Comparative Device Assignment Sample Answers


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  • Subject Name : English

Comparative Quotation

  1. “Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again.” (qtd McCabe 182). - Act 1, Scene 1

The speaker of the selected quotation is King Lear, who is telling his daughters to state their love for him in the public, in the inaugurating scene of the play. 

The selected quote is in the last line of the communication that has taken between King Lear and his daughter Cordelia. In reply, to the desire of King Lear, Cordelia said she don’t have anything to express on the topic. The communication between King Lear and Cordelia is signified by foretelling, humour and anguish. According to Cordelia, her father should have been aware of her love for him and it is not appropriate as well as respectful act to demonstrate her love for him in the public (Braid 232-243).

Comparative Device: Theme

As per the theme of the quotation, Lear is appropriate in terms of saying that an individual will not get anything if he doesn’t do anything. However, it was King Lear only who has been determined of not being left with anything. In the beginning, he had his province along with three daughters but ultimately, he along with his three daughters were dead. There was nothing left and the kingdom even remained disintegrated.

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, it has been portrayed that an individual’s quest for affection, social belongingness and family is against their quest for knowledge. In the novel, Frankenstein did not care about himself as well as a family against his desire to achieve his science-oriented goals and this path he lost his close ones. The same thing is depicted in the selected quotation from King Lear, wherein the king lost his daughters and his life as well and this was only because of a mistake he had done of handing over his kingdom to the wrong daughter, which can’t be rectified (Cohen 116-120).

  1. “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout/Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks. /You sulph'rous and thought-executing fires,/Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,/Singe my white head.” (qtd Cioffi 57) – Act 3, Scene 2

The speaker of the selected quotation is King Lear, through which he provokes the strong winds to be as destructive as possible. In this scene, the wind has been compared to a person, in the same way as it was done in the old Greek folk-tale. Moreover, King Lear has posed himself as a combatant to Zeus (Raw 66). The scene takes place when King Lear’s mind is in an uproar where his adamancy collides with that of his daughters. In this context, King Lear’s daughters require him to transform his attitude, sacrifice some of his soldiers as well as even beg pardon for his mistakes. However, King Lear did not agree with his daughters and hence his mind landed up into a storm.

Comparative Device: Literary Device

In the above quotation, the word storm has been used as a metaphor, in terms of the declining state of mind of King Lear. Moreover, it has even been used in the context of receding into the regulation as well as the disruptions caused by women. Additionally, it is also required to be noted that the term “hysterical” applied in the scene is deeply rooted in the direction of the lunacy of the women or even in the agitation of the females that was considered as a part of medical literacy in the year 1952, that is 350 years after the King Lear’s play was enacted for the first time.

In the novel Frankenstein, the word storm had been used all over the story to prognosticate the negative incidents that Victor Frankenstein was about to experience in his life. The initial two storms elucidated in the novel forecasts the poor events in Victor’s life, which has transformed his life in life that it ultimately created fear in his mind (Hackett 91).

  1. “Before you go into battle, open this letter. If you win, then blow your trumpet as a signal for me. I may look wretched, but I’ll bravely stand up to defend my claims. If you die in battle, all your projects and this plan are off. Good luck to you.” (qtd Raw 55-66) Act 5 Scene 1

The selected quotation is spoken by Edgar to Albany. It is in the form of a letter, that Edgar informs Albany about the attributes of his wife. He informs that the act of betrayal being committed by Albany’s wife will end up destroying their marriage relationship as well as her bonding with her family. In the course of this letter, Edgar is creating a plan of action to vindicate him on his brother. The letter was handed over to Albany by Edgar when Albany was going to the battlefield. Moreover, the letter depicting Albany’s wife character was requested to read by Edgar before he enters the battleground.

 Comparative Device: Character development

Through the selected quotation, Edgar very well portrays the character of Albany’s wife. In the letter, Albany’s wife was depicted as betrayer who will eventually be destroying her marriage relationship. Edgar was in the attire of a beggar when he delivered the letter to Albany, hence another character of a beggar was developed. Additionally, if Albany wins the battle, he was asked to blow the cornet and then the character of Edgar will emerge in front of him. This leads to the development of character in Act 5.

Moreover, in Frankenstein, when the character of the creature was first developed, it was portrayed to be gracious and nurtured. The creature developed in the novel was portrayed to attempt learning about human beings and also adjust itself with the kind of lifestyle that is led by a human being (Bolea 105-116). Furthermore, the creature was depicted to be cynical as it did not have any hold on the way it looked. In this way, the reason for the creature killing people was depicted. The creature was determined to kill those who criticized him. However, since, the creature was alone, Victor developed another character as the creature’s friend.

References for Comparative Quotation

Bolea, Ştefan. "OF HATRED AND SOLITUDE IN THE WORKS OF MARY SHELLEY AND EM CIORAN." Philobiblon 22.2 (2017): 105-116. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefan_Bolea/publication/321879270_Of_Hatred_and_Solitude_in_the_Works_of_Mary_Shelley_and_E_M_Cioran/links/5ae03656aca272fdaf8bcd1f/Of-Hatred-and-Solitude-in-the-Works-of-Mary-Shelley-and-E-M-Cioran.pdf

Braid, Barbara. "The Frankenstein Meme: Penny Dreadful and The Frankenstein Chronicles as Adaptations." Open Cultural Studies 1.1 (2017): 232-243. https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/culture/1/1/article-p232.xml

Cioffi, Marc. "Re-visions of Madness in the Tradition of Lear." State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, New York (2015): 57. https://www.newpaltz.edu/media/english/shawreview/Shawangunk%20Review%202015.pdf#page=63

Cohen, Elias S. "The Last 2000 Days: Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise. Shakespeare (King Lear)." The Gerontologist 57.1 (2017): 116-120. https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/57/1/116/2631985

Escandell-Montiel, Daniel. "THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN AS GAME ICON: PRESENCE, REMEDIATION AND SEMIONAUTIC EXPLOITATION OF MARY SHELLEY’S CREATURE." Frankenstein revisited: the legacy of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece (2018): 51. 

Hackett, William C. "“And Thou, all-Shaking Thunder…” A Theological Notation to Lines 1–38 of King Lear, Act III, Scene II." Religions 8.5 (2017): 91. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/8/5/91

McCabe, Mary Margaret. "Ridicule and Protreptic." Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Ancient Philosophy (2019): 182. 

Raw, Laurence. "People's theatre and Shakespeare in wartime: Donald Wolfit's King Lear in London and Leeds, 1944–45." Shakespeare 12.1 (2016): 55-66. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17450918.2014.970662

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