"The course of true love never did run smooth" (Lysander, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1, Scene 1). Shakespeare's practically promotes this concept throughout the play, further reinforcing it by using the tension that emerges from the unusual rela Continue Reading...
And while it may seem silly upon first reading or seeing the play, it is clear that a Midsummer Night's Dream also has quite serious ideas. Scholars have noted that the play includes a cultural critique of the Elizabethan era in which it is set (Lam Continue Reading...
Shakespearean Social Comedy -- Saturnalian inversion or soulful exploration of social outsiders? Barber's book, Shakespeare's Festive Comedy argues for a socially harmonious interpretation of Shakespeare's comedic plays. In contrast, the scholar Ric Continue Reading...
Shakespeare's Play "All's Well that ends well" -- a Critique Conflict between generations is a theme prevalent in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, histories, and comedies. Romeo and Juliet struggle against their parents' feud and values. Hamlet batt Continue Reading...
While Shakespeare attracted his fair share of criticism during his day, it is also clear that many of his contemporaries as well as the general public viewed Shakespeare's work in a positive light. For example, Callaghan (2004) points out that, "Wh Continue Reading...
Saturnalia and Shakespearean Comedy C.L. Barber argues that all of Shakespeare's festival comedies, such as "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" and "Twelfth Night," make us of the convention of the Roman Saturnalia. During Saturnalia in ancient Rome, the s Continue Reading...
Clip: Oberon and Titania 1935 (clip available on You Tube) Foolish fairies and mortals: Multiple interpretations of Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream has been interpreted and reinterpreted many times. O Continue Reading...
Of course, the studious scholar might point out that nearly every document produced since the time of Shakespeare must have been influenced by the writer because of the sheer number of vocabulary words he created, but the focus of this essay is lite Continue Reading...
King Lear stands as an excellent example of one Shakespeare's tragedies, and in certain senses it is the most obviously "classical" in its sense of tragedy. The basic plot of the play involves Lear, who is the aging King, deciding to step down and d Continue Reading...
Pastoral/Forest Scenes 'As you like it" is one of the darker comedies of Shakespeare's and is largely based on pastoral tradition that was very popular during Renaissance. This comedy especially draws inspiration from a pastoral novel by Thomas Lod Continue Reading...
) "Sonnet 130" by Shakespeare and "Sonnet 23" by Louis Labe both talk about love, as so many sonnets do. Their respective techniques however, differentiate them from each other. Shakespeare uses a rhyme scheme that became known as Shakespearean rhym Continue Reading...
Juliet's speeches to the Friar after learning that she must marry Paris in a week's time indicate this as she lists the horrors she would rather endure: "bid me leap... / From off the battlements of any tower...lurk / Where serpents are; chain me wi Continue Reading...
