Shakespeare's Use of the Supernatural

In many of Shakespeare’s plays he uses the supernatural to continue the plot in the direction he wants. Many of his plays contain magic and mystical creatures or use dreams, nightmares, or curses to foreshadow future events. It is how the characters in the play respond to the supernatural elements in the play that determine the direction of the play.

In Richard III, Margaret curses the royal family for murdering her family, causing her great pain and anguish. This curse foreshadows the upcoming action that destroys Richard’s family. Another example in this play is Clarence’s dream. As he went to save Richard from falling of the boat, Richard accidentally pushed him in, causing him to drown. As he was under water, he saw the treasure of the deep and then he saw ghosts of the previous royal family (Margaret’s family). His dream not only foreshadows his death, by showing the old royal family, it relates back to Margaret’s curse. Clarence does not ignore his dream, asking the lieutenant to stay the night with him, but it is of no use. In Act V, scene v, as Richard is dreaming, the ghosts of those he has murdered visit him in his sleep, telling him that he will die in battle. Richard awakes terrified and for the first time he is scared for his life. The ghosts’ curses inspire Richard to look inside and he realizes that he despises himself. He loses his confidence and is unable to motivate his troops to get ready to fight.

Shakespeare uses magic and mythical creatures in his play to cause confusion and propel the action forward. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the action revolves directly around the use of magic and the fairies. If Puck had charmed Demetrius instead of Lysander, the play would not contain any drama. It is by charming Lysander so he loves Helena that the true action of the story begins. Another Shakespeare play that features magic and mythical creatures is The Tempest. This story is completely based around Prospero’s use of magic and control of the spirits on his island. Prospero becomes somewhat of a playwright during the play, in the sense that the story would not continue with out the use of his magic.

Shakespeare uses the supernatural in many of his plays to push the plot forward. It gives his plays more of a dramatic element by taking the characters’ destinies out of their control.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream": The Athenian Lovers vs The Craftsmen

The Athenian lovers and the craftsmen share symbolic similarities, but in reality they are very different. The Athenian lovers are so serious that they are the cause to their own misfortunes. On the other hand, the craftsmen are so idiotic and clumsy that they cause their own issues as well. The play the craftsmen put on in Act V, scene i, is a play-within-a-play that represents the important themes from the main plot. Both plays are about the difficulty of love, but since the craftsmen are such terrible actors, their play is a satire of the melodramatic Athenian lovers. Both sets of lovers (Lysander-Hermia and Pyramus-Thisbe) have parents preventing any public display of affection, so they can only meet at night. Lysander and Hermia plan to flee in the dead of night so they can marry, while Pyramus and Thisbe meet only at night. Both pairs of lovers encounter pain and suffering that is brought on by their relationships. The Athenian lovers suffering is brought on by Puck’s mix up when he charmed Lysander instead of Demetrius, so he falls in love with Helena, much to the dismay of Hermia. Pyramus believes that a lion killed Thisbe, so he kills himself and when Thisbe returns and realizes Pyramus is dead, she too commits suicide. The craftsmen’s play-within-a-play is more tragic and shares more similarities to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but it is performed so poorly it is received as comedy to the characters watching the play and the audience. Even though the play-within-a-play has a tragic ending, the characters are all happy and celebrate their love. It is the comedic presentation of the powerful emotions experienced by the lovers that makes the play-within-a-play a symbol for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Women's Roles in Richard III

Women have many different roles in this play, but they are mostly defined by their relationships with the men. The women repeatedly voice their frustration with the men in the play, yet they have no tangible control over the plot. The only women who have any form of control in the play are those who have lost their male relatives. In the beginning it is only Margaret who possesses this power, but when Richard kills his brothers and the princes, Queen Elizabeth and the duchess become like Margaret.

Margaret is a one-dimensional character that seems to wander aimlessly around the castle cursing under her breath to herself. She is a metaphor for the struggles of women in England who had to completely rely on men to survive. Since she has no male relative to take care of her, she relies on the charity of the royals who murdered her family. She appears to be helpless and irrelevant, but in reality she is one of the more powerful characters in the play. At the beginning of the play she puts on Richard and his family foreshadow the coming tragedies. It is her pain and suffering that give power to her curses.

