Themes, Motifs and Symbols of Dr Faustus

Themes

"Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work."

Sin, Redemption, and Damnation

Insofar as Doctor Faustus is a Christian play, it deals with the themes at the heart of Christianity’s understanding of the world. First, there is the idea of sin, which Christianity defines as acts contrary to the will of God. In making a pact with Lucifer, Faustus commits what is in a sense the ultimate sin: not only does he disobey God, but he consciously and even eagerly renounces obedience to him, choosing instead to swear allegiance to the devil. In a Christian framework, however, even the worst deed can be forgiven through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, God’s son, who, according to Christian belief, died on the cross for humankind’s sins. Thus, however terrible Faustus’s pact with Lucifer may be, the possibility of redemption is always open to him. All that he needs to do, theoretically, is ask God for forgiveness. The play offers countless moments in which Faustus considers doing just that, urged on by the good angel on his shoulder or by the old man in scene 12—both of whom can be seen either as emissaries of God, personifications of Faustus’s conscience, or both.
Each time, Faustus decides to remain loyal to hell rather than seek heaven. In the Christian framework, this turning away from God condemns him to spend an eternity in hell. Only at the end of his life does Faustus desire to repent, and, in the final scene, he cries out to Christ to redeem him. But it is too late for him to repent. In creating this moment in which Faustus is still alive but incapable of being redeemed, Marlowe steps outside the Christian worldview in order to maximize the dramatic power of the final scene. Having inhabited a Christian world for the entire play, Faustus spends his final moments in a slightly different universe, where redemption is no longer possible and where certain sins cannot be forgiven.

Power as a Corrupting Influence

Early in the play, before he agrees to the pact with Lucifer, Faustus is full of ideas for how to use the power that he seeks. He imagines piling up great wealth, but he also aspires to plumb the mysteries of the universe and to remake the map of Europe. Though they may not be entirely admirable, these plans are ambitious and inspire awe, if not sympathy. They lend a grandeur to Faustus’s schemes and make his quest for personal power seem almost heroic, a sense that is reinforced by the eloquence of his early soliloquies.
Once Faustus actually gains the practically limitless power that he so desires, however, his horizons seem to narrow. Everything is possible to him, but his ambition is somehow sapped. Instead of the grand designs that he contemplates early on, he contents himself with performing conjuring tricks for kings and noblemen and takes a strange delight in using his magic to play practical jokes on simple folks. It is not that power has corrupted Faustus by making him evil: indeed, Faustus’s behavior after he sells his soul hardly rises to the level of true wickedness. Rather, gaining absolute power corrupts Faustus by making him mediocre and by transforming his boundless ambition into a meaningless delight in petty celebrity.
In the Christian framework of the play, one can argue that true greatness can be achieved only with God’s blessing. By cutting himself off from the creator of the universe, Faustus is condemned to mediocrity. He has gained the whole world, but he does not know what to do with it.

The Divided Nature of Man

Faustus is constantly undecided about whether he should repent and return to God or continue to follow his pact with Lucifer. His internal struggle goes on throughout the play, as part of him of wants to do good and serve God, but part of him (the dominant part, it seems) lusts after the power that Mephastophilis promises. The good angel and the evil angel, both of whom appear at Faustus’s shoulder in order to urge him in different directions, symbolize this struggle. While these angels may be intended as an actual pair of supernatural beings, they clearly represent Faustus’s divided will, which compels Faustus to commit to Mephastophilis but also to question this commitment continually.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Magic and the Supernatural

The supernatural pervades Doctor Faustus, appearing everywhere in the story. Angels and devils flit about, magic spells are cast, dragons pull chariots (albeit offstage), and even fools like the two innkeepers, Robin and Rafe, can learn enough magic to summon demons. Still, it is worth noting that nothing terribly significant is accomplished through magic. Faustus plays tricks on people, conjures up grapes, and explores the cosmos on a dragon, but he does not fundamentally reshape the world. The magic power that Mephastophilis grants him is more like a toy than an awesome, earth-shaking ability. Furthermore, the real drama of the play, despite all the supernatural frills and pyrotechnics, takes place within Faustus’s vacillating mind and soul, as he first sells his soul to Lucifer and then considers repenting. In this sense, the magic is almost incidental to the real story of Faustus’s struggle with himself, which Marlowe intended not as a fantastical battle but rather as a realistic portrait of a human being with a will divided between good and evil.

Practical Jokes

Once he gains his awesome powers, Faustus does not use them to do great deeds. Instead, he delights in playing tricks on people: he makes horns sprout from the knight’s head and sells the horse-courser an enchanted horse. Such magical practical jokes seem to be Faustus’s chief amusement, and Marlowe uses them to illustrate Faustus’s decline from a great, prideful scholar into a bored, mediocre magician with no higher ambition than to have a laugh at the expense of a collection of simpletons.

Symbols: Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Blood

Blood plays multiple symbolic roles in the play. When Faustus signs away his soul, he signs in blood, symbolizing the permanent and supernatural nature of this pact. His blood solidifies on the page, however, symbolizing; perhaps, his own body’s revolt against what he intends to do. Meanwhile, Christ’s blood, which Faustus says he sees running across the sky during his terrible last night, symbolizes the sacrifice that Jesus, according to Christian belief, made on the cross; this sacrifice opened the way for humankind to repent its sins and be saved. Faustus, of course, in his proud folly, fails to take this path to salvation.

