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Sense Of Power In Shakespeare's 'Education For Leisure'

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Both characters are seeking a sense of power. In ‘Education for Leisure’, when the persona “pour[s] the goldfish down the bog”, this states that the speaker is only compare himself with a household pet, rather than a same sized human, by “pull[ing] the chain” shows he is showing his power over the small creature. The word ‘pulling’ is very unique from others verbs, it visualizes the power of the action vividly. Then he felt “that it is good” which also shows his satisfaction with his power. This phrase, originally from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, telling of God’s creation of the earth and his satisfaction with his work, tells us the persona thinks he is the reflection of God, which shows how much power he desires and seeks. He “squash[ed] a fly against the window”, the word ‘squash’ is a really powerful, violent and vicious word, by compressing the fly into nothing, and again, the persona is trying to tell everyone the great power that he has. Similarly, in “Stealing”, the persona asks himself “the most unusual thing I ever stole?” The question mark …show more content…

In ‘Education for Leisure’, the persona express that “[he has] had enough of being ignored”, this clearly shows the speaker has been ignored for a certain amount of time, in fact, the persona said “a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets”, this use of personification let the speaker display his feeling onto the streets and the word ‘grey’ suggests boring and dull, which is the reflection of persona’s life. The persona thinks he is “a genius, [he] could be anything at all, with half the chance”, the persona might be capable of being anything, but those chances have not been given by the society, which links to the isolation of the speaker from the world. In the end the persona “touches your arm”, the word “your” indicate it’s the reader, what the persona trying to do is he cannot stand this boredom and loneliness anymore, he is asking for your

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