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Chapter II : Discursive period and Victorian eras
Discursive prose
Though Shakespeare was influenced by the norms of Greek tragedy, his tragedies do not adhere formulaically to the norms of Greek tragedy. For one thing, Shakespeare’s tragedies frequently contain many elements more typical of comedy. This endows Shakespearean tragedies like Hamlet with more psychological complexity and emotional variety than traditional Greek tragedies. Shakespeare also gives traditional tragic themes a new spin. Consider the theme of fate. In conventional tragedies fate often plays an important role in determining the hero’s actions. Shakespeare certainly uses fate as a theme in his tragedies, though sometimes in unexpected forms. In Macbeth, for instance, fate assumes a supernatural form in the trio of prophesying witches. Shakespeare also complicates the theme of fate by emphasizing the protagonists’ inner turmoil more than the play of external forces. In Romeo and Juliet, though the famed lovers are described as “star-crossed” and hence marked for a tragic fate, it remains debatable whether they have made a fatal error that led to their downfall, or whether their tragic ends represent the sacrifices necessary to get the warring Montagues and Capulets to acknowledge the folly of their feud. Such complications make it unclear whether Shakespeare’s tragedies offer the same kind of catharsis that Greek tragedies were said to provide.
Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, Coriolanus, Cymbeline
If there is a single element that unites all Shakespearean comedies, it is a wedding, or several weddings, at the end of the play. Although not all of the fourteen plays classified as comedies in the First Folio are particularly light-hearted or humorous, all end with at least one marriage. The convention of ending a comedy with a wedding provides the audience with assurance that whatever conflicts arise in the play will not have lasting, negative consequences for the protagonists or society at large. Unlike the fatal conflicts of Shakespeare’s tragedies, conflicts in his comedies are reconciled before serious harm can come to anyone. Because the audience knows the discord is only temporary, we don’t take the foibles and misfortunes of the characters seriously, and we trust they will end the play happier than they began. Consider the difference between Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet, both of which feature a character who fakes her own death. In contrast to Much Ado, where the truth of Hero’s deception is revealed before anyone comes to harm, Juliet’s deception in Romeo and Juliet tragically leads to the real deaths of both herself and Romeo. As this comparison suggests, the plots of Shakespeare’s comedies frequently resemble the plots of his tragedies, but they have happier outcomes.
Shakespeare’s comedies represented a significant departure from the classical comedy that had dominated the stage prior to his arrival in London. Whereas classical comedies were fairly straightforward, Shakespearean comedies introduced a number of elements that made for more complicated plots. Classical comedies typically opened with an already established pair of lovers, and they told of how these lovers had to overcome some obstacle or another to confirm the legitimacy of their union. Shakespeare, however, did not write comedies with already established lovers, and instead placed the emphasis of the plot on the process of wooing itself. The Taming of the Shrew thus tells the story of Petruchio, who must labor to break through Katherine’s ill-tempered nature and win her affections. In other plays, such as Love’s Labour’s Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare multiplies the number of lovers, which leads to preposterously intricate plots. In yet other comedies, such as Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare uses disguise as a significant plot device that adds further levels of complication, yielding a rich source of dramatic irony. The audience, who knows more than the characters, can laugh at the amusing predicaments that characters get themselves into with their own foolishness.
Shakespeare’s Comedies: All’s Well that Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winter’s Tale
In addition to comedy and tragedy, the third classification for Shakespeare’s plays in the First Folio was history. Unlike the other two genres, history plays were determined by who they were about, not what they were about. All ten history plays are named for and concern the lives of English monarchs who ruled between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries: Kings John, Edward, Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, and Henry VIII. Shakespeare based his English history plays on a collaboratively written document known as Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which detailed the lives of the monarchs and their roles in history. However, we should remember that Shakespeare’s plays are not unbiased accounts; he interpreted events in ways aimed to secure the favor of the ruling powers of the day. Shakespeare provided favorable depictions of Queen Elizabeth’s ancestors from the house of Tudor. Shakespeare also fictionalized historical characters. His portrayal of Richard III as an evil, scheming ruler has become the standard interpretation of the king, but in fact we have little evidence of what Richard was really like.Featured on Sparknotes Shakespeare’s Histories: King John, Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, Richard III, Henry VIII The First Folio separates Shakespeare’s plays into three genres: tragedy, comedy, and history. In the centuries following the publication of the Folio, some scholars found these three categories insufficient to describe all the plays. In the nineteenth century, the critic Edward Dowden suggested a fourth genre category: romance. 5
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