William Shakespeare
Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English
Literature
Shakespeare: The Bio
Lived 1563-1616
Lived in Stratford-on-Avon, England
Wrote 37 plays
About 154 sonnets
Started out as an actor
Stage Celebrity
Actor for Lord Chamberlain’s Men (London theater co.)
Also principal playwright for them 1599
Lord Ch. Co. built Globe Theater where most of Sh. Play’s were
perform
The Genres
Comedy (e.g. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth
Night)
Tragedy (Othello and Hamlet)
History (Richard III)
Romance (The Tempest)
The Problem Play/ Mixed Genre (Measure for Measure)
Comedy
Definition: a drama, novel, film, text that moves
toward a happy ending and implies a re-ordering of the
world.
Plot structure is that at the beginning the world is “out
of order” but through the course of the play the
natural/normal order is restored equaling a “happy
ending”
Comedies often have humor, but it is not a
prerequisite
e. g. The Divine Comedy by Dante
Comedy Cont.
Comedies often take us to the brink of tragedy, but it is the lack of
death or serious harm that make these plots a comedy.
Comedies focus on a group or a community, and often have
general titles because of it.
Comedies usually resolve in the last 5 minutes and often end in
marriage.
Types of comedy: farce, satire, slapstick, intrigue comedy, romantic
comedy, tragicomedy, religious comedy, black comedy and
mannered comedy.
Shakespeare always mixes the types of comedy in his plays never
adhering to just one format.
Tragedy
Tragedy is when a text moves from order to disorder
Tragedy usually focuses on one individual not the society as
a whole
The end of the play should bring about a catharsis
The hero of a tragedy is usually of an elite class and has a
“tragic flaw” that will be exposed and exploited through the
play
Tragedy involves choices and there consequences
Often have a fatalistic tone
Romance
"Romance" was not a generic classification in
Shakespeare's time. The modern term "romance" refers
to a new kind of play, a hybrid of comic and tragic
elements
It was developed by Francis Beaumont and John
Fletcher with their play Plilaster in 1609
Shakespeare took on this genre at the end of his career
with: The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, and
Pericles
Romance Cont.
Sometimes called tragi-comedies because they combine
elements of those two genres.
Plots of romances involve a tragic event that leads to
reconciliation or restoration and forgiveness
However, the endings are always muted happiness as
opposed to the “pure” happiness of a comedy
Plots usually focus on the whole human community and
healing rifts.
Finally, the plots of romances always contain supernatural
elements
Characters are either larger than life or one-dimensional
History
•
History plays focus on historical events, but often contain
opinionated subtext about the event
•
Shakespeare wrote about two types of history: Roman and
English
•
For the English Histories, Holinshed's Chronicles (1587),
but he also drew on other sources, e.g. the anonymous
history play The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth
(1598)
•
The main source for the Roman plays was Plutarch (which
Shakespeare would have studied in grammar school)
The Problem Plays
These plays focus on a problem in society, but they have no true
solution or ending; instead, their endings are awkward.
In these plays, the situation faced by the protagonist is put forward
by the author as a representative instance of a contemporary social
problem
Shakespeare's "problem plays" set out to explore specific moral
dilemmas and social problems through their central characters.
The problem plays are characterized by their complex and
ambiguous tone, which shifts violently between dark,
psychological drama and more straightforward comic material
Theater in the Ren.
Theater was NOT a high class affair.
It was a red light district activity, which meant that it
was competing with Bear baiting, sex shows, sword
fights, punch and judy shows, etc. for an audience
Pick pockets were a major concern at theater
All the actors were men
The classes were separated in the theater seating.