Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by an unknown author. The story starts out at a New Year Celebration. The Green Knight enters and challenges someone against him. Sir Gawain takes the challenge. He swings at the Green Knight and chops off his head. The Green Knight says that now a year and a day later Sir Gawain must find him and receive the same blow. A year passes and Sir Gawain goes on a quest to find the Green Knight. On his way there he stops at a castle during Christmas so he can be at church. There he meets a lady and a group of men. The group of men tells him that they will go off hunting and when they come back will trade whatever they have found for whatever he can find by staying at the castle. The first few days Sir Gawain only receives kisses from the lady, so he kisses the men and they give him the game that they have hunted. The third day the lady offers him a green girdle that will protect anyone who wears it from death and a kiss. But he does not give up the green girdle to the men; he only gives them a kiss. Later he returns to his quest and find the Green Knight. The Green Knight swings at him, misses the first two and the third only barely cuts him. He tells Sir Gawain that he only reason he cut him was because he did not tell the whole truth and give away the girdle. Sir Gawain then wears the green girdle around his arm as a reminder of his sin and to not do it again.

Antigone

  Antigone was a story written by Sophocles. Sophocles was also the writer of Oedipus the King. Sophocles career as a tragic poet was a great success. He won eighteen victories at the City Dionysia, and when he did not win he was never ranked lover than second. Antigone is a story of a great tragic hero. Antigone experienced much suffering throughout her life. When she was young her father was exiled and blinded. She went with him to take care of him until his death when she returned to her original city. The king of the city was Creon, and next in line where her two brothers that were meant to govern together, equally. This plan did not exactly work out. The two fought and killed each other. Creon stated that one brother, Polynices, was not to have a proper burial. Antigone could not stand the thought of her brother not getting buried so she went against Creon and did it anyway. When men see her burying him they bring her into Creon and she does not deny it. He tells her she is sentenced to death. He also tells his son, who is to be married to Antigone, that she will die. He does not like this and neither do the gods. They send someone down to tell Creon that because he has denied someone burial rights his town will be plagued and that he may be forgiven if he admits his wrongs. Creon does not apologize and because of this the gods tell him he will lose his own son. In fear of losing his own son he tries to find Antigone and apologize, but it is too late and she has already killed herself. He then goes to find his son. When he does find him, his son tries to attack him, but he misses. Later his son kills himself.

"Sophocles".  Theater Database.  8/3/10. http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/sophocles_001.html

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the most heard of love story today. It is a classic tale of two families that do not get along the Capulet and Montague families. Both Romeo and Juliet already have plans of marriage, Romeo is in love with a girl who is not returning, while Juliet's father has already given her away to a man named Paris. Juliet's father does ask that Paris wait two years since Juliet is not even fourteen. Juliet’s father plans a celebration and invites Paris hoping he will win over Juliet. Romeo and a few other friends sneak into the celebration and the two meet. Of course their children fall in love, but their relationship is forbidden by their parents. Both Romeo and Juliet must sneak around just to see each other. Later the two secretly get married, on the night of their marriage Juliet’s nurse helps to sneak Romeo into Juliet's bed chamber. Of course their parents do not know of the two getting married and Juliet’s wedding has been moved up a day. She drinks a potion that is to make it look as if she is dead. The plan was for her family to think she is dead and then she would run away with Romeo. Romeo only hears that she is dead. He decides he cannot live without her and gets a poisonous drink himself. He goes to her chamber where she is to be buried, drinks the potion, and dies. Juliet then wakes up, all along she has not been dead, to find Romeo dead. She cannot stand to live without him so she stabs herself.

Shakespeare's Othello

William Shakespeare’s Othello is a play about jealousy. In the story the character Iago is extremely jealous of Othello and his wife Desdemona. He and another man named Roderigo are very upset at this marriage and they rush to Desdemona's father, Brabanzio and try to make him believe that Othello has forced this marriage on Desdemona through witchcraft. Brabanzio believes them and goes along with the story when he is put in front of the senate. Their plan back fires when the senate gives Othello a chance to speak. He tells him that he did not influence their marriage with witchcraft but with his stories of war. Desdemona then enters and states that the marriage was just as much her choice as it was Othello's. Iago lets his jealousy get the best of him. At one point in the play Iago spots Cassio and Desdemona talking while they are waiting for Othello's ship to arrive. Iago then forms a plot to bring Othello and Cassio down. Iago does a series of things to make Othello believe that Desdemona is not being faithful to him and cheating on him with Cassio. Iago says that eliminating Cassio is the first step in his plan. At a celebration thrown by Desdemona and Othello, Iago gets Cassio drunk and he starts an upset. This angers Othello very much. Cassio tries to make it up to Othello by sending musicians to play beneath his window. This does not work. Knowing that Cassio and Othello aren't on the best of terms, Iago continues his plan. Later in the story Iago's wife finds Desdemona's handkerchief and gives it to her husband. He then plants it in Cassio's room and brings Othello to see what he has found. Othello is furious and lets his anger get the best of him. He makes a deal with Iago that if Roderigo goes through with killing Cassio he will do the same. Roderigo does try to kill Cassio, misses and only wounds him. Othello hears the commotion and assumes that Cassio has been killed. He goes into his bed chamber while Desdemona is sleeping, she wakes up and tries to plead with him of her innocence but it does not work. He smothers her. Later Othello tells Iago's wife this he has killed for being unfaithful, which was brought to his attention by Iago. Iago's horrible plot revels itself to Othello and he kills himself. Iago goes on to be tortured.

Biography of William Shakespeare.

Almost everyone has heard about, read about, or watched something about Shakespeare or his work. It is a major study point in many high schools and colleges today. While many have just seen his movies or watched his plays, they do not get to hear about just Shakespeare himself. There are many fascinating facts about him that many have never heard. For instance, his exact birth date is unknown. The earliest record every found of him was the date he was baptized, 1564, which may or may not be the day he was born. Although many are sure that he would have been born in that year, it cannot be proven. Another interesting fact about William Shakespeare is that he had seven siblings, out of which one sister and four brothers survived to adulthood. There is also no record of his schooling. It’s funny how someone whose works are studied in universities all over the world, might not have attended one himself, there is no evidence of it if he did. William married Anne Hathaway at the age of eighteen, which seems very young considering she was twenty-six. Anne, at the time of their marriage, was also pregnant. After the birth of their first child, the two had twins, Hamnet and Judith, Hamnet died at the age of eleven. At a later date William left his wife and children and went to live in London while he pursued his work. He was gone twenty years and only returned once during this period, in 1609. Like his father, William was a very good business man. In 1605 he got his biggest financial achievements; he bought real estate in Stratford and the revenue doubled. It is also interesting how people think that one of the greatest play writes known to mankind might not have been the true writer. William Shakespeare is said to have written 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Some think that he was not the writer of all of these. By looking at different events documented throughout his life we are able to see that they are in fact his works. No matter what people may think, William Shakespeare will remain a huge influnce on liturature.

NA. "Biography of Shakespeare." Absolute Shakespeare. 2005- 2006. 8/3/10. http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/biography/shakespeare_biography.htm