Shakespeare\'s Plays William Shakespeare and His Plays

¶ … SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

William Shakespeare and his plays are the main topic of discussion in this paper. William Shakespeare is one of the greatest names whose literary contributions and writings are considered as assets for the literary world. Shakespeare's plays and writings are of considerable importance for the readers all around the world because his writings and power of expression are unmatchable. William Shakespeare and his plays have in fact formed the foundation of the English literature and therefore, William Shakespeare is still read by the students of English literature. The paper will be divided into five chapters, the analysis and observation of these chapters will help the reader to understand the paper's main topic of discussion. The chapters, which will be discussed in the paper, are:

Statement of the hypothesis;

Review of prior works on the subject and related subjects;

Identification of the methodology;

Analysis of the problem (s) or significant issue(s) involved.

Summary of findings and conclusions.

These chapters will describe the topic related to Shakespeare and his plays. The entire discussion will be based on the description of the plays and the description of the scenes as well as speeches, which are illustrated in the plays of Shakespeare. The purpose of the paper will be to analyze the writings of Shakespeare and to identify the related themes of his plays such as love, power and jealousy. The historical evidences and researches will be presented in each chapter so as to give the readers the real meaning of these themes, which are used by Shakespeare. The initial chapters of the research paper will introduce the writings of Shakespeare and the era of Shakespeare.

CHAPTER ONE: STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS:

The paper discusses the theme analysis of the William Shakespeare and his plays. (Love, jealousy & power) are the three main themes, which will be analyzed in the paper. The researches will be made in order to know and understand Shakespeare's ideas on these three themes. Researches and analysis have shown that most of the Shakespeare's plays are based on love, jealousy and power and therefore these themes will be taken into consideration in the paper. The most important plays in this regard are:

Romeo and Juliet

Othello

Much ado about nothing

Midsummer night's dream

These three plays will be analyzed in the paper so as to present the views and arguments on the themes such as love, jealousy and power. Initially, this chapter will present a brief introduction of the play writer so that the analysis of his plays can be further carried on.

Little is known about William Shakespeare, the most celebrated author in Western civilization. He was born in 1564, the son of a tradesman, and spent his childhood -- as he would his retirement -- in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From his work we know he had considerable knowledge of Roman comedy, Greek mythology and ancient history, though records show he did not attend university after grammar school. When he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Sometime during his 20s, he moved to London and established himself as a talented actor and playwright in the local theater scene. When the theaters were closed in 1592 due to the outbreak of the plague, he wrote poetry. In 1594, he came back to the theater as a lead member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a troupe patronized by royalty and loved by audiences throughout London. In 1599, he became part owner of the new Globe Theater. By the time of his death at the age of 52, Shakespeare was without question the most popular playwright in London. William Shakespeare had a vocabulary of some 30,000 words, many of which made their first appearance with his writings. He created more than 2,000 new words and phrases: schoolboy, shooting star, puppy-dog, football, bandit, partner, downstairs, upstairs, leapfrog, alligator, mimic, accommodation, dislocate, obscene, reliance and submerged, to name a few." http://www.nea.gov/national/shakespeare/Bio.html

William Shakespeare was one of the most renowned and famous authors of the English literature, although much information have been collected on the writings of the author yet it seems that we know very little about him as a writer. The related information about Shakespeare and his plays signifies the fact that he was a man of great knowledge and he possessed wide skills of writing and creative imagination. He was very diversified and versatile in his thoughts and ideas. Therefore, he has written plays on a variety of subjects, which are, still appreciated and praised by the readers all around the world.

The historical readings and evidences also proves that William Shakespeare's has two major spans of his life time which are known as "lost years" because during these two major spans William Shakespeare was completely out of sight and during these two periods he did not produced many plays. The period known as "lost years" ranges from 1578-82 and 1585-92.During these two major spans in his lifetime he was busy in developing his dramatic skills and was collecting the themes for the development of his plays. Therefore, these two major spans of his lifetime are the periods, which helped William Shakespeare to produce writings of great caliber.

