They imagine the blood never leaves their hands, and the truth never leaves their minds. Then King Duncan yells, “ What bloody man is that?” He is referring to a soldier coming in from battle. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth “To have the same beliefs as she or he would be driven to insanity.” Which this means that they have to make themselves believe they did not do the crime or the guilt will make them go insane. The blood represents their crime, and they cannot escape the sin of their actions. Lady Macbeth believes her sense of right and wrong would be cleansed at the time her hands are actually cleaned.
The theme of deception in Shakespeare’s plays The typical themes of Shakespeare’s works, especially his plays, often reflect popular moods, problematic occurrences and typical traits of human nature from his time which are relevant even today. One such theme is deception. The idea of deception in Shakespeare’s plays has many different faces. In one instance, it is accidental, as in The Comedy of Errors. In another instance, it is used as defense against greater harm, as in Othello.
When she says "Come you spirits that tend on murderous thoughts, unsex me," and "make thick my blood, stop th'access and passage to remorse," she is already calling on evil spirits to take away her feminine nature, and to stop her feeling any pity, remorse or compassion; Lady Macbeth is determined to assist Macbeth in murdering Duncan. From this early point, it is already evident that she is contemplating, and intends to take part in a murder so that her husband could have the status he had always wanted, but had been too weak to obtain. When Macbeth enters, Lady Macbeth replies: "O never shall sun that morrow see." When Macbeth informs her Duncan will be leaving the following day. Here, she blatantly reveals that she intends to murder Duncan, saying he won't live to see another day.
Shakespeare tends to write in blank verse when the character is calm and then switches to prose when there is a spin of emotion. This also suggests that blank verse can be used for higher status characters but prose can be used for things like accusations. However, in Havisham Duffy uses four equal length paragraphs which shows how controlled the speaker seems to be until the reader gets down to the very last line in the last stanza. “b-b-b-breaks” suggests that the speaker is losing control of her feelings. The repetition of the letter “b” is suggests that she may be starting to cry thinking about the things that happened in her past.
‘Compare how disturbed characters Romeo and the Lover are presented’ Romeo out of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the lover out of ‘porphyria’s lover’ are two very disturbed characters, whom are in very similar situations. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written in 1595 and ‘porphyria’s lover’ was written in 1836. Both poem and play are dramatic language based, but Romeo and the Lover are completely different characters but both their action are very disturbed. In this essay, I will compare the states of mind of the two main characters. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is an example of Elizabethan theatre which emphasizes language.
Lady Macbeth says, "What's done is done", which is a famous line round the world. She says this to get Macbeth to act normal and forget his past, live in the present, and be ready for the future, as he was acting erratically due to his guilt and paranoia over murdering Duncan. The word "nothing" is used to entertain and give a lasting effect to the audience. When Macbeth says, "I have a strange infirmity which is nothing," he is actually trying to cover up his guilt and his past to the people around him. The audience realizes that his 'infirmity' is actually because of something important and would cause pandemonium to the people around him.
Gertrude is also a very isolated character in the play, always seeming to play second fiddle to Claudius, due to his status as king, however unjust his claim to such status might be. She makes no decisions for herself except, ironically, the one that precipitates her death. However, she does have a second priority, her son's well-being, and it is her tragedy that these dual obligations prove utterly irreconcilable, and the reason why Claudius takes care she knows nothing of his plot to murder his stepson. Shakespeare's purpose, perhaps, was to portray Gertrude as innocent, another unintentional victim like Ophelia of the clash between great ones, so that our sympathy is engaged in the final act when she snatches immediate death away from her son by drinking the poisoned wine, rather than judging her as deserving her fate. The role that Ophelia plays in Hamlet is in some ways peripheral to the plot; she is included solely to develop Hamlet's role in the play and it not the key to any of the events in the play.
Appearance versus reality is a recurring theme that is used in many great literary works and becomes apparent in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. Appearance is what one observes as opposed to the true essence which is reality. Throughout Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, appearance versus reality is utilized to reveal hidden intentions, to play with Macbeth’s emotions, and to advance the plot based on false pretenses. Hidden intentions are revealed through Shakespeare’s utilization of appearance versus reality. Lady Macbeth’s intentions are revealed when says, “Look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t [1.6.76-78].” This is an example of appearance versus reality because Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to appear to be innocent but in reality, she wants him to take on the role of a venomous man ready to kill Duncan.
“The Decision a director makes in the portrayal of a character reflects their own context as much as Shakespeare’s.” Evaluate (compare and contrast) Orson Wells’ portrayal of Desdemona with regards to the above statement. You should refer to other versions of Othello that you have studied in your response. A director or playwright often produces a creative text reflective of his or her own context. Shakespeare however, also challenged his own context through his ideas in the play ‘Othello’. Shakespeare’s portrayal of Desdemona reflects and challenges the role of women in the renaissance period by including the ideas of independence, sex and infidelity.
Desdemona’s True Colours People are not always what they seem to be, especially in plays and novels. A character can be portrayed much differently than he or she truly is. The author is in complete control of showing a reader what parts of a character they want them to see. The comedic twist on the two plays Othello and Romeo and Juliet provide a different and interesting view on the main characters of these two tragic plays. Shakespeare chose to water down the character of Desdemona while Ann-Marie McDonald enlightened us on parts of Desdemona’s character that we may have not of picked up on in the original play Othello.