http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/plays Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:29:53 -0400 Fri, 05 Jun 2026 09:29:53 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1803/the-politics-of-the-spectacular-and-the-poetics-of-the-specular-in-william-shakespeares-richard-ii By Mohamed Anis Ferchichi - Drawing upon poststructuralist psychoanalysis, the critic contends that the deposed king has unearthed his ‘real’ self that has been buried beneath the regal identity of the body politic. Scott McMillin in his 1984 “Shakespeare’s Richard II: Eyes of Sorrow, Eyes of Desire,[6]” demonstrates how Shakespeare dramatizes the unseen in the play: “This is the problem of making manifest and accessible to normal seeing those qualities of identity which originate in such unseeable characteristics as absence vacancy” (40). Starting off from his analysis of Bushy&... Mon, 28 Sep 2020 08:54 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1803/the-politics-of-the-spectacular-and-the-poetics-of-the-specular-in-william-shakespeares-richard-ii http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1520/the-role-of-deception-in-love-as-portrayed-in-shakespeares-a-midsummer-nights-dream-and-twelfth-night By Emily Gray - Primarily concerned with love in the form of “the love of persons,” Shakespeare’s literature examines and scrutinizes several varying types of relationships stemming from different facets of a singular emotion (Nordlund 21). By focusing solely on this branch of love, Shakespeare is able to incorporate a plethora of illustrations throughout both his comedies and sonnets of parental love, sibling love, romantic love, and variations on the classical idea of phileo, or friendship love, while excluding such unrelated phenomena of affection as the love of material goods or the love... Wed, 18 Jan 2017 12:47 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1520/the-role-of-deception-in-love-as-portrayed-in-shakespeares-a-midsummer-nights-dream-and-twelfth-night http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1496/the-role-of-minor-and-ephemeral-characters-in-shakespeares-henry-v By Muhammad Suffian - Henry V is an unusual play in the sense that it is centred on one major personality. Therefore, the play often has to rely on the dramatic effect of its minor and ephemeral characters. These characters are extraordinarily compelling and their importance cannot be exaggerated; they provide critical perspective of the King, and his interactions with them are designed to undercut and comprise the heroic perception of his character. (Erickson, 1979, pg. 14). Thus, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate and critically analyse the salient role minor characters play in deflating the heroic myth of Shakespeare... Tue, 15 Nov 2016 10:17 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1496/the-role-of-minor-and-ephemeral-characters-in-shakespeares-henry-v http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/172/the-significance-of-the-screenplay By Brian Richards - Film is a highly collaborative medium. Most movie viewers probably do not think of the collaboration process each time they sit at the theater, or at their computer, but the required teamwork is significant, as any moviegoer who has actually sits through the end credits can attest. In this multi-faceted form of communication, it is hard to indentify precisely what the most important component, or who the most important team member, is. However, there is a strong case to support the notion that the most vital piece of a film is the screenplay, making the screenwriter a film’s most valuable... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/172/the-significance-of-the-screenplay http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/163/michael-cassio-as-a-foil-to-shakespeares-othello By Veronika Walker - Theodore Spencer wrote of Shakespeare's Othello, “In presenting the character of Othello to his audience, Shakespeare emphasizes very strongly his grandeur, self-control, and nobility” (Spencer 127-28). This observation demonstrates that these three main traits—grandeur, self-control, and nobility—are key to understanding Othello's complex character, and even more helpful in understanding the contrasts between him and his subordinates. Most notably in this comparison is young Michael Cassio, a beautifully written foil character to the general in the fact that where Othello... Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:50 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/163/michael-cassio-as-a-foil-to-shakespeares-othello http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/118/william-shakespeares-richard-iii-brilliant-schemer-entertaining-villain By Katherine Blakeney - Shakespeare’s Richard is a brilliant schemer and manipulator, completely devoid of scruples of any kind. He also happens to be severely physically deformed. The inevitable feelings of inadequacy, envy, and frustration that this engenders are heightened when his military talents are no longer needed. As he beautifully explains at the beginning of Act I, “all the clouds that loured upon” the house of York are now “in the deep bosom of the ocean buried”. It seems the Wars of the Roses are finally over (for now), and unadapted as Richard is to “idle pleasures&rdquo... Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/118/william-shakespeares-richard-iii-brilliant-schemer-entertaining-villain http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/105/ovids-metamorphoses-and-the-plays-of-shakespeare By Katherine Blakeney - Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C – 17 A.D.), a Roman aristocrat and poet, wrote a collection of poems based on Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid called it “Metamorphoses” as he selected myths that dealt with the transformation of people, gods, and heroes into forces or features of nature. Metamorphoses became one of the most popular and influential literary works in the history of European civilization. Shakespeare must have read Ovid in Latin, as Metamorphoses was part of his school program. There is also a Latin copy of Metamorphoses with Shakespeare’s signature on it, but... Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:35 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/105/ovids-metamorphoses-and-the-plays-of-shakespeare