These words come from Trinculo, who communicates shock that an animal like Caliban should utilize a term of regard like "Master." In saying that Caliban is "a natural," Trinculo makes a quip on the possibility that beasts are unnatural, yet he likewise suggests that Caliban is an imbecile—that is, "natural" instead of refined. Maybe more than Caliban's appearance alone, the disjuncture between his discourse and his appearance strikes Trinculo as monstrous. Critically, Prospero and Miranda made this disjuncture by showing him their language in any case. In this sense, they created Caliban's monster.

Ariel is speaking to Prospero and addressing his loyalty with hopes that his master will finally grant him freedom. This reveals that Ariel is an indentured servant and not working for Prospero of his own free will. The way that Ariel asks for his freedom so carefully and so indirectly highlights how much he fears Prospero. Despite the fact that he is a spirit with great abilities, Ariel knows that he is no match for Prospero's knowledge and skill in magic and therefore must obey his every command.

Here Prospero is speaking after he remembers the plot against his life and sends the wedding masque away in order to deal with it. Prospero's forgetfulness of this crucial moment in the play really highlights the tone of sadness in his speech. He is so wrapped up in the power of his visions and magic that he forgets about what is going on in real life. This speech emphasizes the beauty of the world that he has created for himself, but also the sadness that comes with the fact that this world is practically meaningless because it is merely a dream made of nothing substantial.

In this speech, Caliban is explaining the mysterious music that they are hearing by magic. While he claims that a virtue of his new language is that it allows him to curse, he actually still shows himself as able to speak in a sensible and beautiful fashion. This speech seems especially poetic, and I find it odd that Shakespeare chose to put it in the mouth of the drunken man/monster. When Caliban had made himself into a completely ridiculous figure, he gives this speech and reminds us that he has something within himself that is often overlooked by the audience and other characters within the play. Overall this speech helps to convey they wondrous beauty of the island and his attachment to it, as well as a respect for Prospero's magic.

In this line, Prospero draws on the language of kinship to emphasize the gravity of Antonio's betrayal. Although Antonio's plotting constitutes treason, the fact that Antonio is Prospero's brother makes the act even more devastating. The theme of treason has been woven into several different instances within the Tempest, and Antonio's treasonous transgression, being the first example, sets up a model upon which other acts of treason in the play are built.

Here, Ferdinand expresses his willingness to complete the task that has been set before him by Prospero for Miranda's sake. This highlights the themes of sacrifice, compromise, and balance seen throughout the play. There are a series of antitheses that help to show contrasting ideas, and demonstrate the constant desire for balance. Ferdinand ends up allowing fate to take its course, and trusts that any sacrifice or compromise he makes will lead to good balancing out bad in the end.

This section of Benedick's soliloquy produces a comical effect, and the line where he states "for I will be horribly in love with her" particularly accentuates this effect in Benedick's decision. It seems laughable that a person could fall "horribly" in love with someone. Not only does he decide to return her love, but to the point of overthrowing her with love. The choice of the world "horribly" is also reminiscent of the battle of wits that both Beatrice and Benedick tend to engage in on the regular, as there has always been a sense of competition between them. It seems that it is not enough for Benedick to return her love, but he must outdo it.

Don Pedro seems to think that even the wildest men will eventually settle down and decide to get married. Benedick disagrees very strongly and refuses to believe Don Pedro, mocking his saying. He rationalizes that a"sensible" Benedick is a person much too intelligent to fall into the irrational ways of love. He imagines a scene with a bull's horns on his head, reflective of how cuckolds (men whose wives have committed adultery) looked in the Renaissance, suggesting that he thinks whatever woman he would marry would surely cheat on him.

These lines really highlight Beatrice's wit as she explains why she must stay an unmarried woman and become an old maid. She claims that no man could be a perfect match for her. She jokes that she would dress up a beardless man as a woman, and this jest has a double meaning and is reflective of how very young men would actually play the female characters in Shakespearean times. The paradox she presents about men with and without beards represents her secret desire for a man on the cusp of maturity.

