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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564 - 1616), SOLILOQUY, FIGURE OF SPEECH, Life,…

- - - - Canon established with the publication of First Folio edition of 1623 by John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors and collaborators. 36 plays divided into 3 sections: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. 18 were printed for the first time while other 18 had already been printed in quarto editions.
        
        Folio = a sheet of paper folded once and printed on the deriving 4 pages, much more expensive edition
        
        Quarto = sheet of the same size but folded twice so as to form 8 pages
    - - the record of the plays in the Stationers'Register, where proposals for the publication of texts were annotated
      - Palladis Tamia a treatise by Francis Meres which registered the plays performed
      - Reference to contemporary events or to plays' literary sources which gave evidence that a play could not have been written before that event or play ( a quo date) as well as the staging of a play shows that it could not have been written after that date ( ad quem date)
      - literary evidence proved by stylistic aspects Common to Shakespeare plays
    - - Plutarch's Lives and Holinshed's Chronicles for his Histories and Roman plays
      - Plautus' Menaechmi for the early Comedies
      - Chaucer, Lodge and Greene for his romantic and euphuistic comedies
      - Italian works of Matteo Bandello, Sir Giovanni Fiorentino for his dark comedies and tragedies
  - - - mixture of dramatic genres comedy and tragedy, farce and drama, history and romance
        
        meta-theatrical language metaphorical language, puns, soliloquies, musical elements, plays-within-the-play, disguising aiming at exploring the workings of theatre itself. Metadrama = idea of the world as a stage and theatre as reflection of life, conception of identity as role-playing and of man as an actor.
        
        use of cross-dressing and disguise
        
        sense of indefiniteness fluidity of identity categories and blurred borders between reality and theatrical illusion
        
        theatre as a mirror of the age
- - - - deal with recent English history and the Tudor dynasty. Main source: Raphael Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. Histories explore the nature of leadership, the duties of kingship, dangers of rebellion. Events that gave rise to the 16th century English nation and the reinforcement of the Tudor myth of absolutism. They show some theatrical innovations: mixture of tragic and comic elements, introduction of comic characters and popular language and the use of meta-theatrical discourse.
      - First tetralogy
        
        three parts of HENRY VI dealing with the loss of the English possessionsn France and the internal struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York. Henry VI was king of England from 1422 to 1461 then restored for six months in 1470-1471 murdered in the Tower of London by the future king Richard III
        
        RICHARD III king of England from 1483 to 1485 he embodies the perfect Machiavellian politician. Malicious, power-hungry and bitter about his physical deformity. He kills anyone in order to become king. The play ends with his death and the glorification of Richmond, future Henry VII Tudor
      - Second tetralogy
        
        RICHARD II king of England from 1377 to 1399. His forced abdication in favour of his cousin Bolinbroke proclaimed king of England as Henry IV
        
        two parts of HENRY IV king of England from 1399 to 1413. The play revolves around Prince Hal, son of Henry IV and future He ry V who disguises his true good nature by acting as an irresponsible young man, and Falstaff his friend livingin the low life. After the death of Henry IV and Prince Hal succession to the throne Falstaff is banished
        
        HENRY V king of England from 1413 to 1422. About the English army's victory against France and the marriage of Henry with Katherine of France
      - KING JOHN
        
        dramatises the reign of John Lackland, son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III, he ruled from 1199 to 1216
    - - comic + tragic elements. They usually opens with a moment of social disruption, represented by threats of death and banishment or by the inversion of social hierarchical structure, which is finally settled in a harmonious resolution through marriage
        
        multiple and intertwined plots revolving around broken families, lost children, identical twins, women in disguise which cause coincidences, deceptions and final reunion of lovers
        
        variety of sources: Plautine comedy, Italian short-story tradition, medieval folklore, courtly comedy and romantic comedy.
      - 3 groups
        
        Early/Euphuistic Comedies
        1593-1595
        
        The Comedy of Errors
        
        Based on Plautus' Maenechmi story of 2 sets of twins accidentally separated at birth, Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio and Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant Dromio. When they arrive in Ephesus, a series of mishaps caused by mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, arrests and accusations of infidelity, theft, madness
        
        The Taming of the Shrew
        
        Introductory frame called induction in which a drunkard named Sly is tricked by a Lord into believing he is a nobleman. The lord arranges a performance for Sly called "The Taming of the Shrew". Set in Padua it contains a main plot about the courtship of Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and Katherina, a shrew who is tempered and tamed with various psychological torments until she becomes an obedient wife. The play is complicated by a sub-plot which deals with a competition between the suitors of Katherina's sister Bianca.
        
