William Shakespeare's, The Merchant of Venice, is an abiding play in terms of the values and ideas. ... Shylock's anger is expressed when he highlights the fact that he will be seeking revenge upon the Christians when he says 'the villainy you teach me I will execute', and declares he will do it better than they have, when he claims 'I will better the instruction'. ... Women were underestimated and weren't expected to be independent like men, which link the values and ideas of gender equality to both the Shakespearian and modern society. ... This perhaps in...

• Word Count: 927
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

William Shakespeare has come to be known as arguably the finest sculptor of language through his plays and poems. ... Interestingly, Othello does not make an appearance until Act I scene ii, where Shakespeare uses his first appearance to contradict the audience's expectations that were developed in scene one. ... In Act I, scene iii when Othello "calls for the lady-, Desdemona in her first appearance on stage challenges her father, explaining to him that: I am hitherto you daughter. But here's my husband/ And so much duty as my mother showed/ to you, preferring you before her fa...

• Word Count: 1558
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Has your study of King Lear and its reception in a range of contexts lead you to believe the play supports or sabotages structures of power? ... As Shakespeare and the Elizabethans saw it, by these women corrupting the structure of power and the natural order of society's function, they deserved to be punished with death. ... Eventually Regan is dressed like a dominatrix to convey her attainment of power. ... In Act one, scene one, the stage is lit up like a chessboard, conveying not only the segregation of the kingdom, but also the rivalry between the players. Lear's blindness ...

• Word Count: 1753
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In Act II, Scene I of Shakespeare's Othello, Iago voices his strong misogynistic opinion towards women-that every woman is the same, shrewd monster whether pretty, ugly, smart, or dumb; and that only when women are obedient and submissive, they are worth praise. ... When Desdemona defends her friend and fellow woman, Iago responds, "Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,/Bells in your parlors, wild-cats in your kitchens,/Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,/Players in your housewifery, and housewives' in your beds" (2.1.109). ... Iago claims that all wo...

• Word Count: 1417
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate