David Alberts, Ph.D.
eNotes Educator
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About
Educator, author, playwright, and theatre professional. Dr. Alberts has been an actor, theatre director, and producer, a high school music and drama teacher, and college theatre professor. He's a published playwright, and he's written several articles and five books on theatre-related subjects.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in The Crucible
In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams is presented as manipulative, selfish, jealous, vengeful, ruthless, cunning, duplicitous, and unceasingly deceitful. Abigail is driven by her... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
“Ode to Man” is a title given to the first Choral Ode in Sophocles’s Antigone. The ode appears in the play after a Sentry reports to King Creon that someone has violated Creon’s decree that the... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Antonio is the “merchant” to whom the title of The Merchant of Venice refers. Nevertheless, although Antonio is advertised by Shakespeare as the central character in the play, he’s a passive,... -
Answered a Question in Richard III
Richard III shows no evidence of having a conscience until he wakes from his dream in act 5, scene 3, in which he sees the ghosts of everyone he’s killed during Richard III and two more people he... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the townspeople come to fear each other as much or even more than they fear any punishment they might endure for acts of which they have been accused, or for which... -
Answered a Question in Measure for Measure
The way that justice is meted out in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure seems to be at the same time inflexible and arbitrary. Near the beginning of the play, young Claudio is sentenced to death for... -
Answered a Question in All for Love
John Dryden’s play All for Love, or The World Well Lost, written in 1677 during the Restoration Period, is an excellent example of a heroic tragedy. The primary characteristic of a heroic drama is... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
You can find quotes that will help you to write a character analysis of Abigail William in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible by looking for two things in the play: (1) what other characters say... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
In act 2, scene 4 of Macbeth, Ross (a Scottish nobleman who is related to Macduff) and an old man are discussing the recent upheaval in the balance of nature in relation to the murder of King... -
Answered a Question in Antigone
There are many examples throughout Antigone of men’s claimed superiority over women, and of the lengths to which they will go to maintain that superiority, even when no such superiority truly... -
Answered a Question in As You Like It
Act 2, scene 5 of William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It opens with the song “Under the Greenwood Tree” being sung by Amiens, one of the lords who joined Duke Senior in exile in the... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
In act 3, scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Shylock has a conversation with his friend Tubal, who Shylock sends to find his daughter, Jessica, who eloped with Lorenzo, a... -
Answered a Question in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In the “Explanatory” to his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, author Mark Twain writes: In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
In act 1, scene 3 of William’s Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Polonius gives his son, Laertes, a lengthy bit of advice—what Polonius calls “these few precepts” (1.3.62)—before Laertes boards a ship... -
Answered a Question in As You Like It
In the opening scenes of William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It, the court of Duke Senior is presented as an unnatural place of deceit, treachery, and betrayal, focused on conflicts... -
Answered a Question in The Comedy of Errors
In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, Dromio, the servant of Antipholus of Ephesus, unknowingly confronts Antipholus of Ephesus’s twin brother, Antipholus of Syracuse,... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
In act 1, scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, two Venetian merchants, Salerio and Solanio, try to comfort Antonio—the “Merchant of Venice” of the title—who is overcome with... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, six Athenian craftsmen—whom Puck calls “a crew of patches, rude mechanicals, / That work for bread upon Athenian... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
In act 1, scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus, Duke of Athens, demonstrates that he believes that women should be dominated by men and subjugated by the... -
Answered a Question in Les Misérables
In volume 1, book 2, chapter 11 of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables, Jean Valjean steals Bishop Myriel’s silverware, even after the bishop was kind enough to give Valjean a meal and a place to... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Act 3, scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is set in a room in Portia’s home in Belmont, where Bassanio has come to make his choice of one of the three caskets of gold, silver,... -
Answered a Question in The Spanish Tragedy
In The Spanish Tragedy, the protagonist, Don Hieronimo, seeks revenge for the murder of his son, Horatio. During the course of the play, Don Hieronimo discovers the identity of his son’s murderers,... -
Answered a Question in A Tale of Two Cities
In book 2, chapter 16 of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge sits “in her usual place in the wine-shop, knitting away assiduously. A rose lay beside her.” This is the first time... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, written in about 1599 and first performed in September of that same year, Shakespeare identifies eight of the more than sixty historical conspirators against... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
There are few examples of direct, outright lies in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet where one character makes an untrue statement with intent to deceive another character. Most of the lies in Romeo... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