        The Two Gentlemen of Verona
        
        story of 2 friends, Valentine and Proteus and their lovers Silvia and Julia. The play explores the themes of friendship and infidelity, as well as the conflict between friendship and love. The comical element is introduced by Launce, the clownish servant of Proteus and his dog Crab
        
        Love's Labour's Lost
        
        story of king of Navarre and his 3 Lords who take an oath to scholarship, which includes fasting and avoiding contact with women for 3 years. But the arrival of the princess of France with 3 ladies at the court of theking marks the failing of the oath and leads to love skirmishes.
        
        A Midsummer Night's Dream
        
        main plot : complex farce thatinvolves 2 sets of couples, Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius, whose romantic intrigues are confused and complicated by entering a forest where Oberon, king of the Fairies and his Queen Titania preside. Puck is a magic creature, full of mischief and tricks. Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Bottom the weaver and his friends who perform the play Pyramus and Thisbe. These interlocking plots arenterconnected by a celebration of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Amazonian Queen Hippolyta. Themes: the triumph of love and the evanescent nature of theatre which resembles dream and life
        
        First phase of Shakespeare's production, presents in experimental form some of the characteristics of his more mature comedies: combination of different stories, extended use of meta-dramatic language, play-within-the-play device
        
        Romantic Comedies
        1596-1600
        
        The Merry Wives of Windsor
        
        it revolves around the character of Sir John Falstaff and his comic wooing of the merry wives of Windsor. The play explores the themes of love and marriage, jealousy and revenge, class and wealth
        
        Much Ado About Nothing
        
        story is set in Sicily about a couple of lovers, Claudio and Hero, who are to be married in a week. Before the wedding they conspire with Don Pedro, the Prince of Aravon, to trick their friends, Beatrice and Benedick, into confessing their love for one another. The prince's illegitimate brother, Don John, is jealous of both Don Pedro's power and his affection for Claudio, so he plans to destroy the upcoming wedding
        
        As You Like It
        
        heroine Rosalind, daughter of a banished Duke, who falls in love with Orlando, the disinherited son of the duke's friends. When she is banished from court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick, she disguises as Ganymede and travels with her cousin Celia, disguised as Aliena, and the jester Touchestone to the Forest of Arden, where her father and friends live in exile. After a confusion of mistaken identities, sexual ambiguities and homosexual feelings caused by women's cross-dressing Rosalind marries Orlando. Other lovers: Celia and Orlando's older brother Oliver, Phoebe and Silgius and Audrey and Touchestone. Exiled father restored to the throne. metadramatic dimension highlighted by the famous speech of comparison between life and theatre: All the world's a stage,/ And all the men and women merely players
        
        Twelfth Night
        
        mistaken identities and homoerotic feelings the plot revives around Viola who is shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria during the opening scenes. She believes her brother Sebastian is dead and decides to disguise herself as Cesario, a young page, in order to enter the service of Orsino, Duke of Illyria. He is in love with a countess, Lady Olivia, and decides to use Cesario as an intermediary. Olivia falls in love with Viola/Cesario and Viola falls in love with the Duke. Viola's twin Sebastian arrives, rescued and helped by his friend Antonio. The comic subplot unfolds and the order is restored with the marriage of Olivia and Sebastian and Viola and Orsino
        
        The Merchant of Venice
        Shakespeare's most famous romantic comedy
        
        Dramatic structure
        
        alternations of scenes in Venice, the new society of trade where the story of Antonio and Shylock is unfolded, and scenes in Belmont, the feudal world with its chivalric and romance elements which provides the setting for the story of Bassanio and Portia
        
        Plot
        
        Antonio, a wealthy and generous Venetian merchant, asks for a loan from Shylock, a Jewish money lender, in order to help his friend Bassanioto woo Portia, heiress of Belmont. Shylock makes Antonio sign a bond which allows him to take 1 pound of Antonio's flesh in case of no repayment. Bassanio is engaged in the casket test:in compliance with the will of Portia's father, he has to guess which one of the three caskets contain the girl's portrait in order to win her hand. He succeeds but meanwhile Antonio is in danger, unable to repay his loan because of various misfortunes. Trial scene, Portia disguised as a lawyer rescues Antonio from the Jew's revenge thanks to a very subtle legal language. Happy ending: marriage of Bassanio and Portia, Graziano and Nerissa, Portia's maid. Shylock is forced to convert to Christianitynand to will his estate to his daughter Jessica, who had previously eloped with Lorenzo, a Christian
        