While Theseus seems skeptical about the lovers' story, Hippolyta seems to find it believable because of their consistency. The word "transfigured" seems particularly important here because it can show how their stories were transformed from something so chaotic and troublesome into something orderly and elegant. Through their "dreaming" the lovers were able to come to this noble conclusion and be brought to a higher place in marriage and happiness as their problems were resolved.

This dialogue highlights Puck's role as the trickster in the play. The unnamed fairy describes the numerous pranks that Puck has played on the unsuspecting humans, and seems to take a lot of delight in recounting these events. While Puck is the most obvious mischief maker in the play, this fairy's amusement is reflective of how much the fairy world enjoys chaos and mischief. Puck also seems to rather enjoy watching other's misfortunes as made clear in this quote by him "laughing at their harm" and other places in the play such as when he says "and so far am I glad it so did sort as this their jangling I esteem a sport". I feel like this chaos and mischief serves as a humorous aspect of the play that helps to enhance its nature as a comedy.

Here, Hermia is commenting on love as being irrational, inexplicable, and extremely powerful. She is troubled that Demetrius has come to love Hermia and no longer loves her as he once claimed to do. She feels that, although she is equal to Hermia in beauty, he cannot see her beauty and does not appreciate how she dotes on him. She then goes to argue that love can create a way for those who are not beautiful and posses other faults can be found beautiful in someone's eyes when they are truly in love, as she is with Demetrius. She then goes to say that "love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind", meaning that love does not depend on physical attractiveness, but one's perception of the person that they love.

The purpose of this dialogue is for Lysander to comfort Hermia as she worries about their love and how difficult the path will be, especially since her father has forbidden it on pain of her death should she disobey him. Lysander comforts Hermia by saying that true love does not come without its difficulties, and this goes to show that an enduring and true love will persevere through all its challenges and attacks as a price that must be paid to achieve bliss. Here we begin to see the nature of comedies, and predict that we will ultimately arrive at a happy ending (a marriage scene). We also begin to explore the play's themes of love's difficulties, as well as exploring different social constructs and systems that are present in the play such as filial duty, differences in birth or age, etc.

Here Edmund is challenging the social construct that exist between legitimate and illegitimate offspring. Edmund, being the illegitimate son of Gloucester, believes that the inheritance and status as heir that should come after his father's death is rightfully his in spite of his older brother's "pure" blood. He seeks to raise his status by his own efforts through deception and betrayal. This highlights Edmund's resentment of the established social order, and emphasizes his desire for respect and power. When he challenges not only the order of society, but the gods as well, we see Edmund's hubris, or extreme ego, begin to show. Once Edmund's hubris is established, we can begin to predict his downfall at the end of the play, and his death as punishment for going against both society and the gods since it is a tragedy.

In this moment we see Gloucester wandering after being blinded as he reflects on a despair that takes hold of him and makes him begin to desire his own death. His words also highlight a chief question in the play of whether or not there is justice in the universe. Gloucester's outlook is one of despair, suggesting that there is no good order in the universe, and no matter the morals of man, the harsh laws of the world cannot be bent. Rather than divine justice, Gloucester feels that the gods play a cruel game and are toying with man and delight in their suffering. Gloucester's understanding of the world seems to play out throughout the rest of the story, as the good die along with the immoral, and there is little explanation for the immense suffering seen throughout the play.

When King Lear asks that his daughters tell him each how much they love him before dividing the kingdom among them, Cordelia she speaks very bluntly and truthfully in evaluating her love for him. Her integrity prevents her from making false declarations and using empty flattery as her sisters did before her in order to obtain his wealth. While it seems that Cordelia actually loves her father the most out of her sisters, Lear becomes angry at her apparent lack of affection, and his rage seems to set in motion the tragedy for this play. Cordelia's refusal to flatter Lear establishes the authenticity and true love of her character, while also highlighting Lear's poor judgement.

