William Shakespeare's plays

The first period (1590-1594)

Karl Gerts. "The Taming of the Shrew". Petruccio's Wedding

According to literary devices, it can be called a period of imitation: Shakespeare is still all in the power of his predecessors. According to the mood, supporters of the biographical approach to the study of Shakespeare’s work defined this period as a period of idealistic faith in the best aspects of life: “Young Shakespeare punishes the vice with enthusiasm in its historical tragedies and enthusiastically glorifies high and poetic feelings - friendship, self-sacrifice, and especially love” ( Vengerov).

In the tragedy “ Tit Andronicus, ” Shakespeare fully paid tribute to the traditions of contemporary playwrights to keep the audience's attention by pumping passions, cruelty and naturalism . The horrors of “Titus Andronicus” are a direct and immediate reflection of the horrors of the plays of Kid and Marlo .

Shakespeare's first plays were probably the three parts of Henry VI. The source for this and subsequent historical chronicles was Holinshed's Chronicles . The theme that unites all Shakespearean chronicles is the change of the series of weak and incapable rulers who led the country to civil strife and civil war and restore order with the reign of the Tudor dynasty. Like Marlowe in Edward II, Shakespeare not only describes historical events, but explores the motives behind the heroes' actions.

“ Comedy of Errors ” is an early, “student's” comedy, a sitcom. According to the custom of that time, the alteration of a play by a modern English author, the source for which was Plaut 's comedy Menehmy, which describes the adventures of the twin brothers. The action takes place in Ephesus, a little similar to the ancient Greek city: the author transfers the signs of modern England to him in the ancient setting. Shakespeare adds a story line to the twin servants, thereby confusing the action even more. It is characteristic that already in this work there is a mixture of the comic and the tragic that is usual for Shakespeare: the old man Egeon, who involuntarily violated the Ephesian law, is threatened with execution, and only through a chain of incredible coincidences, ridiculous mistakes does salvation come to him in the finale. Interrupting the tragic plot with a comic scene, even in Shakespeare’s darkest works, is a reminder of the proximity of death and, at the same time, the ongoing course of life and its constant renewal, rooted in medieval tradition.

The play “ The Taming of the Shrew ” , created in the tradition of farcical comedy, was built on rough comic tricks. This is a variation of the story about the pacification of a wife by a husband that was popular in London theaters in the 1590s. In an exciting duel, two outstanding personalities converge and the woman is defeated. The author proclaims the inviolability of the established order, where the head of the family is a man.

In subsequent plays, Shakespeare departs from external comedic tricks. "The fruitless efforts of love " is a comedy created under the influence of Lily 's plays, which he wrote for staging in the theater of masks at the royal court and in aristocratic houses. With a fairly simple plot, the play is a continuous tournament, a contest of characters in witty dialogues, a complex word game, composing poems and sonnets (by this time Shakespeare already owned a difficult poetic form). The language of “The fruitless efforts of love” - artsy, flowery, the so-called euphism , is the language of the English aristocratic elite of that time, which became popular after the publication of Lily's novel “Euphues, or the Anatomy of Wit”.

Second period (1594-1600)

Around 1595, Shakespeare creates one of his most famous tragedies, Romeo and Juliet , the story of the development of the human personality in the struggle against external circumstances for the right to love. For his version of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare may have used a rework of the old text left by the “academics” (a circle of playwrights who had university degrees) ^[1] . Originally narrated in the short story by Luigi Da Porto (Luigi Da Porto, 1485-1529), the story of the woeful fate of Romeo and Juliet (1524) was picked up by other Italian authors (Bandello, Bolderi, Groto ) and later spread to European literature. In England, the famous plot was laid by Arthur Brooke in the basis of the poem "The Tragic History of Romeus and Juliet" (Arthur Brooke. The tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, 1562) ^[2] . Probably, Brook's work was the source for Shakespeare. He strengthened the lyricism and drama of the action, rethought and enriched the characters' characters, created poetic monologues that reveal the inner experiences of the main characters, thus transforming an ordinary work into a renaissance poem about love. This is a tragedy of a special type, lyrical, optimistic, despite the death of the main characters in the final. Their names became a common noun for the highest poetry of passion.