        Themes
        
        Antisemitism the play portrays hatred between Christians and Jews in the characters of Antonio and Shylock. Shylock hates Antonio on religious and economic grounds, as he lends money without interests, thus ruining Shylock's business. Shylock is depicted as an inhuman creature thirsty for blood and money; yet he is given the most moving speech in the play in which he criticizes Antonio's racist attitude and asserts the humanity of his race. Thus Shylock becomes a victim and a sympathetic character that can attract the favour of the audience even in a period marked by a violent anti-semitic campaign after the death of Queen Elizabeth's Jeswish doctor accused of having attempred on her life
        
        Feminism strong and willed female characters, glimpse of early feminism. Disguise of female characters in men's clothes is a usefool tool to subvert patriarchal order: it allows Jessica, Shylock's daughter, to flee from her father's house in order to be with her lover, and Portia and Nerissa rescue Antonio by posing as officers of the Venetian court. Portia enables herself to assume the power and position denied to her as a woman
        
        Sexuality Antonio's unexplained sadness and devotion to Bassanio has led some critics to infer that thestrong male bond between them is marked by homosexual overtones. No happy ending is provided for Antonio, as Bassanio marries Portia and he remains alone as an outsider of society
        
        extended use of cross-dressing which shows strong and willed heroines in male attire. They generate erotic desire and ambiguous sexual identities, but also contribute to the final resolution. Happy ending does not satisfy everybody
        
        Dark Comedies / Problem Plays
        1600 - 1605
        
        neither proper comedies, nor proped tragedies. Dark atmosphere and unpleasant characters which are corrupted and morally weak; values of the old world (faithfulness, honour and justice) are questioned and replaced by intrigue, exhibition of cowardice, shame and meanness. They present an open ending, problematic and troubled so to challenge happy endings of previous comedies
        
        Troilus and Cressida
        
        2 plots: 1 based on a private affair, the love story of Troilus and Cressida and a public conflict, the war of Troy and the mythological fight between Hector and Achilles. Treachery, betrayal and dishonour prevail over the old values of chivalry, love and faithfulness
        
        All's Well That Ends Well
        
        fortunes of Helena, a maid who having cured things of France of his disease, is allowed to choose her own husband regardless of his status. She chooses Bertram, a young Count who does not correspond her love and abandons her after the wedding for a military career. He leaves her with the impossible task that he will become her husband only if she manages to take his ring from his finger and to conceive a child from him. Helena succeeds by means of tricks and disguises
        
        Measure for Measure
        
        Angelo, the deputy entrusted by the Duke of Vienna to rule while he investigates the moral decay of his dukedom disguised as a friar. Angelo resorts to an archaic law against fornication and condemns a young man, Claudio, to death because he has had pre-marital sex. When Claudio's virginal sister Isabella comes to plead for her brother's life, Angelo's lust is aroused as he blackmail her into his bed for Claudio's life. Angelo is tricked as he has sex with Mariana who agrees to take Isabella's place, Claudio is rescued and Isabella becomes the Duke's bride. Pure love is lost in favour of an idea of love as power and sexual satisfaction
  - - - Revenge tragedy
        
        Titus Andronicus 1592-1593
        
        Set in the time of the late Roman Empire, story of the general Titus Andronicus who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with his enemy Tamora, Queen of Goths. Influenced by Senecan model, first and bloodiest tragedy
      - Lyric / Romantic tragedy
        
        Romeo and Juliet
        1593 - 1595
        
        Sources and dramatic structure
        
        based on a story by Matteo Bandello used in a Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke 1562 divided in the comedy in the first 2 Acts and the tragedy in the last 3 Acts. Language is lyrical and includes sonnets and blank verse. It opens with a Prologue spoken by a Chorus in the form of a 14-line Shakespearian sonnet introduces the subject of the tragedy
        
        Plot
        
        set in Verona, love relationship between Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, contrasted by their rival families, whose members often quarrel in the streets. Romeo secretly attends a masked ball at the Capulet house, where he meets Juliet. They immediately fall in love and the next afternoon are secretly married by Friar Lawrence who hopes that their marriage will bring peace between the families. On the same day Romeo is caught up in a street fight where his friend Mercutio is killed by Juliet's cousin Tybald who is killed in turn by Romeo. He is banished from Verona. Before leaving the town for Mantua, he spends the night with Juliet, which has been Beethoven to Paris by her parents. She desperately asks for hel to Friar Lawrence and he gives her a sleeping potion that will make her look dead for 22 h during which a messenger with a letter will be sent to Romeo. But the messenger fails and Romeo, informed of Juliet's death, buys some poison and goes to Capulet crypt. There he meets and kills Paris, drinks the poison and dies besides Juliet who, awakening, overcome with grief stabs herself with Romeo's dagger. The tragedy ends with the feuding families reunited before their dead children.
        