The younger women in the play seem to be more reliant on the male characters to obtain power. They are used as pawns so the men can remain in power. Lady Anne promises to marry Richard shortly after Richard killed her husband. She hates Richard for her husband’s death, but by marrying him, she will become queen. Young Elizabeth is promised to Richmond so the houses of York and Lancaster could unite. She has no power over her future, like many women of the time.

The women’s roles in the play are directly related to their relationships with the men. They possess no power until they have lost all of their male relatives. Their power comes from their grief and pain, but it is the only way they can be free.

Hero or Villain? Prospero Walks a Very Fine Line

Prospero is one of Shakespeare’s more mysterious protagonists. He is a sympathetic character because of how his brother, Antonio, usurped his dukedom and exiled him and his daughter from Milan. On the other hand, Prospero is very hard to like. His control of Miranda, Ariel and Caliban make portray him as a merciless dictator. In Act II, scene i, we are introduced to all three relationships (Prospero-Miranda, Prospero-Ariel, Prospero-Caliban) and Prospero’s need to control them unquestioningly. Prospero uses the past to control the present by recounting previous events in which Prospero in a way saved the other’s life. First, he tells Miranda how they had to flee Milan when she was an infant or else they would both die. He repeatedly insists that Miranda pay attention to his story. Next, we are introduced to Ariel, whom Prospero has enslaved after rescuing from his imprisonment in a pine tree. Ariel, a spirit, uses his powers to do Prospero’s bidding, such as conjuring the storm form Act I. Ariel serves Prospero eagerly, but when Ariel reminds Prospero about his promise to remove a year of service from Ariel’s servitude, Prospero lashes out angrily. Again, he tells a story of how he saved Ariel and that he will not be questioned. Ariel complies with Prospero, allowing him to assert his power of Ariel. Finally, Prospero’s other slave, Caliban, enters cursing him. Prospero attempts to use his language and history to control Caliban, but it has no effect. Prospero uses his magic to torture Caliban, forcing him to be his slave.

Another element of Prospero that makes him difficult to like is his hypocrisy in his quest for justice. The idea of justice is subjective, since it is Prospero’s view on it that controls the fate of the other characters. He despises Antonio, Sebastian and Alonso for his exile and demands revenge, yet he takes no issue with enslaving Ariel and Caliban. His sense of justice is one sided and only pertains to what is best for himself.

Comedy in Hamlet

Shakespeare’s Hamlet has often been considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest piece of literature of all time. What truly makes Hamlet so unique is Shakespeare’s use of comedic variety in such a dramatic tragedy. Arguably, Hamlet is the only one of Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists that has a sense of humor and embraces it. Hamlet is very witty and uses his language to play games and make fun of the other characters in the play. In Act II, scene ii, Polonius confronts Hamlet, who appears insane. Hamlet calls Polonius a “fishmonger” when Polonius first approaches him, acting as if he does not know Polonius. Hamlet also tells him that if Polonius should ever let his daughter walk freely she would become pregnant. Confused by Hamlet’s words, Polonius believes Hamlet to be crazy, but he does realize that some of Hamlet’s answers are full of meaning. In reality Hamlet’s crazy rambles hid his insults towards Polonius.

Hamlet is a play about death, yet in Act V, scene i, the subject of suicide is debated yet again, but by the gravediggers, who play the role of clowns in the play. The gravediggers comment on Ophelia’s suicide, making fun of the fact she is to receive a Christian burial even though she drowned herself, “unless she drowned herself in her own defense?” (V.i.6-7). They are critical of their superiors and are aware of the social injustice: that a Christian killed herself and is still awarded a Christian funeral because she is rich. The gravediggers use language well; using riddles alluding to Adam and Christ. These riddles say that gravediggers are not only man’s oldest profession, but that “the houses that he makes last till doomsday,” (V.i.55). The graves they dig are the homes of the dead that will exist long after anything a carpenter (Christ) has constructed. Essentially they are saying their profession has a longer effect on the earth than Jesus Christ. These two characters speak cleverly and offer a balance to Hamlet’s obsession with death. As Hamlet enters, to his bewilderment he notices the gravedigger singing and digging a grave. Horatio states that he has gotten so used to graves that they no longer bother him (V.i.60). The gravedigger carelessly throws a skull out of the grave, and Hamlet says the gravedigger is defying God, acting as if his job is more important than God's. One could argue that the gravedigger defiantly believes so, citing his riddle from earlier in the scene.

