William Shakespeare Essays

In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Hecate says, “And you all know security is mortal’s chiefest enemy. ”(3. 5. 32-33). Security, is translated into modern English as “overconfidence”, so Hecate is saying that overconfidence is one main downfall that humans face. Although a ten-page, smarter sounding college level definition could probably be found, the […]

There are many themes through Shakespeare’s plays Romeo and Juliet and Othello such as love, pride, irony, and death.  Both plays are tragedies because the love that had once conquered the protagonists in the beginning of the play is somehow lost toward the end of the play through either pride, in the case of Othello […]

Staging and performance are crucial elements in the overall impact of theatrical productions.   In Shakespearean drama, aspects of staging: including costuming, setting, lighting, sound effects, as well as the on-stage movement of the actors have evolved over several centuries of production. Modern visions of staging include:”stiffly “authentic” productions; in the vaguely “authorized” versions of […]

This author believes that the ability to understand and appreciate the true meaning of a literary piece hinges mainly on one’s skill to fill in the missing pieces and to connect the dots.  Ways to understand a piece may be done either internally or externally. To internally understand something requires separating the piece into fragments […]

William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew was never published during his life. It was published posthumously in 1623. The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These characteristics include […]

In this essay, I will be comparing the soliloquies and asides placed in the adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest by Julie Taymor in 2008-10. A soliloquy is a dramatic technique used strategically to allow the audience to hear and see what is going on in a character’s mind, almost as if they are thinking […]

In Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare has used food throughout the whole text to represent revenge, not only does making them eat the pie make Titus feel fulfilled, but he also feels there has been justice.William Shakespeare has made sure that Titus has authority when speaking to both Chiron and Demetrius, ‘stop close their mouths, let […]

Jealousy is in our human nature and Shakespeare’s The Winters Tale shows the pure destructive power that it can hold. We see in The Winters Tale how fickle the minds of powerful people can be and how simple acts can be misconstrued.The first example of this, and the first point towards Leontes being a jealous […]

Undoubtedly ‘King Lear’ is considered to be one of the most tragic of Shakespearean plays. Shakespeare explores the boundaries of human nature and the extent ****. At the time the play was set, Lear would have been absolute monarch. At the beginning of the play Lear is at his zenith and a powerful character within […]

The story of The Taming of the Shrew is one that raises important issues both in the Shakespearean text and in the modern appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You. How does each composer’s use of this story reflect the time in which each was composed” The Taming of the Shrew was written in the […]

Figurative Language, Imagery. And Sound in “Sonnet 29” Williams Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” is Shakespeare starts the first quatrain with himself talking of disgrace in his fortune and in the eyes of others. In the second quatrain, Shakespeare takes the inward thoughts and looks outward with coveting eyes and wishes he could be a different man. […]

It can be argued that William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is a play about forgiveness and reconciliation. The title, The Tempest is both literal and metaphorical. Shakespeare begins the play with a fierce storm which wrecks the courtier’s ship. I think this storm symbolises “the tempest of life” (i. e. the struggle of life) around which […]

In the poem “Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day? ” the author describes his lover to the unrivaled beauty that is summer. The season has made itself a good reputation for being very warm, comfortable, and relaxing. Many other lyricists, artists, and poets have described summer as being “too short” or have made […]

The Important Contextual Influences on Shakespeare’s King Lear Samuel Johnson describes the age of Shakespeare as a time where “speculation had not yet attempted to analyze the mind”, and although he is correct in his statement, people of the Renaissance had many pre-formed conceptions about issues concerning their own lives. Shakespeare took much of his […]

A somewhat topsy-turvy presentation is evident throughout this play: Dogberry and the Watch are very much the “third string” to this play’s bow, and yet have captured the greatest place in public imagination. Likewise, on the romantic front, we may say that it is the second-bow players who have the next most prominent place in […]

Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare Fathers and Daughters in Tempest, Merchant of Venice, and Othello While there is an over arcing theme in these plays as to the subject of Father-Daughter relationships in which the mother is absent, even the most cursory inspection shows relevant differences in both the characters and their relationships to one […]

Anaylaze why Shakespeare is relevant and so widely studied and performed today? Denise Ooi The History of Theatre Mrs 24 September 2008 For over four hundred years, the works of British playwright William Shakespeare has remained fundamental in the role of theatre, study of the English language and presumably, skills in the study of business […]

Impulsive Behavior in Romeo and Juliet By: Shaunean Burnett Impulsive behavior is something people can do everyday which can affect them for the next few days or the rest of their life. Impulsive behavior can begin with a small action, and soon result in a huge catastrophe. Whenever acting without thinking about the consequences, you […]

Critical Analysis of “Heart” in Shakespearean Macbeth Macbeth, one of the most darkest and powerful tragedies by William Shakespeare, shows how uncontrollable and crazy a mind works. The word heart has a variety of definitions such as the actual physical heart Inside your body that keeps your blood pumping, thoughts and emotions, love and compassion, […]

Marriage as an economic institution The famous play “The Taming of the Shrew’ written by William Shakespeare consists of a funny and interesting plot that must have challenged Shakespearean contemporaries’ way of thinking. We are presented with a number of different themes, such as gender roles, the power of language, female submissiveness and the economic […]

Carpathians song 130 Marshall Matters’ new album released this past November contains a song called “Headlights” which is structured similarly to William Shakespearean “Sonnet 130” In the sense that both authors display endless and timeless love for their loved one. In the second verse of “Headlights”, Marshall recalls many times he harmed people with his […]

How does Shakespeare show the importance of particular choices and decisions in Macbeth? BY Gingerers How does Shakespeare show the Importance of particular choices and decisions In how Machete’s choices combined with many other factors have a huge impact on the direction of the play and can have dire consequences. Shakespeare uses a number of […]