Saturday, January 25, 2020

The Visible Light Spectrum :: Free Essay Writer

The Visible Light Spectrum â€Å"Mr. Petersuh-uh-uhn†¦. I need a white crayon for the white parts of the map!†, my daughter’s classmate whines as she peers into her box of mismatched Crayons. â€Å"Don’t worry about coloring those parts of the map. White isn’t a color anyways†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , replies her sixth grade teacher. Uh-oh. Big mistake! The entire class is now in for an impromptu lesson in the properties of light and the visible spectrum, courtesy of the child of a laser student. Added bonus: elevated egg-headed status for aforementioned child. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Petersen, but I feel that I must correct you on that. You are sadly misinformed. My Mom says that white is the presence of all color and black is no color! What of that?! Hmmm?† (Yes†¦my kid really talks like this. She’s 10 and she skipped a grade level. She’s quite loquacious. I wonder where she gets it from? But I digress†¦) The flustered Mr. Petersen flashes my child a weak smile and mumbles something to the effect of, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦technically, Jacki, you are correct. Just leave the white parts blank and stay on task!† Shame, shame, shame. The instructor has just dropped the ball on a wide-open opportunity for learning and discussion. Never one to miss an opportunity to exercise her mind and initiate a discussion/impress her peers, my kid goes on to explain the basic principles and properties of light and color. This precipitates a wave of â€Å"no way!† and â€Å"how’d you know?†s from the inherently curious and doubly impressed group of sixth graders. As she, in fits and giggles (true sixth grade girl fashion!), recounted the story to me, she re-iterated over and over that â€Å"most grown ups just don’t know ANYTHING!†. And I thought to myself, â€Å"You know†¦we might know a lot about some things, but she just pointed out one of the most popular misconceptions that abounds concerning light and the perception of color!†. White light is NOT the absence of all color! Black is NOT all of the colors all mixed together! (Remember second grade? When you ran out of black crayon and just scribbled all of the remaining colors together and got a muddy brownish gray at best? Uh-uh†¦never works.) Thus, I have taken it upon myself to enlighten the rest of us â€Å"just don’t know ANYTHING† grown-ups on the subject of color and the visible spectrum of light. The Visible Light Spectrum :: Free Essay Writer The Visible Light Spectrum â€Å"Mr. Petersuh-uh-uhn†¦. I need a white crayon for the white parts of the map!†, my daughter’s classmate whines as she peers into her box of mismatched Crayons. â€Å"Don’t worry about coloring those parts of the map. White isn’t a color anyways†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , replies her sixth grade teacher. Uh-oh. Big mistake! The entire class is now in for an impromptu lesson in the properties of light and the visible spectrum, courtesy of the child of a laser student. Added bonus: elevated egg-headed status for aforementioned child. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Petersen, but I feel that I must correct you on that. You are sadly misinformed. My Mom says that white is the presence of all color and black is no color! What of that?! Hmmm?† (Yes†¦my kid really talks like this. She’s 10 and she skipped a grade level. She’s quite loquacious. I wonder where she gets it from? But I digress†¦) The flustered Mr. Petersen flashes my child a weak smile and mumbles something to the effect of, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦technically, Jacki, you are correct. Just leave the white parts blank and stay on task!† Shame, shame, shame. The instructor has just dropped the ball on a wide-open opportunity for learning and discussion. Never one to miss an opportunity to exercise her mind and initiate a discussion/impress her peers, my kid goes on to explain the basic principles and properties of light and color. This precipitates a wave of â€Å"no way!† and â€Å"how’d you know?†s from the inherently curious and doubly impressed group of sixth graders. As she, in fits and giggles (true sixth grade girl fashion!), recounted the story to me, she re-iterated over and over that â€Å"most grown ups just don’t know ANYTHING!†. And I thought to myself, â€Å"You know†¦we might know a lot about some things, but she just pointed out one of the most popular misconceptions that abounds concerning light and the perception of color!†. White light is NOT the absence of all color! Black is NOT all of the colors all mixed together! (Remember second grade? When you ran out of black crayon and just scribbled all of the remaining colors together and got a muddy brownish gray at best? Uh-uh†¦never works.) Thus, I have taken it upon myself to enlighten the rest of us â€Å"just don’t know ANYTHING† grown-ups on the subject of color and the visible spectrum of light.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Woman in White

