http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/shakespeare 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 Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:30:02 -0400 Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:30:02 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1890/foreignness-and-freedom-in-the-plays-of-christopher-marlowe By Abigail Slater - Few writers and dramatists have managed to inspire a persona that is as interesting as that of Christopher Marlowe. Born in Canterbury in the mid-16th century, Marlowe rose to prominence in the theatre community of London through his exceptional plays. Much of his work tackled taboo topics with little regard for political correctness, utilizing characters who explored these themes with unique perspectives previously unseen. Marlowe’s own life was riddled with rumors of espionage and social deviance. These rumors met their final fate at a tavern, where Marlowe saw his bloody end (Meyers,... Tue, 16 Mar 2021 02:51 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1890/foreignness-and-freedom-in-the-plays-of-christopher-marlowe http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1866/material-nostalgia-in-classical-and-early-modern-drama By Marnie J. Monogue - The inescapability and influence of the past becomes most discernable with homecoming. A particularly powerful sense of nostalgia concentrates in textiles, especially when these objects purposefully invoke the past. More often than not, theatre uses textile props and clothing as the primary representative medium, enhancing storytelling capacity. These symbolic fabrics and costumes can best be characterized as Shakespeare’s “trappings and suits of woe,” as they function as both physical and psychological traps, but also allow for outward expression of “that within which... Thu, 21 Jan 2021 11:38 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1866/material-nostalgia-in-classical-and-early-modern-drama http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1819/stage-as-moment-cinema-as-memory-the-diverging-aesthetics-of-two-mediums By Abigail Tulenko - This paper argues that film is a medium defined by its relationship to memory. Building upon aesthetician György Lukács's temporal theory of cinema, I contrast film's inherent relationship to memory with the “eternal present” of the stage. Audiences viewing a film have a continual awareness that what they watch on screen was filmed in the past and edited together retrospectively. Cinema replicates the selective encoding process of our memories on-screen when a director and editor piece together the shots and scenes that compose a completed film. Often there is a large amount... Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:26 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1819/stage-as-moment-cinema-as-memory-the-diverging-aesthetics-of-two-mediums 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/1795/chaos-and-dissimulation-in-ian-mcewans-modern-retelling-of-hamlet By Margherita Codurelli - This paper analyses Ian McEwan’s reuse of Shakespeare’s material in his retelling of Hamlet from the unusual point of view of an unborn child. By considering its plot, characters, setting and main issues, McEwan’s novel Nutshell will be investigated focusing on how his process of appropriation is both a study of a universal tale of doubt and indecision, and a way to transpose Shakespeare’s universal truths to a modern historical and cultural context. Specific examples from both texts are meant to provide insight into the similarities and the differences between them, lastly... Thu, 10 Sep 2020 11:12 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1795/chaos-and-dissimulation-in-ian-mcewans-modern-retelling-of-hamlet http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1710/come-sir-boy-subverting-masculinity-through-cross-gender-performance By Rachel Chung - I was the wounded soldier in the opening scene of Macbeth, lying spread-eagled on the stage, flaunting my unsightly gashes. I closed my legs self-consciously. Even portraying a hyper-masculine character, I found myself subject to the parameters of feminine performance. Later in the same production, I gave what was, for high school, a raunchy and riotous performance as the Porter. I referenced what would be my male genitalia, indicating what would be a beer belly, leaning heavily into the masculinity of the scene. I found the humor not just in the words themselves, but in the fact that they were... Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1710/come-sir-boy-subverting-masculinity-through-cross-gender-performance http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear By Conner R. Hayes - The fascination with death and the sensationalizing of suicide are prevalent metaphysical themes which traverse all Shakespearean tragedy. These brooding themes, despite their ubiquitous portrayal, take on an idiosyncratic ethical meaning in King Lear. Though naturally nihilistic and bleak, these sentiments serve as more than mere evidence of the existential longing plaguing the psyches of many of Shakespeare’s characters. The yearning to die, and moreover, one’s ability to die, explicates the very metaethical framework and normative ethical epistemology of the play. The characters... Tue, 02 May 2017 12:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1545/a-16th-century-ovid-the-influence-of-classical-mythology-on-the-understanding-of-shakespeares-plays By Emily Gray - Commonly believed to be the single greatest writer and poet of the English language, as well as one of the most distinguished and esteemed dramatists in the entire world, William Shakespeare is credited with authoring approximately 38 works of theatre, 154 sonnets, two lengthy narrative poems, and several additional pieces of verse. While there exists