RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
1
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
2
1592
The Comedy of Errors; The Two Gentlemen of Verona
1593
Love’s Labour’s Lost
1593-1594 The Taming of the Shrew
1595
A Midsummer Night's Dream
1596
The Merchant of Venice
1598
Much Ado About Nothing
1599
The Merry Wives of Windsor; As you like it
1601
Twelfth Night
1602
Troilus and Cressida; All’s Well that Ends Well
1604
Measure for Measure
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
3
•
•
•
•
•
•
slightness of plot;
little revelation or development of
character;
spirit of simple fun
delight in verbal wit;
Shakespeare’ ability to create intricate
plots;
richer and more subtle comic spirit.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
4
• Shakespeare’s
comedies include
• They end in multiple marriages.
•
•
•
•
disguise;
frustrated love;
mistaken identity;
marital and romantic
misunderstandings.
• They trace the passage of young people
out of their parents’ control and into
marriage.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
5
Shakespeare’s tragedies & Roman plays
1593
1595
1599
1601
1604
1605
1606
1606
1607
1609
Titus Andronicus
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Antony and Cleopatra
Timon of Athens
Coriolanus
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
6
•
•
•
•
•
The recurrent theme: a man potentially good and great , in a
position of worldly importance, has a fatal defect of
character;
Shakespeare places the tragic hero in a set ofcircumstances
where he submits himself to the urgings of this hidden
defect;
he offends morality, he betrays his own integrity , and the
inevitable escalation follows;
as the order is violated within himself , so it is violated
around him;
punishment is the inevitable consequence of error and
blame
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
7
The recurrent themes are:
 man’s desire for power along with his crimes and plots
to achieve this power;
 his personal remorse at the consequences of his illegal
acts;
 the disintegration of good government and of stable
society which results.
 The Roman plays derive from the translation of
Plutarch’s LIVES.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
8
In Greek and Latin
classical tragedies
• the protagonist acts
against inexorable
destiny;
• the action is limited to
one place and one day;
• the turning point is
where the goals of the
tragic hero seem within
reach.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
In Shakespeare
•
real balance between fate and human
choices, based on characters’ flaws.
Human beings in control of their own
destiny;
•
Shakespeare freely breaks the rule of
place and time unities;
•
the catastrophe at the end spells disaster
for the tragic hero, responsible for his
own fall, although his plan was noble.
9
•
They take their title from the names of kings and relate to the
struggle of the English crown.
• They begin with a struggle for the throne or for its consolidation
and they end with the monarch’s death and a new coronation.
• From banishment a young prince returns to defend the violated
law : he personifies the hope for a new order and justice .
• Every step to power continues to be marked by murder,
violence , treachery.
In these plays the story turns full circle, returning to the point of
departure.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
10
HISTORY PLAYS
1592
HENRY VI
1593
RICHARD III
1594
KING JOHN
1595
RICHRD II
1597
HENRY IV
1599
HENRY V
1613
HENRY VIII
Performer - Culture&Literature
Shakespeare’s history plays
1.based on serious records like the Tudors’
chronicles, and the civil wars between the Houses of
York and Lancaster;
2.gave a portrait of the nation as a whole;
3.were part of a process by which people came to see
themselves as belonging to ‘England’ rather than to
families, households or local lords.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
12
ROMANCE PLAYS
1608
PERICLES
1610
CYMBELINE
1611
THE WINTER’S ALE
THE TEMPEST
Performer - Culture&Literature
•
•
•
•
•
The plot has something of a fairy-tale character;
they portrays a half-fantasy world;
the supernatural enters the affairs of man;
they are «romantic» in that good finally conquers ,
love is rewarded and a happy ending is possible;
they are the products of Shakespeare’s more
mature vision of the world, as forgiveness can
resolve man’s problems such as when one that has
been gravely wronged refuses totake revenge on
the offenders.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
14
The language of drama is particularly intense and vivid
because it can share the features of everyday speech,
of poetry or prose.
The normal form of Shakespeare’s plays is blank verse
but prose and poetry can be intermingled.
Another feature of dramatic language is the use
of clusters of imagery
lots of images of a similar nature
linked to a specific theme in the play
clusters of imagery
Example = the imagery of clothing
linked to the theme of ‘false
appearances’ in Macbeth
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
15
Dialogue is the main support of drama since:
• it creates the action;
• it provides details about the characters and their
relationships;
• it contributes to theme development;
• it gives information about the past;
• it can foreshadow subsequent events;
• it may be built to cause specific reactions in the
audience.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
16
Soliloquy and monologue are special conventions of
Elizabethan drama.
soliloquy
monologue
the character is alone
on the stage
there are other characters
but the speaker
ignores them
These devices enable the playwright to let the audience know:
• the character’s thoughts about a specific problem;
• the character’s plans for the future;
• the character’s feelings and reactions;
• the character’s explanation of what happens between scenes.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
17
Asides are short comments made by a character for the
audience alone, usually occurring in or between speeches.
Their purposes are:
• to reveal the nature of the speaker,
• to draw the attention of the audience to the importance
of what has been said;
• to explain developments;
• to create humour by introducing the unexpected.
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
18







What are the characteristics of each of the four periods
in which Shakespeare’s career is generally divided?
What are the differences between Greek and Latin
classical tragedy and Shakespeare’s tragedies?
Why can we say that the Hystory plays contributed to
the strengthening of the national spirit of the country?
What are the characteristics of Shakespeare’s great
tragedies?
How do Senecan tragedies influence Elisabethan
drama?
Explain the characteristics of Shakespeare’s comedies.
What do Romance Plays represent in Shakespeare’s
plays?
RAFFAELLA MANNORI 2013-2014
19