Lastly, Pearl’s abandonment from her father and isolation from society brings about the evil she demonstrates. Arguably, the Puritanical conception of sin confuses these main characters’ knowledge of the nature of evil. Hester and Dimmesdale’s adultery leads to Chillingworth’s transformation into a sinister being as he attempts to impose Puritanical evil on them. For example, Chillingworth’s idea of evil, influenced by the Puritans, helps him decide how to punish the lovers explaining, "I [will leave] thee to the scarlet letter. If that [has] not avenged me, I can do no more!"
He not only looses his faith but also his only daughter to a Christian lover. Loosing his religion was indeed loss of his life. He is a villain for he offers Antonio unconventional terms – Antonio’s pound of flesh. Therefore, in Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare exhaustively uses the play to bring out themes and the stereotypical evil character of the Jews which was merely a myth passed through generations (Radford ¶ 1).
Shakespeare's England was not a very accepting society when it came to foreigners. Shakespeare, through the captivating play Othello, addresses and reflects these racist issues during the 1600s, while Good Will Hunting reveals the inherent human condition. Both texts highlight the fact that our fear of change, our fear of threats cause us to alienate outsiders. In Shakespeare's England, racially different people challenged the status quo and thus were seen as a threat that must be resisted. Shakespeare reflects this as Othello's and Desdemona's marriage, black man and white woman, is seen as “against all rules of nature” although it simply is just a change in tradition.
Hamlet is a tragedy that condemns the morality and politics of revenge. Discuss. Shakespeare condemns the pragmatic morality and Machiavellian politics associated with revenge in Hamlet (1604). Through the Revenge Tragedy’s avenging eschatology Shakespeare voices censure over the sanctions of bloody revenge, warning against its consequences in the play’s cathartic tragic form. Shakespeare channels his opposition to unfettered revenge through his tainted portrayal of a corrupted humanity, whose ethics have been warped by their revenging desires, as well as Hamlet’s moral repugnance and ‘self-politic’ conflict over Catholic revenging values and finally demonstrates the corrupting and tragic consequences of such revenge.
• Prevalent in England and France was the conviction that Africans were an uncivilized, barbaric race and therefore deserved to be enslaved; that blacks were inferior to whites and destined to serve them. • The Bible’s ambiguity on the morality of slavery heightened the controversy as it was used to support the arguments of supporters and opponents of slavery. • By the 18th century there was increasing opposition to the slave trade and slavery, at first sparked mainly by humanitarian motives. In France the great philosophers, notably Rousseau, condemned slavery as being contrary to natural law; the French anti-slavery movement was based on this rationale. In England the emancipation movement originated from the Evangelicals and Nonconformists.
“Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven./It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,/ A brother’s murder.” (3.3.37-40). The king is referring to the earliest case of betrayal in Cain, and the envious murder he committed on his brother. When Claudius realizes Hamlet knows of his sin, it beings to cause an internal battle within him regarding forgiveness despite the fact he wants to keep the fruits of his crime. “May one be pardon'd and retain th' offense?
Othello’s name and honour is undermined from the beginning of the play, due to the fact that he has gone against the societal norm by marrying and eloping with Desdemona, by Iago, Othello’s ensign and Roderigo, a gulled gentleman of Venice. The fact that insults such as “Moor”, “thicklips”, “devil” and “Barbary horse” are used to describe Othello by these men not only hints to an audience member that the titular character is black, but also paints a negative image of him in one’s mind. Iago uses crude language and sexual imagery when talking about Othello’s nature, especially when telling Brabantio that the purity of his daughter, Desdemona, has been lost or stolen, saying, “an old black ram is tupping your white ewe”. Desdemona has apparently been enticed “To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor” with whom she will begin “making the beast with two backs.” These are all sordid and gratuitous illustrations which lead one to believe that Othello is indeed a “foul”, lewd beast. Amongst these depictions of Othello are some extremely racist derisions, leading one to question
Christians believed that after death, the soul of the individual would either ascend to Heaven or descend to Hell based on their past sins. In addition, the story of the mark of Cain is a famous biblical tale: Cain, the eldest son, murdered his younger brother Abel out of jealousy. This resulted in a mark put on Cain as a reminder of God’s revenge. The allusion of the mark of Cain is significant because this tale is similar to the event of Claudius killing Old Hamlet out of jealousy. With this reference, Shakespeare reminds the audience of Claudius’ sin and advances the theme of betrayal.
Shakespeare and Radford made the spectators of the play/film give Shylock a chance. They felt as if he was being provoked to be such a negative person by the Christians. The audience therefore comes to the conclusion that Shylock was a villain because he had been a victim to the anti-Semitic comments he received. He’s both villain and victim. Shylock, the money lending Jew, lived with his daughter for the majority of her life.
Are we to take him seriously or laugh at him? Should modern liberal attitudes influence our response to Shylock, or should we continue to remember the stereotypes of earlier centuries and vaudevillian depictions of Jews? Characterization of Shylock has troubled thoughtful students of Shakespeare, and several theories have been brought forth to explain the inscrutable money lender. One theory holds that The Merchant of Venice arose from a melancholy occasion. In l594 Queen Elizabeth's chief physician, Roderigo Lopez, who was descended from a Spanish Jewish family, was accused by Essex of participating in a Spanish plot against the queen's life, was found guilty, and sentenced to death.