Shakespeare probably began his education at the age of six or seven at the Stratford grammar school, which is still standing only a short distance from his house on Henley Street and is in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Although we have no record of Shakespeare attending the school, due to the official position held by John Shakespeare it seems likely that he would have decided to educate young William at the school, which was under the care of Stratford's governing body. The Stratford grammar school had been built some two hundred years before Shakespeare was born and in that time the lessons taught there were, of course, dictated primarily by the beliefs of the reigning monarch. In 1553, due to a charter by King Edward VI, the school became known as the King's New School of Stratford-upon-Avon As a brief introductory detail it should be mentioned that, during the sixteenth century, there were many families with the name Shakespeare in and around Stratford. "Shakespeare" appears countless times in town minutes and court records, spelled in a variety of ways, from Shagspere to Chacsper. Unfortunately, there are very few records that reveal William Shakespeare's relationship to or with the many other Stratford Shakespeares" http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/

The information regarding the life of William Shakespeare signifies that although William belonged to a middle class family and no one in his family ever had interest and the urge to write. But William Shakespeare was the first person who managed his career as a play writer and after few years he gained a considerable degree and a respectable position in the literary world because of his writings, William Shakespeare possessed the art of creative writing and he knew more than 30,000 words. His skill of writing, knowledge of vocabulary and his quality of creative writing helped him to develop himself as a writer. His versatility is proved by the fact that in a period of seven years of struggle William managed to emerge as an actor, a poet and a playwright. The historical evidences and researches show that William Shakespeare initially produced plays just for the sake of experimentation later on after several years of hard work, he was able to write plays in his own style and the quality of plays also improved as compared to his early plays.

Shakespeare also possessed the ability of transforming his thoughts and imagination into words and he was the first writer who developed dramatic techniques for conveying a sense of his character's psychological identities; this characteristic of William Shakespeare's writing has made him different and yet stylish amongst the other writers of his period. The collection of William's writings includes 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two epic narrative poems. The students of English literature are bound to read and understand these works so that they can know about the relative themes that Shakespeare has introduced in his literary works. It has been noted that Shakespeare's plays have delighted the readers from all around the world for more than 400 years and these plays are still appreciated by millions of the readers because of the quality and content of his writings. The audiences for all around the world are amused by the comedy plays, which William has produced. The presentation of the ideas in the plays describes that William possessed great talent of describing the tragic evidences in his plays; his comedy was also very different from the presentation of other writers of his era.

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE PRIOR WORKS ON THE SUBJECT:

The English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare was the author of the most widely admired and influential body of literature by any individual in the history of Western civilization. His work comprises 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems. Knowledge of Shakespeare is derived from two sources: his works and those remains of legal and church records and contemporary allusions through which scholars can trace the external facts of his life. Shakespeare was baptized in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on Apr. 26, 1564. He is buried in the same church, where a memorial records his death on Apr. 23, 1616. In 1623 his colleagues John Heminge and Henry Condell created memorial by publishing Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, the collection of his plays now known as the First Folio. The third of eight children, he was probably educated at the local grammar school. As the eldest son, Shakespeare ordinarily would have been apprenticed to his father's shop so that he could learn and eventually take over the business, but according to one account he was apprenticed to a butcher because of declines in his father's financial situation." http://www.island-of-freedom.com/SHSPEARE.htm

The analysis of William's writings reveals the fact that most of the plays of William were based on the themes such as love, jealousy and power. Researches have also been made earlier in order to know more and more about the plays and his writings, which he has produced during his lifetime. The analysis of the plays declares the point that William Shakespeare was used to describe the feelings and emotions based on the themes such as love, power and jealousy. According to his opinions these three themes are the most interesting themes for a writer and a play based on these themes consist of various dimensions.

