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| Term Paper # 93975 |
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Miller and McCarthy, 2007.
An analysis of the repercussions of Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible" and Joseph McCarthy's speech, regarding communism in the 1950s in the United States.
904 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 32.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses the history of communism and the perceived communist threat in the United States in the early 1950s. The paper discusses the repercussions of Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible," as well as Joseph McCarthy's speech in 1950, where he held up a list of names he claimed proved that Truman's administration, as well as the State Department, was peppered with Communists and "Communist sympathizers". The paper concludes with the messages that can be learned from Miller's play in the United States, today.
From the Paper
"Miller's play carries an important message for today. The United States of today is under a threat at least as real as the Communist threat of the late forties and early fifties was. We have had the graphic evidence from the attacks of September 11, 2001. Those attacks were driven ideologically, so once again the American public is caught up in a war of words, with some views "patriotic" and some "un-American." Both the events of the McCarthy hearings and Miller's play might serve as cautionary tales to warn us to stick to our legal principles and require solid proof before accusing people of being some form of "enemy of the state." The residents of Salem in the 17th century had more excuse than we would have, either during the McCarthy hearings or now. In Salem they fought a foe, Satan, who was by definition hard to detect and hard to see. The fact that brought McCarthy down was that he avoided evidence and relied on innuendo. In Salem they could not get verifiable proof, but as a democratic country we must always be ready to demand it."
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Contrasts of Character, 2007.
An analysis of the contrasting sets of lovers in William Shakespeare's plays "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Much Ado About Nothing."
1,668 words (approx. 6.7 pages), 4 sources, MLA, $ 54.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses the themes of contrasts, of honor and deceit, spinsterhood or bachelorhood and marriage and honor and betrayal that are found in William Shakespeare's plays "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Much Ado About Nothing." The paper focuses on the main contrast of character type in both texts which is achieved by pairing two contrasting sets of lovers against one another. It discusses the articulate love of the couples of Petruchio and Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew" and Beatrice and Benedict in "Much Ado About Nothing."
From the Paper
"Shakespeare suggests that all relationships are to some extent dependant upon mendacity. However, the question is how harmless these lies might be. The greater lie is in fact Claudio's perception of Hero as perfect, not the fact that Beatrice has not been dying of love for Benedict. In fact, as the audience is well aware if not the lovers themselves, Beatrice and Benedict are ideally suited for one another. They alone speak the same language of all the characters in the play, a dialogue of witty repartee. When engaged in dialogue with other characters, quite often the other characters are overcome by their wit, like Don Pedro when he attempts to woo Beatrice, and Claudio when Benedict expresses his dim view of love at the beginning of the play. In "The Taming of the Shrew," until she meets Petruchio, Kate is utterly dominant over her father and her sister. Only by finding a man who can match her barb for barb is she re-integrated into the society, just as Benedict is not reintegrated into peacetime society after war, until he finds a match in Beatrice."
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"The Importance of being Ernest", 2007.
An analysis of the farcical nature and multiplicity of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest."
1,720 words (approx. 6.9 pages), 4 sources, MLA, $ 55.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses the comical and farcical nature of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The paper suggests that the interpretation of the play may itself often be as ambiguous as the play since there are many ways to look at it. It then goes on to describe many instances in the play when this multiplicity is evident. The paper concludes that not only the characters exist on many different levels, but the entire plot appears to be surrounded by plurality of meaning.
From the Paper
"It is highly enthralling to see the various forms and images of Ernest and how each character attaches certain significance of the character. In give great importance to someone being Ernest yet they have no clear idea who or how the person really is. For Algernon Moncrieff, Ernest is no one else but his friend Jack Worthing: "You have always told me that [your name] was Ernest. I have introduced you to every one as Ernest. You answer to the name of Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life. It is perfectly absurd your saying that you name isn't Ernest. It's on your cards" (Writings, 484). However for Jack Worthing, Ernest is an imaginary adventurous figure possibly, "a younger brother . . . who lives in the Albany, and gets into the most dreadful scrapes" (Writings, 485). For Gwendolen Fairfax, Ernest is a moralist, "a strong upright Nature. He is the very soul of truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception" (Writings, 517). And for Cecily Cardew, Ernest is her romantic partner: "And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive" (Writings, 513)."
