The Merchant of Venice

The Cleaver Acts of a Class: Inducing Shakespeare Starting of as a freshman at Washington State University, personality I had as much interest in English as a sheep would have an interest in being killed. I often found myself dreading having to take an English course because I hate grammar and worrying about where a semi-colon goes or if I should just put a period instead. I wondered If there was any other class I could take to count as my English credit, and that is how I landed on English 205…

An Irrevocable Impact In the novel Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison stresses the impact of a sole childhood trauma on a character’s entire course of action, as well as the constant theme that surrounds it. She proves through extensive development of Macon Dead, Guitar Bains, and eventually Circe that a single event can provide a lens through which these characters view the world around them, and in turn influence every decision they make. Guitar’s life is guided by the tragedy of his father’s…

The conflict between the laws of the state and the laws of indivdual consciene is a hard decision to face. However, both characters in, Antigone by Sophocles and Sarah’s Key by Tatiana DeRosnay come face to face with this difficult desicion. The charcters experience similar situations of facing against injustices. Similar to Antigone, Sarah is forbidden to see her brother, but is wiling to do anything to see him and goes against unfair laws put in place. These similar concpets connects the two…

Promptbook Argument: Venice Preserved or A Plot Discovered In “Venice Preserved: or A Plot Discovered” Thomas Otway introduces the audience to the hopeless protagonist Jaffeir. Throughout the play Jaffeir struggles to balance his marital love and commitment to Belvidira (his wife) and his honor and dedication to Pierre (his friend). Otway employs the marital bond of Jaffeir and Belvidera to suggest that society does not provide a space for man to be honorable, true, and constant in both…

Despite the social problems affecting Lampedusa, the message portrayed by Crialese is clear. People should work towards helping those that reach Italy, even if the Italian government says that they should not, and call the Carabinieri to turn them away from Italy. He does this by stirring empathy from characters, and gets characters to feel compassion for these African migrants, even if they had different feelings at first. This compassion is first shown by the sailors who declare that as law…

not seem to have a lot in common. Actually, their differences are overcome by their similarities in the way of acting and the lack of empathy. To begin with, the story The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe is about Montresor, an elite man from Venice that is annoyed with one of his servants, Fortunato. Therefore, Montresor articulates a plan to trap poor Fortunato, inviting him for a walk in the mansion’s vaults to find a cask of Amontillado wine. As they walk deeper into the vault,…

The play Othello written by Shakespeare, is based on one huge conflict. The setting of Othello takes place in Venice where Desdemona and Othello get married despite their age and race difference. The problem occurs when Iago is passed up for a big job promotion when Othello decides to appoint Cassio in the position. To get back at Othello, Iago creates a devious plan to ruin Othello and Desdemona’s marriage by saying that Desdemona is unfaithful. The play consists of jealousy, heartbreak,…

It would be unfair to claim the all the rulers and people of the middle ages and renaissance, where all biased and unfair. There were kings, popes, barons, clergy, and simpletons, who defended the Jews, and attempted to provide equality and justice for all of their subjects (Roth, Foa, Wein). King James I of Aragon, is paradigmatic of such a ruler. There were many atrocities committed against the Jews during the King Jamie’s reign, and many forced disputations between Jewish and Christian clergy…

The Diary of Anne Frank by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett includes dramatic license which is unjustified because of Anne Frank: The biography by Melissa Müller because the people are shown with different personalities, some events were not present, and the people in the annex were given inaccurate emotions. The change made to Mr. Van Daan’s personality causes the reader to believe that he is a horrible person. He has been shown as this rude, selfish person because He was shown…

When working on Portia my instinct was initially fire and I’m happy to say that my instinct was right. Portia’s journey in Julius Caesar led me to believe that she was in fact fire. In an intense proclamation of love for her husband, Brutus, Portia stabs herself in the leg. Act 2 Scene 1, “I have made strong proof of my constancy, Giving myself a voluntary wound Here, in the thigh: can I bear it with patience, And not my husband’s secrets?” In this case Portia chooses action into order to prove…