Around 1596, another of Shakespeare's most famous works is dated - “The Merchant of Venice” . Shylock, like another famous Jew in the Elizabethan drama, Barabbas ("Maltese Jew" Marlo), seeks revenge. But, unlike Barabbas, Shylock, remaining a negative character, is much more complicated. On the one hand, this is a greedy, cunning, even cruel moneylender, on the other, an insulted person whose resentment provokes sympathy. Shylock’s famous monologue about the identity of a Jew and any other person, “Does the Jew have no eyes? ..” (Act III, scene 1) is recognized by some critics as the best speech in defense of the equality of Jews in all literature. The play contrasts the power of money over man and the cult of friendship - an integral part of life's harmony.

Despite the “problematic nature” of the play and the dramatic nature of the storyline of Antonio and Shylock, the Venetian Merchant is similar in its atmosphere to fairy tale plays like “ A Midsummer Night's Dream ” (1596). The magic play was probably written for celebrations on the occasion of the wedding of one of the Elizabethan nobles. For the first time in literature, Shakespeare endows fantastic creatures with human weaknesses and contradictions, creating characters. As always, he interchanges the dramatic scenes with comic ones: the Athenian artisans, very similar to the English workers, diligently and ineptly prepare the play “Pyram and Fisba”, which is a story of unhappy love, told in a parody form for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. Researchers were surprised by the choice of plot for the “wedding” play: its external plot - misunderstandings between two pairs of lovers, resolved only thanks to Oberon’s goodwill and magic, mockery of female quirks (Titania’s sudden passion for the Foundation) - expresses an extremely skeptical look at love. However, this “one of the most poetic works” has a serious subtext - exaltation of a sincere feeling, which has a moral foundation ^[3] .

S. A. Vengerov saw the transition to the second period “in the absence of the poetry of youth that is so characteristic of the first period. The heroes are still young, but have already decent lived and the main thing for them in life is enjoyment . The portion is piquant, brisk, but the tender charm of the girls of “Two Verontsi”, and especially Juliet , is completely absent in it. ”

At the same time, Shakespeare creates an immortal and interesting type, which until now had no analogues in world literature - Sir John Falstaff . The success of both parts of Henry IV is not least the merit of this most vivid character of the chronicle, which immediately became popular. The character is undoubtedly negative, but with a complex character. A materialist, an egoist, a man without ideals: honor is nothing to him, an observant and penetrating skeptic. He denies honors, power, and wealth: he only needs money as a means to get food, wine, and women. But the essence of comic, the seed of the image of Falstaff, is not only his wit, but also funny laughter at himself and the world around him. His strength is in the knowledge of human nature, he disgusts everything that binds a person, he is the personification of freedom of spirit and unprincipledness. A man of a passing era, he is not needed where the state is powerful. Realizing that such a character is inappropriate in a drama about an ideal ruler, in “ Henry V ” Shakespeare removes him: viewers are simply informed about the death of Falstaff. According to tradition, it is believed that at the request of Queen Elizabeth, who wanted to see Falstaff on the stage again, Shakespeare resurrected him in the “ Windsor Mockers ” . But this is only a pale copy of the former Falstaff. He lost his knowledge of the world around him, there is no healthier irony, no laughter over himself. There was only a smug rogue ^{[4] [5]} .

The attempt to return to the Falstaff type in the final play of the second period, Twelfth Night , is much more successful. Here, in the person of Sir Toby and his entourage, we have, as it were, the second edition of Sir John, though without his sparkling wit, but with the same infectious good-natured cheating. It also fits perfectly into the framework of the “Falstaff” period for the most part, a rough mockery of women in “ The Taming of the Shrew . ”

Third Period (1600-1609)

The third period of his artistic activity, covering approximately 1600-1609 years, supporters of a subjective biographical approach to Shakespeare's work are called the period of “deep spiritual gloom”, considering the appearance of the melancholic character Jacques in the comedy “ How You Like It ” to be a sign of a changed outlook and calling him almost not the forerunner of hamlet . However, some researchers believe that Shakespeare in the image of Jacques merely ridiculed melancholy ^[6] , and the period of alleged life disappointments (according to proponents of the biographical method) is not actually confirmed by the facts of Shakespeare's biography. The time when the playwright created the greatest tragedies coincides with the flowering of his creative powers, the solution of material difficulties and the achievement of a high position in society.