some question concerning the authenticity of authorship of several of these dramatic works, scholars have determined that 32 of the 38 plays can unquestionably be attributed to Shakespeare (Root 119-132). With the majority of the writing of his known... Mon, 27 Feb 2017 05:47 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1545/a-16th-century-ovid-the-influence-of-classical-mythology-on-the-understanding-of-shakespeares-plays 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/1048/polysemic-language-democratization-and-the-empowerment-of-the-body-politic-in-shakespeares-hamlet By Hayley E. Tartell - In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet’s polysemic language raises the theme of empowerment of the body politic and, ultimately, the notion of democratization. Through an analysis of Hamlet’s speech, particularly in response to King Claudius, this paper suggests that a democratizing percept is intrinsically rooted in this work and further elucidated upon careful consideration of Ranciere’s The Emancipated Spectator. By exploring Ranciere’s notion of active engagement with the “third thing,” this paper highlights the democratic politics that encompass... Mon, 15 Jun 2015 09:29 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1048/polysemic-language-democratization-and-the-empowerment-of-the-body-politic-in-shakespeares-hamlet http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1009/anti-semitism-and-religious-intolerance-in-aristocratic-age-english-literature By Hayley E. Tartell - In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the witches’ scene intimates an anti-Semitic theme by comparing Jews to filthy, grotesque objects, while in The Merchant of Venice, Shylock’s portrayal serves as a means through which anti-Semitic themes are also conveyed. Similarly, in The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, an anti-Semitic theme is implied through the character Barabas the Jew. Finally, John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XII and Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales impart decidedly anti-Semitic themes while alluding to the crucifixion of Jesus. These referenced literary works poignantly... Tue, 10 Mar 2015 03:53 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1009/anti-semitism-and-religious-intolerance-in-aristocratic-age-english-literature http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/690/shakespeares-king-lear-the-promised-end By N B - William Shakespeare's King Lear begins with Lear ignoring the natural order of family inheritance by deciding to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters before his death.. Typical of human nature, Lear is swayed by the sycophantic flattery of his two eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, while his true and loving daughter, Cordelia, is left out in the cold. The most notable aspect of human nature present in this play is greed, something Lear’s two eldest daughters, their husbands, and assuredly Edmund suffer from. Even Lear himself divides his kingdom for a greedy reason, wanting all... Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:26 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/690/shakespeares-king-lear-the-promised-end http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/609/fate-fortune-and-timon-of-athens-reinterpreting-the-senecan-chorus By David W. Synyard - In Seneca's tragedies, the Roman playwright and philosopher employed the concept of fate and fortune to structure the outcome of characters' lives. Frederick Kiefer notes in Fortune and Elizabethan Tragedy that the Senecan chorus primarily discusses the characters’ actions and world in relation to the paradox of Stoicism. In this paradox, two oppositional forces comprise the universe: fate structures one part with logic, meaningfulness, and organization, which the chorus requires man to adhere with, while fortune structures the other part with volatility, danger, and change, which the chorus... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:05 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/609/fate-fortune-and-timon-of-athens-reinterpreting-the-senecan-chorus http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/590/the-two-gentlemen-of-verona-a-satiric-perspective-on-courtly-love By David W. Synyard - In Plautus’ Roman Comedies, the stock character of the slave employs mistaken identity or a disguise to deceive his master and others to invert the social order of the play, characterizing the slave as intelligent, cunning, and deceitful. Michael Shapiro writes in Gender in Play on the Shakespearean Stage: Boy Heroines and Female Pages that English playwright John Lyly expanded upon the Plautine slave to create the Lylian page, who appears in subplots to create “tonal contrast” with an ironic perspective on the main action by satirizing their masters and authority figures through... Thu, 03 Nov 2011 08:44 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/590/the-two-gentlemen-of-verona-a-satiric-perspective-on-courtly-love http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/581/power-and-transgression-in-twelfth-night-and-measure-for-measure-artifice-and-ideology-as-tools-of-the-elite By Jesse A. Goldberg - Shakespeare’s comedies, at first glance, seem to uniformly end on a positive note, with the fulfillment of desires, the overcoming of obstacles, and the victory over malevolent forces. In Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure, however, this is not the case. The conclusions of both plays are reiterations of problematic power structures present in each play. This is not to say that these comedies are absolutely favorable to strict power structures. In fact, both plays are in favor of bending the rules sometimes, though they seem to suggest that there are rules that are not meant to be bent... Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/581/power-and-transgression-in-twelfth-night-and-measure-for-measure-artifice-and-ideology-as-tools-of-the-elite http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/420/admirable-echoes-intellectual-debts-of-dramaturgical-sociology By Tony N. Buell - Erving Goffman (June 11, 1922 – November 19, 1982) left an indelible imprint on contemporary sociological theory and research. Discourse on the intellectual roots of his dramaturgical approach tends to position Goffman within the school of symbolic interactionism. Textual analysis of Goffman and Herbert Blumer reveals both similar and contrasting intellectual debts. Exposition of the key concepts of “self,” “frame,” “situation,” “impression management,” “teams,” and “regions” reveals the error in situating Goffman squarely... Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/420/admirable-echoes-intellectual-debts-of-dramaturgical-sociology http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/402/habitus-in-shakespeares-taming-of-the-shrew By Abigail R. Marsch - Scholars have written a good deal about Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew. They have presented many different interpretations of the relationship between the two main characters, Petruchio and Katherine. One interpretation states that Kate and Petruchio willingly take up accepted social roles in public to keep the peace in their culture, but have a different arrangement in the privacy of their marriage. But another intriguing idea applies anthropological and sociological ideas to this play and claims that this first interpretation is realistically impossible. While there is contextual... Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/402/habitus-in-shakespeares-taming-of-the-shrew http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/345/review-of-john-bernards-theatricality-and-textuality-the-example-of-othello By Jeremy S. Page - Bernard begins his article by identifying the friction that exists between the performed text and that which appears in print, or more precisely, the opposing scholarly positions that such a division creates; he indicates that the affinity between these two approaches to reading dramatic texts, that is the “text-centred and stage-centred” (931), is not often recognised. While it stands to reason that a text designed for playing upon the stage will contain elements of meaning that are not present in its written form, Bernard is nevertheless confronted with the problem of theoretically... Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:32 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/345/review-of-john-bernards-theatricality-and-textuality-the-example-of-othello http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/343/all-the-worlds-a-stage-shakespeares-theatrum-mundi-of-romance By Jeremy S. Page - Most famously soliloquized by the melancholy Jacques in As You Like It, the sentiment behind Theatrum Mundi was not invented by Shakespeare; there are accounts of Henry V possessing a tapestry depicting the seven ages of man, and in 1544 German artist Hans Baldung painted Die sieben Lebensalter des Weibes (The Seven Ages of Women) . Nevertheless, it is clear from the dramatic texts that Shakespeare was highly aware of the predominating weltanschauung, and perhaps combined it with his extensive knowledge of the theatrical conventions of the time to explore his view of human existence. Shakespeare... Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:27 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/343/all-the-worlds-a-stage-shakespeares-theatrum-mundi-of-romance http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/335/inventing-their-own-plots-and#8232;the-agency-and-ambition-of-cromwell-and-macbeth By Jeremy S. Page - Most criticisms of Macbeth and An Horatian Ode focus on the differences between the two central figures.  Macbeth is the ‘abhorred tyrant,' the man who kills his sovereign for ‘o’erleaping’ ambition, while An Horatian Ode paints Cromwell in a less sinister light, rewarding him for his military and political victories both.  Treason pervades Macbeth from the first act (the traitorous Cawdor does not survive past the fourth scene), and while Charles I is hung as a traitor to his country, there is no whisper of treason for Cromwell who deposed him.  This paper... Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:33 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/335/inventing-their-own-plots-and#8232;the-agency-and-ambition-of-cromwell-and-macbeth http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/325/comparison-of-petrarchs-sonnet-292-of-the-canzoniere-and-shakespeares-sonnet-130 By Steven A. Carbone II - Petrarch and Shakespeare are two poets known for their work on the subject of love. While they each approach the subject of their poems through sonnet forms, there are fundamental differences in their style and form, as well as in the way they undergo the discussion of their subjects. Additionally, it is apparent that in “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare actually satirizes Petrarch’s style and musings as his narrator describes his mistress, whose “eyes are nothing like the sun” (Shakespeare 3: 106). Shakespeare appears to be making light of the metaphor and exaggerated comparison... Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:04 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/325/comparison-of-petrarchs-sonnet-292-of-the-canzoniere-and-shakespeares-sonnet-130 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/319/james-joyces-the-dead-replaying-shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet By Patrick S. McArdle - Burdened by the tomes housing Joyce criticism, new texts that examine “The Dead” risk sinking into a critical vacuum. Peter J. Rabinowitz, in the idiom of reader-response criticism, labels this suction “interpretive vertigo,” while ironically adding to its collective pull.