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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A six page paper looking at Shakespeare’s play in terms of the way its minor characters -- both those in the main plot and those in the subplot -- support and develop the theme of the play. The paper concludes that in “Measure for Measure,” the ensemble structure allows the audience to discern the real protagonist of this play -- the morally-bankrupt society of Vienna itself. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_KBmeasur.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the play fulfill just as important a role as the leads. The play purports to tell the story of an intractable ruler, Angelo, who falls in love with the sister
of a man he has condemned to death. Yet the real heart of the story is actually revealed through contrasting these major characters -- Angelo and Isabella -- with the
supporting ones (Vincentio, Claudio, Mariana) who serve as their foils. We also see this contrast in the relationship of the minor characters who attach the comic subplot to the theme
of the central plot itself. In literature, a foil is a character whose personality traits and behavior contrasts dramatically with those of a more developed or central character, and thus
bring the central characters own traits into sharper relief. Duke Vincentio, for example, is presented as a sort of foil to Angelo. He has temporarily passed the reins of
government into Angelos hands because he feels that he himself has been too easy with his subjects, and it is time to see how a less humanistic ruler would deal
with the mess Vincentios lax administration has created. But Vincentio soon sees that Angelo is being much too rigid and self-righteous in his new position, and in his zeal to
publish every wrongdoer to the full extent of the law, justice is not being served. Here, however, we know a secret about Angelo that he himself has chosen to forget:
he once abandoned his own betrothed because she had lost the money for her dowry. Blinded by the power of his office, he literally does not see that he is
having Claudio executed for a crime that but for the grace of God Angelo could have committed himself. And in actuality, Claudio is the more righteous, for he really wants
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