INTRODUCTION:
Ben Jonson eulogised William Shakespeare’s dramatic art:
“Soule of the Age!
The applause! delight!
The wonder of our stage!”
Further, he
wrote about the universality of Shakespeare:
“He was not of an age,
but for all time!”
Samuel
Taylor Coleridge too hailed him as:
“Our myriad-minded
Shakespeare.”
William Shakespeare is widely regarded as one of the greatest
dramatists in the history of English literature. His plays have been performed
and studied for over 400 years, and they continue to be popular today.
Shakespeare is known for his mastery of language, his complex characters, and
his ability to explore deep psychological themes.
Shakespeare 38 plays in a variety of
genres, including comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances.
1.
COMEDIES:
Shakespeare's comedies are known for their light-hearted tone, witty dialogue,
and happy endings. Some examples of Shakespeare's comedies include "A
Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Merchant of Venice,"
"Twelfth Night," and "Much Ado About Nothing."
2.
TRAGEDIES: Shakespeare's tragedies are known for their serious tone, dramatic
plotlines, and tragic endings. These plays often explore themes such as love,
revenge, and the struggle for power. Some examples of Shakespeare's tragedies
include "Hamlet," "Macbeth," "Othello," and
"King Lear."
3.
HISTORICAL PLAYS: Shakespeare's history plays are based on real-life events and figures
from English history. These plays often explore themes such as leadership,
politics, and war. Some examples of Shakespeare's history plays include
"Richard III," "Henry V" and "Julius Caesar."
4.
ROMANCES: Shakespeare's
romances are a genre of play that blend elements of comedy and tragedy with
fantastical elements such as magic and the supernatural. These plays often
explore themes such as forgiveness and redemption. Some examples of Shakespeare's
romances are "The Tempest," "Pericles," and
"Cymbeline."
5.
DARK COMEDIES: In addition to these four genres, some of Shakespeare's
plays defy categorization and have been referred to as "problem
plays" or "dark comedies." Examples of these include
"Measure for Measure" and "Troilus and Cressida."
INFLUENCES ON SHAKESPEARE:
Shakespeare was influenced by many
writers and thinkers in his time, as well as by the cultural and social milieu
in which he lived. Here are some of the major influences on Shakespeare's
dramatic works:
1. CLASSICAL WRITERS: Shakespeare was heavily influenced by the works of
ancient Greek and Roman playwrights, such as Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. He drew on their themes, characters,
and storytelling techniques, and adapted many of their stories for his own
plays.
2. RENAISSANCE HUMANISM: The Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual
movement that emphasized the importance of human potential and achievement.
Shakespeare was influenced by the ideas of humanist thinkers such as Erasmus, who believed in the power of reason and
education, and Montaigne, who emphasized the
complexity and diversity of human experience.
3. ENGLISH WRITERS: Shakespeare was also influenced by
the English dramatic tradition that preceded him, including the morality plays
and interludes of the Middle Ages, as well as the popular plays of his
contemporaries, such as Christopher Marlowe, Ben
Jonson, and Thomas Kyd.
FEATURES OF SHAKEPEARE’S DRAMA:
Shakespeare's drama is known for its
unique and distinct features that set it apart from other plays of his time and
even today. Here are some of the key features of Shakespeare's drama:
1. MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMMORTAL
CHARACTERS: Shakespeare's
characters are multidimensional, with complex motivations and internal
conflicts. They are not simply good or evil, but rather a mix of both, which
creates a sense of depth and realism in his plays. His characters are life like
and the hearts that throb in them are the hearts of the common men and women.
Some of his characters like Hamlet, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Iago, King Lear,
Othello have become immortal in English literature.
2. VIVID LANGUAGE: Shakespeare's plays are known for
their vivid language and poetic imagery. He was a skilled poet and a master of
both verse and prose, and his plays are full of memorable lines and phrases
that have become part of the English language. He was also skilled at creating
different voices and styles for his characters, from the lofty poetry of his
kings and heroes to the vulgar humour of his clowns and fools.
3. EXPLORATION OF UNIVERSAL
THEMES:
Shakespeare's plays explore universal themes such as love, jealousy, power, and
ambition that are still relevant today. He tackled complex issues such as racism
in “Merchant of Venice”, gender roles in “Romeo and Juliet” and “Twelfth Night”,
and mental illness in “Hamlet”, which were ahead of his time.
4. USE OF COMEDY AND TRAGEDY: Shakespeare's plays often blend
elements of both comedy and tragedy. He used humour to lighten the mood of his
darker plays and to provide relief from the tension, while tragedy was used to
explore the darker side of human nature. In fact, he innovated a new genre of
drama (tragi-comedy) in the times when most writers were focused on writing
pure tragedy and pure comedy. His Merchant of Venice is a nice example of a
tragi-comedy.
5. HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL
CONTEXT:
Shakespeare's plays were set in different historical and cultural contexts,
allowing him to explore various social and political issues of his time. His
historical plays, such as Henry V and Richard III, portrayed the political
struggles of his own time through a historical lens.
6. SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS: Shakespeare often included
supernatural elements in his plays, such as ghosts, witches and magic. These
elements were used to heighten the drama and to explore the limits of human
experience.
·
In
“Macbeth” supernatural elements such as three witches play a significant role
in the story. The witches' prophecies are a driving force behind Macbeth's
actions.
·
In
“A Midsummer Night's Dream” we come across a world of fairies, magic spells,
and love liquids. The four lovers Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander move
to a magical forest where Puck a humorous character applies magic juice to the
lovers and creates confusion chaos and comedy.
·
Shakespeare’s
most famous tragedy “Hamlet” too begins with a ghost of Hamlet’s father.
7. USE OF DRAMATIC IRONY: Shakespeare was a master of dramatic
irony, which occurs when the audience knows more about a situation or character
than the characters on stage. This creates tension and suspense, and often
leads to unexpected twists and turns in the plot. Let’s see some examples:
·
"Romeo
and Juliet": The audience knows that Juliet has taken a sleeping potion
and is not actually dead, but Romeo does not. When Romeo finds Juliet
apparently dead, he kills himself, and when Juliet wakes up and sees that Romeo
is dead, she too takes her own life. The audience is aware of the tragic
misunderstanding, but the characters are not.
·
"Hamlet":
The audience knows that Hamlet is pretending to be mad, but the other
characters in the play believe that he has truly gone insane.
CONCLUSION:
In short, we may say that Shakespeare
was himself a university of ideas, of emotions and of intellect. His plays are
the epitome of universal appeal which make him a dramatist of all times. His
influence on the English language and on the development of modern theatre
cannot be overstated. His legacy has inspired countless artists and writers
throughout the centuries, and his works remain as relevant and powerful today
as they were when they were first performed. John Dryden rightly commented:
“He was
the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most
comprehensive soul.”
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