What keeps mankind alive? Answer the question with reference to the actions of characters in The Threepenny Opera. In The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht, through the writing of the song “Second Threepenny Finale What Keeps Mankind Alive” in Scene Six, gives us the idea that “mankind is kept alive by bestial acts (page 55, line number 18). In my opinion, although the idea to associate human beings with beasts, or more specifically, human behaviour with “bestial acts” looks peculiar, some characters, in their pursuit of desires and wants, do reflect an inhuman nature, which makes them ‘beast-like’. In the play, we can see the constant, uncontrollable longing of “food” (page 55 number 9) of some characters. In my opinion, what the lyricist refers as “food” here is not the physical substance for eating or drinking, but instead things that one mostly desires. Throughout the play, we can see from the example of Macheath how his sexual urges matter more than any other things in his life: although he knows clearly that “a woman’s skirts are what he must resist” (page 40), he always fails to do so “as soon as night falls” (page 40). Moreover, his “sexual obsession” (page 40) is so intense that even during the critical days when he is wanted by the police, he keeps on showing up in the whorehouse and flirting the whores by praising the “nice underwear [that] [they] [have] got” (page 42) As reflected in the lyrics of the song, “food” is, for a number of characters, to be “sorted out” (page 55, line number 3) to the “basic, first position” (page 55, line number 3) in one’s life so that “food is the first thing [to] [them]”, “[while] morals follow on” (page 55, number 9). As an extension of the previous exampl... ... middle of paper ... ...ntrol and have to follow his orders, including the participation of the plot to disrupt the Coronation. In conclusion, I agree with Brecht’s reflection of mankind (in the theme of the play) “[being] kept alive by bestial acts”. In my opinion, beasts are without doubt brutal, and can never learn to act like a human. In their life, what matters the most is the pursuit of food and the defence for survival. In order to achieve that, they make use of all kinds of different methods. Sometimes they may even kill their own species when it comes to a critical situation. As we come back to the play, we learn from its ending that despite the bestial acts of the characters, all of them survive in the plot and live a good and luxurious life (Mac is rewarded ten thousand pounds by the Queen). This supports the premise of the song that bestial acts keep mankind alive.
Porgy and Bess, America’s first opera opened on the 10th of October in 1936. Porgy and Bess chronicles the unlikely romance between Porgy and Bess and takes place in the fictitious town of “Catfish Row” in Charleston South Carolina. The opera is based on “Porgy”, a novel written by Dubose Heyward and the play also written by Heyward and his wife Dorothy Heyward.
Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau examines the dynamic relationship between Moreau and the creatures which he has produced through experimentation. Initially, Moreau’s authoritarian rule over the creatures is established through a biblical motif when the monsters repeatedly recite “Learn the Law. His is the hand that makes. His is the hand that heals”. In contrasts to the animals’ acceptance of authority, Shakespeare’s Caliban repeatedly confronts Prospero, demonstrated through the historical allusion to the lethal Red Plague when Caliban snarls “The red plague rid you (Prospero) / For learning my language” following his realisation that he has been exploited by Prospero emphasising the influence of discovery in promoting the challenging of authority. However, the confronting, physical discovery of Moreau bleeding questioning his supposed immortality catalyses a shift in the existing power structures accentuated using synecdoche when the Leopard-man symbolically “with eyes aflame and curling lips, leapt towards his tormentor (Dr Moreau)”. Furthermore, discovery may prompt a change in an individual’s mannerisms such as the creatures who adopt increased authority and transform to the point the island resembles a new world revealed through Wells’ denouement where “at night the air was hideous with their calls and howling” substantiating the supremacy of the animals through the temporal setting. Provocative discoveries are able to transform the world we live in by prompting shifts in
Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.
In Shakespeare’s “Othello”, the role of women is deeply emphasized; the significant characters of the play Othello, Iago, and Casio, each have a lady that stands behind him. These women each have commitment to remain faithful and respect their husband's needs, especially Desdemona and Emilia.
In the Shakespear’s play “Othello” it is clear to see that the relationship between him and Desdemona is a complicated one wrought with passion and confusion which leads to emotional trauma and physical abuse. At point and times in the story of “Othello” love was transmuted different. Othello was not as gentle and kind as Desdemona when it came to his lover he a times exhibited symptoms of insanity. He also at times exhibited lack of confidence that is found in the perceived unity of marriage. This was apparent that the two lover on loves battlefield were on two opposing sides, Desdemona was honest and faithful to Othello until their tragic end.
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.
In the story of Othello we see how the actions of one man go on to ruin the lives of multiple people. The villain Iago single-handedly creates the tragedy of Othello through his puppeteer like control of the other characters in the play. Iago captivates the audience as his plan progresses. Readers are anxious to know what will happen next in the play. What makes Iago so fascinating is his mysteriousness as a character, his fully devious ways, and how magnificently clever he is in organizing the demise of Othello.
There are many literary works that contain villains who play an essential role in the development of the work as a whole. However, I believe that the ultimate villain of this kind is Iago in Shakespeare’s play, Othello. Through manipulation and scheming, he beguiles the other characters of the novel.
