What Xenosaga Character Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

What Mermaid Melody Princess Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

What Spirited Away Character Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

What Sanrio Character Are You?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

Scholars generally agree that All's Well That Ends Well was written between 1600 and 1605, although some believe that the play is the lost Shakespearean drama titled Love's Labour Won, which was written before 1598. Most critics believe that Shakespeare's primary influence in constructing the main plot of the play was William Painter's English translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's story of Giletta of Narbonne in his Decameron (1353), titled The Palace of Pleasures (1575). Shakespeare added the characters of Parolles (and the subplot in which Parolles is the main character), the Countess of Rousillon, Lavache, Lafeu, and the second ring at the end of the play. Some commentators have remarked that the uneven nature of the play suggests that it was written at two different times in Shakespeare's life. All's Well That Ends Well has often been called one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" or "problem comedies," a category of his work that usually includes Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida, because these works often seem more similar in tone and theme to the tragedies Shakespeare was writing during the same time period than they do to the romantic comedies he wrote in the 1590s. Most critics acknowledge the folktale elements in the play. Some critics condemn the play outright, considering it a comedic failure. Others take into account how the play would have been received by Elizabethan audiences and find it successful, despite what might seem to be its oddities to twentieth-century readers. Rarely does a critic praise the play without reservation. Early critics of the play focused on the incongruous plot elements and the thematic concerns of merit and rank, virtue and honor, and male versus female. More recent critics address these issues, but they focus more attention now on topics such as gender and desire. Helena's sexuality and the reversal of gender roles has generated much discussion, especially as they intertwine with other main conflicts in the play, such as social class, the bed-trick, and marriage. The ending of the play (whether the play does end well, as the title suggests it does) has historically been much-debated and continues to be so in recent criticism. The three main characters—Helena, Bertram, and Parolles—have generated a great deal of literary criticism and comment as well. Some critics brand Helena as conniving and obsessive in her love for Bertram, while others find her wholly virtuous and noble. In general, critics are united in their displeasure with the character of Bertram, though some judge him more harshly than others. Some critics find Bertram thoroughly unrepentant and unredeemable at the end of the play, making the ending implausible. Others are more sympathetic toward him, finding him merely immature at the beginning of the play and in need of life experience in order for him to "grow up." Parolles has generated less controversy in terms of the nature of his character (even Parolles himself recognizes his deficiencies and is not ashamed of them), and some critics find the subplot involving Parolles the only thing that saves the play from utter failure.

Probably composed in 1595 or 1596, A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's early comedies but can be distinguished from his other works in this group by describing it specifically as the Bard's original wedding play. Most scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream as a light entertainment to accompany a marriage celebration; and while the identity of the historical couple for whom it was meant has never been conclusively established, there is good textual and background evidence available to support this claim. At the same time, unlike the vast majority of his works (including all of his comedies), in concocting this story Shakespeare did not rely directly upon existing plays, narrative poetry, historical chronicles or any other primary source materials, making it a truly original piece. Most critics agree that if a youthful Shakespeare was not at his best in this play, he certainly enjoyed himself in writing it. The main plot of Midsummer is a complex contraption that involves two sets of couples (Hermia and Lysander, and Helena and Demetrius) whose romantic cross-purposes are complicated still further by their entrance into the play's fairyland woods where the King and Queen of the Fairies (Oberon and Titania) preside and the impish folk character of Puck or Robin Goodfellow plies his trade. Less subplot than a brilliant satirical device, another set of characters—Bottom the weaver and his bumptious band of "rude mechanicals"—stumble into the main doings when they go into the same enchanted woods to rehearse a play that is very loosely (and comically) based on the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, their hilarious home-spun piece taking up Act V of Shakespeare's comedy. A Midsummer Night's Dream contains some wonderfully lyrical expressions of lighter Shakespearean themes, most notably those of love, dreams, and the stuff of both, the creative imagination itself. Indeed, close scrutiny of the text by twentieth-century critics has led to a significant upward revision in the play's status, one that overlooks the silliness of its story and concentrates upon its unique lyrical qualities. If A Midsummer Night's Dream can be said to convey a message, it is that the creative imagination is in tune with the supernatural world and is best used to confer the blessings of Nature (writ large) upon mankind and marriage.

She sees not Hermia:--Hermia, sleep thou there; And never mayst thou come Lysander near! For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things The deepest loathing to the stomach brings; Or, as the heresies that men do leave Are hated most of those they did deceive; So thou, my surfeit and my heresy, Of all be hated, but the most of me! And, all my powers, address your love and might To honour Helen, and to be her knight!

Content with Hermia? No: I do repent The tedious minutes I with her have spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love: Who will not change a raven for a dove? The will of man is by his reason sway'd; And reason says you are the worthier maid. Things growing are not ripe until their season; So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason; And touching now the point of human skill, Reason becomes the marshal to my will, And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook Love's stories, written in love's richest book.

Through the forest have I gone, But Athenian found I none, On whose eyes I might approve This flower's force in stirring love. Night and silence! Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear: This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground. Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe; When thou wak'st let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid: So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon.

O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence; Love takes the meaning in love's conference. I mean that my heart unto yours is knit; So that but one heart we can make of it: Two bosoms interchained with an oath; So then two bosoms and a single troth. Then by your side no bed-room me deny; For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.