Faustus’s Rejection of the Ancient Authorities

In scene 1, Faustus goes through a list of the major fields of human knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and theology—and cites for each an ancient authority (Aristotle, Galen, Justinian, and Jerome’s Bible, respectively). He then rejects all of these figures in favor of magic. This rejection symbolizes Faustus’s break with the medieval world, which prized authority above all else, in favor of a more modern spirit of free inquiry, in which experimentation and innovation trump the assertions of Greek philosophers and the Bible.

The Good Angel and the Evil Angel

The angels appear at Faustus’s shoulder early on in the play—the good angel urging him to repent and serve God, the evil angel urging him to follow his lust for power and serve Lucifer. The two symbolize his divided will, part of which wants to do good and part of which is sunk in sin"." (Spark Notes)

Characters in Dr Faustus and Analysis of major characters

Faustus  -  a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg, Germany, whose ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to pay the ultimate price, his soul to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural powers.

Mephastophilis  -  A devil whom Faustus summons with his initial magical experiments. Mephastophilis’s motivations are ambiguous: on the one hand, his oft-expressed goal is to catch Faustus’s soul and carry it off to hell; on the other hand, he actively attempts to dissuade Faustus from making a deal with Lucifer by warning him about the horrors of hell.

Old Man  -  An mysterious figure who appears in the final scene. The old man urges Faustus to repent and to ask God for mercy. He seems to have replaced the good and evil angels, who in the first scene, try to influence Faustus’s behavior.

Good Angel  -  A spirit that urges Faustus to repent for his pact with Lucifer and return to God. The Good Angel represents Faustus’s conscience.

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Evil Angel  -  A spirit that serves as the counterpart to the good angel and provides Faustus with reasons not to repent for sins against God. The evil angel represents the evil half of Faustus’s conscience.

Lucifer  -  The prince of devils, the ruler of hell, and Mephastophilis’s master.

Wagner  -  Faustus’s servant. Wagner uses his master’s books to learn how to summon devils and work magic.

Clown  -  A clown who becomes Wagner’s servant. The clown’s antics provide comic relief; he is a ridiculous character, and his absurd behavior initially contrasts with Faustus’s magnificence. As the play goes on, Faustus’s behavior comes to resemble that of the clown.

Robin  -  An innkeeper, who is like a clown, provides a comic contrast to Faustus. Robin and his friend Rafe learn some basic conjuring, demonstrating that even the least scholarly can possess skill in magic.

Rafe  -  Also an innkeeper and a friend of Robin.

Valdes and Cornelius  -  Two friends of Faustus, both magicians, who teach him the art of black magic.

Horse-courser  -  A horse-trader who buys a horse from Faustus, which vanishes after the horse-courser rides it into the water, leading him to seek revenge.

The Scholars  -  Faustus’s colleagues at the University of Wittenberg. Loyal to Faustus, the scholars appear at the beginning and end of the play to express dismay at the turn Faustus’s studies have taken, to marvel at his achievements, and then to hear his agonized confession of his pact with Lucifer.

The pope  -  The head of the Roman Catholic Church and a powerful political figure in the Europe of Faustus’s day. The pope serves as both a source of amusement for the play’s Protestant audience and a symbol of the religious faith that Faustus has rejected.

Emperor Charles V  -  The most powerful monarch in Europe, whose court Faustus visits.

Benvolio  -  A German nobleman at the emperor’s court, a knight. He is skeptical of Faustus’s power, and Faustus makes antlers sprout from his head to teach him a lesson. He seeks revenge on Faustus and plans to murder him.

Bruno  -  A candidate for the papacy, supported by the emperor. Bruno is captured by the pope and freed by Faustus.

Duke of Vanholt  -  A German nobleman whom Faustus visits.

Martino and Frederick  -  Friends of Benvolio who reluctantly join his attempt to kill Faustus. 

 Analysis of Major Characters

 

Faustus

Faustus is a contradictory character, capable of tremendous eloquence and possessing awesome ambition, yet prone to a strange, almost willful blindness and a willingness to waste powers that he has gained at great cost. When we first meet Faustus, he is just preparing to embark on his career as a magician, and while we already anticipate that things will turn out badly, there is nonetheless magnificence to Faustus as he contemplates all the marvels that his magical powers will produce. He imagines piling up wealth from the four corners of the globe, reshaping the map of Europe (both politically and physically), and gaining access to every scrap of knowledge about the universe. He is an arrogant, conceited man, but his ambitions are so grand that we cannot help being impressed, and we even feel sympathetic toward him. He represents the spirit of the Renaissance, with its rejection of the medieval, God-centered universe, and its embrace of human possibility. Faustus, at least early on in his acquisition of magic, is the personification of possibility.

But Faustus also possesses an ignorance that becomes apparent during his bargaining sessions with Mephastophilis. Having decided that a pact with the devil is the only way to fulfill his ambitions, Faustus then blinds himself happily to what such a pact actually means. Sometimes he tells himself that hell is not so bad and that one needs only “fortitude”; at other times, even while conversing with Mephastophilis, he remarks to the disbelieving demon that he does not actually believe hell exists. Meanwhile, despite his lack of concern about the prospect of eternal damnation, -Faustus is also overwhelmed with doubts from the beginning, setting a pattern for the play in which he repeatedly approaches repentance only to pull back at the last moment. Why he fails to repent is unclear: -sometimes it seems a matter of pride and continuing ambition, sometimes a conviction that God will not hear his plea. Other times, it seems that Mephastophilis simply bullies him away from repenting.