Women's Rights Collins hammers home the point that women in England, regardless of their social standing, their education, their moral behavior or their finances, have few legal rights for protection. Laura Fairlie is robbed of her identity and her inheritance by a greedy, unscrupulous husband. Mrs. Catherick has her reputation ruined by a misunderstanding that leaves her divorced and alone at the mercy of the man who caused the misunderstanding. Anne Catherick is falsely imprisoned in a mental institution, as is her half-sister Laura Fairlie.Both escape without the help of any man and go into hiding. Countess Eleanor Fairlie Fosco is denied her rightful inheritance by her older brother Philip simply because he disapproves of her marriage. This drives her to crime to gain back her inheritance. Laura Fairlie is assaulted by her husband and finds no help from the law to protect her, and even her guardian, Frederick Fairlie,†¦ An Analysis of Female Identity in Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White  Ã‚   This article looks at the issue of female identity in Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White.It analyzes two key scenes from the novel to reveal how construction and style inevitably influence the representation of identity, as well as assessing the text in relation to genre, particularly the role of the Gothic in Collins's narrative. A prevalent theme in The Woman in White is confinement. Both Anne Catherick and Laura Fairlie are confined in a mental asylum by Sir Percival Glyde. The novel effectively reworks traditional Gothic conventions in its depictions of confinement and the female characters' jailer.The Woman in White belongs to the genre of ‘sensation' fiction, Collins's novel being regarded as innovative as it is the first, and arguably the greatest, of the English sensation novels. Sensation fiction is generally considered a hybrid genre in that it combines the elements of romance familiar to readers of Gothic fiction and the domestic context fami liar to readers of realist fiction. In The Woman in White the terrors of eighteenth-century Gothic fiction are transferred from their exotic medieval settings, such as those employed in the novels of Ann Radcliffe, and relocated in contemporary nineteenth-century English society.Melodrama is a genre closely related to sensationalism. Some of the features of melodrama, such as extreme states of being, situations, actions; dark plottings and suspense, are clearly apparent in the storyline of The Woman in White. The character of Laura Fairlie comes closest to a typical melodramatic heroine, especially in terms of physical appearance, being young, fair and beautiful. She also embodies both purity and powerlessness. However her role in the story is curiously passive as she is denied a formal narrative voice.Her passivity is the counterpart of her half-sister Marian Halcombe's activity. Marian is a complex individual whose characterization falls outside conventional literary or social mod els, partially evinced in the striking physical contrast between her face and body. Walter informs the reader that her figure is â€Å"tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed†¦ her waist, perfection in the eyes of a man† (p. 31). Yet her facial features are somewhat inconsistent with her body: â€Å"the dark down on her upper lip was almost a moustache. She had a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw† (p. 32).The formal nature of Walter's description employs melodramatic techniques yet the incongruous content of this description appears to challenge melodramatic conventions. Sensation fiction's emphasis on plot means that it often depends on secrets, which seem never-ending: as when one secret is uncovered, another is revealed. The presence of secrets inevitably invites spying, an action Marian chooses to take in one of the novel's most suspenseful scenes, when, fearing that her half-sister's livelihood may be in danger, she spies on the villains Sir Perc ival and Count Fosco in the dead of night.A forbidding atmosphere is swiftly established with an air of menace clearly apparent in the imminent rain, described as being â€Å"threatening†, while the adjectives â€Å"black†, â€Å"pitch† and â€Å"blinding† are used to evoke the impenetrability of the night's inevitable â€Å"darkness†. Marian's decision to listen at the window seems to be partially determined by Count Fosco's opinions of her â€Å"sharpness† and â€Å"courage†. Later on in his and Percival's conversation, Fosco asserts that Marian has â€Å"the foresight and resolution of a man† (p. 30). The shedding of her womanly attire in order to facilitate her position on the roof goes someway to consolidate this identity as a ‘masculinized woman', a type fairly common in sensation fiction. However Marian is somewhat at odds with the heroines of most sensationalist novels in her fundamental moral probity, evinced in this scene with her eagerness to find one factor to justify her subsequent actions to herself: â€Å"I wanted but one motive to sanction the act to my own conscience† (p. 24), finding it in the form of her half-sister: â€Å"Laura's honour, Laura's happiness – Laura's life itself – might depend on my quick ears and my faithful memory tonight† (p. 324). The actual passages detailing her spying on Percival and Fosco are especially tense, partially through Marian's situation – her position on the roof is precariously close to the Countess's bedroom and it is apparent, from the light behind the window, that the woman is not yet in bed.The paragraph that discloses this fact to the reader is composed of sentences comprising numerous short clauses, some of only two words in length, as well as a copious use of dashes – stylistic effects that succeed in bringing the reader ever closer to the â€Å"strangeness and peril† (p. 328) of Marian's si tuation, and the â€Å"dread†, which she â€Å"could not shoulder† (p. 328). Also Collins's use of