King Lear Act 3 Nature

The storm reflects Lear's rage at his eldest daughters and the beginning of his madness. There is nothing left in life for him and he wants the physical discomfort to drown out his emotional pain. He completely depends on his authority before he loses it to his daughters. During the storm, he realizes his insignificance compared to the uncontrollable power of nature. Also, he compares Goneril and Regan to wild animals, which follow natural laws instead of societal laws because they lack morals or compassion for their father. He calls them "pelican daughters" (III.iv.81) because pelicans were thought to have fed their young with their own blood. Once they get what they want from him by ungratefully taking his wealth, they leave him alone to take care of himself. Lear vents his frustration about his daughters and himself to the storm because he knows that every person, no matter their societal rank, is at the mercy of nature. He accepts nature's punishment and wants it to also release its wrath on Goneril and Regan.

I see weather as an expression of wonderment rather than anger. During the summer, one day I witnessed nature as it brew a storm. My sisters rushed home immediately, but I wanted to watch the storm approach. While I was sitting on the beach, dark clouds suddenly began rolling quickly across the sky. A distinct line formed between the clear blue sky on the left side and the impending grey clouds on the right. The vast clouds that extended their white tendrils high into the air sharply contrasted with the dark grey sky. When the darkness took over and a violent wind blasted sand into my legs, my mom and I hastily packed up our belongings. As we ran back to the beach house, it began to pour. The rain stopped soon after we got home, just as abruptly as it had started. I was amazed to experience the immense power of nature at work.

"Bereft" Explication

The title of the poem "Bereft" means deprived or lacking. Robert Frost describes a feeling of loneliness that comes with the realization of old age. The wind makes the same sound he has heard throughout his life, but now that he is alone, it roars and has become more ominous. He personifies the familiar wind, which observes him as he stands at home instead of going out, like he would have done if he were young again. The first five lines rhyme, and then he changes the rhyme scheme as he reluctantly realizes his old age, which affects his bleak view of the world. It is the end of both the summer and the day, which emphasizes that as he gets older, he loses his vitality. Autumn is approaching when everything in nature begins to die, while he nears death himself. The clouds are somber, the porch floor sags with years of use, and the leaves become like snakes, which coil and hiss at him. He discovers that the world seems sinister and intimidating because his secret is revealed that he cannot avoid old age or admit his loneliness. He feels completely alone in life except for God.

Similar to the speaker in the poem, King Lear acts somber because he has realized that he old and alone. Neither Goneril nor Regan will let him live with them and he disinherits his Cordelia who faithfully loves him. He is deprived of his authority and wealth, which he regrets giving to his two oldest daughters. He also lacks someone to love and care for him in his old age, and has no home. He questions his identity, but he afraid to admit to himself that his power and youth are gone. The weather is also used in the play to reflect his emotions because the storm shows rage towards his unthankful daughters and his desolation.

King Lear Act 1 Daughters

When King Lear is dividing the kingdom among his three daughters, he demands that each of them profess her love for him. Both Goneril and Regan insincerely flatter him to gain his favor and receive the greatest share of his bounty. They repeatedly say that they love him more than anything else. Their heir lobbying lacks substance because they are incapable of describing their love in words or providing concrete examples of their affection. They are unsympathetic to their father, who they consider to be going senile. They are motivated by their greed and self-interest.

Goneril is the leader of the two older sisters. After she speaks to the king, Regan does not form her own ideas but instead agrees with her same speech, adding in the end that she deserves her father's love the most. Goneril first has the idea of taking advantage of his old age by scheming to take the remainder of his wealth and authority, while Reagan readily follows. Regan prefers to have more time to think before acting. However, Goneril is rash, like King Lear, and decides to immediately take action. When she becomes aggravated with her father, she sneakily provokes him by ordering the servants to behave rudely so he will leave, instead of openly confronting her father with her problems. She treats him harshly and is not concerned about his wellbeing. She seems to be in league with Regan, but she quickly sends him to Regan, so she will have to deal with him.

Cordelia is disgusted by her sisters' ridiculous and hollow efforts to convince her father of their love. She is too proud to reduce herself to their level of insincerity, even though it means she will be disowned. She is independent and not afraid to speak truthfully. She loves him more than her sisters, so she believes that her actions prove her devotion to him better then any words. King Lear feels most betrayed by her because he had been especially fond of her and expected her to take care of him, so she has always been faithful to her father. Cordelia values integrity over wealth.

"Those Winter Sundays" Explication

Robert Hayden's use of tactile imagery of the cold to express the relationship between a father and his son is central to the poem. In the first stanza, the cold shows that the father is hardworking and dedicated to supporting his family. He works even on Sundays in the winter which are typically days of rest after a busy week. He immediately gets up when he awakes to make a fire so early in the "blueblack cold" that it is still dark outside before sunrise. He bears the discomfort of the cold winter morning to bring warmth to his family. His hands are "cracked" and ache with old age and because of his frequent manual labor. However, his strength continues to blaze like the fire with its bright and intense heat. The fire also demonstrates his affection for his family, even though he does not explicitly tell them. No one thanks him because they do not fully appreciate his labor, which they take for granted.

