Two Sides Of The Coin

Shakespeare's dramatic characters are people of all kinds. They could be found among the nobility and the ordinary. They are like the coin's two sides. They sometimes show their good side and sometimes bad side. They have their attractive personalities and fatal deficiencies. A dramatic character of other playwrights is usually an individual, but a dramatic character of Shakespeare is commonly the human species.If one is confused by one's inner self, one could be struggling like Marc Antony, constantly troubled by his honour and dishonour, duty and pleasure, his highly responsibility to his country and his uncontrollable love for Cleopatra. His character is strongly affected by his obsession with honour which is a self problem. In Antony and Cleopatra, his temper often changes. When Rome summons him, he will think about his military operations and public duties as a Roman warrior; when Cleopatra calls him, he cannot help being drawn back to her by the power of passion. It seems that Antony can only temporarily act with wisdom, because he will soon believe in every word she says. The former reason has been replaced by emotion and the former honour has been caught by love. Since honour and dishonour, reason and passion come to conflict now and then in his case, he cannot control himself any more. Therefore, he kills himself to solve this confusion and to combine his two sides.If one cannot deal with the relationship between oneself and others, one could be misunderstood like Shylock who cannot even get his own daughter's understanding. There are lots of moneylenders, but Shylock is hated the most. The point here is that everyone feels him to be cold and merciless with no love but only self-interest for everyone knows that even his daughter cannot stay in peace with him. This long-time hostile relationship with others makes impossible for others to know the fact that he loves his wife and daughter deeply. Shylock is not a merciless killer. He just does not know how to express love and mercy; he does not know mercy is about his relationship with others. Revenge becomes his communication. The hatred he has showed to Antonio reveals his concealed love for his wife and daughter. The two sides of Shylock's character have been combined through the vengeance.If one cannot manage the relationship between oneself and the society; particularly, if a ruler always thinks the society should serve him but forgets he should as well obey the social disciplines, one could be as Lear leading to the deaths of many people. Everyone is related to the society in one way or another, and as a king, Lear is responsible for dispensing justice on earth. With no knowledge of justice which is the relationship of the individual and the society, he makes a serious mistake in judgment. The once-omnipotent king tries hard to find an effective means of dealing with his loss of power. After a violent journey, he recognizes that he has misused justice and he bears responsibility for both his own problems and for those of others who suffers equally. He has learned that no one is above justice. The suffering makes him regret and remorse, which at the same time let him get his combination.Honour or not, mercy or not, justice or not, that Antony, Shylock and Lear can be Shakespeare's dramatic characters is because they are like real people in life. They are like the coin possessing two sides. Shakespeare applies his talent in combining their two sides, so they can all show the audience their most genuine self.