William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s plays can be divided into three distinct categories: histories, romances and comedies. Henry the fifth is a history. Henry V is the last of four plays by William Shakespeare which tells of the rise of the house of Lancaster. It was written in 1599 but is set in 1415, two years after the death […]

The compelling and tragic drama of “Romeo and Juliet” tells the story of two young “star-crossed lovers” whose blossoming romance is forbidden and jeopardised by the age-old rivalry of their families, which together, with chance and accident leads to fast-paced action on Verona’s streets. Ultimately this leads to the premature deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt […]

Both Spenser’s Sonnet 75 and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19 similarly claim to bestow immortality upon the beloved. Despite similar themes, however, these sonnets contrast sharply. Spenser’s sonnet ostensibly reports a conversation between the poet and his beloved, whereas Shakespeare’s sonnet directly addresses personified time, and shows the greater dramatic flair. Spenser’s first two words, “One day”, […]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s plays that are more ‘light-hearted’. The play is entertaining and Shakespeare uses the genre of comedy to keep his audience interested. He uses several kinds of humour through out the play, and he covers three different storylines to make a complicated plot. The play includes: a love […]

Shakespeare’s Iago is a very sophisticated and unpredictable character. He is part vice and is a very deceitful and evil character. We see him as a character who tempts mankind into performing devilish conducts. This is why he is almost certainly known as inherently evil. There is a suggestion that Shakespeare’s Iago is a cold-blooded […]

This paper discusses the character Hal, the Prince of Wales, in Shakespeare’s “Henry IV” who undergoes a transformation that can be described as redemption. Shakespeare’s “Henry IV”, the Character Hal, the Prince of Wales In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, the character Hal, the Prince of Wales, undergoes a transformation that can be characterized as redemption. Shakespeare […]

‘Romeo and Juliet’ – a play written 500 years ago which still captures the hearts and minds of young and old alike. It is a play about two young lovers whose destinies are entwined in the stars – “star-cross’d” – belonging to two rival families. Their “death-mark’d love” results in the tragic and untimely deaths […]

This paper explores the theme of appearance versus reality, evident in “Henry VI” by William Shakespeare. 1: Henry IV: AAppearance vs. Reality” Shakespeare’s play Henry IV begins with a king (King Henry) beginning a pilgrimage after killing King Richard II. Henry believes that by gaining the throne of England he has done an honourable deed, […]

It is certain that Souls cannot return in their body, which lies in the grave, reanimating it and giving it the movement and life it has lost. And hence, if they return perchance to this world by the will of God and appear to us, they take not a real but a phantasmal body. And […]

Focus on language, characterisation and dramatic technique. It is suggested that something maybe devious and illegitimate is going on even before anyone speaks with the effect of the setting “Venice at night. A Street,” this sets up an unclear atmosphere and draws us to the play. The play also opens in the middle of a […]