Author Archives: Ronie Sharma

I really enjoyed reading through the Winter’s Tale. It had a lot
of elements in it that I would not have expected in a Shakespearean play – primarily
the time skip, as well as the transition in the play from a tragedy to almost a
comedy. I really didn’t expect the play to have a happy ending after the way it
started. I figured Leontes would end up repenting the rest of his life for
destroying his family, but it was almost like a reunion after a long journey at
the end of the play. It was really surprising as well – I did not expect
Hermione to be alive.

The play gave off a lot of interesting takeaways as well. Everyone makes mistakes
in relationships and with their families, and time really can heal bonds that
are broken in them. It’s unbelievable at first that Hermione is able to forgive
her husband after everything she was put through; but after you start reflecting
on how long sixteen years actually is, the fight seems almost petty (although
it was sixteen years in hiding where everyone assumed she was dead). I thought this
play was a great one to end the semester with.

After rereading Troilus and Cressida for the paper and final, I
still find the play to be atrocious. I completely understand why critics say it
is one of Shakespeare’s worst plays, and is hardly ever acted out. I understand
that Shakespeare used the play as a satire for love and war, but I cant imagine
it being that enjoyable to watch on stage. There’s no real noticeable climax in
the play. Maybe it would be different to watch it, but after reading it I feel
the story is incomplete. It was not satisfying like the rest of Shakespeare’s
play which tend to wrap themselves up.

Also, I think Shakespeare tried a little bit to hard to make the Iliad’s
characters more realistic. I can understand making Achilles a bit pompous and a
narcissist, but he was also made out to be a coward. How do you go from
depicting Achilles as a mighty force racing down to the gates of Troy to face
Hector with the earth trembling in his wake to having him gang up on an unarmed
Hector with a bunch of men to kill him? It’s stretching the character too far.
Achilles was still a proud warrior in Troilus and Cressida – I don’t think it
makes sense for him to allow his reputation to be tarnished by ganging up to
kill Hector. The Greeks would celebrate the Trojans death, but they would also
whisper how he was so great that Achilles couldn’t beat him in a legitimate
duel.

I did enjoy the play’s take on love, however. I think most relationships boiled
down to lust in those days, and it was a refreshing change from the tales of
true love at first sight. Overall I still found the play to be disappointing
though

I think Macbeth’s destiny was out of his control. The interference of fate, in the form of the witches, is what caused his inevitable downfall. Macbeth didn’t exhibit any ambition to usurp the throne until he heard the prophecy. Once the idea was placed inside his head, however, it consumed him. He was extremely indecisive on what course of action to take, and rationalized against doing anything several times. His wife really forced it upon him, using tactics such as questioning his manhood and assuring his success.

Macbeth is a victim of his options. Recall, Macbeth was a religious man. Imagine you were told by a prophetic visionary (whether its angelic or demonic is irrelevant, as long as you believed in it) that you would come across immense wealth.; Immediately, you’d start looking left and right for the first opportunity to make this vision true. It’s only a natural response. Macbeth was already aware Malcolm was the next heir to the throne, so he could infer that his kingship had to be seized. When the opportunity to murder Duncan arose, he would believe it was his destiny.    

Also, take his initial character into question. He was a brilliant warrior, known for brutally slaughtering his opponents. Yet he shook with fright he had to murder whom he perceived an innocent man, and inevitably lost his grip on sanity as a result. That is not the appropriate characterization of the ruthless man Macbeth became by the end of the play. All of his subsequent murders and actions were a result him being trapped on a slippery slope. Towards the end of the play Macbeth laments on the futility of life. He is still able to regret his actions. He suffered greatly; losing his wife, reputation, power, and everything that once formed his identity   
                                                                                                           
Although Macbeth is very intelligent and appeared to have thought through his plan, I don’t believe he really did. His mind was completely focused on the task at hand – he kept rationalizing whether or not to kill the King. The fact that he didn’t consider he had no children to be heir to the throne until AFTER he murdered Duncan attests to that. I doubt he considered the grand scheme of his actions. He acted out of character by jumping the gun and murdering the King due to a perceived urgency of time, and was unable to really think things through. It didn’t help that he had his wife was emasculating him every step of the way. In my opinion, the destiny was forced upon Macbeth. How much blame you can put on the man for giving into tantalizing temptation, the original sin of man?