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What does the play hamlet tell us about the nature of evil
Good and evil essays from hamlet
Good and evil essays from hamlet
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Evil Within and Evil External in Richard III, Titus, and Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare's villains seem to fall into one of two categories: those who are villainous of heart (inherently and genuinely evil or Machiavellian) and those who are circumstantially turned antagonists. Richard III's carefully plotted plans to usurp the throne contrast heavily against Aaron's (of Titus Andronicus) rambling which contrasts with Aaron's lack of action. The motivations of these two characters are different however. Richard seizes the opportunity to take over the throne by Machiavellian means when presented with the opportunity. Aaron represents the evil presumed of a "godless moor," his character being a symbol as much as his skin colour particularly to an audience familiar with the conquests.
Tamora is truly more evil than Aaron. She is the one who commands her sons to rape and cut up Lavinia leaving her dishonoured, with two bloody stumps for hands and no tongue with which to tell the tale. Aaron suggests that he tutored the sons in their behaviour (Act V Scene I Lines 99-111):
Indeed I was their tutor to instruct them.
That coddling spirit had they from their mother,
As sure as a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind I think they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth:
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay;
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold that within that letter mentioned,
Confederate with the queen and two sons;
The audience never witnesses Aaron's supposed teachings however, nor is it likely that if he were to continue living as before that he would commit the acts he pledges himself to as he is to be hanged (Act V Scene I Lines 125-144). Aaron talks of evil and trickery, while Tamora lives its epitome, marrying herself into the queen-ship of the conquering tribe. When presented with his child Aaron does care for it, and only agrees to speak upon the condition that it shall be saved. This insight into his character makes him seem almost a worthier person than Titus who murders his own sons. The villain shows more care for his kin than the hero does for his. This serves to make Aaron a more realistic villain by making him more human.
“Honor is the value of a person in his or her own eyes. Honor is a claim to worth along with social acknowledgement of worth.” (Malina 31) This phrase tells us that honor was extremely important to the ancient people. Honor is a value that was present during many occasions in the play. This value can be seen in Oedipus. He promised the citizens of Thebes that he would find the murderer of Laius and free the lands from the plague. The murderer was to be exiled from Thebes. Oedipus later found out that he himself was the murderer. Even though he was king, he honored the punishment and exiled himself from Thebes. The New Testament states that honor in women meant positive shame. Positive shame is the sensitivity of one 's own reputation. A shameless person is considered a dishonorable woman. Women have to be ashamed and remain shy to avoid human contacts that might expose her to dishonor. (Malina 50) This value can be seen in Jocasta. She feels ashamed when she finds out that her husband Oedipus turned out to be her son. In order to remain honorable, her shame led her to commit
In the Shakespearean play, Romeo & Juliet, aggression is represented in different ways by the different characters in the play. Tybalt, Romeo, Benvolio, and the others all have their own way of dealing with hate and anger. Some do nothing but hate while others can’t stand to see even the smallest of quarrels take place.
Tamora is a veritable mold for the perfect Machiavellian character. She lusts not for power as her marrying the emperor would at first suggest, but for revenge. However, she is fatally flawed since she cannot perceive the obvious signs that Titus is at some level aware of the reality around him. She is too wrapped up in her own plans, and thus denies the signs of his lucidness. Her extensive cunning and plotting are one-sided. She acknowledges but does not fully comprehend Titus' state of mind:
Tim O’Brien wrote the novel The Things They Carried in 1990, twenty years after the war in Vietnam.In the novel,Obrien takes us through the life of many soliders by telling stories that do not go in chronical order. In doing so we get to see the physical and mental things the soldiers carry throughout the war in Vietnam.Yet the novel is more than just a description of a particular war. In the things they carried Tim O’Brien develops the characters in the book slowly, to show the gradual effect war has on a person. O’Brien shows this by exploring the life of Henry Dobbins, and Norman Bowker.
The U.S. criminal justice system functions as a system of racial control, even though it abides by the principle of color blindness. I found the book riveting. The historical background the author provided put the issue into context.
(Williams, 10/8) This war had such a great impact in our history because millions of men died and a lot of land was destroyed. This war had upgraded the way wars were fought. They had things like machine guns, better hand guns, tanks, chemical weapons, etc. They also fought in trenches instead of long lines on the ground. The trenches were like little cities underground: it had hospitals, telephones, water points, latrines and much more. This was the first war that planes were used in combat. The United States tried to stay neutral until the Germans sank the Lusitania and killed Americans. After this sinking “Wilson demanded that German submarines not sink ships until they had been boarded and searched.”(World War I, 12/8) The Zimmerman telegram also had something to do with America finally joining World War I. British were able to decrypt the telegram to understand what it said. After World War I, there was a treaty called the treaty of Versailles that helped the war to be over but the bad part was this was just a stepping stone to World War II. (Williams, 10/8) I do not think that it would have been possible to completely take out World War I out of history; it would have eventually occurred. It was highly possible that it could have been held off longer than when it occurred. The issues that brought us into World War I were still there and were not just going to magically disappear. If it was held off, the war could have possibly been fought a lot quicker than what it was. Things might have been thought out a lot more than what they were. During world war I they were inventing new things pretty much as the soldier were out fighting battles, so if all these weapons and things were invented before the men went to war than the weapons would have been perfected. If things would have happened differently, like if the Germans would not have sank the Lusitania or the Zimmerman
Within both Titus Andronicus and Othello both by William Shakespeare the reader is introduced to the concept of a black man within a white society. Stigmas and stereotypes are attached to the black characters of Aaron and Othello. Although each black character has a similar stigma, the characters are very different from one another. Aaron is portrayed as evil, conniving and malevolent, while Othello has none of these traits. Othello's fault lies in the fact that he is very gullible and easily led.
