How does Shakespeare portray the nature :: essays research papers

How does Shakespeare portray the nature of love in â€Å"A Midsummer Nights Dream†?‘A Mid-summer Nights Dream’ is evidentially concerned with the series of hindrances in the course of true love. Shakespeare reverses the categories of reality and illusion, portraying to the audience with a comic edge that when overcome with the illusion of love couples become blind to the misfortunes that are bound to cross their path. The most basic part of Shakespeare’s plays is the relationship between men and women. In a society so closely woven with Christianity, it seemed natural to take the mandate for this relationship from the bible. This names the husband the head of the household; he can govern his family as he pleases. Despite the pervading view in Elizabethan England of women as the property of their fathers. Shakespeare’s form does not take a firm stance on how he thinks marriage should work. Marriage was considered as a way to establish order most of Shakespeare’s plays have to do with the making or breaking of family ties. The Characters are drawn from three different worlds: the Athenian Gentry, the Craftsmen of Athens, and the Fairy World. The protagonist is the bizarre nature of love, as represented by four couples: Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, Titania and Oberon, and Hippolyta and Theseus. The whole play centers on the central idea of lovers, ironically and comically coming together and being free to marry. The opening exposition is first set in Medieval Athens; Shakespeare uses familiar figures from Greek mythology, which would be seen as autocratic and mature mirroring the future portrayal of their love. Theseus as the male is dominant over Hippolyta; her submission brings forth the imminent wedding. Because they meet in an adverse environment it creates dramatic and passionate tension, which is later resolved. This is in stark contrasts with the young lovers, who are erratic and indecisive. ‘Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword; And won thy love doing thee injuries; But I will wed thee in another key, With pomp, with triumph, and with reveling.’ (Theseus 1:1 lines 16-19) Oberon and Titania are noble fairies. Although they have high status, fairies were seen to be avid and passionate. This passion causes human-like, vindictive quarrels between them. ‘†¦I have forsworn his bed and company;’ (Titania 2:1 lines 61-62) Oberon plays tricks on Titania to prove his authority over her, but the sight of her humiliation arouses his love and they reinstate their love to one another.

