Compare and contrast essays
In order to offer a complete comparison and contrast essay, there is need to provide an overview of the three essays. Most of the dramatic arts have through the years produced some of the most noticeable practitioners in their various ages. Most of these practitioners have not only churned works that represented the highlights of their dramatic history, but have also highlighted the peculiarities that existed during their times (Mulroy, 67). Furthermore, the works that they produced during their times have continued to offer influence and guidelines to individuals living in the 21st century. In this instance, the essays that are in question are Antigone that is written by Sophocles, Macbeth by Shakespeare and Tartuffe by Moliere.
In this play, one of the main characters borrows a large amount of money secretly so that her husband could recover from his illness. Nora Helmer pays the loan that she had secretly from her household allowance. The husband however thinks that the wife is careless to the point that he thinks that he is careless and childlike. This led to the husband renaming her as her doll because he could not fathom the idea that he had married a person who was so childish. When the husband is first hired as a bank manager, the first business that he does is to ensure that he fires an individual who had forged a document. The irony in his instance however is that the person that the wife had borrowed the money is the same person who has been fired for forging a signature. The reaction that Nils had is to threaten Nora based on the information that he had in that he knew that he would disgrace her. When Nora tries to influence her husband, her husband just ignores the pleas from her wife thinking that his wife is ignorant and childlike and does not comprehend the concept of business or money. In the end, Trovald realizes that her wife had borrowed money and is in a position that he can disclaim his wife regardless of the fact that she had borrowed money for his own benefit. When all the issues have been resolved, Torvalds’s wife realizes that the time that she had spent with his wife is not worth it.
Tartuffe
Madame Pernelle who is visiting her son’s house, Orgon uses the opportunity that has been presented to her to criticize all the members residing in that house and to their amazement, she decides to praise Tartuffe. This is because Madame Pernelle considers Tartuffe as an individual of great zeal and holiness. The other individuals residing in the house maintain that Tartuffe is hypocritical and false but Madame Pernelle does not entertain their sentiments. In fact, as she leaves the house, she adamantly admonishes everyone to follow the precepts that have been set by Tartuffe. After the departure of Madame Pernelle, there is a discussion in the house that Tartuffe had in fact beguiled (Orgon Sophocles et al, 44). There is a great uncertainty as to whether Orgon would still allow a marriage between Mariene and Valere. From the play, it is easy to deduce that Orgon is more concerned about the welfare of Tartuffe than he is concerned with the health of his wife. There is an instance whereby Cleante tries to discuss the issues that they are concerned about Tartuffe but he fails miserably and discovers that Orgon is only interested about giving praises to Tartuffe.
There are various other confrontations that take place as everyone in the family tries to convince Orgon that Tartuffe is hypocritical and false. When Orgon is finally convinced that Tartuffe is an individual who is hypocritical, he tries to order Tartuffe from the house but through the conniving acts that Tartuffe has done over the years, he reveals that the property now belongs to him (Michael, 67). When the mother of Orgon arrives, she could not still be convinced that Tartuffe is an individual who is hypocritical. This only becomes clear to her when she finds out that Tartuffe is having all the other members of the house evicted. When Tartuffe brings the officers of the court to evict the members of the house, some people sent by the king orders that the family members should not be evicted as the king has seen through the hypocrisy of Tartuffe and that he should be imprisoned for such falsifying of documents and other crimes. The king also orders that Orgon should have his rightful property restored (Sophocles, Murray, and Fairclough 44).
Macbeth
The setting of the play begins with a brief appearance of witches and then it moves to a military camp whereby the king is informed that his two generals have defeated invading armies. The two generals, Macbeth and Banquo encounter witches who inform Macbeth that Macbeth would eventually become the king of Scotland after being made thane. Banquo on the other hand would beget the line of the Scottish kings but would never be the king of Scotland. Once the witches had disappeared, the two generals treated this instance skeptically until some men who were sent by the king inform them that they had been given the ranks that had been prophesized by the witches. Due to the intriguing nature of the information that has been obtained by Macbeth, Macbeth decides to write a letter to his wife. When Lady Macbeth receives this information, she desires kingship for his husband and wishes his husband to murder Duncan.