        BALCONY SCENE
        
        Comprehension In the opening lines Juliet suggests how she and Romeo can solve their problem, she encourages him to refuse his name, especially his family name because it is not a name that defines him as a person. Romeo finally speaks to Juliet because her love confession gives him the confidence to reveal himself. He wants Juliet to call him not with his name but "love". Juliet recognise Romeo from the sound of his voice. She describes the orchard as "death" for Romeo because if some of her family sees him, member of a rival family, he will be in danger. Romeo tells her that thanks to love's wings he was able to climb the walls of the orchard and overcome his fear for death.
        Analysis
        Romeo's love for Juliet is almost religious in its intensity. He uses the terms "baptised" and "saint". The language that Romeo uses is bold, passionate, brave, its love has made him brave in the face of death. Juliet seems more aware and fearful of the dangers they are running. Romeo and Juliet suffer a tragic fate because they are too impulsive.
        
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        TOMB SCENE
        
        Themes
        
        Love
        
        wide range of forms: at first Romeo is the typical melancholic and courtly lover who expresses his love for Rosaline, a disdainful lady. in a lyric, abstract and euphuistic style; then he expresses his passionate love for Juliet in more concrete ways. **Love is a violent overpowering force but it is also represented in its light and comic dimension (Mercutio, Queen Mab)
        
        Fate
        
        It permeates the play, stated from the beginning that Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers, become victims of unfair circumstances dictated by a loveless, materialistic society which fails to understand the nature of their love
        
        Eros and Thanatos
        
        final suicide of the lovers, whose bodies are united only in death emblematic of eros and thanatos. Metaphor strengthened by contrast between light and dark, often in terms of day /night imagery: brief lighting of Romeo and Juliet's love that is seen in nocturnal scenes (ball, balcony scene, wedding night) which are strongly associated with death and anticipate the gloomy end of the play
      - Historical tragedies / Roman plays
        
        Julius Caesar
        1598 - 1599
        
        Declining moments of the Roman Republic before the outbreak of the civil war. Murder of Julius Caesar by a group of conspirators including Cassius and Brutus during the Idles of March of 44 BC. After the assassination Brutus speaks to the mob to justify his deeds dictated by the dangers of Caesar's ambition. He is followed by Mark Antony, Caesar's trusted consul, whose funeral oration stirs the crowd to mutiny so that conspirators are forced to leave Rome. The night before the battle against Antony and Octavius, Brutus isvisited by Caesar's ghost who predicts his imminent death in Philippi where he is defeated and kills himself with a sword. The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims him "the noblest Roman of them all", as he was theonly conspirator who acted for the good of Rome. Tragedy focuses on Brutus and his psychological conflict about rights and wrongs of his political action: MODERN TRAGIC HERO ANTICIPATING HAMLET
        
        Antony and Cleopatra
        1606 - 1607
        
        Sequel to Julius Caesar. Power conflict within the Roman Empire showed through the imperialist logic of the triumvirate Octavius Caesar, Antony and Lepidus. Clash between Rome, place of political reason and heroic deeds and Egypt, place of lust, perversion and treachery. Shift towards a private dimension represented by the love between Antony and Cleopatra. Their blind passion leads them to their downfall and tragic death caused by an inner conflict between love and power.
        
        Coriolanus 1608
        
        life of the Roman general Coriolanus who leads the Romans to the victory against the Volscians and conquers the city of Corioli. His arrogance makes him disdainful of the people's rights and causes him to be accused of treason and sent into exile. In order to take revenge he joins the Volscian General Aufidius who becomes jealous of his charismatic power and falsely accuses him of betrayal, for which he is murdered by conspirators.
      - Great tragedies
        
        Hamlet
        1600- 1601
        
        Sources
        
        play based on the Historia Danica by Saxo Grammaticus (12th century) later translated into French by Belleforest in 1576, and on Ur-Hamlet, a revenge tragedy probably written by Thomas Kyd and acted in 1594
        
        Dramatic structure
        
        follows some of the traditional conventions of revenge tragedy:
        
        themes of revenge, murder and madness;
        
        presence of a ghost who urges the protagonist to avenge a crime against someone close to him;
        
        play-within-the-play device as a major means through which the villain can observe his own sin;
        
        the final slaughter which leaves the stage covered with blood and corpses.
        
        It has also been defined a PROBLEM PLAY, it focuses on the search of truth and on a dialectic confrontation between psychological insight and deed, delay and action.
        
