The tragic heroes in William Shakespeare\'s plays often share the same personality traits. Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear all show similar attributes which suggest that the playwright used a basic mold to form some of his most notable characters. Beyond the hamartia of pride, which is a com...

What characterizes the concept of fate? How do liturgical, literary and artistic creations deal with its presence? Alongside technological, scientific and artistic developments come different perceptions of mankind's own raison-d'etre and the status of his existence. The thought of a master puppet...

Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear are the four most prominent and revered works that William Shakespeare had ever produced, though the first three that I mentioned seem to be recognized as more superior to K...

The Works of Shakespeare's Third PeriodThroughout Shakespeare's lifetime it is agreed by most scholars that he has written 37 plays. Although the exact date of several of these plays is uncertain, his remarkable career is generally divided into four periods. The third period, from 1600, includes m...

Themes from Leading MenThe act of creating and developing a character called characterization not only establishes a character, but serves as a means for the author to reveal the themes of the play. "A literary character is the invention of the author, and often inventions are indebted to prior inv...

Sid ThompsonMac Beth And His AmbitionsThemes from Leading Men The act of creating and developing a character called characterization not only establishes a character, but serves as a means for the author to reveal the themes of the play. A literary character is the invention of the author, and often...

Themes from Leading MenThe act of creating and developing a character called characterization not only establishes a character, but serves as a means for the author to reveal the themes of the play. "A literary character is the invention of the author, and often inventions are indebted to prior inv...

Shakespeare's SourcesWilliam Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. During the span of his life he worked mainly as an actor and principal playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men. His company went on to build the famous Globe Theater and were later named the King's Men, by James I. As a...

King LearKing Lear the aging King of Britain, has decided to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. First he puts his daughters through a sort of test, asking each to tell him just how much each daughter loves him. Goneril and ...

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, William Shakespeare is at onceinstantly recognizable and an enigma. As one writer notes, "There seems tohave been a curious lack of recognition of his gifts in his own time, andfew of his contemporaries left any record of knowing him 'or even havinglooked ...

"Character is destiny" is a dominant theme that often appears in Shakespearean tragedy. In the play, King Lear this concept is portrayed through the characters of King Lear, Gloucester, and Edmund. The characteristics and the roles that each of the characters have within the society of the play dete...