Literature Project 1

Describe the Shakespearean stage and illustrate the salient features of

Shakespeare’s Classical comedy.

1. Shakespearean Stage :

The plays produced by the Globe were very high in quality and the
theatre was always full.
The competition among the theatres created a huge demand for new material and is
the single most important factor in the flowering of drama that is now known as the
‘golden age’ of English drama
A day out at the Globe Theatre was a real treat. The grounds around the theatre
would have been bustling, with plenty of entertainment.Even people not attending
performances would flock to the Globe for the market stalls and the holiday-like
atmosphere.
The groundlings paid a penny to stand in the pit of the Globe Theatre. The others
sat in the galleries. The very grand could watch the play from a chair set on the
side of the stage itself. Theatre performances were held in the afternoon because
they needed the daylight.
Shakespeare was not only a shareholder in the Globe and a prominent writer; he
also acted in some of the plays.
Shakespeare had begun his career on the stage by 1592. It is probable that he
played the title role in Edward I by Edward Peele in 1593. Regarding the major
roles in his own plays, he was probably directing because he gave way to the other
actors and played small, peripheral parts, including Adam in As You Like It; Duncan
in Macbeth; King Henry in Henry IV Part 1and Part 2; and the ghost in Hamlet.
Shakespeare’s first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, refers to a role by Shakespeare as
‘the Ghost in his own Hamlet’ and says that he was at ‘the top of his performance’.
During this time period, theater stages did not use elaborate scenery, relying on
only the most essential furnishings, like a bed, throne, grave, armor, weapons, and
chairs. The stages were rigged so that actors were able to come down or speak to
the audience from the ceiling, or the “heavens,” or enter and leave through a trap
door to represent the underworld. Their costumes were not intended for historical
accuracy but generally consisted of extravagant modern clothing, some of which had
previously been worn by nobility.

The design of the original Theatre responded to a mix of traditions.The concept of

building a scaffold with three levels of galleries surrounding a circular yard
mimicked the arrangement for audiences of existing bearbaiting and bullbaiting
houses. The stage, a platform mounted in the yard, was the kind of thing that
traveling companies set up in inn yards.The old Theatre was a 20-sided structure,
as near to a circle as Elizabethan carpentry could make it. It stood more than 30
feet (9 metres) high, with three levels of seating in its galleries.
Five of the 20 bays of the galleries were cut off by the frons scenae.The stage
was a 5-foot- (1.5-metre-) high platform protruding from the tiring-house into the
middle of the yard. Two posts upheld a cover over the stage.
The Globe had auditorium bays of a certain size, about 10 feet 6 inches (roughly 3
metres) from front to back and an average width of 14 feet (about 4 metres).

Pictures of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – Then & Now....

2. Shakespeare's Classical Comedy :

Before diving deep into Shakespearean comedy and learning about the main features
of Shakespeare comic play , let us understand “What is a comedy” and different
types of comic plays that exist.
 The general perception of a comic play is that it ends happily for the
protagonists and also have elements that may produce laughter. This perception is
very close to Shakespearean Comedy.

Comic plays can be classified under heads like Comedy of Manners, Comedy of
Humour, Sentimental Comedy, Comedy of errors, Farce. But for the sake of keeping
ourself within the scope of this article, we may broadly classify comic plays into
Classical comedy and Romantic comedy.

Classical comedy
Classical comedy strictly follows the rule laid down by ancient Greek and Roman.
The main features of Classical comedies are:
Unity of time, place and action.
No mix of the comic and tragic element.
It aims at everyday life and realism.
Ridicule and satirize human folly or vices.

Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy does not follow the rules of classical comedy. It is written
according to what suits the fancy of the writer. Shakespearean Comedy is
essentially a Romantic Comedy. Shakespeare broke all rules of comic plays and wrote
what suited his style and fancy.

Shakespeare mingled happy and sad theme, mixed comic elements with tragic
elements. This made his plays appear more convincing because no human life is
completely tragic or completely comic. It is a combination of both. He does not aim
to correct human follies. Though follies and extravagances are exposed in his
plays, it is done in a light-hearted manner.

Shakespeare comic plays are full of creativity and imagination and his concern was
just to make his audience laugh and feel good. Light-hearted mood of his audience
was his prime target.

Shakespearean Comedy Classification

Shakespeare comic plays can be classified into four different group.

Early Comedies
Shakespeare early comic plays were farcical and immature. It was packed with wits,
puns and conceits. Humour appeared as forced and cheap. The style of Shakespeare
early comedies matches the Lyly’s style. Plot and character composition were weak.
Shakespeare’s comic plays that fall in this category are:

Love’s Labour’s Lost,

The Comedy of Errors,
The two gentlemen of Verona,
Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Joyous Comedies
The plays that fall in this group were full of love and music, fun and merry-
making are the main ingredients of these comedies. They have wonderful heroines and
characters were skillfully composed. A fine blend of romantic and realistic can be
seen in these plays. This group includes plays like:

The Merchant of Venice,

As You Like It,
Much Ado About Nothing,
Twelfth Night

Dark Comedies
 Dark comedies written by Shakespeare were sombre, dark and tragic in essence.
These plays have Low moral values and the theme is more of cynicism than comedy.
These plays are comedies, only in name and form, but not in essence. This group
includes plays like:

All Is Well That Ends Well,

Measure for Measure,
Troilus and Cressida

Dramatic romances
This style of comedy was very different from Shakespeare early comedies. Towards
the end of his career, Shakespeare switched back to comic plays from tragedies.
This group includes plays like:

Cymbeline,
The Winter’s Tale,
The Tempest

*8 features Shakespearean comedy*

1. Love and Marriage

Shakespeare comedy is a story of love and marriage. Not only the hero and heroine
but almost all characters fall in love. Therefore, marriage is inevitable in the
end.

2. Mistaken identity or misconception

Characters impersonating someone or are mistaken for someone else is another
important feature of Shakespearean comedy.

3. Idyllic Setting
Shakespearean comedies are set in idyllic surroundings. The locations are like
paradise, which doesn’t exist in reality and is created by the imagination of the
writer.

4. Disguise and Gender

Characters disguised as someone else, particularly female characters disguised as
man is yet another feature.

5. Music and Dance

Another important feature of Shakespearean comedy is music and dance. The climax
part of his comedies is always full of music, dance and merrymaking.

6. Fools
Presence of “fools” is Shakespeare’s comic plays is also an important
characteristic. “Fools” serves any purpose in his plays. He is witty and sometimes
the mouthpiece of Shakespeare.

7. Fate and Fantasy

Fate and Fantasy place an important role in Shakespeare’s comic plays. He makes
human appear as a plaything, in the hand of some supernatural power. Supernatural
elements like fairies and monsters are also part of his play.

8. Happy Ending
All Shakespearean comedy has a happy ending and ends with the marriage of one or
several characters. The confusing gets resolved and everything is clear.

Conclusion
 Some people do not find “Measure for measure” or “The Merchant of Venice” as a
comic. There are many critics who classify plays like “The Tempest” and “The
Winter’s Tale” as Romance. There can be an argument on the genre of the plays. But
all the plays mentioned above fits the style of Shakespearean comedy.