Mephastophilis

The character of Mephastophilis is one of the first in a long tradition of sympathetic literary devils. Marlowe’s Mephastophilis is particularly interesting because he has mixed damnation. Indeed, he openly admits it, telling Faustus that “when we hear one rack the name of God, Abjure the Scriptures and his savior Christ, We fly in hope to get his glorious soul” (3.47–49). It is Mephastophilis who witnesses Faustus’s pact with Lucifer, and it is he who, throughout the play, steps in whenever Faustus considers repentance to persuade or threaten him into staying loyal to hell. Yet there is an odd ambivalence in Mephastophilis. He seeks to damn Faustus, but he himself is damned and speaks freely of the horrors of hell. When Faustus carelessly declares that he does not believe in hell, Mephastophilis insists that hell is, indeed real and terrible, as Faustus comes to know soon enough. Before the pact is sealed, Mephastophilis actually warns Faustus against making the deal with Lucifer. In an odd way, one can almost sense that part of Mephastophilis does not want Faustus to make the same mistakes that he made. But, of course, Faustus does so anyway, which makes him and Mephastophilis kindred spirits. It is appropriate that these two figures dominate Marlowe’s play, for they are two overly proud spirits doomed to hell.

Source

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/canalysis.html

Plot Overview of DR.FAUSTUS

Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from Mephastophilis. Meanwhile, Wagner, Faustus’s servant, has picked up some magical ability and uses it to press a clown named Robin into his service.


Mephastophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer. Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul; in the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it with his blood. As soon as he does so, the words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear branded on his arm. Faustus again has second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells to learn. Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to quiet his doubts.

Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as he goes. Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century b.c. Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus chastises him by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.

Meanwhile, Robin, Wagner’s clown, has picked up some magic on his own, and with his fellow stablehand, Rafe, he undergoes a number of comic misadventures. At one point, he manages to summon Mephastophilis, who threatens to turn Robin and Rafe into animals (or perhaps even does transform them; the text isn’t clear) to punish them for their foolishness.

Faustus then goes on with his travels, playing a trick on a horse-courser along the way. Faustus sells him a horse that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river. Eventually, Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where he performs various feats. The horse-courser shows up there, along with Robin, a man named Dick (Rafe in the A text), and various others who have fallen victim to Faustus’s trickery. But Faustus casts spells on them and sends them on their way, to the amusement of the duke and duchess.

As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the ancient world, and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.

From,

Sankari


references


http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/summary.html

Characters in The Winter's Tale

Leontes - The King of Sicilia, and the childhood friend of the Bohemian King Polixenes. He is gripped by jealous fantasies, which convince him that Polixenes has been having an affair with his wife, Hermione; his jealousy leads to the destruction of his family.

Hermione - The virtuous and beautiful Queen of Sicilia. Falsely accused of infidelity by her husband, Leontes, she apparently dies of grief just after being vindicated by the Oracle of Delphi, but is restored to life at the play's close.

Perdita - The daughter of Leontes and Hermione. Because her father believes her to be illegitimate, she is abandoned as a baby on the coast of Bohemia, and brought up by a Shepherd. Unaware of her royal lineage, she falls in love with the Bohemian Prince Florizel.

Polixenes - The King of Bohemia, and Leontes's boyhood friend. He is falsely accused of having an affair with Leontes's wife, and barely escapes Sicilia with his life. Much later in life, he sees his only son fall in love with a lowly Shepherd's daughter--who is, in fact, a Sicilian princess.

Florizel - Polixenes's only son and heir; he falls in love with Perdita, unaware of her royal ancestry, and defies his father by eloping with her.

Camillo - An honest Sicilian nobleman, he refuses to follow Leontes's order to poison Polixenes, deciding instead to flee Sicily and enter the Bohemian King's service.

Paulina - A noblewoman of Sicily, she is fierce in her defense of Hermione's virtue, and unrelenting in her condemnation of Leontes after Hermione's death. She is also the agent of the (apparently) dead Queen's resurrection.

Autolycus - A roguish peddler, vagabond, and pickpocket; he steals the Clown's purse and does a great deal of pilfering at the Shepherd's sheepshearing, but ends by assisting in Perdita and Florizel's escape.

Shepherd - An old and honorable sheep-tender, he finds Perdita as a baby and raises her as his own daughter.

Antigonus - Paulina's husband, and also a loyal defender of Hermione. He is given the unfortunate task of abandoning the baby Perdita on the Bohemian coast.

Clown - The Shepherd's buffoonish son, and Perdita's adopted brother.

Mamillius - The young prince of Sicilia, Leontes and Hermione's son. He dies, perhaps of grief, after his father wrongly imprisons his mother.

Cleomenes - A lord of Sicilia, sent to Delphi to ask the Oracle about Hermione's guilt.

Dion - A Sicilian lord, he accompanies Cleomenes to Delphi.

Emilia - One of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting.

Archidamus - A lord of Bohemia.

