Costuming in Shakespeare's Plays In General And Othello In Particular, In Elizabethan Times And Throughout History
Costuming has always represented one of the most important -- and expensive -- features in the preparation of theatrical performances. In fact, Grimball and Wells suggest that the success of every period play and pageant depends largely on the effectiveness of the costume design. This paper will provide an analysis of costuming in Shakespeare's plays in general and Othello in particular, both in Elizabethan times and throughout history, followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.
Costuming in Elizabethan Era. Generally speaking, the art and designs of every period can help to illustrate characters and the specific requirements of a particular phase of civilization can be interpreted through costumes. According to Nostbakken, in most of Shakespeare's plays, the costuming used was the most important component of the devices used to communicate the theme and action on stage, and tended to be much more elaborate than the props or sets used for such productions, particular as they applied to public figures such as kings or dukes. Costuming for early productions of Shakespeare's plays largely attempted to convey both the era and the social station of the characters involved (Brown, Hardison, Leiter et al.). Unlike his other works, though, "Othello, a play with few ceremonial scenes or royal figures, does not offer the same opportunity for elaborate, showy attire as other Shakespearean plays about kings and courts but costumes certainly would have indicated characters' class or stature"...
King Lear The Shakespeare play King Lear has been adapted for modern audiences and staged at the University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre. Lee Soroko was the director, and made the decision to apply a modern context to the Shakespeare play. The result was surprisingly seamless. Veteran stage actor Dennis Krausnick plays King Lear, who in this case appears more like a military general than one might imagine when reading
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The doors, are metaphors for the "gates of love" that any person would have wanted to be a part of http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/abstracts/cody.html, para 7). Props such as the vessels carried by the women characters in the play also represent the womb for which horrifies Knemon when his daughter had offered Sostratos to fill in the shrine next door. The use of the hoe for which Sostratos had borrowed from Gorgias is
But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!" (Carroll, 8) Carroll uses Alice's experiences as a means to persuading his readers to demand similar questions of themselves. At this juncture, we are unclear on Carroll's motives in altering Alice's perspective. However, as she descends deeper into Wonderland, she finds this knowledge is invaluable for recognizing its inherent
" (I.v.64-66). She even summons the spirits to free her from the weakness of femininity "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" (I.v.41-42) because she associates cruelty and lack of remorse with manhood. In many cases, politics is about what takes place behind the cameras in the sense that rivalry, treason and the corruptive influence of ambition are never expressed in an open manner, but
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