English Study Hub

The witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth are key characters that serve as the impetus for Macbeth's ambition and his eventual decision to commit murder. The witches, who appear at the very opening scene, give Macbeth five prophecies that spark his ambition and set into motion the key events of the tragedy. These witches are present at the very outset of the play where they are waiting for Macbeth to meet. The weather is very foul and rough. But all of them say, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" The above line sets the nature and mood of these weird sisters. It also expresses their unhuman trait. Unlike any human they feel it much favorable when it is foul for others and uncomfortable when it is comfortable for others. The first time Macbeth and his companion, Banquo, encounter the witches, we see a glimpse of the witches' overall look and impression through the words of Banquo. He says, "How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these ...

In Shakespeare's Macbeth , Lady Macbeth is made to act as a catalyst in Lord Macbeth's evil doings. She has definitely the greatest ambition, supremacy of will, cruelty and dissimulation among Shakespearean heroines. She obviously does not lack courage. She has a paucity of intellect. She shows enormous self-control, but very little skill. To Bradley, the laying of the bloody daggers on the pillows of the grooms, as if they were determined to advertise their guilt, was a mistake on her part, which can be explained only to her lack of intellect. In comparison with her husband, she appears extremely dull.    Even though Macbeth is generally the one to have the final say in the many killings that take place in the play, Lady Macbeth plays the role of a villain alongside him. If Macbeth frets over something she has instructed him to do, she mocks him by saying that he would be less of a man if he does not follow their plan. She gives Macbeth a short lecture in deceptiveness wh...

Phaedra , is a play by Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca , which recounts the tale of of Phaedra, the queen of Athens, wife of Theseus, and her overwhelming lust for her stepson, Hippolytus. In the view of Greek Mythology and the tragedy Hippolytus by Greek dramatist Euripides , Seneca's Phaedra is one of several aesthetic explorations of this adverse story. Seneca portrays the appellation appearance as alive and absolute in the following of her stepson, while in added iterations of the allegory she is added of an acquiescent victim of fate. This Phaedra takes on the artful attributes and the acrimony generally assigned to the Nurse character. In this play, we find Hippolytus a very poor young man who spends most of his time hunting and sacrifices to Artemis , goddess of Chastity and Hunting. He is a devout disciple of the goddess Artemis. He has an intense aversion towards women. He does not want to pollute his mind with the thoughts of Love. He is a misogynist. He ...

Why is Thomas Kyd called English Seneca? Or Senecan Elements in The Spanish tragedy Lucius Aenius Seneca was a Roman dramatist. He was born in 4BC-65AD. He was the greatest playwright in Roman literature. He wrote 90 dramas in Latin language. Thomas Kyd is the blind followers of the Roman literature especially the Roman Seneca. Thomas Kyd is very much influenced by Senecan drama. That’s why he is called the English Seneca.             At that time Nero was a notorious Emperor of Rome. Seneca was the home tutor of Nero. For this reason Seneca could observe the nature of his mother. She was a vicious woman. This incident influences Seneca to write drama. His drama is full of blood shed, murder and revenge. That’s why Senecan dramas are not suitable for stage. They are suitable for reading in a chamber or on a closet. For this reason they are called chamber drama or closet drama. Now we are going to discuss about the dram...

John Millington Synge, an Irish Literary Renaissance playwright, has always used nature as background, character and symbol in his plays. Nature is the protagonist or antagonist in many of his plays specially in Riders To The Sea where nature fills the minds of the characters and mounds their actions, even their moods and fate. The play is dominated by fate in the shape of sea. In the play we find that the sea is that which provides a living for the characters of the small cottages. At the same time it is also that which causes their sufferings. In Riders to the Sea , the sea represents fate . The sea is a great factor in the life of the people of Aran Islands. It is the source of their living. Moreover, the sea gives them passage to the markets in the mainland where they go to buy or sell things. There is no alternative for them but to ride the sea to maintain their family's existence. But at the same time the sea devours the men-folk as they go out for earning their living...

‘Othello’ is one of the four greatest tragedies that William Shakespeare ever wrote. ‘The murder scene’ is one of the most crucial and most significant scenes of the play. In fact, it is the climax where Iago’s villainous machinations and Othello’s mind surcharged with jealousy ultimately bring about tragic conflagration. Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. ‘The murder scene’ reveals the two facts of Othello’s personality-- the dark, savage the most brutal of the one hand and the emotional, truly repentant human and desperate lover on the other hand. Othello loses all his control over himself when he is worked up to strong jealousy by the subtle machinations of Iago. Othello is extremely credulous and firmly believes whatever Iago pours into his ears. He places absolute confidence in Iago and never sees through his villainies. Othello’s decision to murder Desdemona is not only rash and reckless but also shows a s...