From

Sankari




Reference:
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/winterstale/characters.html

Top Ten Significant Quotes from The Winter's Tale

1. "We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i'the sun,And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd Was innocence for innocence; we knew not The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd That any did." (Act 1, scene 2, lines 67-71) Polixenes tells Hermoine of the his great friendship with Leontes in their youth. 2. "Paddling palms, and pinching fingers." (Act 1, scene 2, line 115) Leontes looks suspiciously at Hermoine and Polixenes as they talk together. 3. "A sad tale's best for winter: I have one Of sprites and goblins." (Act 2, scene 1, lines 25-26) Mamilius responds to his mother when she asks him to tell a story. 4. "What's gone, and what's past help, Should be past grief." (Act 3, scene 1, lines 222-23) Paulina speaking after a distressed Leontes has realized all the harm done by his jealousy. 5. "Exit, pursued by a bear." (Act 3, scene 3, line 58) Stage direction for Antigonus' exit. 6. "When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh! the doxy over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale." (Act 4, scene 3, lines 1-4) Autolycus sings of spring. 7. "A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." (Act 4, scene 3, lines 1-4) Autolycus describing his occupation as a peddler. 8. "The self-same sun that shines upon his court Hides not his visage from our cottage, but  Looks on all alike." (Act 4, scene 4, lines 446-48) Perdita speaks after Polixenes has banned her and Florizel from ever seeing each other again. 9. "Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance." (Act 4, scene 4, line 712-13) Autolycus describes himself. 10. "'Tis time; descend; be stone no more; approach." (Act 5, scene 3, line 99) Paulina commands the statue of Hermoine to move. From, Sankari References http://www.novelguide.com/thewinter'stale/toptenquotes.htm

The Winter's Tale Summary

The Winter's Tale Summary

Without any good cause, Leontes, King of Sicilia, suddenly comes to believe that his wife Hermione is having an adulterous affair with his best friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. He orders Camillo, his trusted friend and advisor, to poison Polixenes. Camillo is torn between loyalty to his king and following his conscience. He chooses his conscience, and rather than obey his king he helps Polixenes to escape back to Bohemia.

When he hears of their flight, Leontes is convinced that his wife and his two best friends have been plotting against him. He has Hermione, who is pregnant, thrown into jail. Hermione has the baby while imprisoned. Paulina, a fearless noblewoman loyal to the queen, brings the baby to Leontes in hopes that the sight of the child will bring the king to his senses. Instead, the king orders Paulina's husband, Antigonus, to abandon the child in a remote area. If he does not do so, Paulina will be executed. Heartsick, Antigonus goes to do as the king commands. Hermione is put on trial. There is no real evidence, but Leontes has dispatched messengers to the oracle of Apollo at Delphos. The oracle proclaims Hermione innocent; it also warns that Leontes will be without an heir until the infant daughter is found. Leontes rejects the news, and a servant enters to tell him that Prince Mamillius has died. Leontes repents; Hermione dies of grief.

Meanwhile, Antigonus takes the baby to Bohemia. In a dream, Hermione's ghost names the child Perdita and tells Antigonus that because of his part in the abandonment of the child, he will never be allowed to see his wife again. Antigonus is eaten by a bear. The little girl, along with the gold and tokens left with her, is found by a Shepherd and his son. The Shepherd vows to raise her as his own.

Father Time, the Chorus, announces the passage of sixteen years. We are now in Bohemia, where Camillo has served the King of Bohemia since their flight from Sicilia. Camillo now longs to return home to see his country and the now-penitent king he left behind. Polixenes simply cannot do without the able administrator. He persuades Camillo to go with him in disguise to the house of the Sheperd's daughter that the king's son, Prince Florizell, has reputedly been visiting.

Autolycus, a likable rogue dismissed from service to Prince Florizell, swindles the Shepherd's Son out of some cash. He hears of the upcoming sheep shearing festival, and he resolves to use the celebration to con more money out of the revelers.

Florizell and Perdita talk before the festival. The two youngsters are obviously deeply in love, although Perdita is afraid of what will happen if the king finds out about their relationship. At the festival, Florizell declares his love for the shepherdess in front of his disguised father. The outraged king threatens to disown Florizell and execute Perdita before storming off in anger. Camillo promises to help the two young lovers; he tells them to go to the court of King Leontes, who will receive them as honored guests. He calls on Autolycus, who has been swindling guests at the festival, to change clothes with the prince so that Florizell can escape the country incognito. Afterward, the Shepherd and his son, fearing for the safety, discuss ways to approach the king with the news that Perdita is a foundling. Autolycus overhears them, and he hopes to win advancement by helping his prince. He pretends to be an important courtier and promises to bring them to the king.

In Sicilia, Paulina convinces the king never to marry again unless she chooses the bride. Florizell and Perdita arrive, and Leontes greets them warmly. But a messenger arrives soon afterward, telling Leontes that Polixenes has arrived searching for his son. Leontes promises to be Florizell's advocate. In the next scene, through a conversation between three gentleman and Autolycus, we hear of how Perdita's true parentage was revealed. With all present, the Shepherd and the Shepherd's Son produced the items found with Perdita, which prove without a doubt that she is Leontes' long lost daughter. The two royal families and their closest friends and advisors go to Paulina's house, where an artist has crafted a beautiful statue of Hermione. While they are viewing the statue, Paulina brings Hermione to life, miraculously resurrecting the queen. The reunited families and their friends go to talk of all that has happened in the sixteen years that they have been apart.

