Despite the main female protagonist‚ the Duchess‚ possessing admirable qualities for a woman of the Jacobean Era‚ with Bosola acknowledging her worth‚ stating that her “behaviour (is) so noble/As gives a majesty to adversity”‚ John Webster has created‚ as critic Badendyck describes‚ “a male diseased world” around her; she is forced to live in surroundings where male characters such as her brothers Ferdinand and The Cardinal abuse and humiliate her throughout the play- suggesting that Webster’s play
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SUPERSTIONS AND DREAM INTERPRETATIONS IN THE DUCHESS OF MALFI Superstition‚ a sort of a feeling that takes umpteen number of forms and at times frightens life out of people‚ takes a special pedestal in the life of a person which might make a person float on cloud nine or perish in dungeons. Superstitions are universal and they do exist even now in the 21st century and the plays before three centuries are no exceptions. The plays during the 16th and 17th centuries were abounding with superstitious
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equal relationship with the Duchess has prompted some readers to feel that his importance as a character in the play is limited‚ while others suggest that his main role is as a mouthpiece for Webster’s own judgements and opinions. To assess the importance of his role we need to consider it relation to the Duchess‚ and in the context of the play as a whole. Inequalities of power associated with gender and social status are highlighted in the relationship between The Duchess and Antonio‚ and the reactions
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William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi are fascinating plays with convoluted plots that cause the reader to ponder the possible differences of females roles in 17th century society versus the present day. This is what makes the plays so amazing and interesting‚ as good literature can easily invoke feelings in its reader‚ challenging personal morals and beliefs. " In early Modern England‚ both gender and hierarchy‚ with the man at the top‚ and the husband’s patriarchal
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The Tragic Figure of Antigone When people recall tragedies‚ they often think Shakespearean. These tragedies were usually named after their tragic protagonists (e.g.‚ Romeo and Juliet‚ Macbeth‚ Julius Caesar‚ Hamlet‚ Othello). However‚ many tragic characters did not have an eponymous play. For example‚ in Antigone‚ a woman loses her life trying to honor her fallen brother and inadvertently causes Creon‚ the king‚ to lose his wife and daughter. Since we have two important characters’ detriments‚
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extreme sorrow‚ especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw‚ moral weakness‚ or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances‚" to the modern meaning of the word‚ "a lamentable‚ dreadful‚ or fatal event or affair" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary). As a result‚ readers of the Greek plays have different thoughts about the "tragic hero" of the story. Often‚ they assume that because something bad or dreadful happened to the character‚ he must be a tragic character‚ thus missing a key part of the Greek’s
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Creon the Tragic Figure Throughout the play Antigone‚ Creon is portrayed as the king of discipline and pride. Creon’s pride is what makes him the tragic figure of Antigone. Though Antigone takes her life as the result of her sentence from Creon‚ it is not her pride that defines her fate but her unwillingness to accept her fate. Creon‚ King of Thebes‚ suffers his fate of pride. Not by his own demise‚ but his denial of Antigones brother Polynices burial; this caused catastrophic events in Creon’s
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wanted what was in the best interest for the roman population. Brutus’s tragic flaw was that he was too trusting. He honestly felt that he had to kill Caesar in order to save Rome from tyranny. He trusted Mark Antony not to blame the conspirators in his speech at Caesar’s funeral. Mark Antony broke his promise and got Brutus and the others into deep trouble. Brutus indeed ended up in a position‚ from his own actions‚ that is tragic to the reader. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
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In the play Antigone‚ Creon is the tragic figure because he has many character flaws which lead to his downfall and consequential remorse. Creon is the king in this play‚ and has control over laws and people. This constant power brings out all of the worst and most dangerous characteristics in Creon. He affects many people‚ both verbally and physically and makes a lasting on impact on the city of Thebes. When the story begins‚ Creon has issued a law forbidding the proper burial of a fallen soldier
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A tragic Figure of a View from the Bridge In his play A View from the Bridge‚ Arthur Miller tells the story of Eddie Carbone‚ an illiterate longshoreman‚ who has an incestuous love for his niece‚ which drives him to his own tragedy. The story is set in 1950s America‚ in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. The play has the ingredients of a traditional Greek tragedy‚ complete with Alfieri‚ a narrator that fulfills the same purpose as Sophocles’s chorus from his plays
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