Bachelor of Arts, University of Toledo, 2016, English

Motherhood in Shakespeare's tragedies consists of an unbalance between feminine and masculine forces. Lady Macbeth and Volumnia from Coriolanus strike readers and critics as intricate and aberrant characters. They stand out as women characters in their respective plays because they embrace masculinity rather than femininity. I argue that Shakespeare purposefully crafted Lady Macbeth and Volumnia to create conflict with the tragic heroes through their speeches and dialogue. Within the masculine filled, war-fueled worlds of Macbeth and Coriolanus, a woman must support her male relatives involved in war activities. Not only that, but it becomes a rite of passage for men to dominate women in order to succeed in life and perhaps become more masculine. Lady Macbeth and Volunmnia, however, utilize their strong wills to control and even overpower the men around them. By alluding to their feminine physicality, such as the act of breastfeeding, and combining it with masculine imagery of blood, Lady Macbeth and Volumnia establish dominance and attempt to mute gender. I claim Shakespeare composed the dialogues for each woman to focus on their physical attributes as a tactic to showcase personality and how it relates to gender. The challenging of gender within these tragedies appears dangerous for the men; however, critics argue that Lady Macbeth and Volumnia act out of love or, perhaps, an overindulgence of it. This paper will cite evidence from Macbeth and Coriolanus along with critics' readings to determine why Shakespeare shaped his mother-figure characters this way. Ultimately, I believe the dominant nature of Lady Macbeth and Volumnia leads to their assisting in the demise of Macbeth and Coriolanus.

Committee: Andrew Mattison (Advisor); Melissa Gregory (Advisor) Subjects: Literature

MA, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

William Shakespeare's tragedies dwell upon death, loss, grief, and sacrifice. But one of the common, underlying and at times unexpected components that recurs throughout the tragedies is honor. For Shakespeare's honor is tied to human life, as Julius Caesar insinuates to his wife, “Cowards die many times before their deaths; / The valiant never taste of death but once” (2.2.32-33). Shakespeare's honor is largely connected to how one lives their life, whether it be honorably in bravery, or cowardly in fear. The concept is further developed in Othello, when Iago says, “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls” (3.3. 183-184). If one does not possess an honorable character, in other words, he or she owns nothing of import. This is reiterated in Richard II, when Mowbray says, “Take honor from me, and my life is done” (1.1.183). However, Shakespeare's portrayal of honor often displays an ambivalence between the Christian and the pagan-humanist values of honor in his age. He toys with the concept of honor radically within the minds of several of his most prominent characters, namely the protagonists in King Lear, Coriolanus, and Macbeth. For these three men, honor becomes a moral trap, and they each meet tragic fates as a result. In this paper, I seek to illuminate the different functions of honor and how this coincides with Shakespeare's overall theme which suggests that honor and (quality of) life go hand in hand, which demonstrates the idea that the pursuit of glory can prove to be a snare for the overly ambitious man.

Committee: Don-John Dugas (Advisor); Vera Camden (Committee Member); Ann Martinez (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2017, Economics

Significant attention in the financial economics literature is given to the usage of aggregated factors in their ability to explain variability in asset returns. Whereas the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) considers the excess return on the market portfolio as the dominant source of systematic variability in asset returns, the framework of Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) suggests that systematic risk can be further decomposed into numerous common risk factors that underlie co-movement in asset returns. Chen, Roll, and Ross (1986) popularized empirical evaluation of macroeconomic indicators in their relation to asset returns, finding that macro-economic indicators can be useful to price assets and carry statistically significant risk premiums in sample. Following the intuition of the Roll (1977) critique, I consider the pricing of risk derived from unexpected shocks, or innovations, to a wider set of macroeconomic and capital market variables. I find that information contained in shocks to common risk factors is significantly priced in the cross-section of asset returns and differs from information contained in the Fama-French-Carhart factors.

Committee: Thomas Boulton Ph.D. (Advisor); George Davis Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tyler Henry Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics; Finance

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2014, Economics

We use various samples of portfolios (Fama-French portfolios formed on size and book-to-market, Fama-French industry portfolios, and exchange traded funds) as test assets to investigate whether the negative relation between lagged idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) and future average returns initially documented by Ang, Hodrick, Xing, and Zhang (2006) is due to a missing risk factor. Analytically, we show that if IVOL proxies for a missing risk factor, then the negative relation between IVOL and returns persists at a portfolio level since systematic risk is not eliminated through diversification. However, when we take it to the data, we do not find economically and statistically significant evidence of a relation between lagged IVOL and subsequent average returns. Taken together, our results suggest that the IVOL puzzle is not due to a missing risk factor.

Committee: Haimanot Kassa Ph.D. (Advisor); Tyler Henry Ph.D. (Committee Member); George Davis Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics; Finance

BA, Oberlin College, 1975, English

The purpose of this essay will be to suggest a reading of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello which I don't believe has received sufficient attention. The interpretation I will present is not meant to be suggested as the only valid reading of the plays, but as a reading which should be considered along with many other valid readings, in attempts to gain insight into these three major tragedies, and to understand their points of similarity.