From

Sankari




References
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/winterstale/summary.html

The Kingdom of Bohemia.

BOHEMIA 

Map of Bohemia

Bohemian Coat of Arms

 

Modern day Bohemia (Czech Republic)

Bohemia is the kingdom ruled by King Polixenes in the play 'The Winter's Tale'. Though the kingdom is featured in the play as having a coastline and a desert, research shows the kingdom of Bohemia should not have a coastline, because it is landlocked, and neither a desert. This error makes analysts wonder the reason why Shakespeare made such an error. A simple explanation that exists says that since The Winter's Tale's title itself suggests a fairy tale, the details of the play could have been imagined by Shakespeare based on basic settings.

The modern day Bohemia is the country of Czech Republic. Czech Republic is well-known for its green pastures and vast greeneries, plus the remnant castles of the ancient kingdoms. 

The picture above could be the current location of the grassland where Princess Perdita was shepherding. The picture is the rolling hills of Králický Sněžník.

Another fact to ponder would be the language that would have been spoken by King Polixenes and King Leontes. In Bohemia the people would have spoken Czech and in Sicilia the people spoke Sicilian but the language used in the play is English. This shows that that the royal family could be multilingual as they have access to the privilege of acquiring many languages. But how as as shepherdess, Princess Perdita came to acquire many languages shows how the play's fictional aspect comes to play.

Vimal.

The Kingdom of Sicilia

The Kingdom of Sicilia that was mentioned in the play The Winter's Tale is the kingdom that belongs to King Leontes. Though at the time of the play the kingdom was vast, in current times, it's just an island that belongs to Italy. It is currently the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, is located in this island.

The Coat of Arms of Kingdom of Sicilia

The map of the Sicilian Kingdom

Current day Sicily.

Vimal.

The Themes of Othello (The Assigment)

“OTHELLO”

William Shakespeare is one of the famous writers of Victorian centuries. The famous play that knows one can forget is the play ‘OTHELLO’. Othello was a story that teaches many people about life. There are many themes in Othello but the most well known theme in Othello is jealousy. Othello shows us the incidents that might happen because of jealousy.

 

In the play Othello , Iago displays his jealousy of Cassio. He says that Cassio, has steal the job Iago wanted, while Iago has to keep on being "his Moorship's ancient”. A little later, Roderigo, who is desperately in love with Desdemona, expresses his jealousy of Othello's marriage to Desdemona by exclaiming, "What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe” this is where Roderigo show his jealousy towards the relationship between Othello and Desdemona. 

After Desdemona makes it clear that she loves and honors her husband, Brabantio remains vindictive, and bitterly warns Othello that Desdemona may turn out to be a betrayal. No father has ever expressed a more hateful jealousy of his son-in-law. In a soliloquy at the end of the first scene in Cyprus, Iago speaks of his own motivations. He says he also likes Desdemona but not out of sex feeling but he wants to take revenge on Othello. This revenge is for his own suspicion that Othello has gone to bed with Emilia. The phrase "even'd with him, wife for wife," seems to mean that he has some notion that he might have sex with Desdemona, but it's not the sex that's important. Othello must feel that same poisonous jealousy that Iago feels. This shows that the suspicion that Iago has on the relationship between his wife Emilia and Othello turns him into a jealousy person to take revenge against Othello.

After having delivered a series of  telling bad about Desdemona, Iago encourages Othello to think about them by saying that they may not be worth thinking about.  Iago has shown his "jealousy" in its general sense of "suspicion," but  whether he knows it or not  he has also told the truth about himself. We have already seen that his jealousy has made a false statement about Emilia, he suspects that she is sleeping with both Othello and Desdemona.

 Othello will face with this problem until he kills Desdemona; he has no way to resolve his doubt. He says to Iago that he will not concern himself with such betrayal In short, Iago's inferences are disgusting exaggerations. However, Iago has not actually made any inferences; he's implied much, but he's been very careful not to make any accusations, not to say anything that could be refuted or disproved. Instead, it's Othello who is making jealous inferences even as he's denying that he can be jealous.  An outgoing personality doesn't make a woman loose. But he wouldn't have to remind himself of that if he weren't jealous. Similarly, he says, “Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw / the smallest fear or doubt of her revolt; / for she had eyes, and chose me". Again, Othello is right. Before her father and the world Desdemona proclaimed her choice, but if he weren't jealous he wouldn't have to remind himself that she chose him.

Othello already has strong suspicions, not from seeing anything, but just from listening to Iago. Still worse, Othello is prepared to hear and believe whatever Iago says next. Othello believes that he's not the jealous type and he believes that Iago is his honest friend, so he believes that Iago couldn't be lying and he believes that he himself can't be mistaken. Iago then uses more reverse psychology, telling Othello to "Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio; / Wear your eye thus, not jealous nor secure".In other words, Othello shouldn't be jealous, but if he's not, Desdemona is likely to take advantage of him.

