Evil In Shakespeares Plays - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1547 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/03/24 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Hamlet Essay Macbeth Essay William Shakespeare Essay Did you like this example? The purpose of my essay is to develop my analysis and research of Shakespeares Hamlet. While I was reading both I have found a great connection between them. I have come to compare the themes, characters, and the conclusion of each play, and to focus in particular upon the concept of evil as it is treated by Shakespeare in each play. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Evil In Shakespeares Plays" essay for you Create order The Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation considerably deepened the moral and philosophical understanding of the concept of evil. . The shakespeare Each play primarily concerns the downfall of a man who has the potential for greatness, but finds himself caught in a web of evil made by others. In the case of Macbeth, theres a man led by greed, an appetite for power, and the urging of an insane wife, who in the course of the play, turns from a noble man into a monster. Hamlet, in comparison, is led to his end by a desire for revenge which he allows to go out of control, and by the continued contact with his mother, whose part in his fathers death haunts him. In Macbeth, the theme of evil is introduced and sustained by the witches, and by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth himself becomes a victim of the impulses within him which lead him to consult the witches, and persuade them to believe in the power of evil rather than the power of good. The tragedy here is that Macbeth possesses a potential for doing good, he is an imaginative man, with a mind which could have been turned to creative governing, but which is instead filled with dreams of ghosts, and of his victims. Macbeth is a doomed man before he even commits his crime. It is what gives to this tragedy its deep and appalling quality. Macbeth does not go to hell; he starts there. The evil in Hamlet develops in the course of the play, for in the very beginning Hamlet himself is not a man capable of the murder of Polonius or of his mother and the king. Thus the evil here is not yet a reality for the audience of this play when it begins; the witches in Macbeth do not function in the same way as does the elder Hamlets ghost. The ghost tempts Hamlet to revenge him the revenge itself need not be the source of evil, for according to the beliefs of the day, the murder of a rightful ruler could justly be revenged by his son. While the two plays have similar surrounding the evil events which transpire they stem in conception from two very different approaches to the problem of evil. Perhaps the difference is best pointed out by the fact that Hamlet is at first inclined to believe that the ghost is an agent of the devil; he is not prepared to act until he is certain the ghost has told the truth. Macbeth, on the other hand, knows that only the evil way of the witches wil l lead him to fulfill his ambitions, and he consciously chooses that evil over the good qualities, such as loyalty, towards which he is drawn. Although the fate of Hamlet and Macbeth is resolved in much the same way at the end of each play, the two characters could not be more different in conception. Hamlet is, and remains throughout the play, a noble and essentially well-intentioned man; he is an idealist a man not afraid to follow his emotions. Macbeth, a much stronger and more decisive man than Hamlet, has a streak of selfishness and stoicism which Hamlet lacks. Shakespeare thus approaches a similar theme the murder of a king from the viewpoint of two very different men, and yet finally arrives at a single philosophical position which is based upon a single human principle: violence engenders violence, and murder ultimately brings about the death of the murderer as well as innocent victims. An interesting contrast between the two plays is the importance of Lady Macbeth to Macbeth and of Gertrude to Hamlet. In both cases devotion to the woman wife or mother and a concomitant fear and repulsion towards her, acts as a pr ime factor in the decision making process of the man. But Macbeth envisions a throne which he will share with his Queen, while Hamlet can feel nothing but rage against his mothers betrayal of his father. Macbeth is joined in his choice of evil by his wife, while Hamlet falls into evil alone. There is no equivalent to Ophelia, with her influence towards salvation for Hamlet, in Macbeth. While avoiding the question of a Freudian interpretation of Hamlets character, it is interesting to note that the genesis of his drift into evil is more understandable and more forgivable than Macbeths. It has been said of Hamlet that Blocked by the double obstruction (the death of his father and the marriage of his mother to his murderer), his life energy flows backward and floods his mind with images of disintegration and death. Hamlet was not made for revenge, was not meant to bear the burden of his own mothers evil, and yet both fell upon him. Macbeth, on the other hand, was a brave man and a strong leader. He was not a victim of his parents, nor even of his king, for the king in this case was a good man. There is ample indication in the text that Macbeth possesses the strength of character to resist his wifes ambitions for him. Yet he falls more easily than Hamlet. The murder of Duncan inherits Hamlets sensibility, his nervous irritability, his hysterical passion, his extraordin ary gifts of visualization