The description of the cold is also used to reveal the son's ignorance to the convenience that his father's work brings to his life. In the second stanza, the son first wakes up to the "splintering, breaking" cold, so it is close to freezing outside but the rooms are comfortable and warm inside. Then, he leisurely gets up out of bed without realizing that the reason he has more time to rest is because of his father. He only thinks about the "chronic angers" in the family, so they are constantly arguing with each other. The warmth of the house also describes the heat of their anger, while their relationship is cold and not close. The son is older in the third stanza and may be a parent himself experiencing the same lack of appreciation as his own father. He feels guilty for his harsh treatment towards his father, such as "speaking indifferently" to him. He begins to consider his father as valiant for driving or forcing out the cold in the morning to protect his family from the icy winter weather. He reflects on the significance of the little tasks that his father did, like polishing his shoes. He understands that acts of love can be severe and lonley because they are not always acknowledged by others.

Hamlet Act 5 Ranking

One of the major themes explored throughout the play Hamlet is loyalty or lack of it. Ophelia's family is more loyal than that of Hamlet, but also within each family there are varying levels of faithfulness. The most loyal character is Laertes because he is quick to take action to avenge his family. When he hears that his father was murdered, he immediately returns to Denmark and rallies the commoners to attack Claudius. After he witnesses Ophelia's madness, which leads to her death, he pushes Claudius to move forward with his plans to kill Hamlet. He decisively wants justice for the deaths of his father and sister as well as to preserve the family name. Then, Ophelia and Polonius are the next most loyal. Ophelia values her family more than other personal relationships. When Polonius orders her to stop seeing Hamlet, she faithfully complies. However, she is dragged into the deceitfulness by her father, who includes her in his plan to listen to Hamlet. She breaks her loyalty to Hamlet during her conversation with him while pretending that her father and Claudius are not hiding. Polonius's nosiness causes his loyalty to waver, so cannot be trusted by his children. He lacks faith in his son because he secretly tells messengers to visit his school and listen to rumors from his friends rather than talking to Laertes himself. However, he is very loyal to Claudius by helping him find out why Hamlet is acting crazy.

Although Hamlet ranks below Ophelia's family, he is the most loyal member of his own family. He tries to follow the ghost's commands to take revenge by killing Claudius, but his faithfulness loses credibility due to his hesitation. He is not completely loyal to his father because he continues to make excuses to prolong the murder of Claudius. Also, his wrath is directed towards his mother, who the ghost tells him to leave alone. He fails to be devoted to Ophelia by denying that he ever loved her. In the end, Hamlet proves his loyalty when he kills Claudius, even though it seems more for the sake of his mother, who dies after drinking from the poisoned cup. Queen Gertrude is disloyal to her husband because she broke her marriage oaths and commitment to him when she married his brother. Her loyalties are divided between Claudius, who she defends against Hamlet's accusations, and her son, for whom she cares and is concerned about his madness. Finally, King Claudius is the least loyal character. He is ultimately disloyal and deceitful not only to his family but also to the entire state. He lies about poisoning his own brother to get the crown and then marries Gertrude without her knowing, even though one makes an oath of honesty in marriage. He secretly plans to kill Hamlet, who knows the truth about his father's death, before he murders him.

"Desert Places" Explication

The title of the poem "Desert Places" has a double meaning that could refer to a physical location or a mental state of mind. A desert is lifeless and desolate because it lacks the necessary resources to sustains life. Also, the word places seems empty because it is not a specific setting and remains nameless and intangible. Frost's description of the land symbolizes his depression. The snow, which causes discomfort from the coldness, means that it is winter when everything dies. Also, the night is when people feel alone because they cannot see anything in the darkness. Both the snow and night are falling fast, which creates a sense of helplessness and lack of control. The snow makes everything the same by hiding individual identities. It almost covers the ground because Frost is still living, even though he is depressed. There are only weeds left, which are unwanted and kill other plants, and the stubble could be small plant growths but also a man's facial hair. When people are depressed, they no longer care about their appearance or take care of their health, so a man will grow stubble. The animals are smothered, which puts out life by suffocating them. They are lonely because they are hidden alone in their lairs, so no one will notice when they are gone. Similarly, Frost is consumed by loneliness, so he uses absent-spirited instead of absent-minded, which shows that he has no lively and joyful spirit left in him. The loneliness includes him because he is not the only person in the wold who feels depressed. In addition, Frost describes a blanker whiteness to emphasize the utter emptiness. Benighted makes the snow seem passive, so it cannot help being overtaken by darkness, like his mind. There no expression on his outside appearance, while he also has nothing to express from inside of him. He uses the word scare because it seems simple, which shows his lack of feeling due to his depression. It is already scary to think of the vast emptiness of outer space where humans do not exist, but it is even scarier to think that the loneliness has invaded his home, which should be a place of safety, warmth, and comfort.