Mel Gibson essays

Mel Gibson essays Mel Gibson: Crazed Maniac or Justice Revolutionary Mel Gibson has played the American's greater good type characters. It started with Braveheart, the movie in which the dashing leading man plays Sir William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish nobleman who fights to free his people from British rule. Next came Conspiracy Theory, in which Gibson plays a bumbling but likeable conspiracy nut. Finally, there was The Patriot, with Gibson drawn into the American Revolution when the British murder his son. Gibson has also play Hamlet that would make some believe that he has played a wide range of films. Don't be deceived look closely at the roles he has played. He is riding the line between crazed maniac and justice revolutionary. He is always fighting the system. In the films Payback and Hamlet he swerves toward the crazed maniac, but in films like Braveheart and The Patriot he leans toward the justice revolutionary. It was enough that he was white, strikingly handsome, and playing noble characters who risk all to fight the system whether that be tyrannical British officers, government bureaucrats, freedom-hating monarchists, or the mobsters from Payback. Nevertheless, the libraries of those on the greater good are overflowing with copies of these Mel Gibson films. Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, a retired soldier turned farmer, in The Patriot. He is a father of seven, which plays a very important role in the film. His wife has passed away and he is left alone to raise the children himself. The character of Benjamin Martin was originally meant to be Francis Marion, but for the sake of telling the most exciting story and maybe escape some controversy, the filmmakers fictionalized the character and the story. They then added historical factors and the historic figures like Elijah Clarke, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, Andrew Pickens and Thomas Sumter to the character of Benjamin Martin. Which in turn made the film inaccurate a...

The Classical Dramatic Speech From Sophocles Antigone

The Classical Dramatic Speech From Sophocles' Antigone Written by Sophocles around 440 B.C., the title character in Antigone represents one of the most powerful female protagonists in theatrical history. Her conflict is a simple yet poignant one. She gives her dead brother a proper burial against the wishes of her uncle, Creon, the newly crowned King of Thebes. Antigone willingly defies the law for she devoutly believes that she is doing the will of the gods. A Summary of  Antigone In this monologue, the protagonist is about to be entombed in a cavern. Although she believes she goes to her death, she contends that she was justified in offering her brother his funeral rites. Yet, because of her punishment, she is uncertain about the ultimate goal of the gods above. Still, she trusts that in the afterlife, if she is at fault, she will learn of her sins. However, if Creon is at fault, the fates will surely inflict revenge upon him. Antigone is the  heroine of the play.  Stubborn and persistent, Antigones strong and feminine character supports her family duty and allows her to fight for her beliefs. The story of Antigone surrounds the dangers of tyranny as well as loyalty to family. Who Sophocles Was and What He Did Sophocles was born in Colonus, Greece in 496 bc and is considered one of the three great playwrights in classical Athens amongst Aeschylus and Euripides.  Famous for the evolution of drama in theater, Sophocles added a third actor and reduced the importance of the Chorus in the execution of the plot. He also  focused on character development, unlike other playwrights at the time. Sophocles died around 406 BC. The Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles includes three plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus. While they are not considered a true trilogy, the three plays are all based on Theban myths and often published together.  It is understood that Sophocles has written over 100 dramas, though only seven full plays are known to have survived today. An Excerpt of Antigone The following excerpt from Antigone is reprinted from Greek Dramas. Tomb, bridal chamber, eternal prison in the caverned rock, whither I go to find mine own, those many who have perished, and whom Persephone hath received among the dead! Last of all shall I pass thither, and far most miserably of all, before the term of my life is spent. But I cherish good hope that my coming will be welcome to my father, and pleasant to thee, my mother, and welcome, brother, to thee; for, when you died, with mine own hands I washed and dressed you, and poured drink-offerings at your graves; and now, Polyneices, tis for tending thy corpse that I win such recompense as this. And yet I honored thee, as the wise will deem, rightly. Never had I been a mother of children, or if a husband had been moldering in death, would I have taken this task upon me in the citys despite. What law, ye ask, is my warrant for that word? The husband lost, another might have been found, and child from another, to replace the first-born; but, father and mother hidden with Hades, no brothers life could ever bloom for me again. Such was the law whereby I held thee first in honor; but Creon deemed me guilty of error therein, and of outrage, ah brother mine! And now he leads me thus, a captive in his hands; no bridal bed, no bridal song hath been mine, no joy of marriage, no portion in the nurture of children; but thus, forlorn of friends, unhappy one, I go living to the vaults of death. And what law of Heaven have I transgressed? Why, hapless one, should I look to the gods anymorewhat ally should I invokewhen by piety I have earned the name of impious? Nay, then, if these things are pleasing to the gods, when I have suffered my doom, I shall come to know my sin; but if the sin is with my judges, I could wish them no fuller measure of evil than they, on their part, mete wrongfully to me. Source: Green Dramas. Ed. Bernadotte Perrin. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1904