Hamnet Shakespeare

When a person is powerless and tormented, he will take vengeance on his tormentors to have power over them. The Avenger is characterized as powerless and tormented in the beginning of the story, which demonstrates his motivation for vengeance. The Avenger’s eloquent speech emphasizes the suffering he endured, “they persecuted my family, because they hated me. My wife died of a broken heart, my children of starvation.” The Avenger is characterized as a person who was persecuted, and has undergone…

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by Shakespeare, is a comedic play about several parties, taking place just outside of the city of Athens. One of the main parties include Oberon the Fairy King, Titania (his wife), and a puck called Robin Goodfellow. Another group of characters incorporates the lovers Hermia and Lysander, and another man and woman named Demetrius and Helena. The third party, composed of several actors named Bottom, Flute, and Snug, plan to perform the play Pyramus and Thisbe…

In an email conversation with Lee, he chose those three banned plays as dramatic texts for its intense, hard-hitting and vulgar quality. He felt Elangovan’s vision was to ruffle a few feathers - societies’ and the authorities’ - “Also, because Elangovan’s plays evoked such strong reactions, it's inconclusive in nature and he aspires to respond to its dramatic texts” (Lee M.W. 2017). Lee’s performance was staged this year, explored on how as a dance practitioner, these energetic texts can be…

The Evil Temptation In Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1623), the reader learns about the main character Macbeth, who is doomed to face a tragic fate due to his greedy ambition of wanting to become king of Scotland. In the play, he appears to be an overall reprehensible man, however, there were many factors that motivated him to engage in such heinous acts – including murder and regicide to name a few – in order to fulfill his ambition. Although his nefarious deeds may show that he is a terrible human…

“When love is involved no sacrifice is too great” (David Eddings). In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, John Proctor begins as a self-centered man; however, John changes his point of view and in the end, most values his name. This suggests that it is more honorable to die with people knowing the truth rather living with a lie. Arthur Miller’s play opens with John Proctor portrayed as a selfish man, as well as a faulty husband. One day he comes into town after hearing about accusations of…

Love is like a chemical reaction, a rush of dopamine in the human brain. In Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream the psychological lens reveals how, many characters acted out in psychological distress due to a mix of love and dreams which form a potent “magic” or drug that can result in self discovery when love is blind and becomes revealed. Love is like a drug, especially in this tale of lovers. Dreams are a window to the soul and this dream could be a window into the audience's soul…

Hrafnkel’s Saga is an anonymously written Icelandic Family Saga from roughly the late 13th century. The central focus of its plot is a blood feud between a prominent chieftain Hrafnkel and a poorer farmer Thorbjorn’s family, initiated when Hrafnkel kills Thorbjorn’s son, Einar. The passage selected is earlier in the saga and is the first chapter directly related to the blood feud. Lines 1-3 introduce two critical characters of the saga. Einar, the first death of the feud, and Thorbjorn, his…

In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Leonato gives a long monologue in Act 4 Scene 1 after his daughter, Hero, faints from her fiancé’s accusations that she was seen with another man the night before their wedding. The words Shakespeare choses Leonato to say in that moment are telling about how women’s purity, trust of nobility, and honor were treated during the Elizabethan era. One of the first things to note is the way Leonato speaks about Hero recovering. He says, “Do not live, Hero, do…

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another, or empathy can be found while examining the play Legend by Stanisław Wyspiański. The play depicts a story of self loss , family loss, and the loss of a hero. These three forms of loss in combination with the various devices used in the play that are character, dialogue, detail, and perspective all work conjointly to evoke a feeling of empathy in the audience. Each type of loss can be associated to a specific moment in the play, these…

Setting The Scarlet Letter was a very eventful book. The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the 1600’s. The Scarlet Letter is a story about a woman, Hester Prynne, who committed a sin which caused her to have a child. The child’s name was Pearl, she was the biggest influence on the book because she was a living representation of the scarlet letter. The book has many settings from the forest to the scaffold to the brook to Hester’s cottage plus…