U.44. Shakespeare and His Time: Most Representative Works

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.1. From Morality Play to Interlude

• Drama underwent drastic transformation in 16th century

• Before that: miracle and morality plays.

• Renaissance humanism made these forms gradually erode as a central role in English theatrical life.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.1. From Morality Play to Interlude. What is the interlude?

• Morality play evolved into the Interlude

• It’s a shorter, generally more secular dramatic form focused on sociopolitical and ethical issues.

• Characters? Represented recognisable social types

• Most notable contribution: the creation of the vice character (comic but manipulative, would later influence Machiavellian characters of Elizabethan tragedy)

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.2. The First Theatres. What was the effect of the Renaissance?

• As a result of the renewed interest in classical learning, works of Plautus or Seneca were studied in schools, universities, and Inns of Court.

• Before the establishment of theatres, performances were staged in venues like college halls, private residences, inn yards, WHICH PROVIDED THE FOUNDATION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF ELIZABETHAN HOUSES

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.2. The First Theatres. The Theatre.

• Decisive point: 1576 with the construction of The Theatre (first purpose-built public playhouse in England)

• Later built The Curtain, The Rose, The Globe…

• End of 16th century → London was the hotspot of playhouses.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.3. The Elizabethan Playhouse. Describing the playhouse.

• Centre: open yard or pit → audience cound stand and watch the performance.

• Surrounding area→ tiers of galleries and balconies for accommodation, higher prices

• Stage → projected into the audience to create a close relationship between actors and spectatos

• The tiring house → backstage areas

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.3. The Elizabethan Playhouse. In which elements did the audience rely on?

• Painted scenery was expensive, so they relied on:

  • Imagination

  • Costumes

  • The acting

  • Music

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL DRAMA

2.3. The Elizabethan Playhouse. Blackfriars.

• Emergence of private theatres with

  • More expensive machinery

  • For wealthy individuals

  • Done at private houses, yards, etc.

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND TIMES

Born and family. Education. Marriage and children. Lost years

• Stratford-upon-Avon, April 1564. To father John Shakespeare (glover) and mother Mary Arden (daughter of prominent landowners)

• Possibly educated at King’s New School (Stratford)

• Married to Anne Hathaway. Three children: Susannah, Hamnet and Judith.

• The lost years. 1592, he had established himself in London as actor and playwright.

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND TIMES

Lord Chamberlain’s Men

• Before performing at The famous Globe → The Curtain, The Theatre

• The ascension of King James I in 1603 and royal patronage.

• Financial success

• 1596 → Shakespeare’s family was granted a coat of arms

• 1597 → Purchase of New Place

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND TIMES

Fame and late years

• Performed both as playwright and actor for the court of Queen Elizabeth I (Falstaff his fav character)

• Minimised his production and eventually retired at home

• Passed away on 23 April 1616 and buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

Brief intro

• His literary production comprises both poetry and drama

• Poems played an important role in the establishment of his reputation

• Dramatic poetry organised in:

  • Tragedies

  • Comedies

  • Historical tragedies

  • Romances

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

Poetry

• Explain sonnets (published 1609). Number of sonnets. Themes of sonnets. Explain its relevance

• Besides, two major narrative poems:

  • Venus and Adonis

  • The R4pe of Lucrece

    • Themes: desire, virtue, power, moral responsibility

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

3.2. The Plays

3.2.1. The Comedies. Common themes they employ.

• Mistaken identities

• Witty dialogue

• Diguises

• Comic misunderstandings

• Happy resolutions

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

3.2. The Plays

3.2.1. The Comedies. Some notable works.

• Early comedies (rely heavily on farcical situations and verbal humour)

  • The Taming of the Shrew

  • The Comedy of Errors

• Mature comedies (display greater psychological complexity, characters undergo personal transformation)

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  • Much Ado About Nothing

  • As You Like It

• Problem plays (combine comic structures with darker themes related to morality, justice):

  • Trolius and Cressida

  • Measure for Measure

• Romances:

  • Pericles, Cymbeline, The Tempest

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

3.2. The Plays

3.2.2. The History Plays

• Dramatise key episodes of English

• Explores questions of kingship, legitimacy, loyalty…

• Draw largely from Holinshed’s Chronicles

• Richard II, Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), Henry V, and Richard III ; Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: WORKS

3.2. The Plays

3.2.3. The Tragedies

• Pinnacle of his dramatic achievement.

• Early comedies (reveal his fascination with violence, passion, and the destructive consequences of human conflict.):

  • Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus

• (1601-1606) His four tragedies (ambition, jealousy, revenge, madness, betrayal, and moral responsibility):

  • Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth

• Roman Tragedies: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra

4. THE SONNETS

Notability and grouping

• 154 sonnets.

  • 1-17: Fair Youth

  • 18-128: continues addressing the fair youth in admiration, also the rival poets appear

  • 129-154: The Dark Lady

  • Final two sonnets: Cupid’s myth

4. THE SONNETS

4.1. Structure

• Three quatrains and two rhyming couplets. (abab cdcd efef gg) in iambic pentameter for rhythmical structure.

• Not exact science

4. THE SONNETS

4.2. Characters

• The Fair Youth (procreation sonnets) and explain

• The poet and rival poets (presumably Christopher Marlowe, though improbable)

• The Dark Lady (morally ambiguous, betrayal, passion, emotional instability) and explain her

4. THE SONNETS

4.3. Critical Interpretation. 4.3.1. The Procreation Sonnets

• Beauty should not fade generationally. Encourages reproduction

• Renaissance concerns with lineage and time as a destructive force

4. THE SONNETS

4.3. Critical Interpretation. 4.3.1. The Relationship with the Fair Youth

• The famous Sonnet 18

• Shift from reproduction to poetic immortality

• How admiration becomes complex, blending idealisation with emotional tension.

• Relationship between beauty and artistic preservation

4. THE SONNETS

4.3. Critical Interpretation. 4.3.2. The Dark Lady Sonnets

• Present a more turbulent vision of love

• Passion. Jealousy. Moral ambiguity

• Sonnet 138 → tension with mutual deception // S141→ conflict between rational perception and emotional dependence

4. THE SONNETS

4.3. Critical Interpretation. 4.3.3. Love and Division

Sonnet 144→ poet presents a symbolic opposition between two emotional forces (often interpreted as the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady) representing idealised love and destructive passion, respectively.

5. REPRESENTATIVE WORKS (OTHER WORKS)

5.1. Love’s Labour’s Lost (A Romantic Comedy)

• Earliest comedies, often associated with sophisticated entertainment culture of Queen Elizabeth’s court.

• Reflects his interest in linguistic wit and courtly love

• Plot:

  • King of Navarre and companions swear on renouncing to women and focus on studying

  • Plot twist: Princess of France and her ladies arrive

  • Play satirises excessive intellectualism and artificial courtship.

  • The conclusion, unlike other comedies, is more reflective than portraying a “happy ending”.

5. REPRESENTATIVE WORKS (OTHER WORKS)

5.2. Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) (A History Play)

• A character-driven drama

• Prince Hal travels through political maturity and responsibility → his transformation highlights kingship, rebellion, and moral development.

• Sir John Falstaff → represents humour,

5. REPRESENTATIVE WORKS (OTHER WORKS)

5.3. The Tempest (A Romance)

• On power, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the restoration of social order.

• Presents a vision of reconciliation in which human conflict is resolved through forgiveness, but it also acknowledges the limits of control and the transition from illusion to reality.