Lahore College for Women University

Assignment

Topic:
William Shakespeare

Submitted to:
Ms. Masooma Ziadi

Submitted by:
Name: Nazra Noor
Roll No.: 57
Section: A
Subject: History of English Literature
 William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Shakespeare, the national poet of England, was a play-writer, actor and poet. Still admired all

around the world, his poems and plays reflect the society in his time. Shakespeare was a product

of the massive cultural shift, occurring in Elizabethan England in his life. One of the first to

bring the renaissance's core values to the theatre was born at the end of the Renaissance period.

Ben Johnson’s prediction regarding Shakespeare was “he was not of an age, but for all time”. He

influenced the language and literature greatly, by introducing new phrases and vocabulary in

English. Phrases like All that glitters is not gold (Merchant of Venice), Clothes make the man

(Hamlet), and words like a bandit (Henry VI, Part 2.1596) and Dauntless (Henry VI, Part

3.1616). His plays are performed and studied by a large number of people worldwide. William

Faulkner, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and Herman Melville are all inspired by his works.

Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and five narrative

poems. He received a great deal of attention. He is known widely as the greatest writer in

English literature, because of his renowned masterpieces.

In his plays, Shakespeare emphasized man's features, particularly the negative elements. Lust,

rage, greed, delusion, pride, and envy are all common emotions in Shakespeare's plays, and they

all play a destructive part in one's life. Characters such as Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth,

King Lear, and Brutus, for example, are noble in nature but are wrecked by their emotional

needs, which often lead to destruction. Internal conflicts, or inner foes, became a source of

conflict for the characters. That is to say, human emotion influences their outside actions and

perplexes their minds.

His writing style is distinctive, and his thirty-seven plays may be divided into four

categories: comedies, histories, tragicomedies and tragedies.

In his early years, he devoted himself to writing comedies and histories with elaborative

metaphors and rhetorical phrases. In the universe of Shakespeare's comedy, no character dies in

the play. That is not the case in either histories or tragedies, in which vengeance must invariably

have its day. Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, A

Midsummer Night's Dream, The Comedy of Errors, and Twelfth Night are among Shakespeare's

most well-known humorous works.

In the Twelfth Night, Viola, who has been estranged from her twin Sebastian, disguises herself

as a boy and works for Duke Orsino, with whom she falls in love. Orsino is smitten with

Countess Olivia and sends Viola to court her on his behalf, but Olivia falls in love with Viola

instead. Sebastian marries Olivia, prompting a flurry of misidentifications. Viola then confesses

her gender and marries Orsino.

In the Midnight Summer Dream, Hermina refuses to marry Demetrius and loves Lysander

instead. While her friend, Helene loves Demetrius secretly. Puck the fairy makes both of the lads

(Demetrius and Lysander) fall in love with the same girl (Helena) after four Athenians flee to the

wilderness. Hermina with Lysander and Demetrius after her. Helena in the hope of persuading

Demetrius to marry her. The four chase each other across the forest, while Puck assists his

master (Oberon) in deception on the fairy queen (Titania). The puck eventually undoes the spell,

and the two couples reunite and marry. The Athenian portion of the story is based on Chaucer's

Knight's Tale; Shakespeare adds a second woman to the triangle of young lovers, who is in love

with a man who scorns her. (A foursome allows for a happy ending without any deaths.) Puck,

the servant of Oberon and Titania in Greek mythology, is an English folklore monster. Bottom
and his pals, fresh from the streets of Stratford, decide to perform Pyramus and Thisbe, an Ovid's

Metamorphoses love tragedy. Shakespeare choreographs these dissimilar elements in a four-level

action with tremendous assurance: fairy king and queen, legendary hero and heroine, fashionable

young lovers, and English traders. To the effects of love and midsummer moonlight, Puck adds

otherworldly uncertainty. In the whole play, there is a little bit of romance, magic and humour all

merged into one.

He also wrote many historical dramas. They are named after the king throned at the time.

Shakespeare provided the best model for a dramatization of historical change in historical plays,

especially Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, Henry V and Richard III.

Henry IV has two parts. In Henry IV part one, his son Price Hal spends time in the taverns, King

Henry IV argues with his former ally Hotspur. Angry, Hotspur gathers a rebellion, and Henry

and Hal go to battle to stop him. Henry's army wins the battle, while Hal redeems himself from

his wild youth and kills Hotspur.

In part two, King Henry IV suffers from an illness, so his youngest son Prince John fights the

rebels, while Prince Hal prepares to be king. Meanwhile, Hal's friend Falstaff causes trouble,

recruits, and speaks ill of Hal. Henry dies, and Hal becomes King Henry V. He banishes Falstaff

from the court, ready to wage war on France.

In Henry V, King Henry V of England invades France to seize the crown he believes should be

his after being insulted by the French Dauphin. Henry foils an assassination plot, delivers

inspiring speeches, and defeats the odds in combat. Finally, he woos and marries the Princess of

France, tying the two countries together.

He wrote the finest tragedies of his art after 1600, during his late period of life. Tragedy always

involves murder, and the main character's death always results in devastation. Shakespeare had a

great knowledge of human nature, particularly emotion, and his characters were developed

uniquely. He brilliantly portrayed humanity, from love to severe jealousy and hatred. He tried to

create human characters with psychologically complex personalities, for example, Hamlet-

famous and longest-running play of Shakespeare. Other examples include Titus

Andronicus, Coriolanus, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello and Antony and Cleopatra.

