Ian McKellen Essays

Tragic heroes always suffer from a tragic flaw in their character. Whether it be the refusal of help or unwavering pride, that tragic flaw always brings about the character’s downfall. In William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth, readers witness the deterioration of both Scotland and its unjust leader. While the witches and Macbeth himself hold some responsibility for Macbeth’s downfall, Lady Macbeth holds the majority of the blame. At the beginning of the play, three witches make a plan

MOBY DICK AND SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY Moby Dick is a revenge tale about the revengeful quest of a wounded man for the powerful force of nature; Moby Dick; and the perishing memories of the questors and the wounded questor into the deep perils of the sea, who engulfs all; leaving one as the sole survivor and witness to unveil and unfold the awful revenge tragedy of stubbornness that outlived the American imagination. Richard Chase in his book describes Moby dick as “the most startling and characteristic

In act four, Lear is finally able to reunite with Cordelia and expresses his new self in humbleness symbolizing repentance. When Cordelia addresses Lear as “royal lord" since the last time she has came in front of him, it is clear that she refers to Lear with the respect that he deserves as a king, as well with the admiration she still holds for her father. In comparison to Goneril’s and Regan’s formal “my lord”, it is evident that they do not display the same love and respect that Cordelia has

King Lear, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, describes the betrayal and deceit within two families in turmoil. Lear, the elderly king of Britain, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters based upon their filial love. Immediately Lear’s two eldest children proclaim their affection. However, Cordelia, the youngest and most sincere, explains that words cannot express her love, so she will not even try. Angered by her response, Lear banishes her, and his elder daughters, Regan

Shakespeare’s King Lear is an emotional and bizarre play witch tells a moving story about the unfortunate decisions which are made by two fathers whose choices run close to each other as the play unfolds. While the main plot is about France and England at war and mainly involves King Lear’s family, the main theme which reoccurs multiple times throughout the play is blindness and is portrayed most evidently by both Gloucester and Lear. In Lear's case, two of his daughters, Regan and Goneril fool him

Insight through Blindness in King Lear Throughout Shakespeare's play write King Lear the constant theme of intellectual blindness reveals moral understanding. King Lear and Gloucester both have uncertainties that derive their moral understanding and relationships with those around them. King Lear shows a descent into blindness from the very beginning. This is shown in the first scene when he banishes Cordelia and Kent. His frustration and ego blind him from seeing Goneril and Regan’s dishonest intentions

Everyone sees the play Hamlet as this great tragedy and a quest for revenge, and it is one, but it’s all filled with so much deception and lies. The characters lie to each other, they spy and create plans to find out information. This use of hidden yet obvious deception just shows how rotton human beings can be with each other and how easily they can turn on one another to further themselves to get what they want. It eventually shows that by using all your energy towards a plan of revenge, can cause

Hugo Marsans Classic Fate & Modern Plight Ms. Fan Role of Fate Hamlet, Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead all share fate as a recurring an important theme in the developing story plot. In Hamlet, Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, the characters have no free will as they can only do what the author directs. The plays are different because in Hamlet, a sequence of events set off by fate’s force determines the character’s destiny, in Waiting for Godot

In Shakespeare's King Lear, characters are categorized into three distinct groups of malevolence, ignorance, and benevolence. Cordelia and Kent are the characters most prominently defined by their inherent goodness. This goodness is primarily exemplified in their unwavering desire to help King Lear. In contrast to the kindness of these characters is a kingdom plagued by blindness, viciousness, and mal intent. In this environment, one’s ability to disguise one’s own true goodness directly relates

As Mr. Kent theatrically acts out Lear’s rejection of Cordelia in King Lear, he communicates Shakespeare’s intention in his every word. Cordelia’s honesty to her father is an attempt to make the reality of his position as a father and a respected leader evident, but her attempts fall when she is banished. Mr. Kent then goes on to explain Edmund’s betrayal of Edgar and Gloucester’s fall for the plot. The parallels between these two storylines taking place simultaneously is hinted to the listener as