Later in the scene, alone on the stage after Emilia has given him Desdemona's handkerchief, Iago reveals his plan for using the handkerchief to deepen Othello's jealousy. He will put the handkerchief in Cassio's room, where Cassio will find it. This will serve Iago's purpose because  when Othello sees Cassio with the handkerchief he thinks that he has seen the proof that Cassio and Desdemona are having an affair. When Desdemona can't find her special handkerchief she feels guilty, and she's glad that "my noble Moor / Is true of mind and made of no such baseness / As jealous creatures are," because otherwise the loss of the handkerchief might be  enough to put him into suspicious on Desdemona . Emilia seems to have a doubt about Othello not being jealous, but Desdemona says confidently, "I think the sun where he was born / Drew all such humours from him". Desdemona is sure that something have made Othello a jealous man.

However, when Othello arrives, ask  Desdemona about the handkerchief, and then storms out, Emilia asks, "Is not this man jealous?". Desdemona tries to convince herself that Othello is only upset by something that happened at work, but Emilia, unconvinced by Desdemona's reasoning.  Emilia clearly thinks that Othello could be leaving  with the stupid idea that Desdemona is unfaithful to him  A little later in the scene Cassio asks his prostitute girlfriend Bianca to copy Desdemona's handkerchief for him. Bianca is already unhappy with Cassio because he hasn't been to see her in a week, and the sight of a woman's hankderchief gives her an attack of jealousy. She teases Cassio that "is some token from a newer from”. Cassio goes on to explain that he found the handkerchief in his chambers. Although that's true, it sounds like a lame excuse, but Bianca copes with her jealousy. She takes the handkerchief and wants to talk about when she'll see Cassio again.

Later in the scene the will be apart that Iago will ask Cassio about Bianca and he teases cassio with his intimate relationship with Bianca but Iago ask Othello to listen to their conversation secretly so that Othello will know the real character of Desdemona. It  works as Iago plans and Othello thinks that the conversation is about Cassio and Desdemona’s secret relationship.

The jealousy that builds in Othello made him until to kill Desdemona. Later Emilia got to know about the handkerchief matter and she told Othello that Iago is the wan ask her to take the handkerchief. Othello couldn’t do anything because Desdemona is already death by the time Emilia tells the truth. Later knowing the truth Othello kills Iago.

As a conclusion, jealousy is a silent killer. It will poison a person to their worst tragedy. From this play as a human we should know the way to solve a problem in a correct manner rather than being jealous on somebody and wasting our own life.   

From 

Sankari

Biblography:

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Wordsworth Editions. 12. Retrieved from Google Books on November 5, 2010. ISBN 1-85326-018-5,

 Ackroyd, Peter (2006), Shakespeare: The Biography, London: Vintage, ISBN 9780749386559.
GOOGLE QUOTES OF OTHELLO 

The Assignment on Themes

The Circle of our affection: Love, Trust and Jealousy

In Shakespeare’s Play of Othello and The Winter’s Tale

By Abigail Somuah

In a brief synopsis of Othello, a man greatly respected by his fellow men as well as soldiers who served him, life came to the end of the road because of his distrust in the people who loved and respected him the most. Othello was deceived by one of his men named Iago, because he proclaimed he was wronged by not being given a promotion he rightfully deserved which was given to Cassio. Due to that he vowed to destroy Othello by any means possible. On the journey to destroy Othello, he ended up using Roderigo’s love for Desdemona to gain money and jewelries for himself as well as used it to try and murder Cassio. For Iago’s plot to suicide of destroying Othello and getting the position he claimed he deserved, he needs to eliminate Cassio, who holds that position. Iago started implanting into Othello brain that his loving wife was committing adultery with his friend Cassio. After Iago plotted a precious gift Othello gave to Desdemona in Cassio’s things and Othello seeing Cassio with it, he vowed to murder both Desdemona and Cassio.

Othello decided to deal with Desdemona while Iago was to deal with Cassio for being a noble man and true friend. Othello kills his wife for an unjust crime and Iago plotted with Roderigo to kill Cassio. Roderigo failed which resulted in his death while Othello succeeded. The truth finally was revealed when Emilia, Iago’s wife confessed giving Desdemona’s precious gift to her husband, Iago who planted it in Cassio’s things. Othello kills himself for betraying his wife and for committing such trouble crime against his beloved one and friend.

In The Winter’s Tale, a similar situation happened but with a happier ending.  Leontes the king of Sicilia and his queen Hermione hosted Polixenes the King of Bohemia for a period of nine month. When Polixenes wishes to return home, Leontes encourages him to stay and so does his wife. Leontes watches the interaction between his wife and Polixenes and forms a notion that they are having an affair.  He commands his second in hand Camillo to murder Polixenes for him. Camillo told Polixenes of this and Polixenes confess his innocence, Camillo believes him. Polixenes decided to leave right away and to bring Camillo along who will serve him. Leontes finding out that Camillo had run off with Polixenes heighten his suspicion, so he decides to put his pregnant wife in prison while they consent the Oracle and wait for Hermione’s trail. Hermione have a baby girl while waiting for her trail. Leontes rejects the baby and banish her along with Paulina’s husband Antigonus who wants to protect the girl.

The Oracle sends a message that Hermione is innocent of the crime she is accused of and that Leontes is a jealous man. Leontes refuses to believe that and wants to proceed with the trail, right after that news, his son’s death from his sickness while his mother was imprisoned was announced to him. Leontes cries out in pain and says this is a punishment unto him for banishing his baby girl and falsely accusing his wife of such crime. Hermione faints from the news of her son and dies presumably. The girl was raised by a shepherd and she was named Perdita . The price of Bohemia named Florizel, Polixenes son falls in love with Perdita. Florizel wanted to marry Perdita but Polixenes disapproved because of her background. Camillo who wanted to go back home to Sicilia, convinced Florizel and Perdita to run off to Sicilia and pronounce themselves as husband and wife as Polixenes will follow them there. They ran off with Camillo to Sicilia and were welcome by Leontes. Perdita is recognized later by her resemblance with Hermione statue, which later came to life. Leontes cries for forgiveness and embrace Hermione and Perdita.