In Hamlet, the spirit of Denmark's Monarch advises Hamlet to revenge his father's death by

assassinating the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns insanity, mulls over life and death,

and plots vengeance. Fearing for his life, his uncle devises plots to assassinate Hamlet. The play

culminates with a duel in which the King, Queen, Hamlet's opponent, and Hamlet are all dead.

In terms of moral scope, King Lear exceeds the other tragedies. It's a play about virtue and evil,

a tale with little character psychology. King Lear divides his kingdom between his two flattering

daughters and banishes his third, who loves him. After both of his eldest daughters abandon him

at home, Lear goes insane and wanders through a storm. His exiled daughter arrives with an

army, but they lose the battle, and Lear, along with all of his daughters and others, perishes. It is

a play with a tragic ending for all characters while reflecting strong morality lacking and evil of

human nature.

Shakespeare ended his career with romance and tragicomedy. Some plays fall between both

categories and they are either romances or tragicomedies. All in all, they are a total mixture of

genres. Sometimes referred to as problem plays, tragicomedies fall between the category of both

comedy and tragedy i.e., it is neither comedy nor tragedy although it contains the features of

both. Shakespeare's tragicomedies are known for their unusual and intricate storylines, high-
status characters contrast between villainy and morality, love of many types at their heart, a hero

who is saved at the last minute after a near-death experience, surprises, and treachery. Two plays

that suit the tragicomic structure are The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline. While the Tempest fits

the romances.

In Cymbeline, King Cymbeline of Britain banishes the spouse of his daughter Innogen, who

then wagers on Innogen's fidelity. Innogen is accused of adultery, flees, and joins the Roman

army's invasion of Britain as a page. Innogen clears her name, finds her long-lost brothers, and

reunites with her husband in the end, while Cymbeline reconciles with Rome.

In The Winter's Tale, King Leontes accuses his wife, Hermione of infidelity, with his best

friend, and she dies as a result. Perdita, Leontes' newborn daughter, is reared by shepherds for

sixteen years and falls in love with Leontes' friend's son. A statue of Hermione "comes to life"

when Perdita returns home, and everyone is reunited. Ospero releases Ariel and prepares to

depart the island.

In Tempest, Prospero summons a storm to punish the survivors of a shipwreck, which include

the King of Naples and Prospero's deceitful brother, Antonio. Caliban, Prospero's slave, plots to

kill his master, but is stopped by Prospero's spirit-servant Ariel. Ferdinand, the King's young son,

who is supposed to be dead, falls in love with Miranda, Prospero's daughter. When Prospero

confronts his brother and confesses his identity as the usurped Duke of Milan, their revelry is cut

short. All of the families have been reunited, and all of the issues have been settled. Prospero

frees Ariel and prepares to depart from the island.

Shakespeare is largely regarded as the finest English poet. Not only did he write 154 sonnets,

two lengthy poems, and a few other minor poetries in verse, but he also wrote 154 sonnets, two
long narrative poems, and a few other minor poems. He is now regarded as a global emblem of

poetry and writing. Shakespeare's Sonnets, published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609, contains 154

of Shakespeare's sonnets. They are followed by 'A Lover's Complaint,' a large poem that first

appeared in the same volume as the sonnets. In his plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and Love's

Labour's Lost, he wrote six more sonnets.

In his sonnets, love and life themes are mainly focused. Out of those, the first 126 are addressed

to a young man, urging him to marry. Later, the speaker starts desiring the young man. The last

28 ones are directed to an older black lady who causes both desire and loathing in the speaker.

His prolific use of this new form that deviates from the traditional style, changed the world of

poetry. Instead of writing to an impossible ideal woman, he writes to a young man and a dark

woman, who may or may not be accessible and who elicit conflicting emotions in the speaker.

Venus and Adonis, published in 1593, and The Rape of Lucrece, published in 1594, were two of

Shakespeare's earliest hits. These poems were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, who was his

patron. Shakespeare's first published piece was Venus and Adonis. It is a retelling of the

classical myth in which Venus, the goddess of love, falls in love with a young mortal who dies

after being attacked by a wild boar. Adonis repeatedly fights Venus's passion, and Shakespeare

portrays the narrative both hilariously and tragically. The poem is regarded as a delicate

eroticism experiment. The Rape of Lucrece is a long poem based on Ovid, although it is more

serious and is based on historical events rather than myth. The rape of Lucretia, Collatinus' wife,

by Tarquinius Sextus, son of the Roman monarch Tarquinius Superbus, is the subject of the

story. Lucretia, distraught and ashamed, stabs herself to death. The poem addresses issues of

masculine violence as well as institutionalized ideas toward female chastity.

Shakespeare's 'negative capability,' his non-partisan and unideological potential, was to be

praised by Keats. Shakespeare has been portrayed as a proponent of a wide range of political and

social viewpoints, with actor lines given as evidence. A play, on the other hand, does not have a

point of view; it is not a tract, argument, or discussion, but rather a play: a complication of the

starting scenario. The dramatist imagines and speaks for the audience; one of his skills is

ventriloquism. Shakespeare lived in tumultuous times and only had one play based in his own

country, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Since Keats, some have believed they knew

Shakespeare's point of view; previously, he was suspected of not having one.” He seems to write

without any moral intent since he is so cautious to please rather than to instruct'.

It would be less of a penance to reread Shakespeare. We now have a greater understanding of

how we live and think thanks to him. We share his linguistic omnipotence as well; language was

to him what Ariel was to Prospero: he could accomplish anything with it.