Christopher Sly

Shakespeare uses the character of Christopher Sly to play with class definitions and open the play up with a funny trick in order to establish the fact that the play will be a comedy. Sly begins the play in a bar with a drinking tab that he cannot pay. After he passes out a group of lords come into the bar and decide to play a trick on him. He wakes up in a beautiful room believing he is a member of the nobility, and at once the lords entertain him with a play, which is the main action of Taming of the Shrew. Christopher Sly is a flat character, and he appears to only desire money and sex, which is an ironic similarity to some of the men in the movie, mainly Petruchio and Hortensio. Sly fails to act as a foil for any character, but he does perform the opposite switch that Lucentio goes through. Sly becomes nobility, while Lucentio goes from nobility to a teacher.

The Shakespearean Stage

In Act I Scene ii, Shakespeare takes advantage of the lack of props and scene changing with Petruchio and Grumio's misunderstanding over the gate. Petruchio asks Grumio to knock him here, referring to the gate, but if a Shakespearean version of this play had few props and no gate, the humor would be magnified because of Grumio's confusion. Petruchio assumes that Grumio would know which gate he was referencing, and Grumio plays the fool, while also making a pointed commentary about the relationship between masters and servants in the Victorian Era.

Another great example of how Shakespeare uses language to signal actions or changes in the play is with his meter. Servants and commoners talk in normal prose, while the iambic pentameter is only used by upper class characters and royals. in Act 1 Scene ii it is most obvious when Tranio is dressed up as Lucentio. Prior to this he had been using a very loose meter, but when he pretends to be Lucentio he jumps into strict iambic pentameter.

Finally, when Shakespeare end an act and sometimes when he ends a scene, he always uses a couplet, sometimes a heroic couplet to signify the end of the act.

Eveline's Epiphany

In Joyce's short story Eveline, the character of Eveline is a young woman who is stuck in her hometown, which she feels is a unexciting place. She meets a man named Frank who she believes can rescue her from her hometown. When she reaches the dock she experiences a Joycean epiphany, where she realizes that she is just going with Frank because she wants to escape from her hometown. After her realization she starts to run from the dock.
I think Eveline's epiphany relates a lot to Joyce himself. Joyce came from a Catholic Irish background, and he always tried to escape the "nets" that bound him, yet he often wrote about Ireland and Catholicism in his works. I think Eveline represents Joyce's beliefs. It seems as though both characters realize that they are who they are because of their background and their past, and even if you can physically escape your past, you can never mentally escape it.

Sympathy for the Gregor

In Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the protagonist Gregor experiences a metamorphosis at the beginning of the novella. Kafka uses the character of Gregor to evoke mixed feelings within the reader, especially sympathy and pity for his situation, but also sometimes disgust.

Kafka uses narration in order to affect the reader's perception of Gregor. The novella shows mainly first person narrative through Gregor's point of view, and occasionally third person, most notably after Gregor has died. Kafka uses this to create a protagonist that we are likely to sympathize with at the beginning of the novel. The best example of Kafka's use of narrative occurs when Gregor is attempting to get out bed and thinking about how much he wants to go to work. Kafka designs the internal dialogue in order to create sympathy for Gregor's helplessness and it also reveals his will to go to work and support his family.

As the metamorphosis of Gregor becomes more complete, we see Kafka characterizing Gregor as increasingly disgusting, especially when he states that his shell has become dusty and dirty and hadn't bothered to wipe himself off on the floor. This scene evokes a feeling of repulsion in the reader. Furthermore, Kafka occasionally portrays Gregor as an upset character, most notably when his sister Grete stops cleaning his room and when his family starts moving his furniture. Because he seems to exhibit an sense of anger towards his family and this leaves the reader partially distanced from Gregor.

Gregor's final appearance is undoubtedly designed to evoke sympathy for him. Gregor has been wounded by his father, alienated from his family and sequestered in his room since his transformation. After he makes the mistake of crawling out of his room, he realizes that his entire family simply wants him to disappear and that he is a burden. Gregor realizes that he has become worthless and simply dies of weakness from not eating and the injury in his back. Since Gregor wants to do good for his family, and by no means is it his fault he is trapped, the reader sympathizes with Gregor's sense of helplessness.

Metamorphosis Citations

The character of Gregor in Kafka's Metamorphosis provides the most insight into the story, andshould be analyzed the deepest, and many feel that it is an autobiographical story.The most obvious similarity is they both possess jobs as traveling salesmen. The readers are told Gregor is a traveling salesman and though it is not specified what he is selling, he has worked for the company for four years to pay off his parents’ debt as his father is unable to do so. Kafka worked as a traveling insurance salesman most of his life. At the time of writing “The Metamorphosis,” he had been employed there for four years against his father’s wishes. The only difference between the two is their father’ opinions about their jobs.Because Gregor has contributed heavily to the family’s comfortable lifestyle, this new development causes them to turn on him. His beloved sister concludes that he should be disposed of, because he isn't really Gregor. His father heaves an apple at him with such force that the apple lodges in his back and becomes infected. The use of an apple is significant because of its association with the Biblical story of Original Sin. In this case, Gregor’s sin was his very existence, as Kafka felt his own to be. Eventually Gregor deteriorates and dies.Gregor's relationship with his family shows When Gregor is trying to get out of bed, he considers calling for help but then dismisses the idea because he likes to work alone.Here is a point to be observed with care and love. Gregor is a human being in an insect's disguise; his family are insects disguised as people.

Revised paragraph

This is my revised paragraph, I mainly played with the introductory and concluding sentences, and I think it's better now. The final sentence may seem like it is a new claim, but I revised this with the idea that this would be only a part of a research paper as a whole. So although that sentence seems like it's leaving a major loose end for the paragraph, it was actually meant as a transition to the next paragraph, so bear that in mind when you read the paragraph.


Marquez makes a statement about the nature of humans by using the people’s reaction to both the spider lady and the old man. “The admission to see her[spider-lady] was not only less than the admission to see the angel, but people were permitted to ask her all manner of questions about her absurd state and to examine her up and down so that no one would ever doubt the truth of her horror.”(Marquez 454) This sentence suggests that the only reason the spider-lady is more popular than the “angel” is that people can fully examine and understand her. After the arrival of the spider-lady the old man becomes ignored and everyone goes to see the carnival. Furthermore the spider-lady has a concrete reason why she contrasts with the preexisting idea that spider-ladies should not exist - she had disobeyed her parents. On the other hand, the “angel” has no reason why he should exist in the world where angels are considered supernatural, and thus he is rejected. Marquez does this to exemplify that humans are inherently unwilling to believe things that contradict their core values even with concrete tangible proof; he shows that the people are only willing to believe things that they can logically work through, and will even reject things that they can see and feel. This idea is something that can be extrapolated to question the phenomenon of faith and religion in humans.

My Original Paragraph

Marquez feels that the people are reluctant to accept the old man because he cannot explain himself. “The admission to see her[spider-lady] was not only less than the admission to see the angel, but people were permitted to ask her all manner of questions about her absurd state and to examine her up and down so that no one would ever doubt the truth of her horror.”(Marquez 454) This sentence suggests that the only reason the spider-lady is more popular than the “angel” is that people can fully examine and understand her. After the arrival of the spider-lady the old man becomes ignored and everyone goes to see the carnival. Furthermore the spider-lady has a concrete reason why she contrasts with the preexisting idea that spider-ladies should not exist - she had disobeyed her parents. On the other hand, the “angel” has no reason why he should exist in the world where angels are considered supernatural, and thus he is rejected. Marquez makes a statement about the nature of humans by using the people’s reaction to both the spider lady and the old man.