In act 4, scene 3 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Ross interrupts a conversation between Macduff and Malcolm to tell Macduff, “Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes / Savagely... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
The garbled meaning of the play-within-a-play that the “rude mechanicals” perform at the wedding feast of Theseus and Hippolyta in act 5 begins with carpenter Peter Quince’s description of the play... -
Answered a Question in The Count of Monte Cristo
Gerard de Villefort, the Deputy Procureur du Roi (the King’s Deputy Prosecutor) of Marseille, France in Alexandre Dumas's historical adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo, fails to intercede on... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
At the beginning of act 5 of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Prospero sends Ariel to “fetch [him] the hat and rapier in [his] cell” and says to him, “Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be... -
Answered a Question in Waiting for Godot
In notes that Beckett provided to producer, writer, and critic Michel Polac that were read during a 1952 radio presentation of his absurdist play Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett wrote, "I know no... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
In act 3, scene 4, Hamlet meets with his mother, Queen Gertrude. During the scene, Hamlet claims to see the Ghost again, which has already appeared multiple time by this point, and the Ghost speaks... -
Answered a Question in Twelve Angry Men
The defendant in Reginald Rose’s jury-room drama Twelve Angry Men doesn’t appear in the original 1954 teleplay or in the 1955 Broadway stage version. The playwright also doesn’t give the defendant... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
In act 2, scene 6 of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the Jewish money-lender Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, elopes with a Christian, Lorenzo. When Jessica elopes, she takes with her all... -
Answered a Question in Waiting for Godot
When Pozzo first enters Samuel Beckett’s absurdist drama Waiting for Godot, at about fifteen minutes into the play, the characters Estragon (called “Gogo”) and Vladimir (called “Didi”) are waiting... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Act 1, scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is set in the sixteenth-century island city-state of Venice, Italy, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe at the time. More... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
The first scene of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens with two subplots. The first minor subplot is the upcoming marriage of Theseus, duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, queen of the... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
When Ophelia first appears in act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, she enters with her father, Polonius, and her brother, Laertes, as part of the entourage of King Claudius and Queen... -
Answered a Question in The Crucible
In act 3, John Proctor takes his household servant, Mary Warren, before Deputy Governor Danforth, the chief judge of the court in the Salem witch trials, to have Mary give testimony to Danforth... -
Answered a Question in Doctor Faustus
In scene 5 of Christopher Marlowe’s play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus trades his soul to Lucifer for twenty-four years of unlimited power, knowledge, and pleasure.... -
Answered a Question in The Trojan Women
Seneca the Younger’s Troades (The Trojan Women), written around 54 CE, is based on Euripides’s The Trojan Women, first performed in 415 BCE. One of the most notable differences between Seneca’s The... -
Answered a Question in Richard III
In act 4, scene 4 of William Shakespeare's Richard III, it appears that Richard III is trying to seduce Queen Elizabeth, his brother Edward's widow. Richard uses essentially the same technique on... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Macbeth opens with the first appearance of Lady Macbeth. She enters the scene reading a letter from Macbeth telling her about his encounter with the witches and... -
Answered a Question in The Tell-Tale Heart
In the second paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart," the wholly unreliable narrator—who, despite his protestations to the contrary, is clearly insane— explains his reason... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
After Hamlet sees the ghost of his father in act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet tells Horatio and Marcellus that he intends "To put an antic disposition on" (1.5.192). The common... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Act 3, scene 6 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth opens in the middle of a conversation between Lennox, a Scottish noblemen, and an unnamed lord. This short scene serves two important purposes, the... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The play of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare opens with a swordfight in the streets of Verona, Italy between servants and family members of Capulets and the Montagues that occurs at some... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Cassius is talking with Brutus on a street in Rome, trying to discover what's troubling Brutus, when a crowd of Roman citizens in another... -
Answered a Question in The Emperor Jones
Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones is an expressionistic play. Although the first and last scene of the play seem conventionally realistic, the other six scenes are wholly expressionistic in... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's Macbeth is Lady Macbeth's first appearance in the play, and it's notable that she first appears entirely alone. All of the major characters in Macbeth—King Duncan,... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Giving unsolicited advice seems to be a character trait of the people in Polonius's family. In act 1, scene 3 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Laertes is preparing to board a ship to France, which is the...
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