Shakespeare's works also included poetries based on love in which he has described all the aspects of love and he has interpreted love as one of the most beautiful emotion which a human being possess. Shakespeare believed that the plays based on the theme of love can attract the reader's attention as compared to any other theme because the idea of love and its meaning are themes important aspects which a reader want to know and understand, therefore the writer should make use of this themes so as to attract the reader's attention. In fact the people has given him the status of the most renowned author and one of the greatest poets of love in the English language. Similarly, the author has also made use of the themes based on power. Shakespeare believed that power and its attainment generates evil responses and emotions amongst the human beings and these characteristics are of evil nature according to which the powerful authorities take the hold of those people who are not powerful becomes the servants of the powerful individuals. Keen observation and understanding of these plays will help the reader to grasp the meaning and the central message of the play. Through the presentation of these plays William has provided the readers to understand the actions of the powerful and the strategies, which are implemented by these people to maintain their status. These plays have also described the reactions of the people who are suppressed and dominated by the powerful authorities. Further analysis and researches on this topic have shown that some of the Shakespeare's plays are based on the theme of jealousy. The characters and the presentation of the story in the play mention the facts and related emotions, which emerges due to jealousy amongst individuals.

William Shakespeare's plays based on these themes serves as guidance for the readers because after a thorough reading and understanding of these plays the reader can grasp the ideas, which the writer wants to convey through his plays. History have proved that due to the inclusion of these themes the plays of William has been liked and appreciated by the audiences because these plays has helped them in understanding the emerging circumstances and reactions which generates due to love, power and jealousy. Although many other writers and poets of his era, produced their writings based on these three themes but no one was able to gain such status which the plays of Shakespeare gained.

Love, power and jealousy are the emotions which are possessed by every human being and therefore, writings based on these emotion should be effective enough so that majority of the readers can be attracted to the plays written on these three themes. William Shakespeare was one of those writers who truly understood these emotions and he managed to develop plays based on these themes, and hence majority of readers enjoyed these plays. Shakespeare's writing talents can be judged by the fact that his writings are still read by the young generation as well. The young generation is in a constant quest to discover the relative aspects of Shakespeare's writing career because his plays have always fascinated them.

CHAPTER THREE:IDENTIFICATION OF THE METHOLDOGY:

This chapter will present the theme analysis of the Shakespeare's plays. The analysis will be based on the interpretation of the scenes from the plays. William's play Midsummer night dream is based on the fundamental themes such as magic, imagination and difficulty of love. Through out the play these universal concepts have been discussed through the effective use of the contrast. Shakespeare has used symbolism to develop his ideas in the play and to present a fair view to the readers regarding these themes. All in all this play is the presentation of comedy combined with the themes of love, magic and imagination. The beginning of the play is in the forest with a meeting between one of Titania's fairy attendants and Puck, the attendant to Oberon.

Midnight summer dream became so popular that it was performed at a court wedding in the presence of Queen Elizabeth I. In Act I, scene I Theseus and Hippolyta discuss their wedding which is to take place in four days, from here the story begins and then the play gradually describes the ideas on love and the magical powers of dreams. Researches have shown that these plays should be shown to the teenagers because the major theme of this play is love. Shakespeare presents his views on love by the help of this play, the reading and analysis this play points out that Shakespeare was of the view that love is although a beautiful emotion which every human being possession but its possession is much difficult to gain. An individual has to face a lot of tension and pressure to gain love. But the central idea of the play is to prove that a childish love, which is known as the teenage love, is foolish in nature. He has included four central characters in the play which are young children are they fall in love with the young girls. Later on at the end of the play, they discover their foolishness. Hence, it can be said the William made an attempt of describing the fact that teenage love is foolish in nature, he made use of this play so that the readers can understand the concept which William wanted to convey.