        Plot
        
        Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, back from Wittenberg University to the Royal Castle of Elsinore, discovers that his father has died and that his mother Gertrude has married Claudius, his uncle and king of Denmark. Hamlet is horrified upon learning from his father's ghost that his murderer is Claudius. To obey the ghost orders and revenge his death, he pretends to be mad and refuses Ophelia, who eventually becomes insane and drowns herself. To unmask Claudius Hamlet asks a company of actors to stage a murder scene similar to his uncle's crime. The reaction convinces Hamlet of his guilt but he puts off revenge until the end. During a confrontation with his mother in which he accuses her of incestuous marriage, he kills Polonius, Ophelia's father, believed to be Claudius. Fearing for his safety the king sends Hamlet to England with his friends Rosencrantz and Guildestern who have to kill him. He escapes the murder and returns to Denmark, where Claudius organises a match between him and Laertes, Polonius' son who wants to avenge his father and sister's deaths. Hamlet kills Laertes but he is mortally wounded. Gertrude dies, drinking a poisonous drink prepared for Hamlet. Hamlet stabs the king, makes him drink the rest of the poisoned wine and dies in the arms of his friend Horatio.
        
        To be or not to be
        
        comprehension in this text Hamlet asks why man does not lose his will to live despite the obstacles he has to overcome. Consider the 2 metaphors: " to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles " the first represent passive submission to the injustice and sufferings of life, while the second suggests active rebellion. Hamlet compares death to a sleep. The expression "Ay, there's the rub" interrupts his flow of thoughts and introduces a different line of reasoning. In line 12 Hamlet says that when we die we are freed from "this mortal coil (spirale)": he sees life as an infinite loop, something fom which is hard if not impossible to escape. In lines 15-21 he describes the sufferings and injustices of life: unrequited love (amore non corrisposto), inefficiencies of legal procedures, political oppression, ageing, mistreatment by authority, contempt (disprezzo), unjust criticism. He suggests an escape from life's misery:to commit suicide. The expression " to grunt and sweat" draws our attention on a negative aspect of life: the physical hardship. Man is nothing more than a beast of burden. The "undiscovered country" from which no traveller returns is the afterlife. The fear of what comes after the death stops man from taking action.
        
        Analysis "slings and arrows" and "take arms against" belong to the semantic field of war. Shakespeare suggests that life is like a war. By comparing death to sleep Hamlet depicts it positively. In the opening lines each infinitive is balanced by another of similar or opposite meaning:
        
        to be / not to be
        
        to suffer / to take arms
        
        to sleep / to dream
        
        to die / to sleep
        
        " To die - to sleep - / To sleep! Perchance to dream" in this line the repetition of infinitives creates a soft lulling effect. In his list of the injustices man suffers, Hamlet uses personification. In line 15 time is personified and described as having whips and scorns. The expression "natural hue of resolution" is contrasted by "pale cast of thought". The verb "sicklied over" and "pale cast" suggests a link between thought and disease. The tone of Hamlet's speech could be defined as angry, passionate, philosophical, melancholic and dejected (demoralizzato). In his speech Hamlet does not use the pronouns "I" or "me" bur "who", this means that the speech is not about Hamlet's personal reflections on his immediate situation but a general analysis of the human condition. The aspects of Hamlet's character that emerge from the speech are: his melancholy nature, his weariness, his indecision, his lack of courage.
        
        Words like daggers
        
        Comprehension when the Queen speaks of "thy father" she refers to Hamlet's uncle while Hamlet speaks of "my father" thinking about his dead father, they are not referring to the same person. When Hamlet says that the Queen will see "the inmost part of you" he speaks figuratively but the Queen doesn't understand what he wishes to do. Hamlet thinks that his uncle is hiding behind d the curtains but actually is Polonius. When Hamlet says that he wants to "wringe queen's heart" he wants her to admit the truth, that she is guilty. When she finally asks him what she has done to anger him he does not answer her question directly but keeps on expressing his inner thoughts. From line 43 to line 57 he compares his father and his uncle Claudius. He compares his father to a superhuman god and his uncle to an usurper that blasts his brother. In line 63 the queen almost admits her guilt by saying: thou turn'st my eyes into my very soul" . According to Hamlet, her sexual drive overcome es the queen's judgement. Hamlet thinks that the ghost has come to reprimand him because he is guilty of letting time pass and the passion of revenge cool, for not having killed his uncle, for having postponed action. The ghost does not want Hamlet to take revenge on his mother "speak to her" "step between her and her fighting soul". The Queen cannot see or hear the ghost (last lines)
        