direct speech in depicting the villains' conversation consolidates this effect, and added with the moodily Gothic ambience, succeeds in bringing the reader into uncomfortably close proximity to Marian's current situation.The style of narrative an author adopts inevitably effects the nature of their characters. In The Woman in White we see the characters of female protagonists shaped by both formal and contextual decisions. This article has gone some way into revealing how identities are constructed through a combination of narrative methods and genre conventions, as well as the actual content of Collins's novel, such as other characters and settings. The Woman in White was an incredibly popular novel.Collins' masterful creation of suspense made for an immensely successful work amongst the Victorian populace. SENSATION FICTION: Contemporary Reviews and Responses The follow ing reviews of Victorian sensation fiction are arranged according to theme and author. The reviews included here are are only a small sampling of Victorian reaction to and enthusiasm for sensation fiction. In future, this collection will be more thorough and will feature full reviews rather than selected sections.Sensation Fiction in General At no age, so far as we are aware, has there yet existed anything resembling the extraordinary flood of novels which is now pouring over this land — certainly with fertilising results, so far as the manufacture itself is concerned. There were days, halcyon days — as one still may ascertain from the gossip of the seniors of society — when an author was a natural curiosity, recognized and stared at as became the rarity of the phenomenon.No such thing is possible nowadays, when most people have been in print one way or other — when stains of ink linger on the prettiest of fingers, and to write novels is the normal condit ion of a large section of society. Margaret Oliphant on Count Fosco from The Woman in White: The violent stimulant of serial publication — of weekly publication, with its necessity for frequent and rapid recurrence of piquant situation and startling incident — is the thing of all others most likely to develop the germ, and bring it to fuller and darker bearing. What Mr.Wilkie Collins has done with delicate care and laborious reticence, his followers will attempt without any such discretion. No divine influence can be imagined as presiding over the birth of [the sensation writer’s] work, beyond the market-law of demand and supply; no more immortality is dreamed of for it than for the fashions of the current season. A commercial atmosphere floats around works of this class, redolent of the manfactory and the shop. The public wants novels, and novels must be made — so many yards of printed stuff, sensation-pattern, to be ready by the beginning of the season. H. L. Mansel, Quarterly Review, 113 (April 1863): 495 – 6. Sensation Fiction and the Woman Reader [Today’s heroines in English novels include] Women driven wild with love for the man who leads them on to desperation before he accords that word of encouragement that carries them into the seventh heaven; women who marry their grooms in fits of sensual passion; women who pray their lovers to carry them off from the husbands and homes they hate; women †¦ who give and receive burning kisses and frantic embraces, and live in a voluptuous dream. †¦ the dreaming maiden †¦ aits now for flesh and muscles, for strong arms that seize her, and warm breath that thrills her through, and a host of other physical attractions which she indicates to the world with a charming frankness. On the other side of the picture, it is, of course, the amber hair and undulating form, the warm flesh and glowing colour, for which the youth sighs. †¦ this eagerness for physical sens ation is represented as the natural sentiment of English girls. * * * * * * * [Lady Audley’s Secret] brought in the rein of bigamy as an interesting and fashionable crime, which no doubt shows a certain deference to the British relish for law and order.It goes against the seventh commandment, no doubt, but it does it in a legitimate sort of way, and is an invention which could only have been possible to an Englishwoman knowing the attraction of impropriety, and yet loving the shelter of law. There is nothing more violently opposed to our moral sense, in all the contradictions to custom they present to us, than the utter unrestraint in which the heroines of this order are allowed to expatiate and develop their impulsive, stormy, passionate characters.We believe it is one chief among their many dangers to youthful readers that they open out a picture of life free from all the perhaps irksome checks that confine their own existence. †¦ The heroine of this class of novel is charming because she is undisciplined, and the victim of impulse; because she has never known restraint or has cast it aside, because in all these respects she is below the thoroughly trained and tried woman. Wilkie Collins The Woman in White Mr. Collins is an admirable story-teller, though he is not a great novelist.His plots are framed with artistic ingenuity — he unfolds them bit by bit, clearly, and with great care — and each chapter is a most skilful sequel to the chapter before. He does not attempt to paint character or passion. He is not in the least imaginative. He is not by any means a master of pathos. The fascination which he exercises over the mind of his reader consists in this — that he is a good constructor. Each of his stories is a puzzle, the