William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

William Shakespeare Essay William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born in Startford-on-Avon, in the country of Warwick. The third child and first son, William was christened on 26th April, 1564 in the parish chruch. His father, John Shakespeare, was a prosperous businessman. William got his education in a good grammer school. His father’s business failed due to neglect so William could not attend the University. At the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of an old family friend and they had three children. The date of his arrival in London is not known but he was said to have been arrived there around 1592. A theatre company, ‘Lord Chamberlain’s Men’, refounded in 1594, developed into London’s leading company. Shakespeare became an important member in it and this group later got the name, ‘King’s Men’. From 1599, this occupied the Globe Theatre and later in 1608 took over the Blackfriar’s monestry. Shakespearean plays performed here show the change in the stage conditions, having more scenery and lighting effects. Shakespeare, by his Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucerce, had earned considerable fame in 1594. The revival of classical drama brought about a change in the attitude of noblemen of that time. The theatre began to be attended by and the quality of the plays improved. In 1597, Shakespeare purchased ‘New Place’, an outstanding residential property. After acquiring a lot of property in Stratford, he retired to his house ih New Place. His career as a dramatist was over and The Tempest was his last play, written in 1611. On 23rd April, 1616, Shakespeare died and was buried in the altar of Stratford Church. As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the First Folio, 1623. The plays first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility. The play remains a favourite among audiences and has been adapted for radio, film, and musical theatre. Plot Development The plot of As You Like It is complex and comprises of a number of interweaving plots. The inter-linking of plots has been done beautifully by Shakespeare. The characters have been fashioned and fit into incidents. ‘ As You Like It’ follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncles court, accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone the court jester, to find safety and eventually, love, in the Forest of Arden. The play features one of Shakespeares most famous and oft-quoted speeches, All the worlds a stage, and is the origin of the phrase too much of a good thing. Themes Envy, Hatered,Jealousy,Conceit The theme of envy, hatred, jealousy and conceit has been brought by Shakespeare with the help of Oliver and Duke Frederick. Oliver is envoius of his brother Orlando because although he treats him like a rustic he has all the good qualties in him which eclipse the qualities of Oliver. It is because he is jealous of Orlando, he hates him and tries to kill him. In the same way Duke Frederick is jealous of the popularity of Duke Senior and Rosalind. When he comes to know that it is because of Rosalind that the qualities of Celia are hidden, he decides to banish her as well. He had only kept Rosalind back because Celia could not stay without her. Loyalty,Love,Devotion Adam is loyal to Orlando and loves him because he reminds him of Sir Rowland de Boys. He saves Orlando’s life by helping him escape from the trap laid by Oliver to take his life. Adam also offers Orlando his life savings and his service although he is very old. Duke Senior also has some followers who willingly follow the Duke to banishment. Love and devotion is also seen in Celia for Roslind as they ecape to the forest of Arden together. They are inseperable like the Juno’s swans. Rosalind is in love with Orlando when he bravely defeats Charles the prized wrestler of the Duke. She gives him her necklace. A shepard named Silivius has also fallen in love with Phebe. Another love-story of Touchstone and Audrey is also taking place. It is anti-romantic story and although Touchstone wants to marry Audrey, he does not want it to be a life-long bond. Background of the Poet Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novel and poetry books. He has also received several awards including Padma Shri, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in a Punjabi family to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Seth spent part of his youth in London but returned to his homeland in 1957. He received primary education at Welham Boys School and then moved to The Doon School. After commencing secondary education at The Doon School in India, Seth returned to England to Tonbridge School. Having lived in London for many years, Seth now maintains residences near Salisbury, England, where he is a participant in local literary and cultural events, having bought and renovated the house of the Anglican poet George Herbert in 1996 and in Delhi, where he lives with his parents and keeps his extensive library and papers. Structure of the Poem The Frog and the Nightingale is a fable in the form of a poem. A fable is narrative, not longer than a short story and has a moral. This poem has animals as its main characters. In this poem the poet has adapted features of modern poetry in following the pattern mixed metre and free verse. However to add the flavor of a ballad, a conscious effort has been made to keep it close to the common speech. The poem follows the iambic meter and regular rhyme immediately following the lines rhyming together. The last word of each line rhymes with the last word of the next line. Mostly the lines are hexasyllabic with variations of one syllable. Theme and Summary of the Poem The poem, The Frog and the Nightingale is a powerful example of how people are deceived by others because of the wrong self-image and the lack of moral courage. Generally, people build their self-image on what others think of them. They do not have the moral courage to see through their strengths and weaknesses, and thus they fall into traps of selfish people. There are many people who use other people to fullfil their selfish motives. The poet wants to convey the message that we need to realise our potential, have self-confidence and judgement of character so that we do not become victims of the crafty and hypocritical world. The poem begins with the frog croaking all day long at the Bingle Bog, under the sumac tree. Although the other creatures hated his singing, they had no choice because the frog was to determined to display his hearts elation. One night a nightingale arrived and enchanted everyone withher melodious voice. Everyone cheered the nightingale and she sang all night long. The following night when the nightingale was getting ready to sing the frog came to her and criticised the song as if he was a very good singer. The frog promised to train the nightingale but would charge a reasonable fee. He made nightingale sing continuously for six hours, not caring whether it is raining or not. He charged fee to everyone who came to sing the nightingale sing and thus she became very famous. The frog used to watch all the audience with joy both sweet and bitter. The frog used to scold her and she grew more morose. Her voice was losing its charm and thus people stopped to listen to her singing. Once, during a performance, the frog began to shout on her asked her to puff up and sing properly. Th nightingale puffed up ,burst a vein and died on the spot. The frog got back his position and continued to sing and display his hearta elation.