        Analysis In the opening lines Hamlet uses the queen's own words to point the finger of accusation away from himself and towards her. "Thou hast thy father much offended. / You have my father much offended". The attitude towards his mother in these opening lines is provocative and mocking. Line 20-29 Hamlet thinks that he has killed Claudius when in fact he has mistakenly murdered Polonius. He shows dispassionate indifference to his crime " thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!". This lack of emotion is due to the fact that Hamlet is close to madness and no longer able to feel emotions. Example of personification: virtue. Example of metaphors. The crime committed by the queen:
        
        makes modesty lose grace
        
        makes virtue become hypocrite
        
        replaces a rose with a blister
        
        transforms marriage vows into promises made by gamblers
        
        Hamlet mentions a series of gods when he describes his father: Jupiter, Hyperion, Mars, Mercury and this shows that he thinks of his father as perfect and superhuman, without any flaws. He is idealizing his father. Hamlet's father Claudius are compared to 'two ears of corn' (pannocchie): his father is wholesome while Claudius is mildew'd because he is wretched by his sin, because he is a murderer. Hamlet's father is beautiful and wholesome as a fair miuntain and ear of corn, while Claudius is lowly, ugly, barren (vuoto, sterile) like a desolate moor. Love is healthy, dignified, it feeds souls, while lust is unhealthy, it is a shame. In Hamlet's opinion the relationship between Claudius and his mother is lurid, physical, smelly, and dirty like rank sweatand a pig's den. In the metaphors of line 73-78 Hamlet says that Claudius is a slave, he isn't worthy of his precedent lord, he is a clown 🤡, a thief that stole the crown. The attitude of the ghost towards the queen contrasts with Hamlet's attitude: the ghost is considered to be a figment (frutto dell'immaginazione) of his imagination, an extension of his mind and conscience. The attitude of the ghost towards the queen suggests that Hamlet is caught between wishing to avenge his father's death but not wishing to punish his mother, whom he loves. The appearance of the ghost is i terpreted as an extension of Hamlet's thoughts, it shows the more forgiving side of his nature.
        The character of the queen. In the past her relationship with Hamlet was positive, she is afraid of what Hamlet might do in his current state of mind, she loves Hamlet and knows the gentle side of his nature, she thinks that Hamlet is suffering from some form of mental disorder and she is concerned about Hamlet's well-being. The queen speaks primarily in questions and exclamations. I feel sympathetic towards the queen. Aspects of Hamlet's character that emerge from the text: passionate, hysterical, confused, heartless, mad. Very different from the previous text.
        
        Themes
        
        Revenge
        
        Hamlet questions the notion of revenge because he is an unconventional hero and before acting he needs to distinguish between appearances and reality. He asks himself existential questions about man, life, death so that the debate within his own conscience stands as the central theme of the play
        
        Doubt
        
        Confrontation with a mutable reality in a world which appears "out of joint" . Hamlet questions and doubts everything, as it is impossible to have certainties in an elusive reality where the boundaries between truth and falseness are blurred
        
        Death
        
        After his father murder he is obsessed with the idea of death, and it considers death from many perspectives: the spiritual aftermath, embodied in the ghost, and the physical reminders such as Yorick's skull and the decaying corpses in the cemetery. Question of suicide also discussed "
        
        Politics
        
        Metaphor of nation as a diseased body. Connection between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and the health of a nation. Denmark ill because corrupted by Claudius and Gertrude.
        
        Oedipus complex
        
        Incestuous sexual desire between Hamlet and Gertrude and his delay in acting = explained in terms of the Freudian concept of the Oedipus complex. Despite Hamlet's violent reactions against his mother and uncle he is uncapable of acting because his uncle reproduces his repressed fantasies of childhood to kill the father and take his place at the side of his mother. Hatred is replaced built, reminding him that he is no better than the man he punishes
        
        Misogyny
        
        Hamlet becomes cynical about women and obsessed with female sexuality which he connects to moral corruption
        
        Othello 1604
        
        Sources
        
        based on Hecatommiti 1565 a series of short stories about married love by Giraldi Cinthio and A Geographical Historie of Africa 1600 by Leo Africanus, a Moor from Granada who converted to Christianity
        
        Dramatic structure
        
        1st Act as a comedy in its depiction of romantic love and the secret marriage between Othello and Desdemona, who proves to be the typical comic heroine, ready to face society and conventions in the name of love. Tragedy begins in Act II when Othello is gradually caught in Iago's treacherous plot
        
        Plot
        
        Othello, a Moorish military leader in the service of Venice has secretly married Desdemona, daughter of a Venetian nobleman, Brabantio. When he discovers that he is at first enraged and accuses Othello of witchcraft, so Othello undergoes a trial in the Senate of Venice, but in the end he is freed from accusations and sent to Cyprus as general of the Venetian troops against Turkish attacks. Iago is a threat, because Othello had preferred man with less military experience, Cassio, over Iago and he wants to revenge. So he tries to convince Othello that his wife has been unfaithful with Cassio. The noble Moor becomes so upset and jealous that decides to kill his wife. After realising the injustice of his act, overcome by grief, he strikes back at Iago and kills himself
        
        Themes
        
        Jealousy
        
        Many forms: sexual suspicion to professional competition. The hero succumbs at jealousy and jealousy is the source of Iago's hatred in the first place.
        