Divine Roles Across Cultures Matrix Essay

Select one common divine role that recurs in world mythology. Possible options of divine roles include the following: father or mother divinities, divinities of war, home or hearth divinities, divinities of love, divinities of wisdom, divinities of medicine or health, divinities of the wind, divinities of agriculture, divinities of the sky, ruler of all the gods, and so on. Identify the role in the title of your matrix. Select two myths, each from a different culture, in which the divine role appears. Identify the divinity names and cultures in columns A and B. Complete the matrix by answering each of the five questions for both selected divinities. Title: Divinities of Love and Beauty Column A Divinity Name: Aphrodite Culture of Origin: Greek Column B Divinity Name: Freyja Culture of Origin: Norse 1. How is this divinity portrayed? Describe the divinity’s role within the myth. She was portrayed to be the goddess of love and beauty often shown smiling. She is the daughter of Zeus. Some myths also say they daughter of Uranus (Aphrodite, 2002). One of the more known and told myth is her helping Paris to abduct his love Helen of Troy. She was the goddess of love, lust, fertility and magic. According to Freyja (1996), she is believed to be the  daughter of the sea god Njord and the earth-goddess Nerthus. She had a twin brother named Frey. Some believe that she was married to Od and once he passed away she never married again and used her powers to have sex with gods, mortals, dwarfs, giants and dwarfs. Others say that she is the same person as Frigg who is wife to Odin (Freyja, 1996). 2. Is the divinity male or female? What function does this gender play? Aphrodite is female. Her gender function would be the sexual aspect of the myth surrounding her because she is known for seduction. Freyja was a female who was the goddess of lust and love. 3. Within the myth of origin, how does this divinity compare with other divinities? How does this divinity interact with or compare to divinities of the same gender and to divinities of the opposite gender? Aphrodite is one of the twelve great Olympians. Aphrodite was able to make all the gods and mortals fall in love or be overcome with desire, except Athena, Artemis, and Hestia (Aphrodite, 2002). She is known to have had many affairs against her mortal spouse with other gods and mortals. Aphrodite was equally quarrelsome and manipulative to both genders of divinities. If anyone wronged her she would make them fall in love with whomever or whatever she pleased. Freyja is one of the most respected of the goddesses. She is very well respected by the female gender of goddesses. She is the goddess of fertility and it was said that if a female wanted children they just needed to call on her and just being in her presence would become with child. The male gender is most lustful after Freyja. She was able to manipulate any male sexually. 4. What are the divinity’s attributes, such as divine powers or characteristics? What objects does the divinity possess, such as a weapon or animal, that assist him or her? She was able to make anyone fall in love. She could seduce anyone she wanted. She was able to encourage sexual desire, the care of women in child birth, magic, and she helped half the mortal heroes killed in battle to Valhalla. She was known to ride a board or be in a chariot pulled by cats. 5. Identify one character from contemporary culture that shares characteristics of each divinity and explain why you chose each character. What real-life ideals  does this divine role represent? How attainable are these ideals? For Aphrodite I think of the vampire characters from the television show and book series of True Blood. They are able to compel people to do whatever they want by either being lustful or on humans by hypnotizing them to do what they want. I think it shows that even in the beginning sex was still the key to being able to manipulate to get what you want. I don’t completely agree with these ideas. I think depending on who you are these ideals can be easily attainable. For Freyja I am going to use True Blood again but with the character of Sookie Stackhouse. She was lusted after from most males that came around her and she was magical because of being a fairy. Again, depending on the type of person you are some of the ideals are great. I know for women who have difficulty becoming pregnant would love to have her divine power of fertility. Scientifically there are ways to help women become pregnant but still not everyone is able to bear a child. Summary: Write a 150- to 350-word short essay addressing the following: Why do so many cultures have divinities in similar roles? I feel that as a human the thirst for knowledge is why many cultures have divinities with similar roles. I think that a lot of these mythological divinities were created as a way to explain why things are the way that they are. There as to be a reason why things are this way and before modern science finding the exact reasons were next to impossible. There are also people out there that believe the reason that all of these divinities are so similar is because they gods are actually aliens from other planets visiting our world. I don’t know whether any of the stories told have any semblance of truth, but it does make you think of the possibilities. In many religions they believe that there is only one god that created everything. There is no right or wrong answer at this point because I believe that until we find a way to travel back in time we can’t know exactly why these mythical divinities are so similar. REFERENCES Aphrodite. (2002). In Who’s who in classical mythology, Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/content/entry/routwwcm/aphrodite/0 Freyja. (1996). In Bloomsbury dictionary of myth. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/content/entry/bloommyth/freyja/0

Poor Things V. Frankenstein - 2556 Words

Andrew Klush Eng 101H Mr. Panza Essay on Monstrosity Mary Shelley made her reputation of being one of the best Romantic authors on the basis of just one book. The notoriety that came with being the daughter of two famous authors helped, as did her age at the time of conceiving the book, but Frankenstein was the only one of her stories to achieve any fame. The level of fame it achieved, however, was astounding. In fact, even though it was originally published in 1818, Alasdair Gray still saw fit to use Frankenstein as his primary inspiration for Poor Things in 1992. The Gothic Romantic nature of both of these books is well known, but the monstrosity contained within them is an interesting topic to examine. Romantic literature was†¦show more content†¦The story grows from this inception to the somewhat vague description of Victor s creation. Shelley, through Victor, through Walton, explains the manner in which Victor prowled graveyards and such to compile body parts, much like Shelley used disjointed segments of individual observations to compile her story. Then, she delves into a birth. The animation of his project scares Victor so much, that he immediately abandons the creation, only to later see the monster in his room, reaching for Victor with a grin. Victor ‘escapes, abandons his child again. The lack of parenting and guidance is remarkable, no doubt inspired by Mary s own situation at the time. Then, as Victor wanders aimlessly, he encounters his childhood best friend, Clerval. Clerval is one of the truly honest characters in the book, though he also has problems with his father. He is Victor s true friend, one who will love him regardless, though Victor is monstrous enough to miss that fact, and tells Clerval nothing of his creation. Shelley then introduces us to Justine Moritz, a maid at the Frankenstein s home, who was mistreated by her mother before coming to work for them. Her love for the Frankenstein family is deep and pure. This is why it is such a shock to find out that she is the primary suspect in the murder of Victor s younger brother. The boy was strangled; a sign of rage and power issues, and a locket containing his mothers picture was stolen. Shelley keeps herShow MoreRelatedEssay about Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus?1373 Words   |  6 PagesFRANKENSTEIN, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS? In order to illustrate the main theme of her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelly draws strongly on the myth of Prometheus, as the subtitle The Modern Prometheus indicates. 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