[1] The reader experiences Gabriel’s vertiginous sensibility due to the Joyce-specific reading rules of “hyperdense intertextuality” and “infinite etymology” (143). Rabinowitz thus displaces Gabriel’s disorientation at the moment he gazes up the stairwell towards Gretta... Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:37 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/319/james-joyces-the-dead-replaying-shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/316/analysis-of-john-keatss-when-i-have-fears-death-and-the-freedom-of-limitations By Brian Richards - In the opening lines, the speaker has clearly identified one of his fears for the reader. It is not merely the cliché death that worries the poet, but the very specific and mildly unique fear that he may not achieve his full creative potential (“full ripened grain”) by the time death arrives (in the form of “high-piled books” he has written). Such anxiety is relatable to any artist and any human being who is dissatisfied with his or her current state, or those who fear the limitations of life despite the unlimited nature of their ideas (before his pen has even &ldquo... Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:53 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/316/analysis-of-john-keatss-when-i-have-fears-death-and-the-freedom-of-limitations http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/287/the-role-of-news-in-shakespeares-works By Fiona S. Ong - The word “news” does not appear in The Comedy of Errors, but the role of news plays a significant part in the comedic turns of this play. In Act I Scene II, Dromio of Ephesus was sent by Adriana to fetch Antipholus of Ephesus for dinner, and he meets Antipholus of Syracuse instead. He mistakes Antipholus of Syracuse for Antipholus of Ephesus and in turn, Antipholus of Syracuse also confuses Dromio of Ephesus for Dromio of Syracuse. Dromio of Ephesus goes on to tell Antipholus of Syracuse that his presence is wanted at home and his supposed wife, Adriana is impatient and is asking for... Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/287/the-role-of-news-in-shakespeares-works http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/274/and-i-of-ladies-most-deject-and-wretched-diagnosing-shakespeares-ophelia-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder By Ellen T. Goodson - If William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is “the most famous play in English literature,” his Ophelia is arguably the field’s most tragic female figure (Meyer 1588). Torn from her lover and bereft of her father, the young woman falls into grief-stricken madness that ends, in many literary and theatrical interpretations, in suicide. Critics and directors have characterized her as an innocent child, a passive daughter, compassion-inducing soul, and an undeserving victim. Yet her clichéd portrayal as “helpless, crazy wretch” gains a humanizing dimension when seen... Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/274/and-i-of-ladies-most-deject-and-wretched-diagnosing-shakespeares-ophelia-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/239/immortality-and-the-poem-comparing-and-contrasting-marvell-and-shakespeare By Brian Richards - The meaning behind both Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Shakespeare’s sonnets has been debated since their respective publications. Marvell’s poem and specifically Shakespeare’s sonnets 55 and 60 have undeniably divergent content but nevertheless convey themes relating to life, death, and love. The ideas illustrated through the lines reveal somewhat of a mutual disdain for death, as well as a passion to live and love. The poems emphasize mortality—the approaching doom and death—in a similar way that presents time as a personified villain... Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/239/immortality-and-the-poem-comparing-and-contrasting-marvell-and-shakespeare http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/236/baz-luhrmanns-romeo-juliet-compared-with-shakespeares-original-work By Tori E. Godfree - Curiously enough, the corresponding scene from the film shows instead Benvolio and the “Montague boys” cruising along the freeway in a bright yellow convertible, laughing raucously, with one of them turning around to face the camera and yelling: “A dog of the house of Capulet moves me!”  They pull up to a gas station, Benvolio goes inside, and immediately afterward arrive Tybalt and the “Capulet boys,” Abraham (here abbreviated to Abra) and another.  Tybalt goes inside, but Abra remains next to the car, sees the Montague boys, and faces them with an... Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:43 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/236/baz-luhrmanns-romeo-juliet-compared-with-shakespeares-original-work http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/194/shakespeares-apemantus-the-amazing-changing-flat-character-in-timon-of-athens By Lindsay L. Lichti - Apemantus is described as “a churlish philosopher” in the Persons of the Play list, and, as a flat character, remains ill-natured throughout the play, although there is an illusion of his change: “It is not that he changes or develops as a character; his voice is consistent from beginning to end. But what are we to make of him and the light he sheds on Timon are much less clear than his nature, and our perspective on him shifts as the play goes on” (Pierce). Apemantus shifts from Timon’s foil to someone similar to him in outlook. He wonders how “men dare trust... Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/194/shakespeares-apemantus-the-amazing-changing-flat-character-in-timon-of-athens 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