Through the flaws in the characterization of his characters, Shakespeare allows their weakness to manipulate and cloud their judgment. This fundamentally leads to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet, with each weakness presenting a conflict that alters the characters fate. Being especially true with the star-crossed lovers, William Shakespeare leads their perfect love into tragedy with these conflicts. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt all contribute to conflicts that enhance the plot. From destructive flaws in their characterizations, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt are all consequently controlled by their weakness, therefore affecting the outcome of the play.
... Aaron reveals that he is Satan. Looking deep into Shakespeare's text one can realize that Shakespeare is playing out a battle between God and Satan, where Aaron is Satan, and the little boy is God or Jesus. It is incontestable that Aaron’s satanic ways damage everybody he comes into contact with. He demonstrates his satanic characteristics as he finds joy in every life that he ruins. The little boy on the other hand is truly innocent because doesn’t make a single mistakes throughout the entirety of the play. Because the little boy is never sinful by thought, word, or deed in the play, he can be portrayed as God or Christ. In the movie of Titus Andronicus the little boy ventures off with Aaron’s son. This can be portrayed as God saving His lost child from the dark and sinful grasp of Satan. Maybe this is what Shakespeare is trying to convey in this part of his play.
The main character in the play is Titus Andronicus while the antagonists are Tamora, Aaron and Saturninus. Titus is a roman hero because he has aided in defeating the Goths. On the other hand, he has lost his own sons through conflicts. In the play, he has a strong urge of revenge. Saturninus, late emperor of Rome’s son, does not obey the authority. Bassiunus is Lavinnia’s lover. Tamora is the Goth’s queen with a strong urge to revenge because her son, Alarbus, was executed. Aaron is a moor who has been given evil personification. Marcus, Titus’s brother, always defends the rights of the people. Titus’s sons include: Lucius, Quintus, Martius and Murtius. Publius is Marcus Andronicus son. Sons of Tamora are Alarbus, Larbus, Demetrious and Chiron. Lavinnia is a vey innocent girl who suffers from unpleasant offenses.
To be more specific, Aaron is a product of his environment. He is brought up in the Goth and Roman cultures, and similar to the European cultures, Moors were still seen as “outsiders.” Dutta further explains in his article, “Without any cultural lineage, he must assert his identity only in terms of what the “civilized‟ Romans take him for. His bestiality is the only means by which he can define himself in the white society” (Dutta 929). Something important to note as well is that although Aaron is seen as one of the main villains along with Tamora, it is not him to does the majority of the violent acts in the play. According to Dutta, "Aaron is not really the "chief instigator" of the numerous acts of violence in the play. His primary motive is not unqualified malignity, but a desire to rise above the station that the white society has reserved for him" (930). Aaron delivers a monologue in the play that depicts his true feelings and allows for the audience to understand why Aaron does the things he does. He
Whether you hate your King, your Christian rival or a neighboring foe, if you're in a Shakespeare play then you will be punished. In the first act of each play Shakespeare shows a conflict between two groups of people, one is vengeful the other virtuous. After the conflict is introduced, the malignant characters have important parts of their lives taken away and in the end the ultimate penalties of each are inflicted. All of the antagonists are left desolate in the end of the plays by either lost fortunes or their lives. Shakespeare takes good care to give the protagonists of the plays much reward for being on the right side of the spectrum. As the characters hate increases throughout the play they begin to loose what is precious to them, first in small amounts, but in the end, they are stripped of all they love and value.
...oving lawmakers to rethink policies that treat them like adults” by Sarah Alice Brown . “Between 1994 and 2010, violent crime arrest rates decreased for all age groups, but more for juveniles than for adults”, were Sarah Alice words. In addition she said; more specifically, the rates dropped an average of 54 percent for teenagers 15 to 17, compared to 38 percent for those between 18 and 39. And while arrest rates for violent crimes were higher in 2010 than in 1980 for all ages over 24, the rates for juveniles ages 15 to 17 were down from 1980.
Majority of the victims of human trafficking are kidnapped and held against their own will. The victim’s trafficker usually provides them with a place to stay and enough things for them to live and do the things that they are being trafficked for. The women of human trafficking typically grows into it. By this I mean they start when they are young girls and they grow up into the field of human trafficking. Half of the time it’s not even under their control they’re just doing what they are being told. So this brings me to my Research Question: Why do victims of sex trafficking not run away or ask for help? If they were kidnapped and doing things that they don’t want to be doing why don’t they just stop? Why are some victims trafficked for years and years? Why are some only trafficked for a few months? What prevents the victims from leaving and being free
Richard, the main character of the Shakespeare’s play, Richard III is portrayed as socially destructive and politically over-ambitious. His destructive potential is depicted by the way he relates with the other protagonists in the play and also by what he confesses as his intentions.