Questions and Tasks

Sir Walter Scott wrote novels of adventure. He was immensely popular during his lifetime and is now considered the father of the historical novel. Reflecting the Romantic interest in the past, he set many of his novels in old England and Scotland. Scott is considered to be a true product of the Romantic Age. Scott's death in 1832 marked the end of the romantic period.
Questions and Tasks
Shakespeare's Comedies Shakespeare's comedies did not establish a lasting tradition in the theatre, as did those written by Ben Jonson. Jonson's plays
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portray the everyday life of their time with the exaggerated satirical characters. Shakespeare's comedies are composed on opposite principles. The scenes of his comedies are usually set in some imaginary country, and the action is based on stories that are almost fairy-tails. But the characters, placed in these non-realistic settings and plots, are true-to-life and are depicted with the deep knowledge of human psychology for which Shakespeare is famous. Each comedy has the main plot and one or two sub-plots, and sometimes sub-plots attract even more attention than the main plots. The comic characters of these plays always have English colouring, even if the scene is laid in other countries.
All these plays are written in easy-flowing verse and light, tripping prose. The text is full of jokes and puns, but some of the texts contain topical allusions, which are hard to understand for the readers of our time. All the comedies tell of love and harmony, at first disturbed, and finally restored. In them Shakespeare supports the right of a human being to free choice in love, despite the existing conventions and customs. More often Shakespeare embodies this tendency in feinale characters. His typical comedy heroines are brave, noble, free in speech, and enthusiastic.
Another motif stressed in the comedies is the contrast between appearance and reality. Shakespeare makes his readers understand the importance of self-knowledge. In the complicated plots of Shakesperian comedies the heroes and heroines often select wrong partners because they have formed wrong opinions about their own characters, that is they do not know or understand their own self and feelings. But their mistakes are treated in good humor and the comedies end happily, because at the end of the plays the characters understand themselves and those they love.
Literary critics divide Scott's works into three groups:
The first group of novels are those devoted to Scottish history: "Waverley, or “Tis Sixty Years Since" (1814), "Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer" (1815), “The Autiquary” (1816), "Black Dwarf”(1816), "Old Mortality" (1816), “Rob Roy" (1817), "The Heart of Midlothian" (1818), "The Bride of Lammermoor” (1819), "A Legend of Montrose" (1819), "Redgauntlet" (1824), "The Fair Maid of Perth" (1828).
The second group of novels refer to English history: "Ivanhoe" (1819), the best of this series; “The Monastery" (1820), “The Abbot" (1820), “Kenilworth" (1821), "The Pirate" (1822), "The Fortunes of Nigel" (1822), "Peveril of the Peak" (1822), "Woodstock” (1826).
The third group comprises novels based on the history
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of Europe: “Quentin Durward” (1823), “The Talisman" (1825), "Count Robert of Paris" (1832), "Anne of Geierstein" (1829), "Castle Dangerous" (1832).
The novel "St. Ronan's Well” (1824) stands in a class by itself. The story is laid at a fashionable health-resort somewhere near the border between England and Scotland. It is the only novel written by Scott about his own time and shows his attitude to contemporary society. It is a precursor of the critical realism of the 19th century.
Scott wrore frequently about the conflicts between different cultures. For example, "Ivanhoe” deals with the struggle between Normans and Saxons, and the "Talisman" describes the conflict between Christians and Muslims. The novels dealing with Scottish history are probably considered to be his best works. They deal with clashes between the new commercial English culture and older Scottish culture. Many critics regard "Old Mortality", "The Heart of Midlothian", and "St. Ronan's Well" as Scott's best novels.