William Shakespeare
1. Works: 154 sonnets, 38 plays, 2 long poems
Comedy :Merchant of Venice.
2. 4 great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth
Each portrays some noble hero, who face the injustice of human fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation, each hero has his weakness of nature. Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind: Othello’s inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force; the old King Lear who is unwilling to totally give up his power makes himself suffer, from treachery and infidelity; Macbeth’s lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crime.
3 Merchant of Venice
In this play, Shakespeare has created tension: ambiguity, a self conscious and self-delighting artifice that is at once intellectually existing and emotionally engaging . The sophistication derives in part from the play between high, outstanding romance and dark faces of negating and hate the traditional theme of the play is to praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty , wit and loyalty, and to explore insuitable greed and brutality of the Jew.
4 Hamlet.
The play has the qualities of a “blood-and-thunder” thriller and a philosophical exploration of life of life and death, the timeless appeal of his mighty drama lies in its combination of injustice, emotional conflict and searching philosophic melancholy. Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world , to live suspended between fact and fiction, language and action. His life is one of the constant role-playing examining the nature of acting only to deny its possibility. For such a figure, soliloquy is a natural medium, a necessary release of his anguish; and some of his questioning monologue posses surpassing power and insight. By revealing the power-seeking, the jostling for place , the hidden motives, the courteous superficialities that veil lust and guilty, Shakespeare condemns the hypocrisy and treachery and general religious corrupting at the royal count.
A. 创作生涯及作品
a. Apprenticeship period. b. Highly individualized period. c. Greatest tragedies and dark comedies period. d. Romantic tragicomedies period.
B. 作品主题
a. Shakespeare’s history plays are mainly written under the principle that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity.
b. In his romantic comedies, Shakespeare takes an optimistic attitude toward
love and youth, and the romantic elements are brought into full play .
c. The tragedies: The play, though a tragedy, is permeated with optimistic spirit.
C. 四大悲剧(常考)
A). The common features:
Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation.
B). The realistic spirits .
Along with the portrayal of the weakness or bias of the hero, we see the sharp conflicts between the individual and the evil force in the society, which shows that Shakespeare is a great realist in the true sense.
D. 艺术成就
A). The characters:
a. Shakespeare’s major characters are neither merely individual ones nor type ones.
b. By applying a psycho-analytical approach, Shakespeare succeeds in exploring the characters’ inner mind.
c. Shakespeare also portrays his characters in pairs. Contrasts are frequently used to bring vividness to his characters.
B). Construction:
a. Shakespeare’s plays are well-known for their adroit plot construction. He borrows them from some old plays or storybooks, or from ancient Greek and Roman sources.
b. He would shorten the time and intensify the story. There are usually several threads running through the play.
C). Language and style:
a. Irony is a good means of dramatic presentation. Disguise is also an important device to create dramatic irony, usually with woman disguised as man.
b. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. His influence on later writers is immeasurable. Almost all English writers after him have been influenced by him either in artistic point of view, in literary form or in language.
Language of Shakespeare
It could even be argued that Shakespeare invented a large part of the English language, and helped to amplify and develop its major qualities: its flexibility and potential for concrete imagery. There are innumerable expressions which have passed directly from Shakespeare's plays into everyday language. Here are just a few examples drawn from Hamlet.
There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark
Not a mouse stirring
Frailty, thy name is woman
More matter, with less art
Hold the mirror up to nature.
Shakespeare breaks with all of the rigid principles of the past; for him the world is not fixed, it changes constantly and language can only be the faithful reflection of all these transformations. His language is therefore characterised above all by its flexibility; it adapts itself to every circumstance and reflects every thought and emotion of the characters, from the most lofty to the most everyday. Nor does Shakespeare hesitate to pass from verse to prose, from an ultra literary language to one of the greatest vulgarity, often within the language of a single character and even within the same speech. This is particularly true of Hamlet, see for example the soliloquies and the sexual wordplay, puns and innuendoes.
Shakespeare’s inventiveness: of all the authors in the English language he is without doubt the one with the most extensive and richest vocabulary. He draws from all areas of language and from all registers. Nevertheless his language always has the tone and pace of the spoken word. Shakespeare never forgot that he was first of all a man of the theatre and that what he wrote on paper was to be spoken. From this arise unforgettable sound combinations; there are in the soliloquies of Hamlet passages which delight the ear. There are also miracles of simplicity and power: Descartes’ ‘I think, therefore I am’ convinces us; ‘To be or not to be, that is the question’ moves us.
The world of Shakespeare is the world transformed into images and metaphors; an object becomes a word which turns it into an idea or an emotion. There are also double meanings, puns and wordplay, at times ironic, often obscene, always witty, even in the greatest tragedies.
