Shakespeare

1
Shakespeares comedies
2
The plays of William Shakespeare were grouped
into

• Comedies
• Histories
• Tragedies

3
Comedy

• Is set in an imaginary country (Illyria)
• Is similar to a fairy-tale
• Characters are true to life

4

• In Shakespeares comedies female heroines are
  usually more important than male heroes
• But in Shakespearian
• time men played all the
• roles even female ones
• In characters we can
• see many mistakes
• and faults

5
The two most important motives in comedy

• Right of an individual to free choice of love
• Contrast between the appearance and reality

6

• Shakespeares comedies are accompanied by music
  and sometimes actors play music instruments by
  themselves
• Songs are often sung by a jester or a fool
  parallel the events of the plot.

7
The main theme in Shakespeares comedies is

• Romantic love
• Friendship

8
Themes

• A struggle of old haters to overcome difficulty,
  often presented by young people
• Separation and re-unification
• Mistaken identities
• A clever servant
• Heightened tensions, often within a couple
• One, intertwining plot
• Frequent punning

9

• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors (is believed to be
  Shakespeares earliest comedy, written around
  1592)
• Cymbeline
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles Prince of Tyre
• Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Winter's Tale