key to which is not handed to us till the third volume.With him, accordingly, character, passion, and pathos are mere accessory colouring which he employs to set off the central situation in his narrative. †¦ Men and women he draws, not for the sake of illustrating human nature and life’s varied phases, or exercising his own powers of creation, but simply and solely with reference to the part it is necessary they should play in tangling or disentangling his argument. He is, as we have said, a very ingenious constructor; but ingenious construction is not high art, just as cabinet-making and joining is not high art.Mechanical talent is what every great artist ought to possess. Mechanical talent, however, is not enough to entitle a man to rank as a great artist †¦ Nobody leaves one of his tales unfinished. This is a great compliment to his skill. But then very few feel at all inclined to read them a second time. Our curiosity once satisfied, the charm is gone. All that is left is to admire the art with which the curiosity was excited. In response to Saturday Review commentary above: The Woman in White is the latest, and by many degrees the best work of an author who had already written so many singularly good ones.That mastery in the art of construction for which Mr. Wilkie Collins has long been pre-eminent among living writers of fiction is here exhibited upon the largest, and proportionately, the most difficult scale he has yet attempted. To keep the reader’s attention fairly and equably on the alert throughout a continuous story that fills three volumes of the ordinary novel form, is no common feat; but the author of the Woman in White has done much more than this. Every two of his thousand and odd pages contain as much printed matter as three or four of those to which the majority of Mr.Mudie’s subscribers are most accustomed, and from his first page to his last the interest is progressive, cumulative, and absorbing. If this be true — and it appears to be universally admitted — what becomes of the assertion made by some critics, that it is an interest of mere curiosity which holds the reader so fast and holds him so long? The thing is palpably absurd. Curiosity can do much, but it cannot singly accomplish all that is imputed to it by this theory, for it is impossible that its intensity should be sustained without intermission through so long a flight.If The Woman in White were indeed a protracted puzzle and nothing more, the reader’s attention would often grow languid over its pages; he would be free from the importunate desire that now possesses him to go through every line of it continuously; he would be content to take it up and lay it down at uncertain intervals, or be strongly tempted to skip to the end and find out the secret at once, without more tedious hunting through labyrinths devised only to retard his search, and not worth exploring for their own sake.But he yields to no such temptation, for the secret which is so wonderfully well kept to the end of the third volume is not the be-all and end-all of his interest in the story. Even Mr. Wilkie Collins himself, with all his cons tructive skill, would be at fault if he attempted to build as elaborate story on so narrow a basis†¦ Unsigned Review, Spectator, 33 (8 September 1860): 864. [pic] Henry James on Wilkie Collins: To Mr Collins belongs the credit of having introduced into fiction those mysterious of mysteries, the mysteries which are at our own doors. Mary Elizabeth Braddon M. E. Braddon] might not be aware how young women of good blood and good training feel. . [pic] Lady Audley is at once the heroine and the monstrosity of the novel. In drawing her, the authoress may have intended to portray a female Mephistopheles; but, if so, she would have known that a woman cannot fill such a part. The nerves with which Lady Audley could meet unmoved the friend of the man she had murdered, are the nerves of a Lady Macbeth who is half unsexed, and not those of the timid, gentle, innocent creature Lady Audley is represented as being. †¦All this is very exciting; but is also very unnatural. The artistic fa ults of this novel are as grave as the ethical ones. Combined, they render it one of the most noxious books of the modern times. Marian Halcombe from The Woman in White â€Å"I said to myself, the lady is dark. She moved forward a few steps –and said to myself, the lady is young. She approached nearer – and I said to myself with a sense of surprise which words fail me to express – the lady is ugly! †Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The Woman in White Victorian novels with poor, plain heroines are nothing unusual, but it’s rare to find one who is downright ugly.Then again, Marian Halcombe, the heroine of Wilkie Collins’ sensation novel The Woman in White, cares very little for social convention. In 1860, when even the first wave of feminism was yet to hit, Marian refuses to be content with a life that limits her to â€Å"patience, petticoats and propriety†. She knows that in a world where a woman is her husband’s legal property, marriage was not th e happy ending for women of her era that convention claimed: â€Å"No man under heaven deserves these sacrifices from us women†¦they take us body and soul to themselves, and fasten our helpless lives to theirs as they chain up a dog to his kennel.And what does the best of them give us in return? † She has a point – the novel revolves around a rather melodramatic plot by the sinister Sir Percival Glyde and the fiendish Count