Early on in the play Shakespeare makes it clear that Caliban has not had the chance to be as educated as some of the other characters. This is important because it shows how easily he could be manipulated to someone else's will. It also plays into the idea that a "monster" or outsider like Caliban is a savage that should be treated as a slave. In fact Prospero calls Caliban a slave in his next line. This ultimately comes back to power binaires and how Prospero is able to control Caliban.

This section is a great example of how Prospero manipulates both Caliban and Ariel in very different ways. Ariel is submissive so Prospero is allowed to call them "my bird" which is still seen as his servant (as in a carrier pigeon) but that can also be a term of endearment. On the other hand (pun intended) Caliban is called ugly and Prospero condemns who Caliban is based on his conception of his mother and how he was conceived. This shows how good Prospero was at reading who he was manipulating and how that effects his overall goals.

This is Prospero manipulating Ariel with "magic". It is unclear whether Prospero actually has magical powers or if he is othering Ariel into a state of submission. Prospero is able to do this because he has certain qualities that Ariel cannot acquire and forces a divide between himself and Ariel.

Beatrice the character who challenges the social norms of the time. She is constantly standing up for herself and dishing out rebuttals to the men in this play, but in particular, Benedick. Their love-hate relationship challenges the idea of marriage and how a normal relationship should work.

This goes along with our discussion in class about sumptuary laws and clothing. Here Borachio claims that fashion is nothing to a man but he is met with a dissenting opinion from Conrade. This could be Shakespeare trying to say that fashion actually did mean a lot to the lower class they just couldn't afford to express that.

I believe this is a christian allusion to Adam and Eve. Benedick is so against marriage that he gives rather comedic and vivid instructions for Don Pedro if he ever gets hitched.

Is Benedick's character meant to be over the top bawdy? I haven't finished much of the play but it seems that even his name references sex.

This touches on the polyamory that we talked about in class. If this bawdy language talking about multiple lovers was said by the lovers or their parents it would be the most outrageous scene. I think Shakespeare does this to show just how different the fairies are from the Athenians.

Having Lear's "bad" daughters fall in love with the same man is interesting because it adds to the notion that their actions are inappropriate compared to Cordelia.

This is Edmund manipulating Gloucester for his power to ultimately create chaos. By creating this scene he successfully tricks Gloucester into reversing the legal order and creating blindness.

Early on in the play the reader can see Lear's tragic flaw is his excessive pride and ego. He is using his power and holding it over the head of his daughters just so he can be reinforced of how much he is loved. I am a little surprised that Shakespeare didn't wait long before revealing Lear as a tragic character. I was expecting a little more build up and fall like we saw in Othello but this shows that Lear is already a broken man looking for anything to make him feel like the king he once was.

At this point Iago knows that he has Othello worked up with jealousy and anger after tricking him into thinking that Desdemona is cheating on him. This has a postmodernist view because the "outsider" is being fooled by the authoritarian coloniser.

This is the blatant racism that is seen throughout Othello. Not only are they implying that being of darker skin makes someone inherently uglier, they are doing it in front of Othello. What makes this even more remarkable is that they owe Othello much more than common decency seeing that he just led an army to victory. The signoirs are quick to ask the help and bravery from Othello but are quicker to belittle him for his skin color. These men are also acting like this because Othello has wooed a pretty white girl whcih these men think of as their property more or less. This first act sets the tone of jealousy for the rest of the play.

This is more of a question I didn't get to ask during class rather than an annotation. You mentioned that Bardolph is a voice of Shakespeare's "truth" in this play. If that is so then why is he a thief? It may be that I did not understand the meaning of truth or that I am confusing it too much with the moral part of the poet's voice but I am just wondering what this event has to do with the overall meaning of the play being that this is Bardolph's greatest moment.

Scene three opens with a long speech by King Henry V which isn't irregular for Shakespeares plays. He usually starts with a monologue or a speech to set the tone for the scene (comedic or serious). In this case the speech is used to highlight Henry as a hero and make sure that the audience can see Henry as a soldier-king and not anything less.

In this sonnet Shakespeare chooses to not even try describing the beauty of the recipient which I thought was strange because normally he tries to flaunt his skills in order to woo the mistress but in this case he takes a more humbling approach.

This poem has a strong repetition of hate. Though not all these mentions to hate are negative. Shakespeare chose to make the volta on the ninth line closely resembling the Italian form. It is at this point of the poem that hate is said with a positive connotation. Finally, hate is mentioned again in the final couplet with a rather sappy ending. Overall this sonnet has a great evolution from a heartbroken Shakespeare to someone with hope.

The author is definitely writing about a younger person here considering the last few sonnets have mentioned the passing of his friends. This could be about one of Shakespeares affairs and my guess is its the boy.

This poem is all about sadness and the authors great losses but the final couplet talks about how thinking of his 'dear friend' wipes all of his sadness away. I just thought that the quick change from sadness to hope was interesting.

The author is saying that with a child's beauty, or the beauty found in youth, he can feel accomplished and not embarrassed by how the forty winters have withered his own beauty away. This is the volta because until this point Shakespeare only talked about his 'deep sunken eyes' and other imagery supporting age. Now the tone has switched to admiring the beauty found in youth.