Shakespeare has survived all the ages: rooted in the Renaissance he survived the Enlightenment, Romanticism, realism, the Industrial Revolution; he has adapted to the computer age and is spreading throughout the Web. He endures, he is indestructible. He speaks to everyone; for some he is a Marxist, for others a misogynist; some say he is close to what we would nowadays call the far right, etc. Perhaps he has none of these characteristics, perhaps he is all these things at once, as we all are. He has wonderfully anticipated all the schools of psychology of the 19th and 20th centuries. He knows human nature, consequently he knows us, and consequently we recognise ourselves in his characters.
Themes of Romeo and Juliet
How does Romeo and Juliet apply to teenagers today? Well, first of all, it can be seen simply as an entertaining story. It’s a tragic love story between two teenagers. But, if you look into the themes of the play, you will see that there are many lessons we can learn from the two doomed lovers. Shakespeare Alive provides this teaching resource that shows how the play is applicable to teenagers today.
Theme 1- LOVE
Love plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play, one can analyze the different types of love that Shakespeare explores. First, there is lustful love. This is basically love for the purpose of sexual pleasure. First shown in the conversation between Sampson and Gregory, this type of love is also illustrated by the Nurse and her comments to Juliet. The second type of love is infatuation. Romeo thinks he’s in love and moans over Rosaline. How many people can relate to that? Much of teenage love is simply in the head--- you think that you have found the \"only one,\" when you’ve really only found an obsession. The third type of love is the one illustrated with Paris. In the play, this has to do with the fact that marriages were arranged. Paris is the guy that Juliet’s parents think is fit for her. In today’s society, Paris can be seen as the stereotypical guy (or girl). He/She seems perfect and your parents love him/her, but that isn’t love. Love is not an image; it’s a commitment.
Finally, we come to true, 100% pure love. When Romeo meets Juliet, he knows that she’s different. Love changes people. Romeo became a more passionate, eager person and Juliet became more independent. Most importantly, love lasts through hardships. Love is not just a feeling; it is something that a person is willing to do something for. In the extreme case of Romeo and Juliet, they were each willing to die for each other--- that is love. Their love was so strong that they were willing to go against years of hatred between their families and try to make things work.
Now the warning: don’t rush out and marry some guy/girl that you meet at a party. Don’t forget that Romeo and Juliet are dead. Romeo and Juliet is a story. But the lessons of love do hold true: love is not self-seeking, obsessive, or based on appearances. Love is shown through actions.
Theme 2- HATE
The role of hatred also plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet. The hatred between the Montagues and Capulets ends up killing their only two children. And what was this hate for? Nothing. It was just an ancient feud that no one bothered ending. If the two families had just stopped feuding earlier, the lives of the two lovers could have been saved. Hatred never leads up to any good. Shakespeare tells us that it is senseless in fighting with someone just for the sake of fighting. This is an everlasting lesson.
Theme 3- FATE
Romeo and Juliet were \"star-crossed lovers,\" as the prologue at the start of the play indicated. They had fate against them. In that time, people were very wary of what the stars said. If two people’s stars were crossed in the sky, they would never remain together. Obviously, Romeo and Juliet didn’t live happily ever after, as their death in the end showed. But there were many unfortunate happenings that led up to their death. Fate was not on their side. First of all, Romeo only met Juliet by chance. Only because the Capulet servant was blind and unable to read the list of guests, Romeo was allowed into the ball. By unfortunate chance, Romeo and Juliet fell in love before they realized that they were from opposing families. After Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, Romeo did not want to fight Tybalt. But because Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo demanded revenge. Things still might have worked out between the two lovers. After enough time passed, Romeo and Juliet could tell their families what happened and Romeo could return to Verona. But, Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris. The Friar concocts another plan. He gives Juliet a drug that will make her appear dead for 42 hours. However, fate is not on their side again. The letter sent by the Friar never reaches Romeo because of a quarantine. The Friar arrives too late to stop Romeo from killing himself. Juliet awakes only minutes after Romeo has died. The list is long, illustrating the power of fate in the case of Romeo and Juliet. Do we believe in fate today? Or do things happen because we cause them to? Some people believe that it is a combination of the two.
Literary Technique- FORESHADOWING
Basically, everyone can figure out what is going to happen to Romeo and Juliet.
The prologue states that the \"star-crossed lovers take their life.\" But as the play progresses, there are many subtle clues that confirm the fact that Romeo and Juliet will die. This is the literary device known as foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is the use of symbols to show what will happen in the future. Some examples:
Act 1, scene 4 Romeo gets a bad feeling before going to the Capulet ball.
I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
Act 2, scene 3 The Friar warns Romeo about rushing into things.
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
Act 3, scene 1 Mercutio is stabbed, insisting that he’s fine.
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.
Act 3, scene 5 Juliet looking down on Romeo from her bedroom
O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
Act 4, scene 3 Juliet is getting worries over the Friar’s plan. Should she take the drug?
What if it be a poison, which the friar
Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
Because he married me before to Romeo?
I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man …
These are only a few examples of foreshadowing in Romeo and Juliet.
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