Two feuding families; two young lovers; one story of forbidden love. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story which encompasses an essence that defines the story no matter the context. Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet embraces the physical violence, rivalry, death of lovers and reconciliation, thus constructing a movie with the same emotional response intended by the original play. Zeffirelli’s interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet greatly reflects the major changes during the era. The 1960’s was a time of civil unrest, youth rebellion of moral and civil rights and a period in history where authority was questioned.…
Kori S. Hour 1 War is a world all its own, so many see it and so many don’t. This paper takes two people in different wars and in different times. This paper will compare, contrast, and evaluate both of them to see their struggles and choices. This paper will take Shakespeare's Henry V, and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carry.…
William Shakespeare did not become arguably the most famous playwright in the history of the world for coloring inside the lines. In each one of his complex plays, he pushes against the boundaries of social norms. Shakespeare incorporates bold discussions of fleeting love, gender uncertainty, mistaken identity, and ironic comedy into his creative plots during the 1600’s when public discussion on such progressive ideas were rare. In his comedy Twelfth Night, Shakespeare uses dialogue between his three main characters, Viola, Orsino, and Olivia, to express his critique on the strict nature of gender roles during his time. Through his manipulation of his characters’ identities, his placement of women in leadership positions, and his questioning of traditional gender roles, Shakespeare reveals his theme that strict definitions of gender reinforce false stereotypes of both men and women.…
-In the Elizabethan era, it was common for writers to work together or borrow from one another, though some say they stole from each other. - Shakespeare’s Othello is based off of Giraldi Cinthio’s Gli Hecatommithi a collection of stories published in 1565, while Othello was first performed in 1604. -The two stories have the exact same plot but Shakespeare compresses the time for the purpose of the play and also adds in more supporting characters.…
The status of women and gender roles during the place and time of these plays affected the characterizations of these characters. Women were treated like objects, looks determined whether or not someone was desirable and males were portrayed as more dominant. During this time, women…
Love and War One might ask what is love without war, but the answer will always be the same, there is no such thing. Love and war are two factors in life that are simply always together and are inextricable. That being said, the original play of Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example of love and war showcasing it throughout. However, love and war have also shown up in more recent situations, such as in the book The 5th wave . With the characters, Cassie and Evan also fall in love, but having their whole world being surrounded by war.…
Critic Roland Barthes once said, “Literature is a question minus the answer.” In William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, the question that is asked is “what impact does women resisting patriarchy have on their relationships?” Shakespeare’s treatment of this question reveals that women have the potential to illuminate the benefits of resisting patriarchy. Adriana is the wife to Antipholus of Ephesus.…
Feminism in Fifth Business and Hamlet The current society has various perspectives of women both negative and positive. Moreover, literature exemplifies the different role of women comparing the roles of ancient and modern women. These comparisons have one thing in common, and that is the multifaceted roles of women in the ancient and modern society. This comparison is evident in two works of literature centuries apart; Fifth Business by Robert Davies and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.…
The use of gender roles in the play mirror how men and women acted towards each other during Shakespeare’s…
Twelfth Night was written near the end of Queen Elizabeth 's reign in England. The notion of a strong female, such as Elizabeth, choosing to lead a country without the help of a man began to provoke people to consider what truly a woman’s role was (Callaghan, 86). For the most part, up until this time literature strongly focused on powerful male leads that expressed dominance and intelligence greatly surpassing the minor female characters in literature (Callaghan, 32). Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night strongly questions whether men are superior to women or society has simply forced women into the background, ignoring women 's ability to rival men 's talents and rationale. Feminism in Twelfth Night detects negative attitudes towards women of the…
Shakespeare wants to implement many aspects within gender role’s issue to influence the pros and cons of overcoming the limitation that a particular gender role imposes on a male or a female individual. More importantly, the misappropriation of gender role can affects an individual’s morality and…
The role of women in the Renaissance period is dramatically portrayed in the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Women of this time period had little power or purpose in society. Many women, those from richer households, stood as an ornamental object to her husband and oversaw her children being raised by the family’s nannie. In the play, Lady Capulet is a stereotypical woman because she is more of a silhouette than a person of substance.…
Shakespeare expresses his view of women and power while explaining how…
Consequently, women in Shakespeare’s plays were often depicted as helpless and confined characters left wishing they could do something, but not able to follow through with their desires. This ultimately reinforced the unequal distribution of power to men because women had to rely on men to accomplish anything of…
Not many of Shakespeare’s plays contain a female character in the lead role position. Therefore, when female characters have a prominent role in plays it is something to pay attention to. For instance, in Measure for Measure, Isabella’s character serves to break down the patriarchy by using their own constructs to emphasize how outrageous their ideas are. Isabella does this by falling into one of the three categories that the patriarchy says women belong to. In this society, women are either maid, widow, or wife and problems occur when women do not fall into one of the three defined categories.…