it becomes clear that the moment of awareness in the play arises with dismay; “the queen, / The sweet 'st, dear 'st creature 's dead, / and vengeance for 't / Not dropp 'd down yet.” (3.2.197-199). In any case, the emphasis in these comedies is on the ridiculousness of the character; yet, unlike the other comedies, the ludicrous behaviour of Leontes results in tragedy, not comedy. Productions of The Winter’s Tale demonstrate how this notion occurs through self-understanding of the play; be it through stage set-up or the portrayal of characters.