This moment in the play stresses the importance of patience and timing in the play. Rodrigo has become frustrated with how slowly Iago's plan is moving along, but Iago reminds him that in order for his plan to be successful they must be willing to wait for the most opportune moments. Iago also stresses that being able to to see the right opportunity requires wit, and wit depends on time, even if it seems to move slowly. Rodrigo's impatience may also be reflective of the audience's feelings towards how slowly Iago's plan is unfolding, but they too must wait patiently for the outcome, creating a more tense feeling as the play goes on.

With Othello's final words, we really see him reaffirm his position as a person who was included in Venetian society, but not entirely accepted. He identifies himself with those who pose the most threat to Venice, acknowledging the fact that he will always remain an outsider. In his last speech, he calms himself and regains his dignity and composure, and this regains the respect of the audience. In a way, Othello's suicide can be seen as a sort of martyrdom in which he preforms a last act of service to the state and kills himself: the last enemy that he has left to defeat.

This moment announces the the beginning of the handkerchief plot. When Othello lets the handkerchief fall from his brow, it seems to be a rather insignificant event at first, but it will eventually lead to the downfall of most of the major characters. The primary function of this dialogue is to foreshadow the future tragic events to come, and Iago wanting Emilia to steal it is the first hint. Strangely enough, Emilia never becomes suspicious of Iago and remains silent about its location despite Desdemona's suffering. In a way, her ignorance is yet another demonstration of the power Iago has to make people believe what he wants them to believe and not become suspicious of him.

Desdemona's first dialogue in the play begins to hint at her character. It shows that she is thoughtful and considerate in how she interacts with others. She does not intend to disrespect her father, but also wants to remain loyal to Othello, suggesting that her duty to them is "divided" with one not placed over the other. It shows that she is confident and brave enough to speak her mind and say what she believes is right even though her father disapproves. It shows that she is clear and truthful, very much unlike other characters such as Iago, who are deceptive and manipulative. She is comparable to the boy from Henry V, as she is likely to be the tragic voice of truth and innocence throughout the rest of the play.

Iago's speech really begins to bring out important elements of his character. He speaks in a very enigmatic manner, often in riddles, making the true meaning of his speech hard to decipher. He is constantly playing games of deception, and thinks that any man who acts as his true self is a fool. He believes that displaying character outwardly leads to vulnerability and weakness "for daws to peck at", and expresses his intention to never expose himself in such a way. All this mysteriousness creates a shadow of power over Iago. Deception can be used to great lengths in manipulating the actions of others. He reveals his intention to deceive Othello in pursuit of revenge.

This soliloquy is a very important part of the play, as we rarely have an opportunity to hear Henry privately expressing his thoughts and feelings. Here, Henry is disguised as a commoner, and not feeling the need to appear sovereign in front of his men. We hear him reveal the crushing responsibilities he feels as king, as so much of England's fate and the lives of his people depend on him. He talks of how he would trade all the luxuries of being a king just to sleep soundly as a slave, who has few concerns beyond his own survival. This, in a way, humbles him a great deal. He is very weary and is shown taking very little pleasure in his own power, often imagining himself in the place of the common man. One could argue here that Henry is a "good" king because he feels that he has a responsibility to his people and takes that responsibility very seriously, putting his own worries and insecurities to the side. Here, when he has a moment to breathe, we are able to catch a glimpse into Henry's psyche and see that there is a lot of conflicted emotion behind the brave and confident face he puts on for his men.

This speech from Henry V is a particularly powerful moment within the story. He knows that his men have little faith in their chances of winning the battle against the French, as they are outnumbered and weary from the previous battle at Harfleur. Henry seeks to rally his troops and inspire them to fight with him as his brother, making the point that with fewer soldiers there is more honor to be gained in fighting alongside him. This speech also highlights some class differences between Henry and the other soldiers. In his speech he is very formally put together, and his language is more poetic. It follows the rhythm of iambic pentameter and created a higher more noble sort of language, while the common soldier speaks in more blank verse with less formalities.