Fosco to gain control over the considerable fortune of Laura Fairlie, Marian’s angelic half-sister, and the attempts of both Marian and Walter Hartright, Laura’s equally poor would-be suitor, to rescue her from an abusive marriage.Our first glimpse of her is through Walter’s eyes, and the description is hardly intended to be flattering – she’s sporting a bit of a ‘tache, and he finds her pallor unattractively â€Å"swarthy† (Laura’s later reference to â€Å"Gypsy skin† suggests that Marian is of mixed heritage). But before feminist readers have time to draw an outraged breath, Marian proceeds to launch into a five-page monologue that establishes her as one of the most sparkling creations in the whole of literature. Ever.Although Walter is the overall narrator and inexplicably believes himself to be the hero of the hour, all the risks and major discoveries are made by Marian. It is her diaries that provide a large portion of the narrative, and her quick thinking that saves her sister from a grisly fate. In addition, she can beat any man at billiards, she’s a bit of an intellectual goddess, and she singlehandedly runs the entire household. On the downside, she’s a bit of a snob and prone to making rather rash decisions like taking off most of her clothes, climbing onto the roof and then doing a bit of eavesdropping.She is driven by her near-obsessive love for Laura and whilst their relationship is emotionally complex, it is never cloying or mawkish – instead it is intense, co-dependent and rather more passionate than their sibling bond should allow. Their closeness is such that Laura’s one act of assertiveness in the entire novel is to insist that Marian’s constant presence in her life be written into her marriage contract, and Laura extracts a promise from her that she â€Å"will not be fond of anybody but [her]†.When the wedding night approaches, it is Marian who explains what Laura is to expect: â€Å"The simple illusions of her girlhood are gone; and my hand has stripped them off. Better mine than his – that’s all my consolation – better mine than his. † Steamy stuff for 1860. But neither her implied queerness or her supposed ugliness stopped countless readers writing to Collins asking if Marian was based on a real woman, and if said woman happened to be single. Even the evil (and married) Count Fosco is taken with her, although he seems to be more attracted to her as a potential partner in crime as a candidate for a mistress.Whilst Marian may lack the ethereal beauty of her sister, critic Nina Auerbach describes her as â€Å"a truly sexy woman†, noting that she is in fact the embodiment of androgynous pre-Raphaelite sensuality. The end of the novel has drawn criticism from feminist readers – the plucky, independent heroine is now content to stay at home and help her sister and brother-in-law raise a family in true domestic bliss. However, true to the spirit of their multilayered relationship, Marian is less Laura’s unpaid babysitter than a co-parent, still threatening the bonds of hetero happiness long after the supposedly happy ending has occurred.In a world that presented marriage and motherhood as the only options, Marian rejects what Adrienne Rich would later describe as â€Å"compulsory heterosexuality† in favour of life as the devoted partner of another woman. She is an amateur detective, early feminist and, de spite her vulnerable position, refuses to be a damsel in distress. She was a groundbreaking character when she first appeared, and even 150 years later she remains one of the most memorable characters in Victorian literature.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the audience is never truly privy to any of the characters’ dreams; however, Shakespeare portrays reality as a sort of dream. The forest symbolizes a realm where anything can happen, with no regard for time or logic, much like in a dream. Therefore, when the lovers come out of the forest, without explanation for their actions, they believe it to be a dream, even though it had real-life consequences. By having the characters talk about their dreams and believe their realities to be dreams, the play explores the idea that dreams demonstrate reality, in that they show fears and desires, but it also explores the idea that reality can be affected by dreams. While Hoffman’s movie adaptation recognizes this in some aspects, it does not explore it in entirely the same manner. In the very first scene, the audience learns that Hermia’s father does not approve of her relationship with Lysander. Although she never says it out loud, Hermia fears that something will tear her and Lysander apart, something that shows in her nightmare in the forest. In the play, when she awakes from her slumber, she exclaims, â€Å"Help me, Lysander, help me! Do thy best to pluck this crawling serpent from my breast! Ay me, for pity. What a dream was here? ... Methought a serpent ate my heart away, and you sat smiling at his cruel prey (2.2, 151-156).† This line is cut short in the movie, leaving out Hermia’s recounting of her dream, instead she mentions she had a dream andShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1339 Words   |  6 PagesHonors For A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare 1. Title of the book - The title of the book is called A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare. 2. Author s name - The author of the book A Midsummer Night s Dream is William Shakespeare. 3. The year the piece was written - A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare was believed to have been written between 1590-1596. 