Freytag

1
Freytags Pyramid
Gustav Freytag was a 19th century literary critic
(1863) who proposed that Shakespeares plays (all
of which are divided into 5 major sections,
called acts) follow this plan as regards the
development of their plots.
III.
climax
rising action
falling action
IV.
II.
resolution
complication
V.
I.
conclusion
exposition
2
The Elizabethan Era/1500-1600AD

• Concurrent with the Renaissance (continental
  Europe France, the Netherlands, Italy).
• The beginning of Englands 350-year-long position
  as the worlds only economic, political, and
  military superpower.
• The time period is named after Elizabeth I, queen
  from 1558-1603. Shakespeare was a contemporary of
  Elizabeth I. He lived from 1564-1616.

3
Shakespeare wrote 38 plays

• Tragedies Comedies Histories
• Macbeth The Merchant of Venice Henry IV
• Hamlet Much Ado About Nothing Richard II
• King Lear Twelfth Night Richard III
• All end with the All end with at least one
  Biographies (not
• death of the main couple getting
  married always 100 his-
• character, the tragic torically
  accurate)
• hero Almost all feature a rude,
  of important kings clownish figure, called a
  of England
• Almost all feature the rustic
• appearance of a ghost

4
NATURAL ORDER

• Elizabethans (those who lived in England under
  the rule of Elizabeth I) believed strongly in
  natural order.
• This belief system governed personal health,
  politics, agriculture and religion.
• Any perversion of natural order would have dire
  natural and supernatural consequences that would
  not abate until natural balance was restored. In
  Shakespearean tragedies, this requires the death
  of the person who disrupted the natural order in
  the first place (i.e. the tragic hero).

5
Aristotelian Tragedy

• Named after Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who
  said that all tragedies must have these
  characteristics
• 1. A man of high social standing
• 2. experiences a downfall
• 3. because of a flaw in his otherwise perfect
  character. The flaw is revealed only as a result
  of the tragic action of the narrative.

6
Shakespearean Tragedy

• Shakespearean tragedy is essentially the same as
  Aristotelian tragedy with these two changes
• The tragic hero must die. This must happen (says
  Elizabethan philosophy) in order to restore the
  order that he (the tragic hero) perverted.
• Instead of a physical illness experienced by an
  entire society that marks the overthrow of
  natural order (as in Sophocles Oedipus the King,
  where Oedipus kingship results in a deadly and
  persistent plague), Elizabethan drama signals
  natural imbalance with the appearance of
  supernatural signs The tragic hero may also
  manifest some symptoms of mental disturbance.