        Race
        
        Othello, even if represented as a honored general, his status as a black-skinned foreigner marks him as an outsider and exposes him to overt racism, especially by his wife's father. All through the play he is depicted in terms of racial stereotypes
        
        Sexuality
        
        supposed sexual activity between Othello and Desdemona is constantly visualised in Iago's speech in terms of animal sex. Racism strictly connected to sexuality, the play explores 16th century anxieties about interratial sex and marriage
        
        Gender
        
        Most male characters in the play assume that all Venetian women are promiscuous, explains why female sexuality is a threat to men in the play Othello is easily convinced that his wife is cheating and feels emasculated.
        
        Manipulation
        
        Iago is a master of deception. He is the prime mover of the action. His deception is powerful because of his cleverness.
        
        King Lear
        1605 -1606
        
        conflict between power and loyalty, violence and love, truth and falseness. Lear, King of Britain, who abdicates in favour of his 3 daughters and decides to divide his reign according to the strength of love that his daughters are able to express. Hypocritical and wicked Goneril and Regan proclaim the love while good andonest Cordelia says nothing but the truth, that she will divide her love between her father and husband when she gets married. Lear banishes herfrom his reign, excluding her from inheritance. Parallel story: Earl of Gloucester is wrongly convinced by his wicked bastard son Edmud that his legitimate son Edgar is a traitor. The fathers will be both punished with blindness. Gloucester becomes physically blind as his eyes are pulled out by Lear's wicked daughters with the help of Edgar, while Lear becomes me tally blind as he goes mad when he realises his wrong and finds himself deprived of his role, his powers and his daughters. Both fathers in the end will be helped by those who they have banished even though the lay closes with the tragic death of Cordelia and Lear.
        
        Macbeth
        1605 - 1606
        
        It shows the psychological conflict of the hero, torn between good conscience and ambition, loyalty and evil, regret and corruption. It opens with Macbeth and Banquo, King Duncan's generals who meet three Weird Sisters in a Scottish moorland on their way back from a battle. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will become King of Scotland Thane of Cawdor and Banquo's heirs shall be kings. Lady Macbeth, eager to become queen, convinces her husband to kill Duncan. The King's sons are wrongly suspected of the murder and flee abroad. Macbeth is crowned king. Fearing that the prophecy will become true Macbeth kills Banquo, whose spectre haunts him. Disturbed and uneasy, he visits the witches who tell him that he has to beware of Macduff; he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to his castle and also that Banquo's heirs will become kings. Macbeth embarks on a reign of terror and crimes. The situation precipitates when Malcolm's army (Duncan 's son) is assaulting the castle. Lady Macbeth goes mad walking in her sleep till she kills herself. Macbeth is doomed and Macduff finally triumphs and brings Macbeth's head to Malcolm who becomes king.
        
        Unsex me here
        
        Comprehension Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits of evil to suppress her natural sentiments as a woman. She uses 3 forceful images linked to an aspect of nature thatshe wants to suppress: she wants to suppress Maternal instinct, Femininity and Remorse. She wants the night to be very dark so she can easily commit murder without being seen, so the night can hide her crime. The advice that she gives to her husband is to appear, to pretend to be friendly and welcoming, look like an innocent flower but be the serpent under. because they will become powerful king and queen by committing murder. They will gain the kingship.
      - Major achievement. More intense degree of suffering and evil, more fully developed characters coming from higher social classes, extended use of blank verse, unresolved endings pushing the spectators to an individual response. Modern tragic heroes who choose codes of behaviour according to their own conscience, are victims of unfair circumstances and are responsible for their own misery. MIRROR OF THE CRISIS OF MODERNITY, THEY REFLECT MAN'S UNCERTAINTIES IN A CHANGING WORLD
    - - Pericles 1607-1608
        
        Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyrus, who has to solve a riddle in order to try the hand of King Antioch's daughter, but if he fails he will be put to death. He is successful, but discovers the incestuous relationship between father and daughter. Pericles starts a tour that includes normal experiences such as storms and famines but also pirates abducting children, births and burials at the sea and the waking of the dead. Pericles' daughter Marina marries Lysimachus and they become rulers of Tyre. Pericles and Thaisa rule in Pentagon's after Thaisa's father, King Simionides, dies. The play presents a Chorus that opens each act, spoken by the medieval poet John Gower who comments on the actions
      - Cymbeline 1607-1610
        