The story of King Lear is shown in Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth (published about 1135). In 1577 the story is repeated in Chronicles of England of Raphael Holinshed, here both Cordelia and King Lear win against her sisters but later Cordelia is imprisoned and takes her own life. The same ending is offered in the edition of Mirror of Magistrates in 1574 of John Higgens. 12 years before King Lear of Shakespeare appeared The True Chronicle History of King Leir was performed but its

Elayna Daniels This cyclical sequence terminates when the two children who Lear and Gloucester believed betrayed them prove themselves loyal to death. At the beginning of the play, Lear was convinced that loyalty was synonymous with the expression of love. Cordelia and Edgar prove instead that actual, unspoken love indicates the greatest loyalty. While Goneril, Regan, and Edgar extol their love and loyalty loudly, it is the understated words of Cordelia and Edgar that endure. Lear chose his

Shakespeare presents inversion in King Lear through his representation of loyalty, justice, and familial roles in multiple characters. Loyalty is inverted in this play in the form of multiple characters, Edmund, Goneril, and Regan. Edmund is not a loyal man, though he pretends to be in order to gain his father’s trust and love. Edmund betrays his father, Gloucester, by making him think that Edmund’s brother Edgar is plotting to kill him. (I.ii) He does this because Edgar is the legitimate son and

Chintan Khanduja Mrs. Mitani ENG4UI 19 January, 2016 The Journey of Self-Discovery In William Shakespeare's King Lear, the main character King Lear makes some poor political decisions early in the play. For King Lear, Marcel Proust's quotation ''We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.'' clearly applies. People cannot be 'given' or receive wisdom, they need to experience and learn

The first of the play scene begins with the injustice of his daughter Cordelia by depriving her of everything, even of her dowry and her relations with family, indeed, he has saved the biggest part of the kingdom for her but she is a failure to express her love for her father, this good clue indicates injustice at the beginning of the division of two instead of the three, hence the division according to his mood. that Lear is very emotional; he is irritation, hasty, and impatient and he is unable

Dylan Mr. Woodard Film Studies – A 24th, September 2014 Circular Narrative A circular narrative is a narrative that has certain plot points repeating throughout the film; this is a technique that a lot of writers and directors use, risking a lot of money. Circular narrative rarely makes it into mainstream movies and this probably happens because it doesn’t often fit neatly into the sort of plot Hollywood is used to producing. In these circular narrative films the end of the movie usually connects

Beowulf is associate degree epos that, above all, offers the reader a concept of a time long past; a time once the foremost necessary values were courageousness and integrity. The sole factors that would bestow shower fame upon an individual were heroic deeds and family lineage. Beowulf, because the paradigm of pagan heroes, exhibited his need to amass fame and fortune; to do so was to revenge the death of others. This theme of retribution that's ever gift throughout the literary composition appears

How Internalized Misogyny Affects Women in the 21st Century Internalized misogyny is the phrase that describes the phenomenon which occurs due to the institutional pervasiveness of sexism towards women in society. Misogyny within society leads to the internalization of misogyny where women are then affected by it and direct it towards themselves and other women (Bearman et al.). In the 21st century, internalized misogyny affects women in multiple ways, including seeing other women as competition

Though the film is supposed to be taking place in the present-day, the screenwriter, John Logan, decided to use the original text of Shakespeare minimal changes like cutting short most of the scenes and altering the order of the character’s lines and entire scenes. This techniques work for most part of the film but in the first scene, for example the speech of Menenius to the angry people is reduced to merely two lines and through a TV broadcast so the audience cannot realize how gifted he is using

Studying plays as Oedipus Rex and Hamlet is a vital part of studying literature since they are timeless works that teach many lessons. Moreover, they still have some concepts to be unmasked by critics of literature. According to Aristotle tragedy is ''a form of drama based on human misery that arouses in its audience feelings of pity and fear'' and each tragedy must have a tragic hero. Tragedy began in the ancient Greek theatre where tragedies were performed in late March to early April at an annual