Although there has been some speculation that Much Ado About Nothing may be a heavily revised version of a play that Shakespeare wrote earlier in his career (a "lost" work that is often referred to as Love's Labour Won), Much Ado was probably written by Shakespeare in 1598 or shortly thereafter. This would make Much Ado one of Shakespeare's later comedies. Unlike his earliest comedic works, the humor of Much Ado about Nothing does not depend upon funny situations. While it shares some standard devices with those earlier plays (misperceptions, disguises, false reports), the comedy of Much Ado derives from the characters themselves and the manners of the highly mannered society in which they live. And while the main plot of Much Ado revolves around obstacles to the union of two young lovers (Claudio and Hero), the plays sub-plot, the "merry war" of the sexes between Beatrice and Benedick, is much more interesting and entertaining by comparison. Indeed, the play was staged for a long period of time under the title of Beatrice and Benedick." http://www.enotes.com/muchado

Much Ado about nothing also discussed the theme of love and the central theme of the play is about deceit and trickery. Some parts of the plays also consist of comedy and humour. The author Shakespeare has made use many speeches in the play these speeches are somewhat rude in nature yet they are included in the plays so as to describe the related aspects of trickery and deceit. The play has also presented the idea that love and fate are the two factors, which conquers and survives in the end and every other factors such as jealousy, deceit and trickery vanishes by the time. The opening scene of the play describes that the prince and his party return from the wars to spend summer with the governor of Messina and his family. From there the story goes on further in which speeches and discussions are also present which carries on the story of the play. The central theme of the play describes that true love have the power to conquer the world and in the end the true love gains victory. The whole idea is that love is supreme and it has the ultimate power to succeed.

The Hamartias of Othello In William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, the hero, Othello, is plagued by his many hamartias. Termed by Aristotle around 330 B.C., hamartia is a tragic hero's "error or transgression or his flaw or weakness of character." (p.1296) Othello's hamartias include jealousy, a blind, unrealistic love for Desdemona, trusting others too easily, and his unrealized ability to deceive himself. These flaws, along with the help of Iago, cause Othello to loose everything he has including his life. At first look at Othello, he shows no signs of jealousy and even entrusts his wife to Iago saying, "To his conveyance I assign my wife." (1.3.286) Othello also the great self-control that is expected from someone who has been a warrior since he was seven years old as mentioned by, "for since these arms of mind has seven years pith... they have used their dearest action in the tented field."(1.3.83-85)" http://www.freeessays.cc/db/49/toi85.shtml

The paper has discussed the theme of love in two of Shakespeare's plays; the paper will now consider the theme of love in Othello in which Shakespeare has described the destructive force of sexual jealousy. He has mentioned the fact that even love cannot stand in front of the unleashed power of such jealousy. The story has presented also presented some elements of tragedy in the play. In the opening scene, Iago complains that Othello was his Commander, and he has passed him over to promote handsome Cassio to be his Lieutenant. He then vows to get revenge the play then further continues to describe this revenge and the related circumstances, which occur due to the factor of this revenge. Othello is the tragic hero of the play, the main character on whose shoulder the entire play is based on. Othello last speech appears in Act V, Scene II, Lines 260-282.which is the most important part of the play because this speech is related to the character and the presentation of his relative emotions. The speeches, which are made in Othello's last scenes, are really convincing in nature and these speeches have the power to convince the reader that Othello was not a murderer.

The play has also made use of the theme of jealousy; the story proves the fact that powerful leaders can lose their strength and power because of an element of jealousy. He has discovered the factor that jealousy is an emotion, which is destructive in nature. Othello is one of Shakespeare great masterpiece and this character is still appreciated and praised by the readers who love to read Shakespeare's writings.

After considering and analyzing the plays of Shakespeare, the paper will discuss Romeo and Juliet which was one of the most renowned and famous peoples. There are many speeches which are present in the play, amongst these speeches the two of the most important ones are: Romeo's first speech in The Balcony Scene Act II Sc.II Lines 2-25 Friar Laurence Act II Scn. III Lines 1-31.Both these speeches have described the true feelings of the narrator. The central theme of Romeo and Juliet is based on the idea of love, according to Shakespeare romantic love is one of the most important expressions of human beings; Shakespeare has stated that love is a violent, ecstatic and overpowering force, which can supersede all other values, loyalties, and emotions. Romantic love and its description is the important theme, which has been represented in the play and along with this themes there're also other themes which have been elaborated and discussed in the play. These themes includes theme of fate and duality.

