King Lear Shakespeares Essay Example for Free

King Lear Shakespeares Essay Dylan Thomass Do not go gentle into that good night was influenced by William Butler Yeatss Lapis Lazuli and William Shakespeares King Lear but the villanelle bears a stronger resemblance to Shakespeares play. The attitudes toward how an individual lives in the face of impending death, explored by Thomas, are similarly examined with the portrayal of Gloucester and Lear. Dylan Thomass Do not go gentle into that good night has been noted to bear the influence of and even echo W. B. Yeats, especially Lapis Luzuli, and, secondarily via this poem, Shakespeares King Lear. One scholar notes its Yeatsian overtones (Fraser 51); another judges Thomass villanelle to have much of the concentrated fury of expression which the poetry of the older Yeats contained, but more tenderness and sympathy (Stanford 117), and goes on to say. , citing Lapis Lazuli, that Yeats described the poet as one who knows that `Hamlet and Lear are gay' (118). William York Tindall cites not only Lapis Lazuli but also Yeatss The Choice as sources (204). Another scholar seems to skip over Yeats entirely (though his own phrasing echoes line 1 of Lapis Lazuli), seeing the Grave men/blind tercet (which contains the injunction to be gay) as perhaps invok[ing] the Miltonic (Tindall also mentions Milton 205) and the effect of the phrase be gay as rather hysterical sentimentality (Holbrook, Dissociation 53); of the earlier Wise men/lightning verse, however, he says The images are merely there, histrionically, to bring in the phrase `forked no lightning to give a Lear-like grandeur to the dirge (52). I would like to propose that Do not go gentle into that good night bears a much stronger and more direct connection to Shakespeares play than is suggested by references to Yeats or to Lear-like grandeur. I would like to propose that the attitudes towards deathor, more precisely, the attitudes towards how one lives in the face of impending deaththat Thomas explores in this poemthe implied attitude his speaker attributes to his direct audience, and the one he urges be adopted in its placeare similarly explored in King Lear and dramatized in the characters of Gloucester and Lear. I also propose that the voice we hear in Do not go gentle may not be a directly lyric speaker but an obliquely drawn persona, that of Gloucesters son Edgar. Further, when read in the shadow cast by King Lear, the tone of Thomass poem grows dark indeed. Do not go gentle into that good night is addressed to Thomass father, David John, known as D. J. According to biographer Paul Ferris, D. J. was an unhappy man a man with regrets (27); born with brains and literary talent, his ambition was to be a man of letters, but he was never able to advance beyond being a sardonic provincial schoolmaster in South Wales, feared for his sharp tongue (26-33). After his first serious illness, thoughcancer in 1933A mellowing is said to have been noticeable soon after; his sarcasm was not so sharp; he was a changed man (104). As he grew more chronically ill in the 40s, mostly from heart disease and with one of the complications being trouble with his sight, the mellowing intensified: As Ferris puts it, It must have been [D. J. s] backbone of angry dignity that his son grieved to see breaking long after, when he wrote `Do not go gentle into that good night' (27), and the poem is an exhortation to his father, a plea for him to die with anger, not humility (259). The poem was first published in November, 1951, in Princess Caetanis Botteghe Oscure, on consecutive pages with Lament, a dramatic monologue spoken by an old man on his deathbed who recalls his rollicking youth and middle-age spent in the pursuit (and capture) of wine, women, and song, but who has married at last in order to obtain a caretaker, and must suffer pious comforting in his final, helpless days. (Bibliographic evidence suggests the two were also composed, or at least finalized, more or less simultaneously; Kidder 188.) In the letter to Caetani that contained Do not go gentle, Thomas remarked that this little one might well be printed with [Lament] as a contrast (qtd. in Kidder 188). As Ferris suggests, it would be difficult to over-estimate D. J. s influence on his son: . . . the pattern of [Dylans] life was in some measure a response to D. J. Thomas and his wishes. For the early books that Dylan Thomas read, the rhythms he absorbed, and probably for his obsession with the magic of the poets function, he was indebted to D. J. (283). Prominent among those early books read by Thomas are the works of Shakespeare. In 1948 (and Thomas might have begun his, as usual, protracted drafting and revision of Do not go gentle in 1945, after D. J. suffered a nearly fatal illness; Tindall 204), Thomas wrote a journalist that D. J. s reading aloud of Shakespeare seemed to me, and to nearly every other boy in the school, very grand indeed; all the boys who were with me at school, and who have spoken to me since, agree that it was his reading that made them, for the first time, see that there was, after all, something in Shakespeare and all his poetry. . . (qtd. in Ferris 33; his ellipses). That Thomas was familiar with and admiring of Shakespeare is, of course, no surprise, but his direct linkage of his father with Shakespeare, particularly at this point in time, is interesting, and he demonstrated more than familiarity with King Lear: In 1950, during one of his reading tours in America, he spent an evening with novelist Peter de Vries (who would later use Thomas as the basis for the poet Gowan McGland in Reuben, Reuben) and, among other conversational gambits, declaimed some Lear (de Vries, qtd. in Ferris 233). That he was equally well-immersed in Yeats is verified by the fact that poems by Yeats were among those he performed on his 1950 tour of

