First Consul

On August 20th, 2015, Patrick Nabarro, a celebrated review writer, published his ranking of all Shakespeare plays on his personal website. Among all Shakespeare plays, Macbeth is one of the top three, which Nabarro described as: A thick, pungent, uncanny atmosphere hovers over this profoundly wise and timeless essay on the wilful corruption of a man’s soul. The beauty of the play is how it conjures ‘evil’ out of roots so unlikely, so banal (but therein lies the genius), as phantasmic predictions…

Love’s power seems obscure yet humans dwell on this intangible feeling from day to day life. At the heart of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is the idea that loves forces people to perform extreme actions. This is shown from Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. Friar Lawrence's love is also expressed to Romeo through his radical actions. Both the Capulets and Montagues are constantly at each other’s throats while Romeo and Juliet go on a mischievous journey. Romeo and Juliet’s love is…

There is no denying that Shakespeare has presented many themes in his play, Julius Caesar, throughout the course of the plot. In the play there has been many instances where trust and lack thereof has factored in many of the outcomes of the story. Lies, deceit, and distrust has killed many, hurt relationships, and angered people. Those who displayed loyalty and honesty have prevailed against obstacles. In Julius Caesar, the themes of how lying will lead to problems while truthfulness will help…

Harry Berger Jr. interprets conscience as a vital part of self-preservation. Berger notes the ineffectiveness of conscience, which leads to the characters' ignorance of the misdeeds around them (Berger 410). He explains three cases of this idea. The first revolves around the Duke of Clarence, who is commissioned to death. As the murderers come, Clarence's keeper, Sir Brakenbury, remains complicit and "dissociates himself" from the murder (Berger 407). Berger notes earlier in this scene,…

While we do have these characters in The Crucible and 12 Angry Men we also have one character in each play arguing for justice, to stop the execution of innocent people. In 12 Angry Men, we have Juror #8 who changes the other jurors minds slowly, the first change of voting happens when the foreman tallies the votes from the second vote. He says “ Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty. Please. Six guilty. Guilty, Guilty, Guilty. Not guilty. Guilty.” (Rose 26) Juror #8 was able to…

Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers who want to love each other freely, but in the end, it concludes that they both die by committing suicide. Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers who can’t be together because of the families that they live in. Juliet is a Capulet, and Romeo is a Montague. The feelings that Romeo and Juliet had for each other were feelings of true love because they killed themselves because they couldn’t be together, they love each other over their own families, and…

Fate and Free Will Life is like a game of cards. The hand one is dealt is determinism; the way one plays it is free will. In William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Macbeth is told he will be king one day. He then has to decide if he has to make his own fate by killing the king, or let nature take its course. It is Macbeth’s own free will to kill the king, showing that fate could be permitted but it’s one’s free will on how it shall be reached. The problem of fate and free will is also seen in…

In Shakespeare's play Othello and in Tim Blake Nelson’s film O , there were many similar themes shown but in two completely different settings and time periods. One of the major theme in both works was jealousy. In both works, the concept of jealousy is shown within the characters of Iago/Hugo and Othello/Odin and proved the film to be effective throughout. In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy plays a big role. Iago is jealous of Cassio because Cassio received a higher position in the Army than…

Arthur and et al). His multiple murders are great examples of external conflict as well. To cover his own tracks, he kills Duncan’s guards violently and his murder count goes up to three. He goes through the motions of regret after committing the first few murders, which is his internal conflict. He also struggles internally when deciding if he should kill Duncan or not. There are also supernatural elements (another characteristic) such as the witches and Banquo’s…

glorious Roman leaders, was a well known military leader but he was also known for being a gigantic narcissist. So, was he justified in getting involved in the Gallic wars? To understand Caesar’s reasoning behind getting into the war, we must first know what happened in Gaul. Caesar was on a military high in a military low. He had just gotten noticed as a great military leader and he wanted to keep up that reputation. He saw his chance in Gaul. “In 58 , when the Helvetii in…