Here, Henry V is hinting at the exposure of Cambridge, Grey and Scroop's hypocrisy. Previously he had asked their opinion on the case of a man who was very drunk and was speaking out against Henry in public. All three of the men said he should be punished for his "crime", though they themselves had committed high treason, and were planning to kill the king on behalf of France for money. Hearing the merciless responses from each of the men, Henry ignores their advice and shows the drunk man mercy. He reasons by raising the question that if minor lapses of judgement are to be punished so harshly, then how should he punish more severe capital crimes that require planning and malicious intent, referring specifically to the treasonous acts of Cambridge, Grey, and Scroop. There also seems to be a lot of irony in the king's word choice when he speaks of the men's "love and care" for him, as they try to appear natural by seeming concerned for his safety. He obviously knows that they planned to betray him, but seeks to highlight their disregard for him, as they would chose to sell his life for money, by using sarcasm in his words and likely tone of voice.

In this section Henry V is furious and threatening the Dauphin, yet still manages to keep a somewhat civil tongue. He makes clear his intentions to invade France, and warns the Dauphin of his poor judgement. He contests that Henry V is not the foolish boy that he has been made to appear through the Prince's mockery of his youth. He took great offense to the jeering gift of the tennis balls used to jest at Henry's sporting wildness before he was set to assume the throne of England, and vows that, by the righteous will of God, he will win both his pride and his rightful place on the throne of France. He leaves the ambassadors with one last dark image; the image of the thousands of those who once did laugh at Henry V now weeping in regret and realization of their error in overlooking the strong and capable king that he as become.

It sounds like the writer is being very critical of Henry V. He describes him as Mars, the god of war, and is saying that starvation, violence, and fire follow him wherever he goes and obey his every command. It feels like the author is using the chorus to give a background for the rest of the play and begin the characterization of Henry V. Henry V appears to be a poor ruler, leading the country into war and chaos. Perhaps the entire play is a criticism of Henry V's leadership.

This sonnet focuses on the changing standards of beauty and what is considered beautiful from the sonneteer's perspective. The conceit of this sonnet is that beauty has become "illegitimate" or "bastardly" at the hand of cosmetics, and mocks the true beauty of nature by trying to better it. The iamb of this sonnet places certain emphasis on words that support the conceit such as "slander'd", "bastard", "borrowed", "disgrace", and "mourners", all of which emphasize the negative connotation toward the use of cosmetics as being unnatural and false. The wit or argument of this sonnet is that while "black" (having a dark complexion, dark hair, dark eyes) has not been considered beautiful in the past, the sonneteer views his dark mistress as naturally beautiful and glad that she doesn't use cosmetics to taint the beauty given to her by nature. He claims that her black eyes mourn so beautifully those who were once ugly but are now made falsely beautiful at their own hand rather that at the hand of nature, and states that all beautiful eyes should look like hers and mourn the unnatural practice that has become so common amongst women.

This sonnet focuses heavily on greed and jealousy. While sonnets are Romantic Love poems (having come from Italy where Italian is a "Romance" language), this particular sonnet focuses mostly on romance in the form of lust and expressing love physically through sex. The speaker is writing to someone whom he loves, however it appears that they will not "love", or have sex with, him, although they have taken and "loved" one of the speaker's former lovers. He describes this person as a thief and accuses them of "robbing" the love of another through sex that they refuse to give to the speaker in return.

This sonnet reflects on the themes of time, beauty, and nature, all of which are commonly used in Shakespeare's work. The conceit in this passage is how time inevitably decays beauty, and is illustrated through the change in seasons, from a beautiful summer to a dismal winter. When he sees the trees dormant and barren of their leaves, he thinks back to a time where they were once green and full of life, giving shade to all the animals during the summertime. He also sees the summer's crops, once green and lively, being wheeled away, now looking lifeless. Shakespeare uses diction such as "barren", "bier", and "white...bristly beard" to place an emphasis on age and the nearing of death. However, at the end of this sonnet, he leaves us with a little wit to counteract his message that nothing can hinder the effect of time by saying that to breed or reproduce can defy inescapable death.