William Shakespeare (Questions with Answers)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is seen as Shakespeare's comment on the human inconsistency. Elaborate.

    Shakespeare explores the issues of inconsistency in human nature and relation by creating a world of dream where the characters behave in an irrational way by running after dreams, fantasies and romance that lead to anarchy, chaos, and confusion. It is by using mind that one can end the instability and chaos and gain maturity and permanence.The title of the play itself is very symbolic. It’s a dream at a certain stage of life that is youth. It is the fantasy world away from the rationality and practicality of the real world. The characters in the play lose touch with the world of reality. For taking us to the world of dreams form the world of reality Shakespeare uses magic as a device of transformation. It is the wood that is magic world, where the drama of inconsistency is played out. Hermia and Lysander love each other and have gone there because the Athenian law is an obstacle for them. However, Hermia loves Lysander and Demetrius loves Hermia. This tangled relation makes the situation very chaotic and disturbing. This shows how people take life to be romance. They turn their back on laws and society. Since the laws of society are antithetical to romance these characters take themselves away from society. The woods can be contrasted with the society which the lovers decide to leave behind in order to enjoy the dreamy world which the forests represent. After being transformed by the love juice they start doing nonsensical things. Read More...

Shakespearean Soliloquy.

    Shakespeare is known for his deep understanding of human nature with diverse feelings, emotions, and passions both positive and negative involved in it. Soliloquy is a device according to which a character brings out the inner complex feelings by speaking to himself / herself. The audience is supposed to hear it but not the other characters. Shakespeare gives soliloquies to complex character in order to bring out the secret feelings and plans which the character cannot share with other characters.
    Characters are individuals with their own complex thoughts and emotions. Not all these thoughts and emotions can be shared with others. Though drama is something public by its nature, soliloquies help to bring to light the private side of a character’s personality. It is the most appropriate formula for revealing the complex thoughts in the mind of characters. Shakespeare gives soliloquies either to villains or to protagonists with complex personality. In Othello, he gives more soliloquies to the antagonist Iago. Read More...

The Tempest as a Renaissance Drama.

    The play’s major focus is on Prospero’s quest for perfection, knowledge and power. He devotes himself to learning even to the extent of neglecting his duties as a ruler. Use of magic is a weapon through which he can attain perfection. He attains to the status of God on the island assigning roles to the people, commanding and punishing them whenever they go wrong. The act of Antonio’s usurpation of power gives us insights into the evil that was apart of Renaissance politics. The predominance of magic in the play shows the Renaissance king’s interest is in the magical things. Prospero leaves Milan and happens to land on a new island. This incident of traveling through sea, facing shipwreck, coming to a new land reminds us of the spirit of adventure of Renaissance times made possible by the invention of compass. The quest for geographical discovery of the time is vividly referred to. The long process of colonization began during the Renaissance period. Prospero goes to Caliban’s island and gives it culture and rules over it. He seems to have fulfilled the colonizing mission. He is the representative of western civilization, goes to a wild locale and molds it in the image of his own culture. He takes the land away from Sycorax to whom it legally belongs. Read More...

Hamlet as tragedy.

      Hamlet is a revenge tragedy written in the line of Roman senecan tragedy. It is the tragedy of reflection and moral sensitivity. The protagonist is very reflective and too sensitive thus unfit for taking revenge through action. He has to undo the past but the paradox of guilt and justice baffles him. The soliloquies of Hamlet help to bring out his complex mental state. When the play ends all the major characters are dead making the tragedy an absolute one.
    Hamlet’s father has been murdered by his uncle and his mother marries the criminal after her husband’s death. As suggested by the ghost Hamlet has to take revenge on his father’s murderer. As he is a person with a high degree of moral sensitivity and a philosophic bent of mind, he thinks about whether evil can undo evil and not remain evil. He wants to find out whether the ghost has told the truth or not. He thinks too much and cannot go into action without which revenge cannot be taken and the tragedy occurs. The soliloquies are given to him to help reveal his complex psychological state. It’s the tragedy of moral frustration. Read More...

The Tempest as a play about colonialism.

    Colonialism began much earlier with Columbus’ discovery of America. It was a big issue during Shakespeare’s time. The opening up of new frontiers and new land being discovered stimulated European information. Shakespeare’s imagination has taken this in to account. Exploration of new geographical spaces and control of those lands by the explorers is basically what we know by colonialism. Interpreted as white man’s burden, colonization was a means of conquering new lands and imposing the colonizer’s culture from on the native people. Prospero’s capture of sycorax’s land and his treatment of the natives of the island have prompted many critics to interpret the play as working out the drama of colonization. Read More...