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"Romeo and Juliet", 2007.
An analysis of the role of the nurse and Friar Laurence in William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."
1,619 words (approx. 6.5 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 52.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet." It analyzes the various ways the nurse and Friar Laurence, in particular, function as key supporting characters. It then looks at how their roles, actions and respective relationships to Romeo and Juliet themselves are used by Shakespeare to help develop the play's motifs and themes of illness, sexuality, violence and death.
From the Paper
" Later in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the truth of Friar Laurence's implied statement is proven when Juliet, having taken Friar Lawrence's sleeping potion to create an appearance of her death, instead of waking to find herself reunited with Romeo outside Verona, wakes to find him dead beside her, in the Montague family crypt. Due to an unpredictable confluence of circumstances, none possible for Friar Laurence to control or predict, the poisonous concoction that had put Juliet temporarily to sleep also causes Romeo's death. As Romeo's suicide illustrates, it is humans who turn inherently neutral natural substances into evil-acting ones."
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"M. Butterfly", 2007.
A discussion on the exotic, feminine Orient in the Western imagination, as depicted in David Henry Hwang's drama "M. Butterfly".
1,228 words (approx. 4.9 pages), 5 sources, MLA, $ 41.95
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Abstract
The paper discusses how "M. Butterfly" is a play about the power of stereotypes to do harm, both to the person and the culture they are inflicted against, and also against the people who hold such stereotypes. The paper describes how, at the end of the play, Gallimard is destroyed because he realizes his life was based upon a lie, just as China was harmed by the lies and exploitation of Western colonialism. The paper examines how the conflict of gender, national, and identity issues are dramatically depicted in David Hwang's "M. Butterfly," when the French diplomat Rene Gallimard falls in love with a feminine image of the East, in the persona of the actress Song Liling.
From the Paper
"Gallimard has a psychological as well as a national and gender based need to see Song as feminine. Thus, the gender disguises of the play do not merely invert stereotypes of male and female, Asian and West. They also destroy the security of Gallimard's own identity as a strong, male Westerner with power. Song Liling is not only a man. Song uses Gallimard's own cultural stereotypes to exploit the Frenchman. Gallimard begins the play thinking he is the Western, White man taking advantage of the virginal 'Oriental' maiden. But like the opera's "Madam Butterfly," Gallimard ends the play abandoned, disgraced, cut off from his countrymen and finally suicidal. Thus Gallimard's own secure identity as a powerful man has been so undercut, he cannot live with himself, because he no longer knows who he is as a person."
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"The Importance of Being Earnest", 2007.
A comparison of the effectiveness of Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" with the film directed by Oliver Parker.
1,630 words (approx. 6.5 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 53.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses how well the 2002 film directed by Oliver Parker, "The Importance of Being Earnest" dramatizes the original play written by Oscar Wilde. The paper describes the basic plot of the play and then discusses instances where the plot is not able to be played effectively in the film. It discusses the reasons why these acts are less effective in film than in the dialogue of the play and why certain imagery in the film does not work well.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Synopsis
Act I: Bunbury, Interrogation and Refusal Scenes
Act II: An Interjection Of Ballooning And Flashbacks In The Cicely's Education, Diary Writing, And Fight Scenes With Gwendolyn
Act III: The Introduction of Archery, Unraveling, and Christening
Conclusion--Summing Up
From the Paper
"The drive to physicalize the verbal wit of the Wilde play is made further evident in the Act II war of words over Gwendolyn and Cicely's tea party, where the jazzy music on the soundtrack and the clattering cutlery draw the viewer's attention away from what the characters are actually saying that is clearly not in the play. (Fifth difference) Finally, the film's dramatization of Act II includes a ballooning sequence that seems completely at odds with the plot, and serves only to show Algernon in different attire than what Algernon wears in the drawing room that is not in the play. (Sixth difference) While it is helpful to show the characters assume different costumes in different locations, just as they assume different personas, the activity is so strange to the eye; it is hard to focus on exactly what is occurring on the level of dialogue during the sequence."