4. Major Characters - There are three major characters in the book A Midsummer Night s Dream by WilliamRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare1882 Words   |  8 PagesWritten during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MNDRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1474 Words   |  6 Pagesinstance, one could look at the movies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare in Love. The latter follows the life of William Shakespeare himself, everything from his love affair with Viola de Lesseps to his creation of Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare’s, revolving around the tumultuous relationships of four lovers, aided, and sometimes thwarted by the mischief of fairies. Although Shakespeare in Love outlines a few of the characteristicsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1548 Words   |  7 Pagesspoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 line 234, explains that it matters not what the eyes see but what the mind thinks it sees. In the play, A Midsummer Night s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where the act of seeing is being portrayed. The definition of vision is the ability to see, something you imagine or something you dream. This proves that even though one has the ability to see; the mind tends to interfere and sometimes presents a different picture. VariousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream867 Words   |  4 Pagesspecifically how they will benefit that other person, you’re in love.† In A Midsummer Night s Dream, William Shakespeare intertwined each individual characters. Through the concept of true love and presented to the audiences a twisted yet romantic love story. The love stories of Renaissance are richly colorful, so Shakespeare used multiple literary techniques to present to the readers a vivid image of true love. Shakespeare applied metaphor in the lines of Lysander. In Act 1, scene 1, Lysander saysRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream990 Words   |  4 PagesSymbols in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Symbols help to play an important part in giving a deeper meaning to a story. William Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and by using these symbols he offers some insight onto why certain events take place in the play. Symbols are sometimes hard to decipher but as the reader continues to read the symbol’s meaning might become more clear. Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in A Midsummer Night’s DreamRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1397 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s comedies, like those of most Renaissance playwrights, involve love and its obstacles. Much of the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream derives from the attempt of Lysander and Hermia to remain together while overcoming the adult authority figure who attempts to hinder the love of a young couple. The overcoming of an obstacle functions as a common motif in Renaissance comedy. The audience must wonder, however, whether Lysander and Hermia, as well as Demetrius and Helena, actually loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1207 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been categorized as a comedy play because of all the characters being passionately in love to the point of being foolish. It’s a play all about love, and the characters that are in love are only young adults, so they are still naive when it comes to love. Their naivety and foolishness regarding love is what allows them to be taken advantage of by mischievous fairies when they all run away into the woods. By critiquing the love affairs and numerousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1277 Words   |  6 Pagestogether. Nor will love ever be a controllable compulsion. Maybe we are fools for going into the perilous, eccentric universe of love; yet what fun would life be without it? William Shakespeare s play A Midsummer Night s Dream investigates the unconventional, unreasonable and unpredictable nature of love during his time. Shakespeare conveys this through the main plot of the play, which is composed of the relationships between three couples. The three couples show examples of three different types ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1442 Words   |  6 Pages William Shakespeare is estimated to have lived from 1564 to about 1616. He is often recognized as great English poet, actor, and playwright, and paved the way for many on all of those categories. Over that span he wrote many pieces that are still relevant today such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. I would like to take a deeper look into one on his pieces â€Å"A Midsummers Night’s Dream.† This piece is estimated to have first been preformed in about 1595 and then later published in 1600. Many A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare Written during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MND, both men and women were expected to act according to the roles set upon them by their society. Men were dominant and superior in society, politics and intellect (Master’s). They often held high positions of authority in both domestic and social†¦show more content†¦He is referring to the war against her people, the Amazons, and taking her as a trophy in honor of his victory. She is now objectified as his possession and must marry the man that slaughtered her people without questioning or going against his wishes, for his authority in both society and law prohibit her to do so. The domineering relationship between subjugate and submission is a governing factor within the comedic realm of Athens. The theme of â€Å"Erotic desire and martial conquest are collapsed into one another in the Duke s language.