Scarica Shakespeare, English literature e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Dating the plays Only half of Shakespeare's plays were printed during his lifetime, usually some time after being performed, so dating them is not easy, the works must be dated by combining three kinds of evidence: External: a clear mention or reference to a particular play, seldom gives the date of the first performance of any play, but it shows that the play was written before a certain date. Internal: when the play itself includes a reference to an identifiable event. Stylistic: changes in his style are so noticeable that a play can reasonably be placed in a precise period. Dating the plays it’s possible to trace his development and to see them against the background of his times. A Shakespearean play: general features Evolving scenes - gradual clarification of things which are left mysterious at the beginning. - Themes are hinted at, but their real meaning becomes apparent much later. - frequent contrast between scenes with many characters and scenes with few, in public and in private, full of action or devoted to reflection. - Major scenes, with crucial events, are preceded and followed by shorter to provide information. - Shakespeare sometimes leaves some questions open so that we continue to think about the answer after the play is over. Structure: Structure of the play was flexible. Shakespeare didn’t give great importance to the division between the acts; sometimes it was imposed later. In the Elizabethan theatre the plays were performed without an interval, a scene is over when all the characters have left the stage. Soliloquies, funeral orations and death-bed speeches are some of the conventions used, the contact between actors and audience was very close. Stage directions: The scenes provide information about the atmosphere and feeling. These directions and descriptions are often given indirectly, hidden in a metaphor. So Shakespeare asked for the active cooperation of the spectators in making the play come alive in their imagination. Characters: Shakespeare take his characters from all social class. Another important feature is the importance of family ties: father and/or mother with sons or daughters, brothers and sisters. These relationships are often, suggesting conflict between older and younger generations. There are also symmetrical correspondences: three lords and three ladies, two lovers, two princes and two brothers. Variety of style: Shakespeare used different levels of speech and action to portray his characters from different angles, close up and at a distance. A character may suddenly change from everyday prose to solemn verse. Allegorical scenes, songs, music and dances as magical transformations. Imagery: Wide variety of rhetorical figures: similes and metaphors, assonance and alliteration, characteristic image motifs; for example, light and dark imagery in Romeo and Juliet, clothes imagery in Macbeth, and the figures of disease, corruption and death in Hamlet. These image-clusters are connected to the main themes of the plays and define their tones. He invented a dramatic number of new words. The variety in the verse structure is also impressive: Shakespeare re-shaped the regular blank-verse line, increasingly using irregular lines from one play to the next. Why are many of Shakespeare’s plays set abroad? А) Most of Shakespeare's plays are set in foreign countries, more or less contemporary, some set in medieval Europe and some during the Greek and Roman Empires. There is only one play set in England, The Merry Wives of Windsor. B) Criticism of authority was greeted with suspicion and often led to imprisonment and exile. A play set in a distant country could imply criticism of the misuse of power in an indirect way. He had to be cautious. С)Many of Shakespeare's plays are not original, but based on previous tales and stories. His genius emerges in the way he adapts and develops the themes and characters. In most cases the story remains in its original setting, Elizabethan audiences were fascinated by everything which was Italian, this was because Italy and Italians were seen as the personification of extreme violence and passion. D) Did Shakespeare visit Italy? he knew Italy well, but there is no evidence of his travels abroad. His creative genius visited Italy through reading of Italian stories by authors like Boccaccio, Petrarch and Machiavelli. In conclusion, Shakespeare made his political and psychological comments on his Elizabethan world, and pleased and satisfied his audiences from behind the safety net of foreign names and places.