Shakespeare's Most Terrifying Villain: Iago

Iago is asserts himself as the villain early and continuously throughout Othello. He is a very frightening character because he never reveals any of his motivations for his actions. In the opening scene Iago proclaims his hate for Othello because Othello did not select him as his lieutenant. Then in Act I, scene iii Iago claims that he believes Othello slept with his wife (I.iii.369-370). He revisits this once more in Act II, scene i, saying how he wants to get even with Othello “wife for wife” (II.i.286), even though this is never proven to be true. These accusations provide the audience little insight into Iago’s true reasons for his deep hatred of Othello, making him an unpredictable and terrifying villain.

He does not let Othello know of his hatred towards him. Iago is called “honest” by most of the characters in the play, but he is actually scheming and deceitful. He uses his ability to manipulate people in order to appear honest, so the characters continue to believe everything he has to say. Iago convinces Roderigo that Cassio is secretly attempting to woo Desdemona, evidenced when he took her by the hand and led her away to talk privately (II.i169). In a soliloquy at the end of the scene, Iago tells the audience that he is also in love with Desdemona, not out of lust, but to get his revenge on Othello. As stated above, Iago’s wild accusations about Othello sleeping with Emilia are unproven and do not give a definite reason for Iago’s strong hate for Othello.

In the final act, Iago’s wickedness is finally revealed. In the first scene, he sets up to Roderigo ambush Cassio and when that fails, Iago kills Roderigo to keep him silent and appear as the hero. He says, “This is the night / That either makes me or fordoes [undoes] me quite” (V.i.130–131), foreshadowing his demise in the next scene. It is his wife who ousts him for his evil actions. Even though he is executed at the end of the play, Iago succeeds in destroying Othello. It was his devious plan that drove Othello to murder Desdemona, but we never really know what his motivations were for causing such chaos.

How Racism and Pride Drove Othello to Suicide

Othello is able to gain acceptance into Venetian society through his work in the military, but he is never truly accepted by the Venetians. They are fearful of a black man joining a white society. Some of the characters distrust and dislike Othello solely for the fact that he is black. In the opening scene Iago and Roderigo speak about Othello, but never actually state his name. Instead, they refer to him ambiguously as “he” and “him,” also calling him “the Moor” (I.i.57), “the thick-lips” (I.i.66), and “a Barbary horse” (I.i.113). In the next scene, Brabantio accuses Othello of bewitching Desdemona, using his “foul charms” (I.ii.76) to woo her. Brabantio’s racism is evident and he is only accusing Othello of sorcery because he is black. Brabantio accuses Othello three times for using witchcraft in act 1 and only speaks of him with a mixture of anger and fear, but Othello tells the duke that Brabantio loved him and invited him into his house often to hear about the battles he has fought. Brabantio clearly respects Othello as a soldier, but despises him personally because of his race. The duke and senate hold Othello in very high regard as a soldier enough that they trust him with full control, militarily and politically, over Cyprus. Othello is a very proud man because of his feats as a soldier and he is especially proud of his honorable appearance. His pride and sense of self worth play a major part in his downfall. Due to the fact that he is black, he is still treated as an outsider no matter how well he performs as a soldier. For example, even though he was entrusted with full control of Cyprus, he still arrives on the last of the three boats there. His role as the outsider makes him easy prey for Iago, who cleverly uses Othello’s pride to force him into thinking Desdemona is unfaithful. Feeling betrayed and disrespected by his own wife, Othello goes mad, eventually killing himself. Othello is a tragic character because of how he was victimized by the people of Venice because of his race and his own need to appear powerful, accomplished and moral.

Uncertainty and Action Hamlet

In the tragic play of Hamlet, the themes of uncertainty and action are directly related. Throughout the play Hamlet continuously questions himself, delaying him from taking action against Claudius that he seems to want so desperately. In Act I, scene v, Hamlet speaks with the ghost of his dead father, who is stuck in purgatory, and can only rest after revenge is taken for the “foul and most unnatural murder” (I.v.25) that Claudius committed to usurp the crown. As the ghost of his father disappears, Hamlet appears intensely motivated to avenge his father. As this is the end of Act I, the audience expects Hamlet to act quickly to uncover the truth about his Uncle Claudius, formulate a precise plan, and take action against him for the rest of the play. However, when Hamlet does act, he does so recklessly and violently. More questions arise as the play continues, for Hamlet cannot know for sure if the ghost was real or just a figure of his imagination. He has no concrete evidence to warrant killing his Uncle Claudius, so he devises a plan to use a play reenacting his father’s murder to judge if Claudius is truly the killer. Even though it is obvious that the play makes Claudius uneasy about the play, this offers no factual evidence to prove Hamlet’s point. How can Hamlet what happened by just judging Claudius’ reaction? Hamlet decides to kill Claudius without actually knowing the facts about the murder of his father. He does not take into account rational considerations or consequences of his actions. The other characters in the play seem to be certain of their own action and do not think about it as much as Hamlet, but each of them in someway delays action. Laertes vows that nothing will prevent him from getting his revenge, but he is easily manipulated by Claudius to serve his goals in the end and never truly avenges his father. Uncertainty and action are two themes that go hand in had within the play and are what motivate the characters.

The Use of Rhetoric in Julius Caesar

In Act III Scene ii of Julius Caesar, the power of rhetoric and oratory is quite visible. At first, Brutus addresses the plebeians using prose, a simpler form of language instead of verse in order to appease the crowd and make them feel as if he is one of them and that his actions were in the best interest of all Roman citizens. Once he finishes his speech he has the crowd completely on his side to the point that they call for him to be the next Caesar (which Brutus did not intend for), but that quickly changes once Antony is given the opportunity to speak.

Before Antony begins to speak to the crowd, he first thanks Brutus for allowing him the opportunity to speak. By doing so, he humbles himself to Brutus, making it seem that he has much respect for him. Antony speaks to the plebeians in verse. Instead of reducing himself to the intelligence level of the plebeians, as Brutus did, he addresses them eloquently to invoke sympathy for the murder of Caesar. He says he is not there to praise the man Caesar was, but only to bury him and remember all the good Caesar did for Rome instead of burying it along with the man, saying, “The good is oft interrèd with their bones,” (III.ii.75). He proceeds to repeat over and over how Brutus is an honorable man, but that he was wrong about Caesar being and ambitious man. Antony reminds the plebeians how Caesar cried when the poor cried, how he brought many slaves to Rome, and how refused the crown three times. How can Caesar be the ambitious tyrant that Brutus claims if he acted this way? As he continues to say how Brutus is an honorable man, the undertone of sarcasm grows and grows. He then weeps about Caesar’s death and brings the body to the center of the room and uncovers the wounds, showing where Brutus stabbed Caesar. The end of his speech has stirred the plebeians stirred to kill the conspirators. Antony’s use of rhetoric causes the crowd to flip their feelings about Caesar and the conspirators completely, gaining their favor.

12th Night: Gender Identity Disguise

In Elizabethan times women were not allowed to act on the stage, so the youngest looking men were always reserved to play the role of the women. In Twelfth Night the theme of gender uncertainty is prevalent throughout the play. The female character of Viola disguises herself as Cesario, a man. This would be funny to see a male actor playing a female disguised as a man... very confusing. This creates a mess of the sexual identity of the play. Viola falls in love with Orsino, but cannot tell him since she is disguised as a man, while Olivia (Orsino's love interest) becomes infatuated with Cesario (Viola). This creates a latent undertone of homosexuality between the characters in the play. Olivia is in love woman, Orsino comments on Cesario’s beauty and is attracted to her (Or is it him? Now I’m confused…) even before Viola reveals her true identity. Shakespeare creates a hot mess between characters and their love interests. In his time period, homosexuality was a taboo subject, so to have it as a central theme of a comedy in very daring.

Shakespeare highlights the different mentalities in the genders even more vividly when Orisino says, “There is no woman’s sides / Can bide the beating of so strong a passion / As love doth give my heart. No woman’s heart / So big, to hold so much. They lack retention. / Alas, their love may be called appetite, / No motion of the liver, but the palate, / That suffer surfeit, cloyment, and revolt; / But mine is all as hungry as the sea, / And can digest as much. Make no compare / Between that love a woman can bear me / And that I owe Olivia,” (II.iv.91-101). Orsino says that women cannot love like men do, they can only love in a superficial way. He claims his love is constant, but in reality it is a woman’s love, Viola’s for him that remains constant throughout. Orsino’s love interest changes from Olivia to Viola once she reveals herself as a woman. Shakespeare’s use of gender role confusion creates comedic love triangles that cause characters to act foolishly.