†(Rieger 73). However, Shakespeare gives her character sly control over her husband when she reinforces tha t Theseus await their marriage celebration (even though he has the authority to change the date of the wedding). Female objectification is not only present in their relationships with a partner but with their parents as well. During Elizabethan Era it was customary for a women’s parents to arrange her marriage with an adequate suitor in order to uphold the family’s riches and social status. As seen in Hermia’s case, her father, Ageus, promises her to Demetrious. However, upon her refusal Egeus brings her before Theseus, duke of Athens, and demands that she comply to his wishes or answer to Athenian law stating that â€Å"†¦she is mine, [and] I may dispose of her,†(I.i.42), she is his possession for he created her and therefore owns her. Although she rejects his commands, Egeus has no regards for his daughter’s decisions because he â€Å"†¦cannot A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare Before the birth of William Shakespeare as a playwright, no craftsman could skillfully create a world composed of contradictions so shocking, yet profoundly insightful to the human condition. Shakespeare accomplishes the impossible by bringing many contradictory elements into his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy on the verge of tragedy. In this play, many of his characters allude to the moon through the use of repetitive metaphors. Shakespeare specifically compares the moon to time as a means to juxtapose various elements of his play: eagerness and reluctance, chastity and fertility, as well as tragedy and comedy. In the opening lines of the play, Theseus, the Duke of Athens, refers to the moon as he awaits his forthcoming wedding: Another moon; but O, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes! She lingers in my desires, Like to a stepdame or dowager Long withering out a young man’s revenue. (MND 1.1.3-6) This metaphorical personification of the moon demonstrates Theseus’ eagerness for his wedding night with Hippolyta, his wife to be. During Shakespeare’s time, the moon often symbolized time, and in this case, it is used as a metaphor for the passage of time. Theseus also compares the moon to an elderly stepmother or widow taking far too long to pass away, preventing him from receiving an inheritance sooner. This creates a very harsh image for the reader, and it demonstrates that Theseus is impatient, opportunistic and aggressive. On the other hand,Show MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1339 Words   |  6 PagesHonors For A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare 1. Title of the book - The title of the book is called A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare. 2. Author s name - The author of the book A Midsummer Night s Dream is William Shakespeare. 3. The year the piece was written - A Midsummer Night s Dream by William Shakespeare was believed to have been written between 1590-1596. 4. Major Characters - There are three major characters in the book A Midsummer Night s Dream by WilliamRead MoreA Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare1882 Words   |  8 PagesWritten during the Elizabethan era where gender roles played an important part in society and relationships, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare portrays the interaction between both sexes, and the women’s response to the expectation of such norms. Although the characters: Hippolyta, Hermia, Helena, and Titania, are portrayed as objects (both sexual and material) contingent upon their male lovers, they are also given empowerment. During the Elizabethan Era, and present throughout MNDRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1474 Words   |  6 Pagesinstance, one could look at the movies A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare in Love. The latter follows the life of William Shakespeare himself, everything from his love affair with Viola de Lesseps to his creation of Romeo and Juliet. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is one of the most famous plays of Shakespeare’s, revolving around the tumultuous relationships of four lovers, aided, and sometimes thwarted by the mischief of fairies. Although Shakespeare in Love outlines a few of the characteristicsRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1548 Words   |  7 Pagesspoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1 line 234, explains that it matters not what the eyes see but what the mind thinks it sees. In the play, A Midsummer Night s Dream, written by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where the act of seeing is being portrayed. The definition of vision is the ability to see, something you imagine or something you dream. This proves that even though one has the ability to see; the mind tends to interfere and sometimes presents a different picture. VariousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream867 Words   |  4 Pagesspecifically how they will benefit that other person, you’re in love.