        multiple plots taking place at the same time but in different places. Cymbeline, King of Britain, has a beautiful daughter Imogen who is expected to marry Cloten, the son of his 2nd wife but she marries the brave but poor Posthumus with a secret marriage. Cymbeline banishes him so he goes to Rome. The couple exchange love tokens, a diamond ring and a bracelet. The villain is Iachino, a Roman soldier who bets a large amount against Posthumus's diamond ring that he can seduce Imogen. Various plot lines involve deceit, cross-dressing, poison and treachery. Happy ending when Iachino confesses and Imogen reveals her true identity and is reunited with Posthumus
      - The Winter's Tale
        1608-1611
        
        story of Leontes, King of Sicilia, and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia who is visiting the kingdom of his friend. Leontes suddenly becomes insanely jealous, he thinks that his pregnant wife has an affair with Polixenes and that the child is a bastare. Although the Oracle from Delphi declares the Queen guiltless, Leontes arrests Hermione on charges of adultery. Their son, Mamillius, dies of grief but the newborn baby, Perdita, is snatched from death by a Boemian shepherd who raises her. After 16 years, the long-delayed happy ending is secured with the marriage of Perdita and Polixenes' son Florizel.
      - The Tempest 1611
        
        sources
        
        Historical and literary texts: William Strachey's True Reportory of the Wreck (1610), account of the shipwreck of colonists going to Virginia along the coasts of Bermuda + Montaigne's essay On Cannibals (1603) about the contrast between civilized and natural societies + Ovid's Metamorphosis
        
        dramatic structure
        
        Partly adheres to the classical unities: action is set on an island (unity of place), and lasts less than 4 hours ( unity of time). Unity of action not respected altogether because the play shows several subplots u folding in different dramatic genres: tragedy acted by the aristocratic characters Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian; romantic comedy with Ferdinand and Miranda; farse with Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano; masque directed by Prospero and acted by Ariel
        
        plot
        
        Play opens with a storm and a shipwreck on the shores of an island. The survivors include Alonso, King of Naples with his brother Sebastian, his son Ferdinand, his counsellor Gonzalo, and Antonio, Duke of Milan. The island, apparently deserted, is inhabited by Prospero, Antonio's brother and former duke of Milan, and by his daughter Miranda. Through a flashback Prospero tells Miranda that 12 years earlier he was usurped of his dukedom by his brother and sent with her on the island. There they found Caliban, a deformed savage and owner of the island whom Prospero ensalved after he tried to rape Miranda, and Ariel, a spirit who had been imprisoned in a tree by the witch Sycorax, Caliban's mother, later freed by Prospero in exchange for his servitude. Miranda learns that Prospero has caused the storm with his magic in order to bring the usurper on the island and regain his dukedom. With the help of the invisible Ariel he blocks Sebastian's attempt to kill Alonso, and Caliban's plan to regain the island, and orchestrates the falling in love between Miranda and Ferdinand who eventually get married. In the end Prospero regains his dukedom and forgives his repentant prisoners. In his last speech he also renounces his magic which has been interpreted in metadramatic terms as Shakespeare's farewell to the stage.
        
        themes
        
        Magic
        
        Power
        
        Nurture vs Nature
        
        nurture= civilization and education
        Nature = natural state of man
        In his essay Montaigne created the myth of the Noble Savage based on the idea of the natural goodness and innocence of uncivilised people. Relation master / servant, Europe / Native represented by Prospero and Caliban is modeled on the colonial experience based on the ideology that it was the duty of the colonizers to educate and civilize the savages. Yet Prospero's attempt to civilised Caliban has only succeeded in corrupting him, as he has only learned how to curse his invader and usurper
        
        Double nature of power in the figure of Prospero as a divine right, self-created through art and self-knowledge, and as inheritance in Caliban whose claim to the island derives from his mother
        
        Explores different aspects of magic showing a distinction between white and black magic. White magic = nature leading to the control of its forces and theatrical illusionism. Black magic is instead summed up in the figure of the witch Sycorax, perverse and devilish principle in nature, progenitor of monsters.
      - New kind of hybrid plays which represent the anxieties of the tragedies but end happily through a surprising turn of events. Structurally, they take extreme liberties with dramatic conventions:
        
        untidy plots;
        
        large dislocations in time and place;
        
        extended use of meta-dramatic language;
        
        change in theatrical genres (from comedy to tragedy to farce);
        
        large use of spectacular interludes such as masques and music
        
        recurring elements: king and his daughter as the main protagonists, symbolic names for the young princesses, good counsellors to the kings and wicked relatives. Set in exotic places so as to represent the displacement of reality into an ideal world. Non-realistic and mythic atmosphere prevails over the realistic elements through the presence of divinity and magic, fable and dream. They represent feelings of doubt and uncertainty connected to the transformation of society atte turn of the century