Shakespeare Argumentative Essays Samples For Students

The ideal and real roles of women depicted in the plays The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Women have been the subject of greater literary interest since times immemorial. They frequently serve as the means to replicate contemporary society. During the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, women were largely portrayed as the victims of a patriarch society. Modern feminism was nonexistent until the 19th century and female voice was completely subdued. “Feminists’ scholars regarded the 18th century author Mary Wollstonecraft as the original harbinger of feminism, a ...

Organization

Abstract
“Twelfth Night” is one of the most coveted comedies written by William Shakespeare. The element of the comic entwined with the tragic, calls for an intriguing plot which, the beauty of which is further enhanced by the accompaniment of music. This paper comprises of a critical response to Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and the central theme of comedy which permeates the plot. It is a characteristic feature of most of the most of the plays of Shakespeare that what appear to be comic turns out to be wise and the seemingly wise characters, more often than not, end up ...

The theatre act is about two people on a stage. They are often joined by the persona of hamlet who Shakespeare used in his plays. The two, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz are in a train and in constant movement to go around and collect things. This play is about things in life a person wants and what he can get. The play also gives the audience various possibilities by developing a multi-dimensional line of thought. This is greatly supported by the games that they play on stage.
The play begins with the two characters standing near each other. Apparently, Guil has a basket that ...

Shakespeare exhibits his keen sense of society in The Tempest, where he portrays the troubling nature—as well as the consequences—of colonial expansion. Shakespeare participates in the condemnation of colonialism, exposing the potential for mental destruction and inhumanity beyond measure when a colonizer deems himself superior to the colonized. Furthermore, he reveals the need to reexamine our history and rid ourselves of residual guilt. The aftermath of remorse and disappointment causes us to suppress memories of our colonial past, “often deluded and unsuccessful in [our] attempts to disown the burdens of [our] colonial inheritance” (Ghandi 4). Shakespeare’s play ...

Introduction

The book, “Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice,” written by William Shakespeare, was written in 1603, which is based on the Italian short story known as “Un Capitano Moro (“A Moorish Captain”) which was written by Cinthio. The main character in the book is Othello, a Moorish general who worked and served in Venetian army. In the book, there are also other major characters such as Desdemona and Cassio. The book carries a variety of themes ranging from racism, jealousy, betrayal, love, repentance, and revenge. In this section, we shall focus on the theme of race as depicted from the ...

Shakespeare is remembered as a legendary play writer. Most of his works are defined as tragic plays which results in the untimely death of the main characters. The main characters in his plays meet their “tragic” death through breaking the norms of the society, “Vienna and Verona”. Fornication and adultery are sexual crimes that trigger mixed reactions in a society, some debates on the person who ought to be punished, the lady or the man or both? However, what causes a greater storm is the acceptable form of punishment for the offenders. While some societies have “friendly” punishments, others punish the sex ...

The portrayal of Feminism in 16th Century Literature

The literature of a particular era is influenced by the contemporary social political, social and cultural issues. Sixteen century lifestyle and way of living was completely different from the way we are leading a life in 21st century. The political, social and cultural transitions took place during the era. The repercussions of these states of affairs were felt in literature. One of the social issues in Sixteen century was the traditional role of women. Many contemporary writers portrayed ideal women in their literature. The portrayal was based on the established protocols of the ideal women. The character does not fit in ...

William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is one of the most renowned plays in world literature. Written more than four hundred years ago, it is still studied to this day. One of the reasons that this is so is that the play displays rich artistry. This includes the incarnation of modernism in the character of Hamlet himself. However, surely many would argue that this play should not be still taught in schools because there is already too much literature. Shakespeare's Hamlet should continue to be used as the topic for the research paper assignment in ...

Classic English Literature

In drawing comparison between Shakespeare’s Sonnets 130 and 148, it is quite clear that Shakespeare uses the topic of vision (descriptions), and emotion (expressions) to highlight his feelings for his mistress. He has, by using themes such as love, beauty, emotion, and uncertainty, been able to draw the subconscious mind of his readers to relive what he himself must have experienced. Using contradictory and contrasting unconventional styles, Shakespeare was able to set off a precedence of intuitive thinking in his readers’ minds. When juxtaposed with each other, it looks like Sonnet 130 is the predecessor to Sonnet 148, for ...