Although all of the three plays are products of three separate eras, of human and dramatic history, there are various glaring similarities that exist between the different works. All of the three plays have various attributes of traditional tragedy. First, the three plays conform to the fact of classical concept that tragic action should always be built around loyalty. The main characters in these plays should not only be seen as heroes or individual characters, but should be seen as symbols that are representative of an entire cultural entity. According to Oberhelman et al., (11), Macbeth, A Doll’s House and Tartuffe are all caught in a series of intriguing situations, tat eventfully lead them to tragic endings or their destruction. Macbeth, who was a respected individual plots to kill King Duncan and thereby suffers no sleep as he feels that there is no peace until he pays with his life. This happens when he is beheaded. Tartuffe on the other hand is not peaceful through his conniving actions until he is discovered by the king for his actions and is imprisoned. Nora also suffers the same fate as she decides to ignore the decision that is bound to be made by her husband. The presence of this characteristic plays of common tragedy also lends to the common assertion that the universe is determined in all its assertions to trap the heroines or the heroes in a fateful (web William. 55).
The other similarity between the three plays is that all the heroes and what other people may consider as villains seem to be carried away by the swift currency of tragic action in that once they realize the ,intake that they had done, it seems almost impossible to reverse the actions that they have done. When Macbeth realizes that the prophecy that had been made by the witches could indeed be the truth, he, through the influence of his wife decides to kill the king (Errol, 34) Tartuffe on the other hand continues to play a role of being someone who is trustworthy to Madame Pernelle but other individuals in Orgon’s house have realized this and can no longer allow his to happen. Nora tries to take credit of the situation that she thinks has been presented to her but in the real sense the situation could change if the husband notices. Although the writers of the three plays have immensely explored the concept of traditional tragic concepts the major difference is how the heroes and villains are treated in the plays. In spite of their royalty status, once these heroes have been held culpable o their crimes, they are treated as ordinary individuals or mere pawns on the chessboards of the people who have the authority. In the play Macbeth, the writer concerned himself with the excesses that are involved especially with monarchial powers (Egil, 23).
The play by Shakespeare depicts the unorthodoxy and negativity in the acquisition of power during the Macbethan time. The other major difference is the portrayal of death. In the play by Sophocles, most of the death and bloody scenes are kept of stage. I believe that due to the Greek traditions, individuals believed that the issue of blood and death should be left to the battlefields and not in the stage. The play that are offered by Shakespeare however do not seem to shy away from the issue of death and blood on stage. Mae (45), notes that the murder of King Duncan is done offstage however; other instances such as the execution of Macbeth are done in front of the audience.
The other difference is the manner that the individuals who had been wronged were entitled to some form of commensuration by the individuals who had wronged them. In the play, Tartuffe, the house had to be returned to the family of Orgon due to the fact that Orgon had been wronged. In Macbeth, the resulting end is that there was need to offer justice once it had been discovered that Macbeth had killed King Duncan, thereby he was beheaded (Harold, 55).
In conclusion, it is evident from all the three plays that there are some similarities and differences. Most of the similarities are based on the time that the plays were written while the differences seem to come up with the ideological concepts of the play writers. The plays however offer a good account of the times that she writers lived. The creativity of the writers could only be judged by the resources that were available to them the time that they were writing the plays. The works that they produced during their times have continued to offer influence and guidelines to individuals living in the 21st century. The other similarity between the three plays is that all the heroes and what other people may consider as villains seem to be carried away by the swift currency of tragic action in that once they realize the ,intake that they had done, it seems almost impossible to reverse the actions that they have done.
Works cited
Sophocles, and David D. Mulroy. Antigone. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2013. Print.
Kliman, Bernice W. Macbeth. Manchester [u.a: Manchester Univ. Press, 2004. Print.
Durbach, Errol. A Doll's House: Ibsen's Myth of Transformation. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Print.
Meyer, Michael. Ibsen Plays: 2. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Internet resource.
Pedrick, Victoria, and Steven M. Oberhelman. The Soul of Tragedy: Essays on Athenian Drama. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Print.
Smethurst, Mae J. Dramatic Action in Greek Tragedy and Noh: Reading with and Beyond Aristotle. , 2013. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Macbeth. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. Print.
