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Order in Peaches

Societal dictum and etiquette are fluid concepts, changing and differing dependent largely on location, culture, time period, and other factors. With reference to carting a carriage of Peaches through rural Japan in the middle of a cold winter night, the narrator of Abe Akira’s Peaches discerns “Nowadays, perhaps. But back then? Unthinkable” (Akira 11). This serves to suggest that one or more aspects of Akira’s narrative may have been taboo in his younger years, slowly beginning to normalize or at least escape large-scale humiliation or punishment as he made his way through adulthood. In Abe Akira’s short story, Peaches, the narrator creates a central theme of disorder through his family’s defiance of societal norms in the form of infidelity resulting in an illegitimate child, and abortion. The breach in etiquette is first posed by way of suggested infidelity on the part of the narrator’s mother. With a father away at war, the narrator recalls “the face and voice of a man…inseparabl
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 How do the texts of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth illustrate Shakespeare’s allegorical response to events and political concerns?  

As far back as Plato’s theory of imitation it has been asserted that “the poet always copies an earlier act of creation from reality or from other literary representations” (Carter 49). When Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night’s Dream around 1595 and Macbeth around 1606, he drew strongly from source material, including known history, recent events and classical texts. It is argued in this essay that in doing so he included topical allegorical meanings that suited the concerns of his patronage and personal interests. In addition to using these elements, no writer writes in seclusion from all other influence. Allen writes that “works of literature, after all, are built from systems, codes and traditions established by previous works of literature.” (Allen 1). Allegory was an established and expected element of writing in the Elizabethan period. John Harington may have tended toward literal preferences himself (Nelson 361), however he notes that: "while some audiences might be sa
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Shakespeare and Renaissance Medicine: The Limitations of Physic and Remedy in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Other Plays

The purpose of this essay is to discuss Shakespeare’s intention in using medical detail within his plays. The use of medical allusion is a frequent occurrence in Shakespeare’s works, touching upon a wide variety of topics in the sphere of physic; modern physician R.R. Simpson concludes that the plays contain 440 major medical references (Hoeniger 1992: 11). However, the focus of this essay shall be on the theme of remedy and curative methods, beginning with a discussion centred on these concepts in Hamlet (c.1599) and Macbeth (c.1606). The discussion shall then be expanded out to consider the connection between playwright and purgation or healing, and also the attitude towards physicians in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean era. Before engaging in the proposed discussion, it is important to initially consider the general extent of medical understanding and physical knowledge during the period. Medical knowledge in the early modern era derived from the dominant theory of practic
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Impulsivity Despite Desire for Rationality in Macbeth

Throughout much of Macbeth, its titular protagonist is concerned with his future. He kills Duncan so that he can become king, he kills Banquo to protect his throne, and he goes to the witches to help him learn how to protect his life. Most of these actions, though, which he takes to preserve himself and his future, are reactionary and decided upon in remarkably short periods of time. The play presents Macbeth as a thoughtful, rational person; he can easily see both sides of the argument as to whether or not to kill Duncan and he seems to act in a rational manner. Yet, at the same time, the play presents him as impulsive. He decides to commit murder in an afternoon, and he kills one of his closest friends because he thinks that he might have some idea that Macbeth was the murderer of Duncan. Even when he consults the witches, which is a wise idea and shows a desire for forethought and premonition, the act of consultation is a reaction to seeing the ghost of Banquo. This presents a centr
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Descent Into Madness: Orson Welles' Macbeth

It is often debated as to whether the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth represent instruments of fate or whether they are simply manipulating and toying with Macbeth and influencing him to act in certain ways. However, Orson Welles, in his 1948 adaptation of Macbeth, uses the witches in a completely different sense, depicting Macbeth’s descent into insanity by leaving the witches in Act 4, Scene 1, out of frame while Macbeth toils onscreen, causing the audience to wonder whether, in this scene, the witches are truly present or are instead of Macbeth’s mind’s creation, thereby drawing parallels to the own turmoil and absolute paranoia of the times. Though much is to be made for the argument that the witches truly were present, as Welles inserts a scene prior to Macbeth’s crowning that shows the witches placing a crown on top of a doll’s head (likely taking influence from his own groundbreaking 1936 production of Voodoo Macbeth), the purposeful absence of the witches seems to int
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Unchecked Ambition in 'Macbeth' and 'The Last King of Scotland'

Hao 11F William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ and Kevin Macdonald’s film ‘The Last King of Scotland’ both highlight the destructive nature of ambition when it is not guided by its moral constraints. Both the play and film demonstrate that making decisions based off a person’s desire will only bring consequences and there will never be a positive outcome. Shakespeare condemns those who obtains power through unlawful means, similarly Macdonald supports the perception that power stolen from its rightful owner is only temporary as going against your morals for desires will only result in the downfall yourself. Shakespeare however suggest that one can redeem themselves by paying for your sin through death, while Macdonald paint a less superstitious outcome of strong willed individuals who attempt to turn their lives around through the redemption of their wrong doings. Shakespeare and Macdonald both illustrate the vicious nature of unconstrained desires through the downfall of those that co
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The Perils of Ambition: Macbeth and The Crucible

Shakespeare’s Macbeth , written in 1623, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, written in 1953, are both historical plays based on a character’s extreme behaviors that have stemmed from evil desires and ulterior motives. Miller and Shakespeare set their plays in secluded religious societies that help in the progress of either mass hysteria or individual paranoia. The two authors make the audience second-guess themselves in their disturbing plays by using symbolic concepts that deconstruct the ideology of good and evil. Additionally, with corruption of power, female characters from both stories challenge the men they love to further their own needs. These stories panic, overwhelm, and frustrate their audiences with the twists and turns of their problematic characters and plot. Although ambition is a great motivator for success, it can become an unforgivable force where goals distort to work against you. Shakespeare and Miller use fragmented, obsessive, and repetitive language structure in
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