Introduction

‘King Lear’ is one of the luminous literary works of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote this tragic play several centuries ago. ‘King Lear’ portrays the bitter truth of the society and various noted intellectuals consider this play as a rare literature that has ever been witnessed. George Bernard Shaw writes, “No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear” (Shaw 23). This paper intends to argue for the possibility of greed of a family member or any person to destroy the whole family. In ‘King Lear’, greed is the cause of family tragedy hence the paper will argue on the positive and ...

Even thought the phrases ‘victim of ambition’ and victim of fate’ appear inconsistent with the character of Macbeth, elements of both ambition and fate surface in his life. Although it appears that Macbeth might have always preconceived the desires to be king, this is not revealed until he meets the three witches, who prophesize that the ball is set in motion thereby bringing his ambitions to light. After this meeting with the witches, several instances of both fate ambition and fate mold Macbeth’s character. By the end of the play, though his wife’s ambitions and the prophetic ...

Thesis Statement

Macbeth was not an influential or powerful leader; in fact, he was a coward and insecure person.
Introduction
Macbeth is the protagonist of a story named Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare. The play is based on Scotland where the king of Scotland is at war with the King of Norway. It is argued that Macbeth was a brave and influential leader and this paper argues against this statement. In this essay, it has been argued that Macbeth was not an influential or powerful leader; in fact, he was a coward and insecure person. The explanations, presented in this paper, will also ...

The Oedipus complex is a psychosexual desire where a boy has got sexual feelings for his mother while young and develops with this feeling up to teenage age. The complex can also result to a feeling of hatred towards a parent or guardian of similar sex. The complex can be explained through ones actions and thoughts towards a father or mother. Some people can misunderstand this feeling with love of a child towards a parent; however, the level of love is what is in question in Oedipus complex. Freud described that the disorder starts in young boys aged between three and five years. The boy the ...

Oedipus Rex is one of the great masterpieces by the great dramatist Sophocles. Oedipus the King is a trilogy out of which Oedipus Rex is the first part. The fast pace of this play and the horrible fate of the mighty king grips the reader from the very first word of the play.

After reading the play, some might argue that everything happened because it was supposed to happen i.e. because of the predestination. Furthermore, it is believed that Oedipus’s character had nothing to do with whatever happened with him and he was just a puppet in the fate’s ...

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the most famous plays in world culture and, although it was first performed over four hundred year ago, it is still frequently staged and speaks anew to succeeding generations of theatre goers. It will be argued that Hamlet portrays what is in contemporary society still a devastating problem – the problems concerning the privacy and scrutiny of what we now call celebrities.
Hamlet is, in terms of sixteenth century Denmark, a celebrity. He is the son of the recently deceased king and might even be regarded as his father’s natural successor. Towards ...

The notion that each of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes must have single easy-to-define tragic flaw can be traced to the writing of A C Bradley (Gibson 2002 p 87) and there has been general critical agreement that Hamlet’s ‘flaw’ is hesitation and that he delays taking revenge on Claudius because he vacillates and is uncertain. It is true as well that in the play itself hamlet criticizes himself or this very trait. Hamlet in Act 4, scene 4 watches Fortinbras’s army cross the stage on their way to fight over Norwegian possession of a disputed piece of land in ...

The presentation of love throughout Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is as a concept that brings a lot of upset and hurt to the characters. As a romantic comedy, this plot is immediately juxtaposed with the genre as you would expect there to be a greater amount of joy and happiness in a comedy. Many of the characters consider love to be something which is imposed upon them; something that they do not wish to have to endure because of its inevitable heartbreak.

It is Orsino’s opening line, “If music be the food of love, play on” (Twelfth Night 1. 1. 1) that sets ...

The Tempest and Frankenstein both have a common theme, and they exhibit an extreme misuse as well as a violation of nature with the formation and use of authority outside the natural world that result in an inappropriate deformation and despair. The term nature in this essay is used to refer to any possible thing that is in the cycle of life without the human intervention. Due to man-made authority, the two novels illustrate an entire demise of human beings, in both unique but differing ways. In Frankenstein, Shelley brings the concept of zero in making nothing to something; ...