Around The World In 80 Days :: essays research papers

Type of Literary Work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This sensational novel is an adventure novel consisting of an enterprising Englishman touring the globe. Woven within are historical facts, such as the British Empire and colonies around the globe, as well as historically accurate locations. Theme   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theme of this breathtaking novel is one of daring and persistence. On the whim of a wager, Fogg is sent around the world in the impossible time span of eighty days. Throughout the work, Fogg’s limitless persistence, entwined with his stereotypical English composure, astound the reader.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fogg represents this boundless daring in the audacious wager he makes. He has promised his arrival back in London in eighty days, regardless of the wilderness, delay, or other problems that may arise on his journey. The reader is, perhaps, driven to the conclusion that Fogg is a madman, who takes lightly to large sums of money. This is not so, as Fogg (although the wager seems unfeasible) is a reserved man, calm and collected at all times atop the punctuality Verne expresses within him in just the first chapters.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Verne expresses the stereotypical Englishmen, the seeker of adventure, popular in his time. Almost jokingly does Verne come to this conclusion, he being a Frenchman, in which all Englishmen will go to the corners of the Earth to find an area to â€Å"Europeanize†, find a wild beast to market from, or a project to throw their pounds at.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Fogg’s endless persistence, is further shown in his composure while great delays push him back, tragedies occur around him, and loved ones are lost repeatedly. His endless hope was a flood during a great drought within the circumstances he was found in. Train delays were compensated through elephant purchases, steamer delays through chartering yachts, stubborn foreigners subdued through a handful of bank notes – even the weather seemed to fall before Fogg. His devotion to his ultimate goal, not that of the money but of the accomplishment, was infinitely expressed throughout the work. Setting   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe. The novel begins in London, but quickly changes eastward, from Paris, to Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Yokohama, San Francisco, Omaha, New York, Queenstown, Liverpool, and back to London – a complete circumnavigation around the glove condensed into two hundred-odd pages.

