Index Page 1: 1. Annotate the poem and research. 2.The romantic epic. 3.Casting characters.
Edmond Rostand’s comedic play Cyrano de Bergerac recounts the tragic heartbreak of an unsightly French poet as he aids his handsome but dull cohort Christian in capturing the heart of the beautiful Roxane. Cyrano de Bergerac, a colossal-nosed man with a masterful talent for wielding both words and sword, battles self-doubt and insecurity as he contends with his own feelings of love for Roxane. Throughout the play, Rostand reveals a stark polarity between Cyrano and Christian, illuminating the gaping disparity between the characters’ appearance and intellect while portraying the men as foils for each other. From the play’s beginning, Rostand’s audience becomes keenly aware of the divergence between Cyrano’s intellectual substance and Christian’s physical attributes. While Cuigy pronounces Christian “a charming head,” the character describes himself as “...far from bright” (Rostand 1.4-5).
Plautus was a play writer and an actor born in Italy in 254 BCE and died 184 BCE, he was a great Roman comic dramatist whose work was sparsely adapted from Greek plays; he began his carrier as an actor. Pseudolus is one of the works of Plautus which was first shown in 191 BCE at the megalesian festival. Pseudolus is play about a soldier who put down 60 pounds of token to come back later to pay the balance of 20 pounds for a girl whose pimp wanted 80pounds for her to be sold. She sends a letter to her lover (Calidorus) who is heartbroken and confused because he can’t afford to watch her leave and also couldn’t afford to buy her from the pimp.
The concept of exemplarity was used extensively throughout Roman literature as a tool to give guidance and enforce authority. By providing an ethical framework of societal precedents, exempla served to govern all facets of Roman public life. The system of exemplarity had an inherent power in Roman society, allowing it to be exploited for personal gain by rulers such as Augustus. Through his monumental literary biography, Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Augustus manipulated exemplarity in order to translate his coercive power into benevolent authority over the people of Rome.
guest, however, was a family friend, Mentese, Son of Ankhialos. He rules the Taphian people of the sea”(14). The suitor, Eurymakhos, slyly tries to trick Telemakhos into giving up information about his guest, but Telemakhos is clear-headed, and wisely responds with a vague statement that will conceal the true meaning for Mentese arrival. In only one encounter with a man, Telemakhos has grown shrewder and more decisive. Because of his lack of a father figure, Telemakhos needs these experiences with other men
Role of Spectacle in Roman Culture Spectacles governed the way of life in the Roman culture in many ways. The use of spectacles in the Roman culture was widespread, especially during the performance of blood sports, such as the gladiatorial battles. The spectacle was an essential element in the amphitheatre games, which featured wild animal hunts in the morning, executions at noon, and the gladiatorial games in the evening. In this paper, I will examine the role of spectacles in the Roman culture, where the theme of violence and death will be featured. Predominantly, spectacles were used for entertainment reasons, to punish miscreants, serving as an example to the citizens, promoting interaction between the people of Rome and the rulers, and providing food for the ancient society.
In the city of Athens, a group of craftsmen come together to decide who will play the characters in the “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of of Pyramus and Thisbe.” They will be performing this play for the Duke and Duchess on their wedding day. Peter Quince, the carpenter, is the man in charge who will lead the “actors” and assign the roles to each person. Bottom, , is the overly optimistic and over confident character in this scene. He is quite impatient to see what part he got and overly enthusiastic to begin the performance.
The setting is dark, enormous sea symbolizing nature. It is not an ordinary setting; rather very active in the lives of the characters and has contradictory qualities. It has seven sections and each section is told from the point of view of an anonymous correspondent. The first part introduces the four characters-the
Throughout the play, the readers can see how human beings were irrationally behaved under the spell of these fairies and in the magic forest, however, there was a character based on the Greek mythology named Theseus as the Duke of Athens, who thinks logically and believes in just reality and not the imagination. Furthermore, the imagination based on this story can be asked on the play within the play of “Pyramus and Thisbe”, which is rehearsed by craftsmen throughout the story and performed at the wedding ceremony in the last scene, offers an increase of imaginative perspectives. The characters and events in the play indeed have their own way of interpretation of imagination that can be manipulative and confusion to the readers. In the
In the book, The Witches: Salem 1692, the author Stacy Schiff attempts to condense a large volume of research into a cohesive narrative that tries to avoid to much speculation. There is some contention that the book does speculate into the motives of primary accusers that some reviewers have intimated are bordering on fiction. However, the author defends her arguments logically, and her inferences do seem to bridge the gaps effectively. One of the items that causes some confusion, to both the historically curious, and to the researcher is that the author has created a list of dramatis personae in which the historical figures are labeled as a cast of characters which might make the book seem fictional.
The tragedy of the tale Coriolanus can be interpreted as the imminent downfall of a hero, in which leads to his loss of status and his inevitable, but untimely death. Throughout this prose, the complex dynamic of influence and stature between conflicting characters creates a convoluted investigation as to who is really to blame for his tragic death. In Langis’ analysis of “Coriolanus”, she postulates that Virgilia’s ‘insistent femininity’ (Coriolanus: Inordinate Passions and Powers in Personal and Political Governance, 19) and her sincere and innocent presence within Coriolanus’ life plays the most crucial role in the evolution of this tragedy. However, I would argue that Volumnia’s presence, instead of Virgilia’s, is more significant within
Sophocles’ Electra is a well-known Greek tragedy, set place at Mycenae after the Trojan wars. In the tragedy Electra plays one of the most important roles among the Chorus. The Chorus often sympathises with Electra and also helps the reader (or the audience considering it was written as a play) to understand the events better. The Chorus shares emotions with Electra, such as her grief and frustration, or her joy upon the return of Osteres. In my essay I will discuss the importance of the Chorus and how to the presence of the Chorus guides the audience.
In this paper, I will discuss how the following events in this tragic play can help us to analyze the character growth of King Lear. It is important for us to recognize the flaws and weaknesses of Lear’s personality to see how his actions and decisions led to his ruin. However, although he faces the misfortune of losing the things that he cherished the most, he also has the opportunity of transitioning into his being and experiencing the new-found attentiveness of love and morality. Whilst analyzing the progression of Lear’s complex character development, we must start from the beginning.
Dante 's Inferno Analysis Dante 's Inferno is just one of three parts of an epic poem, written by Italian politician Dante Alighieri, known as The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy 's three parts are known as Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio. In short, this poem describes Dante 's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. This was written in the fourteenth century in Florence during an era of extreme political corruption. Not surprisingly then does Dante put his enemies, corrupt politicians, in Hell.
In this essay the following characters and features will be compared and contrasted: Mercutio and Benvolio, their differences and similarities, how they effected the play, how they participate in the feud. I choose these features because even though they are not “main characters” they still greatly influence the play. I will explain how they effected the play, how their personalities make them foils and how this in turn effects them as characters and everyone around them.