The two protagonists of Homer’s Iliad and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus present similar sentiments. All three of them were great leaders of men and valiant fighters. It is unfortunate that these men were dragged into situations from where there could be no escape as they were, and had to live up to their heroic statures. There was a huge burden placed on them by their respective followers during war that they paid no heed to the consequence they would face when they faced off with their enemy. Therefore, there is no doubt that all the three of them; Hector, Achilles, ...

The world is a very different place than it was when people first came out of medieval times. If a person from that period were to step into today’s world, they would surely die from fright. Many people do not go to church and democracy has long since replaced the monarchies of that time. However, if they were to read popular literature and watch popular television shows and films, that individual would find themselves right at home. Conversely, a person who time travelled from the edge of reason might find this world to be a cultivation of their ideals. People are all ...

Orwell’s essay ‘England Your England’ written in 1941 is typical of the confusion that is felt by individuals and the whole of the country in uncertain political times. George Orwell attempts to set some kind of direction for the country amongst all the confusion of war. England was being bombed by the Germans in WWII at the time. This paper will argue that the central thesis of the essay was that English patriotism and loyalty exists in different forms depending on class in normal circumstances. As a collective idea, it is far more complex and is undergoing transition. For ...

Symbolism is an important aspect of literature that most writers use to bring out their point. There is however a big difference on how symbolism was used in ancient literature and how it is currently being used. This is simply because of the changing times as well as the influences that come with technology. The essence of literature is to point out issues that are affecting the society with the aim of creating a lasting solution to them. It should also be noted that modernity has come up with a different breed of writers who have taken a different approach to literature. Even ...

Introduction

Many theories have been advanced to explain disability with many of them revolving around biomedical origins. However, sociologists have developed quite a different school of thought. According to sociologists, disability, which can be physical, cognitive, emotional, mental or developmental, is an impairment that can largely be linked to historiography, social construction as well as social organization.

Historiography

Historiography seeks to explain disability by applying two concepts: materialism and feudalism. Materialists argue that disability is a social experience, which arises from the specific ways in which society organizes its fundamental activities i.e. work, transport, leisure, education and domestic life. According to Gleeson (1999), ...

In an average week, I spend far more time consuming media labeled as popular culture than I do things considered high art—and I am not alone in this. Recent reports show that the average American watches more than five hours of television a day, in addition to time spent consuming other media through the internet or radio (Hinckley). Those who bemoan these types of statistics as a sign of society’s downward spiral fail to consider the possibility that the narratives taking place on the small screen of today are just as artistic as those that took place ...

Imagination is the process of forming mental images about things that are not perceived by the five senses. The mind can build scenes, events and objects that exist in sub-conscious mind. Every human being has some level or sense of imagination. In some people, the level of imaginations manifests itself in a developed form while, in others, it may be weak. The development of imagination can lead to success in career or one’s endeavors. In history, some of the most famous people who believed in the power of imagination include Albert Einstein. Einstein would sit down in his library ...

What is most common in people’s mind in regards what characterizes a conservative person, it is widely accepted that conservative is an individual with rather “old-fashioned” ideas, or one that sticks to tradition. Usually a conservative person refuses to follow the stream and embrace new concepts. According to the Oxford Dictionaries, conservative as an adjective means “holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion” (oxforddictionaries.com), while in terms of what defines a conservative person, Oxford Dictionaries note that it is “a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional ...

This book is a seminal work in the analysis of literature and provides several succint examples of how works can be analyzed accordingly. It is split into several parts which demonstrate its strengths of analysis but there are also some intriguing reflections on the various aspects of literature and some finely selected poems and pieces of writing.
Schib and Clifford begin by providing a succint analysis of Sharon Olds’ ‘Summer Solstice’, New York City in the chapter called, ‘How to Read Closely’. Here the author espouses on the beauty of the great city in summer also espousing the various values ...

Introduction

Theatre performance is an art, where a story, a mythological character, an important historical event etc. are displayed by an “actor” where he pretends to be someone else, for the enjoyment and edification of the viewers. The concept seems to be very much normal in the first place, however involves very deep theories of psychology in itself as the person enacting a certain character needs to control his emotions and basically displays the emotions of the character that he is playing. By the end of the 19th century Stanislavski and one of the other Moscow producer-author Nemirovich Danchenko merged their acting companies ...