Portia and Calpurnia are the two most important female characters in William Shakespeare’s masterpiece-‘Julius Caesar’. Both Portia and Calpurnia are seen in the play in their relationships with their respective husbands. Both of them have their own individual characteristics. Portia is Brutus’s wife and the daughter of a noble Roman named Cato. When Portia finds Brutus leaving his bed and showing signs of a mental disturbance, she feels deeply worried about him. She tries to find out the cause of his secret thinking. She reminds him that she is not an ordinary woman but one who is the daughter of a reputed father and the wife of a reputed husband. Thus, Brutus does recognize her exceptional qualities and soon afterwards reveals his secret to her. When Brutus has gone to the Senate House, she feels extremely worried about his welfare. She sends the boy Lucius to the Senate House to find out if her husband is safe. In a soliloquy, she admits that she is a very weak woman. She ...

Mark Antony is one of the most important characters in William Shakespeare’s masterpiece-‘Julius Caesar’. In fact, he is indispensable to the play’s action. The play would not proceed beyond the middle if there had been no Antony in it. In the first half of the play, Antony ’s role is minimal; but after the assassination of Caesar in the middle of the play, Antony ’s role becomes not only important but the deciding and determining factor.    Antony was a friend of Caesar and he was actually related to him. Caesar seemed to trust him as he placed Antony in command while he was away.  In Julius Caesar , Antony is portrayed as a handsome athlete, a runner and perhaps a playboy as well. Superstitiously, Caesar tells Antony to touch his wife's garment as he runs the race at the beginning of the play to free her from infertility. Antony agrees to do so without question. It is also noteworthy that it is Antony who offered a crown to Caesar three times at the gam...

John Webster’s (1580-1625) masterpiece is “The Duchess of Malfi”, of which it may confidently be alleged that it is the finest tragedy in the English language outside the works of William Shakespeare. It is a story of revenge, a story of blood-shedding. In this play we find the triangle of villainy, even evil works through such triangle. Evil forces here operate their jobs through three characters- Ferdinand, Cardinal and Bosola. Let us now have some ideas in brief about the triangular villainy in “The Duchess of Malfi”.           In the centre of the play there is a duchess, the Duchess of Malfi , who is young but widowed. She has two brothers, Cardinal and her twin, Ferdinand, the duke of Calabria. Both the brothers of the Duchess are vicious, pernicious and dangerously sinister. Their motive is to prevent their sister from re-marriage. Because they do not want to share her property with anybody, rather they want to share it within the...

“ The Duchess of Malfi ” is a revenge play which comes from the pen of John Webster (1580-1625), one of the most prominent playwrights of both Elizabethan and Jacobean Age. This play is a story of avenge, a story of blood-shedding. In the centre of play there is a Duchess, who is young but widowed. She has two brothers, and between these brothers one is her twin. Her brothers plot heinous conspiracy against her. Let us make a discussion on it in brief.           Conspiracy is a secretly contrived evil plan to act against some ones interest or to harm somebody. It is a sinister procuration to cause destruction to somebody, and this destruction maybe death as well. The twin brother of The Duchess, Ferdinand is the duke of Calabria. He had an uncontrollable mental and physical frenzy. He appears in a violent manner and we see great fury in his character all the time, as we see in the character of Tybalt in “ Romeo & Juliet ”. On the o...

The Spanish Tragedy belongs to a class of drama known as the revenge play, which comes from the pen of Thomas Kyd (1558-1594). Almost all the English playwrights of that time followed the Classical playwrights, Classical tragedies. Kyd also did the same. Especially he followed Roman playwright Lucius Annaneus Seneca (4BC-65AD) blindly. So he is called The English Seneca.           Seneca was also a Roman Stoic philosopher. Primly he wrote tragic dramas. His dramas were full of melodramatic elements, such as, blood-shed, killing, assassination, horror scenes, etc. For these reasons his dramas are suitable for only to read in chamber or in closed room. Let us now have a brief discussion about the elements of Seneca used by Kyd in his play The Spanish Tragedy.           In all the plays of Seneca we find the revenge theme . Revenge was the main plot, main motive in his plays. Like him, Kyd a...