The characters’ likings change in the play is troubling, where Lysander is intensely in love with Hermia at first and with Helena at another point. “Transparent Helena! Nature shows art that through thy bosom makes me see thy heart” (Shakespeare and Foakes Act II). The aim of the play is not to observe the nature of true love but reasonably to mock misunderstandings that love brings. Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena are destined not to be romantic classics, but somewhat sympathetic figures thrown into perplexing situations of romantic farce.
Introduction: ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was written by a writer named Andrew Marwell and it is a very humorous Poem of one Man that has fallen into love with a very hideous woman in this poem. What the man is trying to achieve in this poem is to sleep with the woman and tries several different ways to persuade. I will talk about this poem and also relate to the famous script Romeo and Juliet to show commitments made in THCM and Romeo and Juliet and how different the commitments are between them. This poem has been written in such a way that it could be understood in several different ways. In stanza The speaker begins by assuring his lady that, “Had we but world enough, and time” This is indicating that he if they lived forever they could relax and take things slowly.
Unlike most of the other sonnets which are full of love and praise, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 is about a less than perfect relationship which is based on lies and is complicated and difficult, yet “both speakers practice, again and again, a self-deceptive illusion, compulsively complying with it rather than giving it up” (Vendler 294). They continue to flatter each other for the sake of their sexual needs and the persona simply ignores his mistress’s adultery. When we look at the first two lines of the first quatrain, we see that there is a mutual deception. The persona complains that when his lover swears that she is true and faithful to him, he believes her but at the same time knows that she is lying. It is a paradoxical situation and it gets more paradoxical when we see that Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘lie’ perhaps is not a coincidence, as it has both meanings which suit the themes in the sonnet.
Some people might suggest that To His Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell, is a poem showing a man's argument to a woman in which the speaker is trying to persuade her to have sex with him. People might also say that the woman does not care for the man, and she will deny him of his desire, sex, because she hardly knows him. His argument suggests that the speaker knows the woman well enough to know personal things, such as her feelings on premarital sex. His argument suggests that the speaker and the mistress are in a relationship and he wants it to go further. His playfulness, and poetic devices are really just ways of showing that he wants to take their relationship to the next step by forming a special bond that only comes from sexual intimacy.
“How far would you agree that the characters’ susceptibility to deception is what drives the plot in this dramatic comedy?” Much Ado About Nothing is a dramatic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Its main themes include deception, social grace, honour, marriage and gender- with characters falling in love, falling out of love, being disgraced and being accepted once more; but what really drives the plot in this dramatic comedy? Many would argue that it is the characters’ susceptibility to deception as deceit is one of its main themes. I am going to argue for and against this and come to a conclusion of how far I’d agree that it is what drives the main plot. Much Ado is a play based around the theme of deliberate deception- sometimes this deception is malevolent and sometimes benevolent but much of the play hinges around them and their effect on the characters.
The play has become a symbol of love; the term “Romeo” is used to label passionate young lovers. Shakespeare’s multifaceted treatment of love, by exploring love in its many forms, threaded the key relationships in the play. At the start of the play, Romeo is described as being in love with Rosaline, which is presented as an impulsive, unrequited infatuation. No one thinks his feelings for her will last, even Friar Lawrence: when Romeo queries why the Friar scolds him for loving Rosaline, the Friar replied “For doting not for loving, pupil mine.”(ii. iii.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Theme Dorian Gray’s ideals and character alter throughout Oscar Wilde’s literary work, The Picture of Dorian Gray, as a result of the corruption of the antagonist, Lord Henry Wotton. The “unforeseen death” of Dorian’s supposable love, Sibyl Vane, of which he was indirectly responsible for, causes him to become cognizant that the alluring portrait given to him by his beloved companion, Basil Hallward, has answered his baneful prayer. The painting absorbed all of his sins and wickedness sparing his flawless appearance of all blemishes caused by such demeanor. Dorian’s morals and values are marred by his epiphany of his own pulchritude and its relation to the portrait, also the motif. Like Dorian Gray’s decisions, the foreshadowing, motif, and hubris throughout the novel also reinforce the theme of moral conscience versus vanity.
The central irony of the "My Last Duchess" is of course that the Duke wanted so much to bring the Duchess's beauty within his own control, that he was willing to destroy her to do it. In “My Last Duchess” we find irony, diction, and imagery that creates a haunting effect. This irony that we are focusing in, is used by Browning altogether with the dramatic monologue with the purpose of producing a sinister and domineering effect. This irony allows the reader to question himself and put in him the desire of knowing the hidden message of the poem. In the poem, a portrait of the egocentric and power loving Duke of Ferrara is painted for us.
Sonnet 138, William Shakespeare At first read, I felt the sonnet to be simply about sweet, innocent love. The mistress knows the man is old, but lies to him and he kindly accepts the lie/compliment as it makes him feel good. They each know the real truth, but it makes their relationship work and no matter what outsiders think, or what the real truth is, her love for him, regardless of age, is all that matters However, upon further investigation and several re reads, it seems Shakespeare is telling a story of mutual hypocrisy, and acceptance of both the mistress’ and the man’s faults , purely to fulfill basic sexual needs. The puns used in the first two lines "When my love swears that she is made of truth, / I do believe her, though I know she lies” hints that the man accepts his mistress is not pure and honest. “Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue, / On both sides thus is simple truth supress’d” The use of ‘on both sides’ indicate that both the mistress and the man are lying to each other, but accept, or ‘suppress’ each others flaws to pursue the physical relationship.
Significantly, Hamlet’s revenge is to take from Claudius that which he loves, including the crown and Hamlet’s mother. In this regard, Hamlet again references love, condemning Gertrude’s betrayal of her husband through her relationship with Claudius: “Nay, but to live In the rank sweat of an enseamèd bed, Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love Over the nasty sty” (3.4.81-84). Hamlet’s disparaging of Gertrude’s physical love is in part Hamlet’s attempt to use guilt to influence Gertrude’s behavior, but also as another example of Hamlet’s distorted experience of love as betrayal which he compares to lying in dirty sheets of corruption. Hamlet must maneuver around a number of obstacles to advance his plans for