and imaginative expression; and under the instigating influence of his wife the rashness and indiscretion of the later Hamlet are progressively translated into a succession of mad acts. If Macbeth is Hamlet taken to the limits of his violent potential, the more accurate comparison between characters in these plays would involve Claudius and Macbeth. The murder of a good king by a usurper invariably brings about an uncontrollable chain of events which will eventually ruin that usurper in Shakespeares world. Yet as horrible as Claudius deed was, we do not feel the repulsion for him that we feel towards Macbeth. Claudius stands outside the circle of violence until Hamlet draws him in, at the last moment. Macbeth is in the center of his play, his hands bloody after every murder. Despite the murders in which Hamlet is involved the deaths of Polonius, Claudius and Gertrude, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and the madness of the innocent Ophelia, many critics have found it difficult to see in Hamlet an embodiment of evil. Rather, Hamlet is the quintessence of European man, who holds that man is ordained to govern the world according to equity and righteousness with an upright heart, and not to renounce the world and leave it to its corruption. By that conception of mans duty end destiny he is involved in those tragic dilemmas with which our own age is so terribly familiar. Thus the evil deeds which occur are at least partially neutralized by Hamlets intention to eradicate far worse evils, according to this interpretation. Is it possible that Macbeth too can be seen in this light. It has been argued that despite his crimes, Macbeth is the protagonist, the hero, with whom as such, for the right tragic effect, there must, naturally, be some large measure of sympa thy. He gains our sympathy through Shakespeares power of poetry . . . by the exhibition of the heros bravery and virtue at the beginning, by emphasizing the influence of the supernatural . . . and of his wifes inordinate ambition distinctly mentioned. . . . Thus while the dramatist must make his audience aware of the fall into evil of both men, he must also make provision for the tragic element, which presupposes a capacity for goodness and even greatness on the part of the hero. The answer to the problem of evil in each play is that Shakespeare has again enclosed his evil within a universe of good, his storm center within wide areas of peace. This world of good includes Malcolm and Macduff, Ophelia, and all the others who survive to carry on the job of building peace on the ruins of war, and of healing violence through their gentleness. The tragedy of both Hamlet and Macbeth, imaginative brothers is that they are both capable of reflecting back to their innocence, which has been irretrievably lost: The time has been, my senses would have cooled To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir As life were in t, I have supped full with horrors; Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, Cannot once start me. (Macbeth, V, v, 10-15) Bibliography Auchincloss, Louis. Motiveless Malignity. Boston: Houghton Co., 1969. Dean, Leonard F., editor. Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. Goddard, Harold C. The Meaning of Shakespeare. Volume I and Volume II. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1963. Shakespeare, William. Twenty-three Plays and the Sonnets. Thomas Marc Parrott, editor. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1953. Martin, Catherine G. The Reason of Radical Evil: Shakespeare, Milton, and the Ethical Philosophers. Studies in Philology, vol. 113, no. 1, 2016, pp. 163-197. ProQuest, https://onesearch.fsc.follett.com/onesearch/lxtrResources/html/ProquestNewPlatform.html?/docview/1773551043?accountid=136288.

Lit1 Task 310.1.2-01-06 Essay - 2863 Words

Part A (The report) Part B (The memorandum) Student Name Western Governors University Part A (The report) Determining what type of business venture to either start or invest in can be challenging. Over the next several pages we will evaluate the various types of business organizations and at the end of this report; you should have an initial or better understanding of the different types of business forms. Sole Proprietorship: The word proprietorship can sound intimidating. It is important to remember that most things are simplified with knowledge. If your business is a sole proprietorship then you as an individual are the owner and operator of that business. This means the sole proprietor handles everything from setting up†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Control: A sole proprietor has total control of the company and they make all the good decisions and they must deal with decisions that did not turn out the way they intend. The other notable factor in being a sole proprietor of a business is what would happen to the business if the owner became ill or died; typically the business would stop operations based on the structure and debts would need to be resolved as well as customer commitments would need resolving based on the type of business. †¢ Profit Retention: In addition to reaping the profits from the business, the sole individual is also responsible for all debts in curred and for paying expenditures of the business. †¢ Location: In addition to federal laws that govern business a sole proprietorship is governed by the state laws in which it operates. If the proprietor opens another business location in a different state. The new state laws will govern the other business location therefore requiring the proprietor to understand and be compliant with more than one state laws based on the location of the business. (Beatty Samuelson, 2007, pp. 755-756) General Partnership: Occurs when two or more individuals get together to operate a business with the intention of making profit. Each individual is a general partner of the business and all profits and losses are shared between the partners. General partnership agreements can be a written or verbal agreement. †¢Show MoreRelatedLit1 Task 310.1.2-01-062176 Words   |  9 Pages1      Part A Sole Proprietorship A sole proprietorship is a form of business that is owned by a single individual.   †¢ Liability – Due to the lack of legal distinction between the owner and the business, the owner is fully responsible and liable for all debts that the business incurs in the same manner that an individual is fully responsible and liable for all debts that they incur. 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For example, if the business owes creditors money, the individual who created the sole proprietorship business has to pay the bill. When entering into contracts the individual is actually agreeing to the contract since the person and business is one in the same. The biggest advantageRead MoreEssay about Lit1 Task 310.1.2-01-062862 Words   |  12 PagesSole Proprietorship Sole proprietorship is the most common form of business in the United States. It is a relatively simple way for an individual to start a business since legal costs and business requirements are minimal, and the owner has complete control over the business. Though a sole proprietor is not responsible for any corporate tax payments, the owner is responsible for taxes incurred on the income generated from the business as part of his or her personal income tax payments, and personallyRead MoreStudy Notes for Task 11269 Words   |  6 Pages†ºAdd account Sign out Settings LIT1 Task1.pdfAdd to DriveEdit onlineDownload originalShareFileViewHelp SUBDOMAIN 310.1 - BUSINESS LAW Competency 310.1.2: Organizational Forms - The graduate can select the appropriate form of organization for a business. 310.1.2-01: Differentiate between a sole proprietorship and general partnership. 310.1.2-02: Differentiate between a general partnership and a limited partnership. 310.1.2-03: Identify the distinguishing characteristicsRead MoreLit1 Task a Essay1390 Words   |  6 PagesLIT1: Task 310.1.2-01-06 Task A Sole proprietorship 1. Liability * An owner has unlimited liability both personally and as the company owner. Liability is a disadvantage in a sole proprietorship. 2. Income taxes * The owner is responsible for filing taxes and is allowed to file taxes as part of their personal income taxes. 3. Longevity * This depends completely on the owner and there continued ability to operate the business. The operation of the business can be significantlyRead MoreSample Resume : Business Management1551 Words   |  7 PagesNatasha Rodas LIT1 Task 310.1.2-01-06 Part A Sole Proprietorship – As a sole proprietor, you own your business solely; no other interested parties are involved. †¢ LIABLITY – The business is controlled and operated solely by the individual, and all profit/loss is the responsibility of the business owner; creating unlimited liability. †¢ INCOME TAXES – All business income/expenses are to be reported as personal income tax; not taxed separately. †¢ LONGEVITY/CONTINUITY – Once the business owner is

Essay on Authority and American Usage, by David Foster Wallace Example For Students

Essay on Authority and American Usage, by David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace, author of the essay â€Å"Authority and American Usage*,† praises and advocates for â€Å"good† writers who have a strong rhetorical ability, which he defines as â€Å"the persuasive use of language to influence the thoughts and actions of an audience† (Wallace 628). To have a strong rhetorical ability, an author needs to be aware of whom their audience is, in order to present their information in a way that will be influential on their audience. Wallace recognizes that an author who applies a strong rhetorical ability will be able to connect with the audience so that they respond â€Å"not just to utterance but also to † (Wallace 641). An author needs to take into consideration not just content, syntax and grammatical structure (their â€Å"utterance†) but also how their character will be perceived by their audience. A positive tone will make the author seem more pleasant and relatable, whereas a negative tone connotes arroga nce and pretentiousness. That is why it is crucial for an author to recognize that an audience will respond to â€Å"them† and not just their â€Å"utterance,† as an author’s appearance to their readers can also shape how impactful their writing is. The impact and effectiveness of using proper rhetoric was a strategy of â€Å"good† writing that I was not aware of until my senior year of high school. While taking AP Language and Composition my junior year, my fellow students and I believed that we had survived countless essay workshop activities and writing assignments with emphasis on word choices, grammatical structure, syntax, punctuation and spelling. By the time we had entered AP Literature our senior year, we felt we could achieve success; we already knew how to write in the correct format and structure- we just had to master analyzing literature. It was only natural that I was taken by surprise when I received my first graded essay back. There, glaring up at me in bold, red ink against the crisp white paper was a C- . Comparing my grades to those of my classmates, it was revealed that they too had received these grades. What had we done wrong? Our teacher, Mrs. Hetrick, provided the answer to our question: â€Å"These essays could have easily been generated by a computer program. They tell me nothing about yourselves; why in the world you are telling me all of this? You need to make me care about the message you are conveying, otherwise, your writing is useless.