As Iago's role in the play begins to define itself, the plays main theme, which is jealousy, also begins to develop. Iago's role is unclear to the reader in the first scene. He appears to be an honest, trustworthy soldier who was angry because he was overlooked for a promotion. However, the reader later finds out that he is a "malignant and destructive plotter" and would do anything to destroy Othello and anyone close to him (Epstein 381). The fact that he is an evil character remains undetected by the rest of the characters in the play. "The other characters actually call Iago honest fifteen times throughout the entire play" (Campbell 156). Iago is jealous and resentful of Othello in everyway and uses this festering hatred to infect and destroy Othello. He filled Othello's mind with thoughts of deceit and betrayal until his unwarranted jealousy towards his beautiful, trusting, and innocent wife blinded Othello himself.
The play, Othello was written by William Shakespeare in the later years of his career. Giraldi Cinthios, Tale of a Moor, based Othello on a story that was a mellow Drama, about a moor and his doubts about his wife’s fidelity. In Shakespeare’s play the Moor (Othello) convinced by his jealous aid (Iago) that his wife (Desdemona) is not Being faithful. Iago’s jealousy is motivated by his anger when he learns that Cassio of Florentine has been appointed Governor of Cyprus. He felt that he deserved this promotion and vowed to seek revenge against Othello.
“Othello”, by William Shakespeare, is a story of jealousy’s potential to manipulate thoughts and eventually lead to ultimate demise. The key to extremely detrimental jealousy lies within one’s ability to recognize it or deny it. It seems that the important theme of “Othello” is that if jealousy is not recognized and immediately dealt with, it receives a head start to commence the process of rotting away all normal human reason. Othello’s speech in Act III scene iii beginning with line 178 is the first and most important indicator of the trouble ominously looming on Othello’s horizon. His immediate response to Iago’s accusations is that of total denial. By depriving himself of that initial venting process, Othello gives his jealousy the perfect culture on which his jealousy can turn cancerous and grow out of control. Othello does not spit out the seed that Iago has planted within himself soon enough and thus lets Iago water it with smooth speech until its roots spread and cannot be uprooted. The only way to appropriately illustrate this point is through an in depth analysis of specific text from the play.
"Othello" is a good example of Aristotelian drama. It is simple play and the focus is on a very small cast of characters. It has few distractions from the main plot and concentrates on just a few themes, such a jealousy, prejudice, pride and honesty. Jealousy is the emotion that drives the action of Othello. It has the classical unities of time, place (setting is in Venice in the first act and Cyprus thereafter) and action. Othello's cast is made up of "ordinary" people of moderate rank, and not of heroic stature and the dramatic action is interpersonal rather than universal.
Desdemona is one of the protagonists of the play contributes to the play and also fleshes out certain aspects of characterisation mainly where Othello and Iago are concerned. Thus her relevance is highlighted consistently throughout Othello, since without her ppresence, Iago would not have succeeded in manipulating Othello, and Othello's drastic transformation would not have been made evident.
Trust can be defined as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something (Webster’s 1246). In life many people are faced with the decision on who or who not to trust, especially in the realm of love. Trust is one of the main factors needed to determine a healthy, loving relationship. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the main character Othello is unable to trust his new bride Desdemona. In act one, scene three, Desdemona professes her love for Othello in front of her father, as well as the court. Regardless of Desdemona’s professed love for Othello, Othello fails to see her honest love and becomes blind of her devotion for her husband, when he should have had trust. Since Othello failed to have confidence in himself, when it pertained to love, he failed to have confidence in his wife and marriage, which led Othello to not trust his new bride. In society today lack of trust in one’s partner is able to ruin a good relationship just as Othello did with his new marriage. Trust is a key factor in a healthy relationship, without it love is unable to prevail.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, dramatic intensity is and dramatic tension is felt throughout the entire drama from the first scene to the last. As you read Othello you get a feeling as if you are in the play from all of the dramatic intensity and conflict that is presented to the reader throughout the drama. We are introduced to some of that dramatic intensity you feel as we read act I scene III 128 - 220. This is one off the many great dramatic points of this play letting us see the true feelings of Othello toward Desdemona, and how it gives Iagos a plot to plan against Othello to bring him down. This drama we see that the internal drama tension is from mainly Iago without him there would be no conflicts really throughout the play. We see inside of Iagos dastardly plan in Act II, Scene I, and Lines 211 – 292 were he is planning with Roderigo to get Desdemona away from Othello so that Roderigo could court her. We then from this scene see that at the end when Roderigo leaves that this is just a big plot to bring down Othello and get back at Cassio out of pure jealousy of him for being named by Othello his military understudy. Iago plotting the way he does in this part of the drama it’s only a mere prelude to the intensity and tension felt throughout the play. It makes us realize that the problem isn’t anything to do with Desdemona and Othello’s conflict of being together as in act I scene III lines 128 - 220. Iago in act II scene I lines 211 – 292 sets the entire plot and scheme of the drama out for us to see, and showing us that Othello’s and Desdemona’s confess to love in act I scene III lines 128 - 220 is no longer the dramatic conflict.