Committee: Robert Pierce (Advisor) Subjects: Literature

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2013, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Post-colonial studies reveal a great deal about the treatment of Scotland in Macbeth. Shakespeare's only Scottish play reflects specific English cultural ideologies, which had positioned Scotland as an enemy Other in opposition to England. When James VI of Scotland became James I, the King of England, he manipulated England's xenophobic attitudes: James I redefined the Lowland Scots' cultural identity as English, and he forced Highland Scots into the position of enemy Other by emphasizing Highlanders Gaelic heritage. I argue that these contemporary national attitudes and colonial tensions echo throughout Macbeth because Shakespeare crafted his play to specifically mirror James I's ethnocentric rhetoric: the heroes of the play, Duncan, Malcolm, and McDuff, are consistently characterized as Lowland Anglo-Scots while the villains, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the Weird Sisters, are depicted as Highland Gaelic-Scots. Consequently, I show that Macbeth reflects and reinforces the prevalent colonial discourse that was used to excuse, and even perpetrate, the English desire to assimilate and Anglicize the Scottish by means of colonization.

Committee: James Marino Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Rachel Carnell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Julie Burrell Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: British and Irish Literature; Literature

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2010, College-Conservatory of Music : Conducting, Wind Emphasis

The repertoire of the modern wind band has experienced a dramatic metamorphosis throughout the past one hundred years. With firm beginnings in the British band movement at the turn of the century with noted composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, and Percy Grainger, this unique literature has continued to expand with other composers including Darius Milhaud, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and others. Among the current pioneers of notable wind music composers stands David Werner Amram (b. 1930). Spanning the past fifty years, Amram's musical output rivals that of many of his contemporaries. This composer has etched a distinctive position in the American musical culture. As the first composer-in-residence in the history of the New York Philharmonic, Amram secured his stature as one of the world's leading composers, but his background and life experiences have produced a style that is uniquely his own. Amram's professional career includes an eclectic diversity, which encompasses working with jazz legends such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He has also achieved fame for his collaborations with Joseph Papp and his Shakespearean performances in New York City. In addition, he has traversed the globe as a major advocate of world music. As a composer of opera, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and film and television scores, David Amram has developed a style that is purely his own. His compositions are essentially tonal, occasionally dissonant, at times neo-Elizabethan, but very often infused with a distinct jazz element and other folk tendencies. This thesis will trace these elements through an investigation of three compositions for wind band, comparing and contrasting specific traits that are unique to Amram. The titles include King Lear Variations, Andante and Variations on a Theme for Macbeth and Ode to Lord Buckley. As one source for this paper, in addition to the Sources Consulted and personal analysis, David Amram spok (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Rodney Winther MMus (Committee Chair); Terence Milligan DMA (Committee Member); James Vanmatre MM (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2005, Theatre

This work traces the theatrical representation of the witch on the Early Modern English stage. I examine the ways in which the witch was constructed as a binary opposite against which dominant society could define itself. This work provides close readings of three representative plays from the era: Macbeth, The Witch of Edmonton, and The Witches of Edmonton. I also investigate the significance of the personal involvement of King James I in real-life witch trials. This work breaks the progression of the witch into three stages - fear, familiarity, and ridicule – each of which served to allay the anxieties of dominant culture. Situating the texts within the specific historical cosmology of their original productions, I suggest one possible mapping of the intersections of the intersections of gender, class, nation, politics, and economics which they depict.

Committee: Ann Armstrong (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2007, Theatre Arts

Space is an essential tool for actors. An actor must perceive the space and use it – all of it, not only the stage area. An actor must learn to see the space for what it is—the literal space of the theatre so he or she is not swept away into a world built solely in his imagination. The actor should learn to use the different landmarks to guide his precise actions. An actor must work to own the space, so he or she feels at home in the theatre. The actor must sensitize himself to the space, training himself to be a highly sensitive organism capable of instant, precise reactions to the stimuli found within. The actor must learn to trust his intimate knowledge of the space, stay within the moment, and extend his energy beyond the stage. The actor must understand how his or her internal space must be cleared of clutter so that he or she might connect to the external space. The actor should know that the space of the text promises a wealth of information, but the text must be woven into the physical acting score. The actor should be vigilant to remain attentive to all areas of space, including the space between.

Committee: James Slowiak (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts)

Sound, Body, and Feeling: Sound Design and Acting in the Work of SITI Company is a theorization of the relationship between sound design and acting in the work of New York City-based theater group SITI Company. Theater sound, both live and recorded, encompasses sound "effects," music or sound used as "soundtrack," actors' voices, noises made by the movement of bodies or objects on stage, and includes the uncontrollable sonic content of the performing environment. Focusing on the body and feeling, sound's most significant contribution to theater performance is found in its affective functioning to create social experience. Through ethnography, archival research, and critical analysis, three cases are examined: SITI Company's Suzuki and Viewpoints training and their productions Radio Macbeth and Under Construction. I draw on recent theater sound scholarship that conceptualizes sound as dramaturgy, as well as from Deleuze, Barthes, and Peirce to consider several different approaches to understanding the affective effects of sound's immediacy in the theater.

Committee: William Condee PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Performing Arts; Theater