Shakespeares Plays Miss Dannielle Rayhon English 11 th Grade
Major Characters Analysis Press to Continue
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Hamlet Romeo & Juliet Macbeth Julius Caesar Antony &
Cleopatra Midsummers Night Dream Tempest King Lear MULTIPLE CHOICE
QUESTION! Click on either the play title or the image to learn
more! When you are done try the review multiple choice
question!
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Enigmatic, there is always more to him than meets the eye
Thoughtful, obsessively so and overly emotional Yet, acts rashly
and without premeditation Very melancholy and unhappy about the
situation of the kingdom Hamlet Hamlets antagonist, thinks only of
maintaining his power Corrupt and manipulativeultimately leads to
demise Killed King Hamlet and married his wife Gertrude, stealing
the thrown from young Hamlet Greatly fears Hamlet and his insanity
Cowardly, manipulating others to do his dirty work Claudius Very
mysterious intentions, is she with Claudius? Has she always been?
Was she involved in killing her husband? Very frail, always
dependent and swayed by men She is graceful and charming, signs of
a Queen, but lacks ability to think for herself Gertrude Click to
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Truly complex character, often obscured by his feelings of love
He begins a romantic character, a great reader of poetry for
Rosaline- at first a shallow desire to love His capacity for love
deepens with Juliet and with that all of his feelings become
enhanced His love leads him to risk his life to catch a glimpse of
Juliet and extreme rage led him to kill Tybalt He is also quite
intelligent and loves being witty Romeo She begins immature about
love and marriage She tries to be dutiful and obedient by saying
she will try to love Paris, when he shows an interest in marrying
her When she first meets Romeo, she is shocked into adulthood She
becomes self-assured and while Romeo is romantic and rash, she
remains steady and logical Her suicide is much more intense since
she actually has to stab herself, unlike Romeo who just swallowed
poison Juliet Click to Return to Main Menu
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He starts as a brave warrior, but once he comes across the
three witches, we see that he is full of ambition and self-doubt
His doubt and later guilt consume him and leave him weak He can
barely bring himself to kill Duncan, and only does because Lady
Macbeth pushed him to do it As Lady Macbeths power ebbs, he becomes
alone He enters a series of fits, such as seeing Banquos ghost and
plots to steal the thrown His ambition drives him to the thrown,
but he feels too guilty killing to get there and things begin to
fall apart for him and he becomes somewhat relieved, he doesnt want
to kill himself, so he dies in action Macbeth She is a frightening
woman, who is the opposite of her husband, she feels no guilt She
pushes her husband to murder She demonstrates the struggle between
genders, she is implied to be a man in a woman's body, since men
were seen as ruthless and violent It is the Lady who calms her
husband after the murder of the king, however she goes mad after
that Lady Macbeth Click to Return to Main Menu
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Proves to be incredibly complex, he is not just a public
figure, but he is also a loyal friend and a military leader and a
husband While the others are moved by ambition, he is moved by
idealism Was his participation in the murder a noble act of
friendship or was it an evil act in which he ignored his
friendship? He consistently makes misjudgments due to his moral
principles such as when Cassius tells him to have Antony killed
with Caesar He attempts to not act self-servingly, but always fails
and ends up committing actions that serve no one Brutus A ruler who
is charged by the conspirators with ambition He does not wish for
complete power over Rome rather to have his name live on forever
His sense of permanence leads to his demise as he ignores several
warnings that he will be killed Caesar Opposite of Brutus in that
he is impulsive and manipulative He isnt plagued by moral
principles like Brutus and can kill without a second thought He is
a great politician, in that he doesnt let his personal life
interfere with the words he is telling the audience unlike Brutus
Antony Click to Return to Main Menu
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Struggles with love for Cleopatra and duties to the Empire
Consistently battling internal conflicts of his duties in Rome and
his love for Alexandria He believes he is first most the leader of
Rome, having won the battle for ruler from Brutus and Cassius after
killing Caesar His affair with Cleopatra leads him to feel he has
lost his honor and thus he commits suicide in attempt to regain it
Antony She is a foreign, extravagant, and noble ruler The Romans
often portray her as a whore and other slandering's because they
feel she has ruined Antony, but she is not actually so Cleopatra is
captivating due to her open sexuality & confidence She often
acts nave and narcissistically but she has an air of power,
charisma and will Cleopatra -A one-dimensional character that
represents the law of Rome He often appears menacing and harsh but
his conflicted feelings about Antony betray this hard exterior and
make him appear human, he spends all of his time working to kill
him, and once Antony is dead, he then mourns the loss Octavius
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He is a mischievous and witty character that sets many of the
actions in the play into motion using magic He is capricious and
fun-loving, his characteristics represent many of the themes of the
play, for example his humor and language symbolize the contrasting
elements such as the whimsical fairies and the down to Earth
craftsmen He is unique in that he stands out from the other fairies
in appearance and demeanor Puck An openly comedic character, who
believes he is overly-competent and is actually terrible at acting
He is quite foolish but he doesnt realize it and that is where a
lot of his humor stems from Puck turns his head into that of an
ass, demonstrating how he makes himself one by being so
ridiculously self-confident when he is actually a fool, which is
demonstrated when the fairy queen falls in love with him and he
thinks this is because he is so great, not realizing it is due to a
love potion Nick Bottom She is faithfully in love with Demetrius
which is the basis of every decision she makes throughout the play
She is the only character in the play often unsure of herself and
doubtful Helena Click to Return to Main Menu
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Absorbed in the concept of attaining knowledge, which gets him
into trouble in a number of circumstances, firstly being the loss
of his Dukedom to his brother His use of magic makes him unlikable,
because he uses it to control Miranda and punish Caliban Basically
runs the entire plot of the play with his magical schemes Strong
references and comparisons to a playwright Towards the ending of
the play he comes to realize the wrongness of his actions and he
also manages to get the audience to see his side of the story the
ultimate dream of a playwright Prospero A meek, young girl, whom is
set up with Ferdinand by Prospero Ferdinand treats her almost as a
prop, not as a real person On several occasions she is known to
speak up for herself and these are always about her sexuality
Miranda The slave of Prospero, he is often referred to as a monster
He is the only native of the island, and is a very complex
character in that he often mirrors and foils other characters He is
also conflicting in his own personality in that he often presents
himself as the monster people see him to be but he has a soft and
sensitive side to him Caliban Click to Return to Main Menu
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He values the appearance of things before reality, in that he
enjoys having the title of king but does not want to fulfill the
obligations of the title King Lear is tragic in that he doesnt
learn from his mistakes as king However he does realize how he is
arrogant and humbles himself He never fully recovers his sanity and
the devastating sacrifice of Cordelia awakens him to the cruel
reality of the world King Lear Everyone knows her for her beauty,
loyalty and honesty In her refusal to play games she demonstrates
morals and virtues Her death demonstrates the cruelness of the
world for the audience and also the characters in the world since
she symbolizes good Cordelia He is a schemer willing to jump at any
opportunity to further him He wants power and recognition that is
denied to his bastard self His villainy only wavers when he is
mortally wounded and realizes that two people have died for him and
must have truly loved him Edmund Basically the same person because
of their combined evilness They want and they have no conscience
They are clever enough to play games to flatter their father for
power This leads to their destruction, as they turn on themselves
Goneril & Regan Click to Return to Main Menu
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Which character is in two of Shakespeares plays? Click on the
answer you think is correct! A. Hamlet B. Caliban C. Antony
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Hamlet is only in the play named after him, Hamlet Click to
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Caliban is in the play The Tempest Click to Return to
Question
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Antony is in Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra Click to
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