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Oedipus and Medea, 2007.
An essay comparing and contrasting the main characters of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" and Euripides' "Medea".
1,857 words (approx. 7.4 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 59.95
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Abstract
The paper examines how both Oedipus and Medea are unfortunate, and ultimately tragic, main characters. The paper further examines how their respective their motivations, circumstances, behavior, and relationships, are entirely different: Oedipus is motivated by pride and Medea by revenge. The paper discusses how Oedipus' behavior is excessively, sometimes comically prideful while Medea's behavior is cunning and manipulative, alternately rational and irrational, and ultimately evilly terrifying. The paper concludes that despite these many differences, both characters ultimately destroy everything around them that they love most.
From the Paper
"Medea is a careful observer of others, with an uncannily accurate sense of which sorts of ruses they will fall for. Next, after talking Aegeus into giving her refuge in Athens, she convinces Jason to have Glauce to make the request to Creon that her and Jason's two children not be exiled from Corinth along with their mother. In exchange for this, Medea promises, the children will present Glauce personally with two gifts, a cornet and a dress: ". . . by the children's hand I will send to her gifts that far surpass in beauty, I well know, aught that now is seen 'mongst men, a robe of finest tissue and a chaplet of chased gold. But one of my attendants must haste and bring the ornaments hither" (Euripides, Medea [online text])."
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William Shakespeare's "Othello, the Moor of Venice", 2006.
This paper discusses the use of animal imagery in William Shakespeare's "Othello, the Moor of Venice".
1,115 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 0 sources, $ 38.95
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Abstract
This paper explain that the use of animal imagery in William Shakespeare's "Othello, the Moor of Venice" reflects the base instincts, which bring about the tragedy of the main character and his innocent wife. The author points out that negatively characterizing Othello as an animal might imply that he is as base and beastly as Iago, but his honor and nobility throughout the rest of Act I makes the reader doubt that Othello is the animal. The paper concludes that comparing the characters to animals suggests that the play is not about race, politics or social convention but rather about the predator and the prey, which is something deeper and more innate than the trappings of society. The paper includes several quotations.
From the Paper
"The innocent and good Cassio is deceived into believing himself a beast because of the machinations of Iago. Knowing that Cassio cannot tolerate alcohol, Iago encourages him to get drunk and orchestrates a fight in which Cassio appears the violent aggressor. Such behavior, especially because it interrupts the marriage bed of Othello and Desdemona, is perceived negatively by Othello who dismisses Cassio from his service. Cassio then likens himself to an animal, disparaging the effect of alcohol that "put an enemy in their mouths ....transform ourselves into beasts!""
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"Waiting for Godot", 2007.
A discussion on Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot".
1,336 words (approx. 5.3 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 44.95
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Abstract
This paper introduces and discusses Beckett's play. It focuses on slavery and its representation throughout the play. It also discusses how Beckett's characters mirror society and humanity. The paper offers quotes from the text to qualify points made.
From the Paper
"Lucky is a pathetic character, and that is another characteristic of slaves. They are used by others and pitied by others. Lucky is pathetic because of the way Pozzo treats him. Pozzo says at one point, " POZZO: No no, he never defends himself" (Beckett). That sums up Lucky and his life. He just takes what he is given and does not defend himself, or stand up for himself. That is what makes him so pathetic. It is not because he is a slave; it is because he simply will not do anything to make his life and his situation different. That is why he is stricken dumb in the last act of the play. He does not need a voice, because he rarely uses it. Pozzo is blind because he is blind to the suffering of others, and Lucky is dumb because he does not speak up for himself."
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