This chapter has mentioned some of the examples of Shakespeare plays, which have helped to describe the themes, which the authors have used to develop his plays. Researches have shown that traditional interpretation of plays focus upon six major themes, which includes love, jealousy, power, magic, dreams and imagination. These are the central themes, which have been discussed by William Shakespeare, but amongst these themes Love, jealousy and power are the themes, which were used more rigorously by William Shakespeare.

CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF THE SIGNIFICANT ISSUES INVOLVED:

Shakespeare was known in his day as a very rapid writer: "His mind and hand went together," his publishers Heminges and Condell reported, "and what he thought, he uttered with that easiness that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers." Despite all the praise, some writer's were not enthusiastic about his plays. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) called A Midsummer Night's Dream "the most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life." Voltaire wrote: "Shakespeare is a drunken savage with some imagination whose plays please only in London and Canada," "Shakespeare is the Corneille of London, but everywhere else he is a great fool..." Shakespeare wrote also two heroic narrative poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and Lucrece (1594). His sonnets were written earliest by 1598 and published in 1609 Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. His widow was legally entitled to a third of the estate. Shakespeare also bequeathed his "second-best bed" to his wife - at that time the best bed was the grand prize of a forfeited estate. Anne Hathaway died seven years after her husband. According to a story, she and her daughter wished to be buried in Shakespeare's grave." http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/shakespe.htm

These chapters have been developed to provide the reader with the complete details of the writings of the most renowned writer in the world of English Literature known as William Shakespeare. The plays of Shakespeare are still read and appreciated by the readers across the whole world. The plays, which have been taken into consideration, are:

Romeo and Juliet

Othello

Much Ado About Nothing

Midsummer night's dream

These plays declare the fact that Shakespeare's writing techniques and his wide power of imagination has given him the status of an excellent play writer. His plays are taken as examples and the new writers are guided on these lines of Shakespeare. The discussion in the entire paper proves that William Shakespeare's writings and his plays are most important part of English literature and due to the considerable importance of these plays the young children and students should get the grasp of these plays and its central themes because the writer has included the themes such as love, jealousy and power. These themes are the most important themes, which is related to the human nature and related emotions.

William Shakespeare has stressed on the theme of love and the plays have described the various dimension and idea of love, power and jealousy. The audiences because of the quality and content of the plays mostly read Shakespeare's plays. William Shakespeare is the name, which can never ever be replaced by any other name. The historical background of Shakespeare describes that although he belonged to a middle class family yet he managed to emerge as a writer whose writings cannot be challenged. The modern writers of the present era thoroughly read the ideas and themes of the plays of Shakespeare and therefore, they are greatly inspired and develop their writings based upon the ideas as presented y William Shakespeare.

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS:

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE MAY well have been the greatest man England has ever produced, but he is also one of the most elusive. Virtually everything known of the facts of his life seem to belie the transcendent genius of his plays and poems. His parents were illiterate; he grew up in a small provincial town in which lived no more than a handful of educated men. His schooling ended at thirteen. There is no evidence that he owned a book. No manuscript definitely known to be by him survives. There are only six copies of his apparent signature, all on legal documents, where a lawyer or clerk may have written the name. Of the seventy-five known contemporary documents in which Shakespeare is named, not one concerns his career as an author. Most are legal and financial documents, which depict him as a particularly cold, rapacious, and successful local businessman and property developer. Shakespeare's life between his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and his emergence as an actor and presumed writer nearly ten years later is a mystery period in which biographers have credited him with all manner." http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000856505