Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Literature homework

1. Just like every human being, I myself have experienced the feeling of betrayal.

2. I had a best friend and we were really close and then I met this guy and after getting to know each other we got together. Now, it never crossed my mind that my best friend would ever want to hook up with him even though we made a pact that we would never date each others ex partners. Anyway she decided that she wanted him and so she started talking bad about me behind my back. The guy believed every word she said and as a result we broke up. They both hurt me really bad and it took me a long while to forgive them but I did. But it was at that moment that I came to realize who my “friend” really was.

At the end of it all, I didn’t do anything. I did not confront either of them about the situation because at that time the guy was no longer mine so I developed a ‘big girl attitude’ and figured ‘if that made him happy, then I’m all for his happiness’. (NOT!).

3. I have never gotten the feeling that I was betrayed and then later down, I find out that it was a misunderstanding because one thing about me personally is I think before I act so in other words, I make sure I explore all my options and cover all odds of the situation before I come to the conclusion of whether I was betrayed or not.

4. Over the years of studying various works of Shakespeare like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The taming of the shrew, Julius Caesar, The merchant of Venice etc, there is a small trend that constantly seems to repeat itself. That trend is that the characters in the novels always seem to resort to violence, trickery or some form of evilness and the main reasons for this type of act is as a result of either betrayal, lies, deceit, misunderstandings that never get resolved, greed for money or other materialistic treasures, hate, love, family feuds and others. Due to the disturbing listings above, persons in the play either end up dying, loosing something valuable, being locked away etc.

5. Christian and pagan worldviews interacted with each other in rich and often paradoxical ways, and signs of that complicated interaction are present in The Winter's Tale.
Torn by internal strife between Catholics and Protestants, an economy in tatters, and unstable leadership, England was vulnerable to invasion by her stronger rivals on the continent. By the time of Elizabeth's death in 1603, she had turned the weakling of Western Europe into a power of the first rank, poised to become the mightiest nation in the world.
Conflict and War. Religious tensions in Bohemia Europe between the Catholic Habsburgs and the Hussite nobles continued into the 1600s. Both Rudolf II and Ferdinand II (ruled 1619–1637) tried to restore the power of the Roman Catholic Church. However, in 1619 the Bohemian nobles revolted and overthrew Ferdinand. The uprising led to the outbreak of the THIRTY YEARS' WAR, a conflict involving many states of Europe. The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648), a treaty that confirmed the political and religious control of the Habsburgs over Bohemia.

6. The Elizabethan era was a time associated with Queen Elizabeth 1's reign (1558–1603) and is often depicted as the golden age  in English history . The symbol of Britannia was first used in 1572 and often thereafter to mark the Elizabethan age as a renaissance that inspired national pride through classical ideals, international expansion, and naval triumph over the hated Spanish foe. In terms of the entire century, Guy (1988) argues that "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time in a thousand years.
It was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for theater, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre.


 


 7. The Globe Theatre




8. Theatre of the absurd
The term refers to particular plays written by a number of (mostly) European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work.
In a nutshell, the philosophy underneath is that life is inherently without meaning, and so one must find one's own meaning. This genre of theatre achieved popularity when World War II highlighted the essential precariousness of human life. Most plays belonging to this category will make you both think and even laugh if you get to appreciate their hilarious sense of humor, often with an important message.
Actually, some experts dislike the label "Absurd Theatre" and use "Anti-Theater" or "New Theater" instead.

        

9.  Synopsis of William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26th, 1564 and died on April 23rd, 1616. William was the eldest son of Mary Arden, a land owner and John Shakespeare, a Glover and wood dealer. It was believed that William Shakespeare was educated at the King's New School in Stratford. At age 18, he married 26 year old Anne Hathaway, and six months after the marriage, Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susana. Hamlet and Judith, twins, followed almost two years after. Hamlet died of unknown causes at age 11 and was buried on the 11th August, 1596.

Shakespeare wrote many plays, poems, and novels which fell under the category of being either a Tragedy (eg.King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello etc), a History (e.g. King John, Edward iii, Richard ii, Henry vi etc), Comedies (e.g. Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer's Night Dream etc) or Romance (eg.Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet etc). He was known as the "Bard of Avon" and his serving works included some collaboration of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 long narrative poems and several other poems. His plays were translated into every major living language and are performed more often than that of any other play writer. After 1606-1607, Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are attributed to him after 1613. His last three plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher who succeeded him as the "house play writes for the King's Man".

Shakespeare died on 23rd April, 1616, and was survived by his wife, Anne Hathaway, and two daughters, Susana and Judith. His works have made lasting impressions on later theatre and literature.

Shakespeare was known as the greatest play writer because of his understanding of human nature, the keen Development of his characters, his effective use of literary devices, and his superiority in writing, his ways of understanding and explaining, and his expression of humanity through complex characters. He also earned this title by his plot developments and story lines which have served to inspire more literature and art than any other writer.