These two stories share a common theme of love, trust and jealousy. Othello’s love for Desdemona led him to kill her because he couldn’t live with the fact that she had betrayed him and would go on betraying more men. He states in Act V Scene2 line 5 “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men” and goes on to describe his love and her beauty, line 20 “One more, one more! Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, and love thee after. One more, and this the last! So sweet was ne’er so fatal. I must weep, but they are cruel tears. This sorrow’s heavenly; it strikes where it doth love.” In this line as he kisses her, he states how her breath convinces him otherwise of killing her. Othello based his fact that Desdemona was cheating on him all from one person. He didn’t look for convincing fact other than one man’s word and refused to trust his own wife that he married. He refused to trust the man he called his friend and had second in command to him. He was blinded by jealousy, mistrust and love. He believed because of Desdemona’s beauty men were easily drawn to her and made him believe his friend Cassio betrayed him. When he saw his gift given to Desdemona in Cassio’s hand, which was proof to him that Desdemona was committing adultery. He doubted her love for him and because of it he murdered her cruelly. Iago’s jealousy of Cassio’s position in the army caused all these tragedies. These prove a great deal of what jealousy have over people and what it will lead them to do.

In Leontes case in The Winter’s Tale because of his jealousy of a friendship between his wife Hermione and Polixene he banished his newly baby girl born and caused his only son to die. His wife was about to have another child for him and he didn’t trust her to be faithful to him. This level of distrust led him to imprison Hermione during her pregnancy as he still confess his love for her in Act 3 Scene 2 line 5 “to our great grief we pronounce even pushes against our heart: the party tried, the daughter of a king, our wife, and one of us too much beloved.” Leontes found it as easy as taking in a breath everyday to accuse someone he called a brother like Polixenes who he invited to extend his stay after already staying for 9 months of betraying him by sleeping with his wife. Leontes mistrust and jealousy cost him dearly his only son and daughter including his wife and many years of grief.

Both Othello and Leontes’s distrust of their wives and friends led to a major destruction in their lives. Both loved but couldn’t completely trust. What is love without trust? Jealousy blinded their love and judgment, allowing them to betray their wives themselves. Iago’s jealous caused him to lie, hate and convince people to commit unthinkable sin against people who have done nothing to them. Iago refused to confess his sins and repent from them because he wanted to create destruction and confession where there was order. He succeeded destroying Othello with the help of Othello himself. Leontes was given a second chance to have a family and be happy and he learned his lesson of making false accusation with no concrete evidence.

These stories cover the theme of love, trust and jealousy. It leads the reader into how such an act of jealousy, mistrust and even love can lead to destruction and in Othello case end a living. Othello and The Winter’s Tale had great deal of similarities with these themes. Shakespeare’s play centuries ago emphasizes the one of the very thing mankind still struggles with, love, trust and jealousy.

Bibliography

Shakespeare, W. (2009). The Winter's Tale, (Act 3 Scene 2 line 5). New York : The Random House Publishing Group.

William Shakespeare and Mary Ellen Snodgrass, T. Othello, (Act V Scene2 line 5 and 20). Wiley Publishing, Inc.

The Main Themes In William Shakespeare's Othello

           In William Shakespeare’s Othello, there are several themes that can be noticed, for example hatred, suspicion, devastation and so on but the main theme that roams around the story is jealousy. Jealous is defined as the feeling of envy. Many characters in this story display this theme and many events in this story also driven by jealousy.

         The first character that displays this theme is Roderigo, the Florentine noble. He is jealous of Othello who manage to get Desdemona, the Venetian lady whom he loves. He hires Iago to win Desdemona back. This leads to many events of lie, plotting and killing by Iago who complots with Roderigo. At one point, Iago sets up a fight between Roderigo and Cassio by lying to Roderigo that Cassio is in love with Desdemona. Roderigo was then driven by jealousy and he felt unsecure that Cassio might get Desdemona without realizing that Iago is using him to revenge on Cassio and Othello.

         The second character is Iago. The main reason that driven him into jealousy is when Michael Cassio got promoted as the lieutenant by Othello that he claims he suppose to get. That caused him to use Roderigo to revenge. He even sets up the fight with Cassio and Roderigo due to his revenge to Cassio that gets the promotion. He tries to get Cassio set from his position. He also spread rumor that Othello was trying to seduce his wife Emilia. He even poisoned Othello’s mind that Desdemona is having affair with Cassio by asking Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief which lead to the ambush of Cassio by Iago by the order of Othello and killing of Desdemona by Othello himself.

          The third character that shows jealousy is Bianca. She is a small character in this story but she played a important role by being mistress to Cassio. She was jealous when Cassio gave her Desdemona’s handkerchief and asked her to make a copy of it and return the original one to the owner. She claimed that it belongs to a woman and she also accused him of having an affair with another mistress and that the reason Cassio did not visit her for days. After copying the handkerchief, she throws it to Cassio as she was jealous of the ‘other woman’. Othello who looked at it from distance thought that Cassion disrespect his token of love that he gave to Desdemona and he blames Desdemona for it. Bianca’s act of throwing the handkerchief caused a hurtful scar in Othello’s heart and mind that mainly leads to the killing of Desdemona.

          In conclusion, the theme of jealousy is the main theme in the story Othello. This behavior is absorbed by almost all the main characters in the story that leads to many important events. This theme is easily used by the characters to poison each other’s mind and make the story keep going interestingly. This theme is noted until the last event of the story.


Puspavathi.

The Comparison between the Themes of Othello and The Winter’s Tale.

Othello, the tragedy play by Shakespeare, was written in the year 1603, yet it is still one of the most popularly read and staged play even in current times. Meanwhile another play, which came to prominence twenty years later, The Winter’s Tale, is still a puzzle for readers of the reason why it was classified as a comedy when it starts out as a tragedy. The only difference with the plot is that in Othello, it ends in a tragedy when the title character kills his wife and himself, while in The Winter’s Tale, the family is reunited and they live happily.

Although they belong to different genres, they share many common themes among the two of them. One of the prominent themes in both of the plays is trust. In the first play, Othello’s lack of trust for his own wife causes him to kill her himself and suicide after finding out the truth. He chooses to believe the words of a lesser man over his wife’s fidelity. Othello’s last words are in Act 5 Scene 2, when he says “I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.”

On the contrary, the excessive trust Othello has for Iago is also one of the causes for the tragic ending. Othello trusted Iago when the latter accused Desdemona of adultery with Cassio, without realising that it is all just a part of Iago’s plan to take revenge on him. Othello went to the extent of murdering his wife without having a proper investigation done on the allegation. Othello is so hurt with Iago’s actions that in Act 5 Scene 2, he stabs Iago but does not kill him for he wants to suffer: “I am not sorry neither. I’ld have thee live; For in my sense, ‘tis happiness to die.”
As it is in Othello, the lack of trust a husband has for his wife is what drives the play. King Leontes develops a self-provoked fit of jealousy in his mind that his wife, Queen Hermione, is having an affair with his best friend, King Polixenes. This drives him to persecute her with an adultery charge and even doubt that the child she was carrying to not be his own. He even has doubts whether his previous son, Mamillius is his own. This is apparent  when he asks the boy in Act 1 Scene 2 Line 144 “Art thou my boy?”

The potentially dire consequences that could have been caused by his jealousy is countered by Paulina’s strong trust towards her friend’s fidelity. She believed her friend and fought for her when Hermione was falsely accused and punished. Her words in Act 2 Scene 3 Line 64 are: “And, I beseech you hear me, who professes myself your loyal servant, Your physician, Your most obedient counsellor, yet that dares less appear so in your comforting evils, than such as most seem yours. I say, I come from your good queen.”

The second common theme that Othello and The Winter’s Tale share is love. In Othello, Desdemona and Othello fall in love before eloping. When confronted by Desdemona’s father, Othello is confident with the love that they have for each other until he is willing to give up his position. In Act 1 Scene 3 he says “Send for the lady to the Sagittary and let her speak before her father. If you do find me foul in her report, The trust, the office, I do hold of you not only take away, but let your sentence even fall upon my life.”

Meanwhile in The Winter’s Tale, love is shown as the relationship between Prince Florizel and Perdita. Love in this play brings two families that were apart back together. In Act 4 Scene 4, Prince Florizel declares his love for Perdita: “I think you have as little skill to fear as I have purpose to put you to’t. But come, our dance, I pray. Your hand, my Perdita. So turtles pair, that never mean to part. Perdita replies: “I’ll swear for ‘em.” The love that Hermione has for her daughter is what kept her going through life in exile in the hope of seeing her again.

The third theme that is shared by both of the plays is family. Family plays an important role in Othello as well as The Winter’s Tale. In Othello, Brabantio, Desdemona’s father loves her very much to the extent of becoming heartbroken and dies of grief when she chooses her new husband over him. The confrontation happens in Act 1 Scene 3 when Brabantio asks Desdemona “Come thither, gentle mistress. Do you perceive in all this noble company where most you owe obedience?” To this Desdemona replies “I do perceive here a divided duty. To you I am bound for life and education; But here’s my husband; So much challenge that I may profess due to the Moor my lord.

In The Winter’s Tale, the family ties that are shown are in both the family of King Leontes and King Polixenes. The strongest tie though is shown in the family of King Leontes when he reunites with his wife and daughter at the end of the play. He realises how important family is when Maumillius, Hermione and his daughter are not with him anymore. In Act 5 Scene 3 Line 180 King Leontes tells Paulina to help him “Lead us from hence, Where we may leisurely each one demand, and answer to his part performed in this wide gap of time since first we were disserved. Hastily lead away.”

From the many similar themes that both of them share, we could see that although they belong to different genres, they are not much different from each other. They are one of the most popular plays by the great playwright Shakespeare and they deserve all the praises and compliments given to them. Not only are they entertaining, they contain important moral values and life lessons for everyone to learn from.

References

Shakespeare, William. Othello.

            Wiley Publishing Inc: United States, 2003. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Winter’s Tale.

            Modern Library: New York, 2009. Print.


By,
Vimalesvaren.