† In A Midsummer Night s Dream, William Shakespeare intertwined each individual characters. Through the concept of true love and presented to the audiences a twisted yet romantic love story. The love stories of Renaissance are richly colorful, so Shakespeare used multiple literary techniques to present to the readers a vivid image of true love. Shakespeare applied metaphor in the lines of Lysander. In Act 1, scene 1, Lysander saysRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream990 Words   |  4 PagesSymbols in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Symbols help to play an important part in giving a deeper meaning to a story. William Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream and by using these symbols he offers some insight onto why certain events take place in the play. Symbols are sometimes hard to decipher but as the reader continues to read the symbol’s meaning might become more clear. Shakespeare uses a variety of symbols in A Midsummer Night’s DreamRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1397 Words   |  6 PagesShakespeare’s comedies, like those of most Renaissance playwrights, involve love and its obstacles. Much of the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream derives from the attempt of Lysander and Hermia to remain together while overcoming the adult authority figure who attempts to hinder the love of a young couple. The overcoming of an obstacle functions as a common motif in Renaissance comedy. The audience must wonder, however, whether Lysander and Hermia, as well as Demetrius and Helena, actually loveRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1207 Words   |  5 PagesWilliam Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been categorized as a comedy play because of all the characters being passionately in love to the point of being foolish. It’s a play all about love, and the characters that are in love are only young adults, so they are still naive when it comes to love. Their naivety and foolishness regarding love is what allows them to be taken advantage of by mischievous fairies when they all run away into the woods. By critiquing the love affairs and numerousRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1277 Words   |  6 Pagestogether. Nor will love ever be a controllable compulsion. Maybe we are fools for going into the perilous, eccentric universe of love; yet what fun would life be without it? William Shakespeare s play A Midsummer Night s Dream investigates the unconventional, unreasonable and unpredictable nature of love during his time. Shakespeare conveys this through the main plot of the play, which is composed of the relationships between three couples. The three couples show examples of three different types ofRead MoreWilliam Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream1442 Words   |  6 Pages William Shakespeare is estimated to have lived from 1564 to about 1616. He is often recognized as great English poet, actor, and playwright, and paved the way for many on all of those categories. Over that span he wrote many pieces that are still relevant today such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. I would like to take a deeper look into one on his pieces â€Å"A Midsummers Night’s Dream.† This piece is estimated to have first been preformed in about 1595 and then later published in 1600. Many A Midsummer Night s Dream By William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy written by the notorious playwright Shakespeare. This story is filled with illusion and misconception, leaving the characters in a daze. Pertinent to the title of the play is this illusion in which everyone determines to be a dream. In addition to the origin of the dream is the midsummer night when it occurs. Though the story begins and concludes in Theseus’s castle in Athens, it mainly takes place in the woods at night. Hitherto, the story ensues on a midsummer night where the characters are met with a peculiar situation. Though everyone holds a different reason as to why they end up in the woods, their stories become intertwined. The play revolves around deception, but one that provides laughter†¦show more content†¦This juice is applied to be applied to her eyelids when she is sleeping, and the moment she awakes she will fall in love with the first creature she sees. At the same time that this is occurring, their is anot her subplot that has to do with two young women and two young men. Hermia and Lysander are in love, yet Demetrius is in love with Hermia. On the outside of this love triangle is Helena, who is in love with Demetrius. The flower comes into effect again when Oberon tells Goodfellow to put the juice of the flower onto Demetrius’ eyes to make him love Helena. This leads to a misunderstanding where Lysander is given the juice and falls in love with Helena, â€Å"Not Hermia but Helena I love† (II.II. line 120). Then Demetrius is touched by the juice and falls in love with Helena, reversing the love triangle. Furthermore, these subplots tie into the main plot that pertains to the union of Theseus and Hippolyta. In the first scene of Act I, Theseus says, Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace† (I.I. line 1-2), further marking the main plot that holds all others. There are six major characters present in this play, with the rest of them being supporting role s. Fairy King Oberon is the protagonist of the story, manipulating each character in order to get what he wants. His main goal is to obtain Titania’s Indian boy, â€Å"I do but beg a little changeling boy, To be my henchman†