Around 1600, Shakespeare creates Hamlet , according to many critics, his deepest work. Shakespeare retained the plot of the famous tragedy of revenge, but shifted all his attention to spiritual discord, the inner drama of the protagonist. A new type of hero was introduced into the traditional drama of revenge. Shakespeare ahead of his time - Hamlet is not an ordinary tragic hero, carrying out revenge for the sake of Divine justice. Coming to the conclusion that it is impossible to restore harmony with one blow, he experiences the tragedy of estrangement from the world and dooms himself to loneliness. By definition of L. E. Pinsky , Hamlet is the first “ reflective ” hero of world literature ^[7] .

The heroes of the “great tragedies” of Shakespeare are outstanding people in whom good and evil are mixed. Faced with the disharmony of the world around them, they make a difficult choice - how to exist in it, they themselves create their own destiny and bear full responsibility for it.

At the same time, Shakespeare creates the drama Measure for Measure . Despite the fact that in the First Folio of 1623 it is referred to as comedy, there is almost no comic in this serious work about an unrighteous judge. Its name refers to Christ’s teachings on mercy ^[8] , one of the heroes is in mortal danger during the course of the action, and the ending, where several marriages are made, can be considered conditionally happy. This problematic work does not fit into a certain genre, but exists on the verge of genres: going back to morality , it strives for tragicomedy ^[9] .

True misanthropy appears only in Timon of Athens , the story of a generous and kind man, ruined by those to whom he helped and who became a man-hater. The play leaves a painful impression, despite the fact that the ungrateful Athens after the death of Timon befalls punishment. According to researchers, Shakespeare failed: the play was written in an uneven language and, along with its merits, has even greater shortcomings. It is possible that more than one Shakespeare worked on it. The character of Timon himself failed, sometimes he gives the impression of a caricature, other characters are simply pale ^[10] . The transition to a new strip of Shakespearean creativity can be considered "Anthony and Cleopatra . " In Anthony and Cleopatra, the talented but devoid of any moral foundations predator from Julius Caesar is surrounded by a truly poetic halo, and the half-predecessor Cleopatra, by heroic death, redeems his sins to a large extent.

Fourth Period (1609-1612)

The fourth period, except for the play “Henry VIII” (some researchers believe that it was co-written by John Fletcher ), includes only three to four years and four plays - the so-called “romantic dramas” or tragicomedy ^[11] . In the plays of the last period, severe trials emphasize the joy of getting rid of disasters. Slander is caught, innocence pays off, loyalty receives a reward, the madness of jealousy has no tragic consequences, the lovers unite in a happy marriage. The optimism of these works by critics is perceived as a sign of reconciliation of their author. " Pericles ", a play significantly different from everything previously written, marks the emergence of new works. Naivety, bordering on primitiveness, the absence of complex characters and problems, a return to the construction of the action, characteristic of the early English Renaissance drama, all indicate that Shakespeare was in search of a new form. " Winter's Tale " - a bizarre fantasy, a story "about the incredible, where everything is likely." The story of a jealous man who succumbed to evil, enduring mental anguish and earned his remorse forgiveness. In the finale, good conquers evil, according to some researchers, asserting faith in humanistic ideals, according to others - the triumph of Christian morality. The Tempest is the most successful of the last plays and, in a sense, the ending of Shakespeare's work. Instead of struggle, the spirit of humanity and forgiveness reigns here. The poetic girls created now - Marina from Pericles, Loss from the Winter's Tale, Miranda from The Tempest - these are images of beautiful daughters in their virtue. Researchers are inclined to see in the final scene of The Tempest, where Prospero renounces his magic and retires, Shakespeare's farewell to the theater world.