Why Significant Changes Were Made to the Plot

Why Significant Changes Were Made to the Plot in The Big Sleep Movie After reading the novel â€Å"The Big Sleep† by Raymond Chandler, then watching the 1946 movie version starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, I found myself asking why are there so many changes to the plot in this movie as compared to the novel. Many significant pieces of the plot were drastically different and there were even certain scenes that had been made up for the movie that were never in the book. After doing some research I was able to come up with many reasons for these significant changes.Some of the main reasons for there being significant changes is the Hays Code which was a code of rules that all movies were to follow, as well as the chemistry that Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had together. Many of the changes in the movie version of â€Å"The Big Sleep† can be credited to the Hays Code. The Hays Code was a set of rules that movies were to follow. Will H. Hays was not the creato r of this code however he was the first person to be in charge of enforcing it therefore his name became attached to it (TV Tropes).Some smaller changes the Hays Code affected are the dealings that go on at Geiger's Book Store as well as Geiger's love interest. In the novel we are told that the book store is actually a front for a pornography store. We are also told in the novel that Arthur Geiger is gay and has a male partner. In the Hays Code it is stated that â€Å"The sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Pictures shall not infer that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted or common thing. (Arts Reformation). Given this the writers of the screenplay were forced to leave out the fact that the book store was actually a front for a pornographic store. As for the fact that Arthur Geiger was gay and had a male partner, it is stated in the Hays Code that â€Å"Sex perversion or any inference to it is forbidden. † (Arts Reformation). Alth ough a homosexual couple is more widely accepted nowadays, back in the time of the Hays Code it was considered perverse (TV Tropes) and had to be taken out of the movie.Two more significant changes that were made to the plot were both of the scenes where Carmen Sternwood was found naked. In the novel when Marlowe goes to Geiger's house he finds Carmen naked in a chair and drugged up. In the movie she has only been drugged, her clothes remain on. The other time that Carmen Sternwood was found naked in the novel was when she was waiting for Marlowe to come home and she was naked in his bed. In the film she is simply sitting in his room waiting for him fully clothed.Both of these changes can be attributed to the Hays Code. A rule in the Hays Code states â€Å"Complete nudity is never permitted. This includes nudity in fact or in silhouette, or any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture. † (Arts Reformation). Since the filmmakers were not allowe d to show nudity they were forced to change the plot which also lead to the photos of Carmen Sternwood that were used to blackmail her not being nude photos of her. A huge change that is made to the plot of the story is how the movie ends.In the book the climactic scene is where Marlowe is being held at gunpoint by Carmen Sternwood. This is also where Marlowe realizes that Carmen was the murderer. A rule about crime in Hays Code states â€Å"Crimes against the law: These shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice or to inspire others with a desire for imitation. † (Arts Reformation). If Carmen Sternwood had been the murderer then this would have made Marlowe's love interest, Vivian Rutledge, an accessory to murder (Wikipedia).If Vivian were an accessory to murder she would be committing a crime but the audience may feel sympathy for her since she is in love with the main character. Because of this the writers of the s creenplay had to change this. By changing the ending of the movie to having Eddie Mars be killed the writers also solve another conflict with the Hays Code. In the novel Eddie Mars does not actually kill anyone however he was the one who made the murders happen so he was in fact a very bad man who had committed serious crimes.At the end of the novel Eddie Mars does not come to justice for his crimes. Since the Hays Codes doesn't allow crime to be presented in a way that it will inspire others with a desire for imitation (Arts Reformation), Eddie Mars had to be brought to justice. If people had seen the movie and saw that Eddie Mars had been a murderer and gotten away with it, it could inspire them to imitate him. This is why the writers had to change what happens to Eddie Mars.A very significant change made to the plot, which is more of an addition to the plot than anything is the fact that Marlowe and Vivian Rutledge have a love interest. In the film Marlowe lets the reader know ma ny times that he is not fond of women. Because of this love interest many scenes were added to the film in which Marlowe and Vivian have conversations of the sexual nature. Before â€Å"The Big Sleep† movie was made both Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had starred in a movie called â€Å"To Have and Have Not†.This film had a great success with their scenes together and this made the filmmakers want to add more scenes between the two (William Ahearn). When it comes down to it, making Marlowe and Bacall have a relationship is just adding a Hollywood perspective on a novel. Many changes were made to the plot in â€Å"The Big Sleep† film. But none of them were made without reason. The Hays Code limited filmmakers to what they could put into movies and changes were made so that the film would be more appealing to the general public.Works Cited – Ahearn, William. â€Å"The Big Sleep (1946)† 2008. November 2012. http://www. williamahearn. com/bs1945. ht ml – â€Å"The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code)†. Arts Reformation. April 2006. November 2012. http://www. artsreformation. com/a001/hays-code. html – â€Å"The Big Sleep (1946 Film)†. Wikipedia. November 15 2012. November 23 2012. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep_(1946_film)#Cast -â€Å"Hays Code†. TV Tropes. November 2012. http://tvtropes. org/pmwiki/pmwiki. php/Main/HaysCode

As A Society, We Are Being Continuously Taught Not To Stray

As a society, we are being continuously taught not to stray too far from tradition and from what previous generations have proven to follow. This insinuates the idea that we, as individuals, should follow tradition that includes stereotypical gender roles that existed. Throughout Euripides’ Medea, the audience and readers are shown the consequences that said gender roles create. They are a part of history that may never be overcome, as developed in the play. Gender roles may never be overcome in society, nevertheless it is important to remember that they do not define a person, let alone decide their fortune. Equality should not be perceived as an opinion, but as a right. By performing a feminist reading of Medea, it is evident that the†¦show more content†¦He tells Socrates that his wife came to him at fifteen, already knowing how to spin yarn, sew clothes, and cook. This shows that these were the sole expectations of women; they were not supposed to be smart or be able to work. Medea always does what she thinks is correct, which is a good mindset to have as it shows true independence. Through showing this quality in Medea, Euripides reinforces this quality that many people should possess. Euripides develops the idea that no matter what gender a person is, they can still be the protagonist of their own story and be confident in their decisions. This may have been slightly extreme on Medea’s part as it made her inevitably sad, although, she proved herself as slightly more â€Å"masculine†, as she did not exhibit the typical â€Å"feminine† hysteria. Even though she got her vengeance on Jason and did so independently, she still lost the most important thing in her life, her children. In some ways, Medea ultimately became the only person controlling her own destiny because she had reached her goal of getting vengeance, or in her own twisted sense, justice on Jason for what he did to her. â€Å"What point is there in living anymore?†(Euripides line 169), questions Medea, showing how much pain she was in, as well as the possibility that she feels as though she must be with a man to survive. This thinking creates the idea that to beShow MoreRelate dThe King of the Savannah is Becoming Extinct951 Words   |  4 PagesLions of certain ages help ensure that the African lion can continue breeding. There are so many different options but there are the fantastic three that have the best chance of saving these majestic creatures of the Sahara. Instead of small fences, we can start raising money to create a large reserve so that the lions can roam freely and comfortably as they please to. The African Lions would be far away from any harmful human contact. 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