† She then told us that while we were all communicating in the proper format, we had failed to take into consideration whom our audience was. In order to truly persuade and influence our audience, we had to do more than place complicated ideas into a grammatically immaculate sentences; we need to show the audience why they should care about our writing; otherwise, they will just lose interest. I realize now that this experience provided a stable foundation for what I consider to be an example of passionate rhetorical ability, which helps me reflect on what authors Wallace deems as â€Å"good† through their rhetorical strategies. Wallace distinguishes the â€Å"Democratic Spirit† in the writing of Bryan A. Garner, author of A Dictionary of Modern American Usage (ADMAU). Wallace identifies a â€Å"Democratic Sprit,† as one that â€Å"combines rigor and humility, i.e, passionate conviction plus a sedulous respect for the convictions of others† (Wallace 625). Wallace implies that since a Democratic Spirit contains â€Å"rigor,† the author will focus on the precision, quality, and accuracy of the writing (Wallace 625). At the same time, an author that possesses â€Å"humility† will dispose an impression of conceitedness, presenting the reader with a reflection of their personality (Wallace 625). They must also convince the readers that they are writing with a purpose or it will fail to create a lasting impression, thus the need â€Å"passionate conviction† (Wallace 625). At the same time, an author needs to recognize that they cannot shove their beliefs onto their readers who may not share their opinions, illustrating a â€Å"sedulous respect for the conviction of others† (Wallace 625). Consider The Lobster By David Foster Wallace*INTERPOLIATION: EXAMPLE OF A NON-STANDARD DIALECT THAT THIS AUTHOR ACTUALLY KNOWS ABOUT FIRSTHAND. I happen to be fluent in two English dialects- the Standard American English that I use in regular situations throughout my daily life and People-Who-Justify-Spending-Four-Dollars-on-a-Cup-of-Coffee English that I switch to using while working at Starbucks. Part of my training as a barista was learning an intricate system of abbreviations, terminology, and phrases in order to make sure each drink is made consistently due to the amount of modifications that can be made to each original beverage recipe. This dialect only makes sense to my co-workers and regulars to any Starbucks location. A person ordering a drink for the first time at Starbucks would possibly state it in the following manner: â€Å"Can I please get a medium latte with an extra shot, two of which need to be decaf, vanilla flavoring but only half of the amount that you usually put in, skim milk, no foam and stirred? † Because this person ordered their latte in Standard American English, it took my brain a few sec onds to read it back to the customer as a â€Å"2/3 Decaf Triple Grande 2 Pump Vanilla Nonfat No Foam Stirred Latte. † Whether a person walks into Starbucks and orders a â€Å"Grande Pike Place Roast† or a â€Å"Medium coffee,† I’m still going to hand them a cup of black coffee. This is similar to how a person can talk in Standard Written English or a dialect of American English and still be understood efficiently. However, why then is it that Wallace deems it significant to enlist his students in a â€Å"three-week Emergency Remedial Usage and Grammar Unit,† where he proceeds to tear the unsatisfactory syntax and grammatical structure of his students’ essays back to the basics of English composition (Wallace 624)? This radical action demonstrated by Wallace is caused by his recognition of what and whom Standard Written English (SWE) represents. Wallace states that: â€Å"Traditional English is conceived and perpetuated by Privileged WASP Males and is thus inherently capitalist, sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, elitist: unfair† (Wallace 626). By stating that SWE is controlled by â€Å"Privileged WASP Males,† Wallace is indicating that only individuals who could afford or were deemed â€Å"worthy† enough had access to higher levels of education: race, ethnicity and religion have determined factors in a person’s accessibility to higher education. Privileged WASP Males have therefore become the spitting image of the socio-economic elite, due to the availability of education and their accomplished usage of SWE. Privileged WASP Males are prejudiced towards those who are not like them and utterly â€Å"unfair† in whom they chose to associate with. These old, xenophobic white men don’t want just anyone off the street joining them for intellectual discussions over Sunday tea . This is why Wallace advocates for students in high school and college to learn SWE; if students are able to present themselves in a more erudite and intellectual manner by using SWE, it can provide them with more opportunities to ascend the â€Å"social ladder† as they will have a stronger foundation for academic and professional success. Using SWE will not guarantee that a student will become a doctor or a lawyer, however, they will have the opportunity to expand their education and achieve that ranking if they wish. Works Cited Wallace, David Foster Authority and American Usage 2005. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. 9th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 622-47. Print.