Shanahan AP Lit

Throughout the duration of Shakespeare's play The Tempest , the characters of Ariel and Caliban serve as foils to one another. Being that Ariel is a spirit with no material body, he/she (unclear on which gender Ariel identifies as) is able to very efficiently serve as the wizard Prospero's faithful helper. Ariel is quite effective in this role and completes practically every task that Prospero needs done, usually with a joyful and mischievous disposition. Caliban, on the other hand, is the deformed and monstrous offspring of the evil witch Sycorax, who once ruled the island he is now enslaved on via Prospero. Caliban is miserable throughout the whole play, constantly complaining and scheming ways to kill his master, whom he hates for taking control of the island that does not rightly belong to him. While both Ariel and Caliban serve Prospero is some capacity, the similarities between the two end there. While Ariel was freed from Sycorax by Prospero and joyfully serves him to pa...

In William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest , the reader is able to quite easily decipher the social constructs of the time (17th century) by analyzing the different mannerisms and ways Shakespeare has his characters act. This is evidenced primarily through the characters of Trinculo and Stephano, who happen to be the only members of the cast who are from the lower class. Shakespeare has them both serve as the comedic relief in his play, and their time on stage consists of them acting as drunken fools who fight amongst themselves and come up with bad ideas, such as killing the wizard Prospero. This portrayal of the poor represents what 17th century European noblemen thought of those who served below them, and most likely amused the poor themselves as well as they watched plays such as these while drunk, compounding the irony and helping to affirm the stereotypes.

In William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying", a unique narrative style is used in that every chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of the many protagonists in the form of a stream-of-consciousness ramble. Although many characters contribute to narrating the chapters, the most prominent among them is Darl Bundren. No other character narrates as many chapters as Darl, making him the primary protagonist of sorts. Each of the characters has their own peculiar narrative style, but Darl's is the easiest to read, for he is the most educated of the Bundren children. In this way, Darl almost serves as Faulkner's voice in the novel, for he is coherent and telepathic, allowing Faulkner to write from an omniscient point of view when using Darl. Instead of allowing his personal feelings to impede on the narration, Darl stays objective and tells things how they are, with very little personal input on the matter.

         In William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying", the majority of the many different characters the reader is introduced to has at least one chapter where they narrate the events that are occurring in a train of thought monologue through their point of view. Being put into the head of these characters allows one to accurately assess their character and values as a human being while not disrupting the novel's pacing of the plot. For example, Cora Tull, the neighbor of the Bundrens (who are the protagonists), only thinks of trivial matters that concern just her such as a cake that she won't be able to sell while her friend Addie Bundren is dying. This snippet of narration reveals a lot about her hypocritical nature, for although she is a devout follower of Christianity, a religion which tends to believe helping others, Cora is very self-centered and only thinks about herself.          While constantly switching viewpoints can be quit...