Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the American musical Hamilton, which displays many different characters and their actions. The one character who’s actions essentially was the cause of the tension between him and the U.S eventually leading to a revolutionary war, was no one other than the great King George III. In the first song “You’ll Be Back” the king sings about his love for the U.S and how they’ll come back to the crown, but he can’t see past his madness and realize his actions and unfair treatment was the cause to the revolutionary war. In the song “I Know Him” King George seems to be still stuck in his old ways and in a great mood believing the U.S will fall apart with its new president since Washington stepped down. In the song “What Comes Next” George III acknowledges that the U.S is now free from him, but he shows his madness by believing the U.S will fail without him.
Good Ol’ Colonialism Rape, murder, and disease; this is how we see the early colonial conquest by England. In the time that The Tempest was written the view on colonialism was quite different. Shakespeare, being very influential on the general population, could have easily made his opinions know and raise positive feelings,in his plays, about controversial actions being made by his beloved Queen and country. Shakespeare shows, in “The Tempest”, that colonialism is not the vile act that destroys native peoples through enslavement, power hungriness, and murder; but rather a necessary step in helping a native peoples who are left behind from society. In the late fifteenth century a young man left his home and family to join a troupe of actors,
Magic has been a predominant theme throughout theatrical history. ‘As a result of the interest and fear of sorcery in Elizabethan England’ , ‘Shakespeare incorporated an abundance of magical elements into his works’ . The Tempest by William Shakespeare shows the presence of this enchanting theme through the powerful magician and right Duke of Milan, Prospero. He and his daughter, Miranda, have been cast away on a remote island for the past twelve years by enemies: Antonio, Sebastien and Alonso. Miranda reveals the conductor of the dramatic tempest to the audience by expressing her despair and begging, “If by your art, my dearest father, you have.
In the Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare has many hidden messages, not to mention many obvious ones. One message in the play is “Foul is fair and, fair is foul” (1.1.12) This quote can be translated out to, bad is good and good is bad. Confusing right? In the play, the main character, Macbeth gets the idea he may become king. The play follows him through his power struggle to the kingship, and it is not a good one.
For the duration of the play, magic takes on many different forms: the Tempest— the shipwreck—, Prospero’s books and the appearance of the characters. Losing his throne and being cast away to an uninhabited island, Prospero wanted to gain a sense of power and control over not only his life, but the lives of others. In addition, he wanted to get revenge on the people who overthrew him. To do so he began using magic, which was his manifestation of power and control, through the knowledge he gained from his books during his “secret studies” and his spirit servant Ariel, who would not have been freed from a tree if it weren’t for Prospero’s magic, and Caliban. Without the power of magic, there would not have been the shipwreck, which was created with the help of Prospero’s magic and was the catalyst for the play.
Niccoolo Machiavelli is an Italian writer born in 1469 and one of the most influencing writers in the history of politics. Machiavelli finished writing his famous book “The Prince” in 1514, however, the book was published in 1532 after his death. Machiavelli wrote the prince as a guide for rulers to maintain and escalate their power, therefore, he was realistic and down to earth and instead of using ideal republics he spoke the truth of the human nature and how to survive the obstacles in order to become a great “prince”. Some people claim that Machiavelli is the devil and his book is evil full of fear and hatred, however, I firmly believe that Machiavelli’s theories are wisely balanced as he did not turn a blind eye on the importance of being loved by the people “the prince should be both feared and loved” (Machiavelli, p.119). Machiavelli addressed that the prince should maintain both fear and love by his people in order to be a great ruler.
The second play is a comedy titles ‘Measure for Measure’, written in 1603. It circles around the fate of Claudio, who is arrested by Lord Angelo, the temporary leader of Vienna, for impregnating his fiancé. Despite being a comedy, Measure for Measure is one of the Shakespeare’s most politically resonant plays. The play was written at a political turning point in England, as the Tudor line had ended and there was a new king James, and like ‘Julius Caesar’, Shakespeare uses a different setting (Vienna) but actually reflects on political changes or concerns in England. The Duke’s character in the play is often understood to represent an oblique comment on the new, unknown King.
“A leader is a dealer in hope.” Even Napoleon referred that leaders are meant to be reassuring. Are all benevolent leaders successful? Niccolo Machiavelli, an economist in the Renaissance, will absolutely say no. His method of keeping immense power by using fear to manipulate citizens has been manifested for a long period of time, since the book The Prince was published. Similarly, his methods are manifested in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar with characters that are attractive and expressive, yet flawed.
Shakespeare does so by implementing these problems into the play. The Tempest is a play where a man named, Prospero, was a former duke of a land. He was exiled to an island because his brother, Antonio, usurped his dukedom. Prospero lives on the island with his daughter, Miranda attempting to reattain his title of duke. There are many causes of social issues, and it is important to view these issues on how they affect others.
Prospero is a god-like figure, using magic and cunning to propel the other characters towards and away from each other. The island becomes almost akin to a chess board in the way that Prospero drives it. Shakespeare uses many different characters to display the change of discovery on a personality, indicating that every discovery is different for each individual depending on their values, experiences and personality. There becomes a stark contrast at the end of the play where Prospero has changed, grown and is rewarded for his forgiveness, whereas his brother Antonio is stripped of his title and