William Shakespeare Essays

Polonius, a character in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, is often portrayed as a fool due to his constant babbling and self-centeredness. Scholars have spent years studying and analyzing Polonius, and this will continue for centuries. It is believed that Shakespeare made Polonius a fool because of his foolish remarks throughout the play. In one scene, Polonius […]

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been a beloved play since Elizabethan times. Its enduring themes of ambition, destiny, brutality, and madness combine to create an enthralling storyline. Spectators witness the downfall of a tragic hero and his determined spouse. Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most powerfully portrayed female characters, assumes a significant part in the theatrical […]

William Shakespeare, born in 1564 in Stratford, England, was the son of John Shakespeare, a tradesman and Alderman of Stratford. William, the eldest son and third child among eight, was baptized on April 26th, 1564. He went to Stratford Grammar School for his early education, but there is limited knowledge about his life until he […]

Review of Virginia Woolf’s shakespeare’s sister By Gabriel Gyamfi University of Cape Coast Department of English INTRODUCTION Virginia Woolf’s ‘Shakespeare’ Sister’ is the third chapter from her literary essay A Room of One’s Own. In this chapter, which is the essay on Shakespeare’s Sister, she considers the question of why no women writers are represented […]

King Lear is widely acknowledged as one of William Shakespeare’s great tragedies. This essay will identify and analyze a couple of key scenes from the play which makes a significant contribution to the overall development of plot, its character and the theme. Act 1 Scene 1 The very first scene from the first act is […]

It is a well-established fact that an author’s material for fiction is largely derived from his/her own personal experiences. And the greatest of English literary artists in the form of William Shakespeare is not an exception to this rule. The underlying thematic current in the play is tragedy. And based on what scholars have documented […]

Several masterpieces of William Shakespeare contain parts that are borrowed from works of other writers, and one of these is the Othello. Although Othello uses plotlines, themes and characters from Cinthio’s tale, Shakespeare’s work is different in many aspects from its source. In writing Othello, Shakespeare follows Cinthio’s tale, which is written much earlier by […]

As parents Leontes and Hermione have very different qualities as parents. Hermione is a strong character within the play and this quality helps to make her a strong and good mother. Leontes however has very different qualities. His jealousy and mistrust of his best friend Polixenes and his wife Hermione, along with his severe paranoia, […]

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written by William Shakespeare in 1596. Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, it was not an original idea. His inspiration came from a well-known poem of the times called, ‘The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet’ which was written in 1562 by Arthur Brooke. In the poem, the events took place over […]

Although often depicted as a self-aware anti-hero with sociopathic tendencies and unfeeling behavior, Hamlet’s character in the play exhibits another side that ultimately shapes the story (Welsh). Some arguments propose that his primary motivation is entirely self-centered, driven by a desire for power or even something more sinister. Nonetheless, upon closer examination, Hamlet’s character reveals […]

Most of what we look for today in our romantic relationships comes from the writings of Shakespeare with stories and characters he would create. “In the sonnets, 1-126, we see a growing friendship with the young man and the development of an intensity of feeling”(NSS). So we understand his sonnets as a true story of […]

A writer must employ a variety of rhetorical devices in order to convey the emotions of a character. If these techniques are used well, the character becomes more real to the reader. In his play Henry VIII, William Shakespeare does a remarkable job of conveying the emotions of his character Cardinal Wolsey, who has just […]

Pretty much all of the key events or turning points in Much Ado about Nothing happen because characters deceive each other. Shakespeare uses deception as a way of structuring the plot because it often results in comedic situations and, after all, Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy. From the very beginning Shakespeare introduces the […]

It takes true evil to be a villain or to make someone a villain. For the person that is being pushed into becoming a villain and is a victim of the evil it is hard to get away from the actions they are committing. Macbeth in Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a victim because his […]

Explore Shakespeare’s presentation of crime and punishment in ‘Hamlet,’ with comparison to ‘The Revenger’s Tragedy’ by Thomas Middleton. The discovery of Claudius’ crime, the murder of the Old King Hamlet, by Hamlet places him in the role of judge and executioner, as Shakespeare, and similarly Middleton, place their characters in a situation where they can […]

Throughout Scene 1-4 Macbeth is portrayed as a heroic and valiant man, however with sly and manipulative characteristics brought out by the Witches. The use of structure and language allows Shakespeare to present both Macbeths flaws and weaknesses to the audience. Structurally scene 1 opens with the witches gathered together reciting plans about meeting Macbeth, […]

Frye’s Green World model is a literary concept which allows for critical literary analysis. His model states a norm for which Shakespearean comedies follow. However there are clear limitations of the boundaries of Frye’s Green World within ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. According to Frye, the Green World “begins in a world represented as a normal […]

Thestory culminates in Dieter’s death due to a stroke. A second significant statement made by Vanderhaeghe (173) thatidentifies the nature of this elderly man is attributed to his housekeeper,Mrs. He is at the mercy of a woman who can decidewhen or even if he will be allowed to eat bacon or to smoke a cigarette. […]

In Linda Bamber’s essay, The Woman Reader in King Lear”, the author attempts to prove that women can identify with King Lear through a character which she creates and calls “the Other”. The “Other” is a combination of the evil of sister’s Goneril and Regan and the quiet but otherwise perfect Cordelia. When combined the […]

Samuel Johnson’s preface to The Plays of William Shakespeare has long been considered a classic document of English literary criticism. In it Johnson sets forth his editorial principles and gives an appreciative analysis of the “excellences” and “defects” of the work of the great Elizabethan dramatist. Many of his points have become fundamental tenets of […]

It is very clear from the act if you have read it. Lady Macbeth is full of evil, and is well aware of that. She is evil and she wants to be evil. She wants to forget every connection to humanity and womanhood she shares. Thats why she wants the spirits to unsex her – […]

The desperate need to be moral within society contributes to the motivations, choices, and actions made by people everyday. It is society which defines what morality is and applies the necessary pressure to force individuals to conform. Often, failing under these societal pressures, individuals are forced to use deception to escape the oppressive nature of […]