
Ian Gould
eNotes Educator
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
A playwright creates dramatic irony when there is some bit of knowledge that the audience is given but that is unknown to one or more of the characters. This can be used to many effects: it can be... -
Answered a Question in Twelfth Night
It’s impossible to say for sure what Shakespeare’s intention was in writing the play. He didn’t say, at least not to anyone who wrote down and preserved what he said. Writers sometimes write to... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
For much of the play Hamlet is terrified of dying, or maybe more accurately terrified of what may happen after death. “No traveler returns” from death, he muses, forgetting in that moment that his... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Cornelius and Voltemand are Danish ambassadors who are sent in Act 1 scene 2 on a diplomatic mission to the King of Norway. The King of Norway is an old man, and it seems he is not in full control... -
Answered a Question in As You Like It
It’s important to remember that when reading a play the ideas and thoughts of the characters aren’t necessarily the playwright’s own. In poetry, often the poet herself is narrating thoughts and... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
The Prince of Morocco has two objections to the lead casket when it comes time for him to make his choice in Act 2. The lead casket’s inscription says that anyone who chooses it “must give and... -
Answered a Question in The Three Sisters
“Three Sisters” takes place in and around the Prozorov family home outside an unnamed town in an unidentified province in Russia. It seems like many miles away from much excitement, and one of the... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
Shakespeare is certainly the most significant writer in the history of the English language and one of a handful of the most significant who ever lived. His plays have been translated into nearly... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
This statement is an example of equivocation, meaning that it can be interpreted in two contradictory ways. Equivocation is an obsession in “Macbeth” as it was in England at the time; English... -
Answered a Question in All's Well That Ends Well
“A young man married is a man that’s marred” is the opinion of that loudly-dressed, loudly-spoken, class-A blowhard Parolles in “All’s Well That Ends Well”. He’s expressing his support for his... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Iago is “two-faced” at almost every moment in the play. We see him lie outright to practically everyone in the play; in fact the only people who hear the unvarnished truth from Iago is the... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
All Shakespeare plays, when performed, take place in three places simultaneously. There are always three settings. First is the place where Shakespeare has set the action, both broadly and... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
I’ll lay fourteen of my teeth – And yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four – She’s not fourteen. The Nurse uses hyperbolic expression to make a joke at her own expense in Act 1, scene 3 of... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Marullus and Flavius are horrified by the citizens’ celebrations upon Caesar’s return to Rome after the defeat of Pompey. Pompey was a hero whom the citizens loved and his opposition to Caesar led... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Once Shylock realizes he’s been outfoxed by Portia’s legal maneuvering, he offers to settle his suit for the return of the principal he lent Antonio. Portia refuses to grant him even that. Shylock... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Decius understands how to play Caesar like a proverbial fiddle in Act 2 of “Julius Caesar”. Seeing that Calphurnia has convinced Caesar to stay away from the Senate, Decius without missing a beat... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
The women of Shakespeare In Love must navigate the difficult position of being, as the queen puts it, “a woman in a man’s world." Viola, as a young woman born into wealth but not aristocracy, finds... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
The Romans of “Julius Caesar” spend a lot of time thinking and talking about planetary movements and other omens and what impact they have on human behavior. Caesar calls himself “constant as the... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
Antony is a strong man, able to run in the Lupercalian ceremonies at the beginning of “Julius Caesar”, and in some productions strong enough to carry Caesar’s body during his crucial funeral... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
The most important thing about the setting of Romeo and Juliet, from a dramaturgical perspective, is the fact that the play takes place in Italy. Shakespeare’s source material is an Italian story,... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
All of the characters have changed by the end of “The Merchant of Venice”. In fact, “The Merchant of Venice” could be framed as a play about what happens to you and how you change after you get... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Shakespeare provides “The Merchant of Venice” with what seems like a fairytale ending but upon closer inspection things are not quite as happy as they appear. Act 5 opens in Belmont with the scene... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo is presented as a passionate, highly emotional, headstrong but very immature lover in “Romeo and Juliet”. It's important to remember that the romantic ideals of love that are often assumed to... -
Answered a Question in Othello
Iago shows himself to be a master manipulator and an excellent predictor of other people's behavior in “Othello”. He plants himself beneath Brabantio’s window to give him information about his... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
Each of the Macbeths has a role to play in Duncan's murder. Lady Macbeth is going to give the guards drugged wine, and when they're knocked out she's going to lift their daggers and place them... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
At first it seems that Prospero treats Ariel and Caliban very differently; he's devoted to Ariel and seems to respect him and partners with him to concoct his various schemes and plans throughout... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Egeus goes before Theseus because his daughter is refusing to marry the man that he has chosen for her. Demetrius, his choice, accompanies him to plead his case, and Lysander and Hermia also arrive... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
There's not much reason to believe that Shylock is truly lonely in “The Merchant of Venice”, maybe a better word to describe his position in Venetian society is “isolated”. Shylock is isolated... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
It can be dangerous to look to Shakespeare for an accurate portrayal of history, even of historical eras and places that were fairly close to his own. He wasn't interested in portraying history... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
Well, the short answer is that Elizabethans never saw “The Tempest”. Elizabeth had died long before the play was written, and James I was the king at the time, so the English of the day are now... -
Answered a Question in Richard III
Richard III is delightfully, gleefully straightforward about what his ultimate goal is. He tells us right at the beginning of his play (in fact, he tells us at the end of the last play he appears... -
Answered a Question in Twelfth Night
At the beginning of “Twelfth Night” we learn that Olivia has gone into a period of deep mourning for her brother's death. She has announced that she will not leave the house or entertain any... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
Portia and Antonio share certain traits in “The Merchant of Venice”. The most obvious one is that they are both profoundly in love with Bassanio. Nerissa speaks very highly of him to Portia and... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Laertes arrives from France in a towering rage and has assembled an army of followers that descend on Elsinore, armed and very dangerous. Laertes is prepared to kill Claudius and seize the throne... -
Answered a Question in Hamlet
Both are possible. In fact, you can be be protective and overbearing at the same time. It certainly seems overbearing to hire someone to spy on your son while he's at college, for instance, but... -
Answered a Question in William Shakespeare
Political events had a profound impact on Shakespeare's plays in ways large and small. Shakespeare was inspired by both the politics of his time and the politics of previous eras of English history...