Final Paper
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While reading Shakespeare analytically I found that his writing is full of different concepts that are repeated through out his comedies. Two devices caught my attention; the usage and presentation of love and characters. The conflicts of Shakespeare’s comedies arise mainly through love because that keeps people interested, even if the love is only a joke. Will the villain succeed in keeping the lovers apart? Will the two young lovers ever get through the difficulties and be able to love one another? Some stories can be built just off of characters; if the characters are fun enough the audience will stop caring so much about the plot. Shakespeare’s characters are strong where they need to be strong and weak when they need to be weak; the audiences like to have a sullen, brooding brother in contrast to his more likeable, joyous and friendly one. The timid and innocent have a strong counterpart, the silly are made ridiculous by their prattling and tendencies to be the butt of many jokes. Together the blends of characters make the play into the rich piece of work that it is. In this paper I will be stating some of my thoughts on the subjects of love and characters.
Love is a big part of entertainment, people enjoy watching people fall in love, go through struggles and have a happy ending. There are three ways in which I have found that Shakespeare uses love to capture the audience; love at first sight, love and lust and marriage.
In Shakespeare’s comedies there are usually characters that fall in love as soon as they see each other. In Much Ado About Nothing Claudio, the handsome, brave and innocent young man falls in love with Hero as soon as he has nothing else on his mind. Hero, the pretty little, sweet and innocent cousin of the heroine, falls in love with him too, even though he has someone else ask her for him. Lucentio falls for Bianca, Ferdinand and Miranda, and Orsino falls for the mysterious Olivia, who is in love with his messenger. Most of the couples that love at first sight are innocent and young; it’s no surprise that the boys and girls are extremely pretty. The love of the “first-sight” couples are fun to watch and pretty, but they don’t seem as true as the love of those who have known each other and learned to love one another. In Taming of the Shrew the fairy tale marriage of Lucentio and Bianca fades away, while Kate and Petrcutio’s marriage is strong, because they had to work harder for their happiness; Petruchio tamed Kate and Kate tamed Petruchio. The same thing happens with Hero and Claudio, Claudio deserts Hero when he suspects her to be unfaithful, while Benedick and Beatrice stay in love. They had to switch their feelings around; for so long they had hated one another, but now they love each other.
Next is the question: What about lust? Could the love at first sight couples be motivated by their animal instincts? One plain example is from Measure for Measure; Angelo is obviously lusting after the beautiful Isabella, he even tells her that she can either sleep with him or he will kill her brother. Even with these obvious signs of lust he says: “Plainly conceive I love you.” (2.4.152), and everyone can tell that that is a lie. So are the other couples who love at first sight lying too, or does their innocence protect them from lust?
Marriage is portrayed differently in the comedies. In Taming of the Shrew it seems to be more realistic, Baptista hands his daughters over to the highest bidder. Prospero is a generous father and lets Miranda have the man of her chose (ignoring the fact that it was the man her father wanted her to have anyway). Fathers don’t always control their child’s marriage in Shakespeare’s comedies; Hermia’s father wants to give her to the man of his choosing, but Hermia will have none of it. For the characters of A Midsummer Night Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest marriage is a prize or reward of some sort or another. In The Comedy of Errors marriage is unappealing; Adriana scolds Antipolus of Ephesus mercilessly and for the smallest trifles.
Shakespeare's comic characters are some of the most memorable ones. One way Shakespeare makes a comedy is to throw in a very humorous character who thinks he knows what he is doing, but very rarely does and the plot usually relies on him in some way. The two best examples of this are Bottom (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Dogberry (from Much Ado About Nothing). They think of themselves as very important people and try to talk in fancy language, they end up mistaking words for others and rant so much that the other characters of the plays don’t understand them. Bottom is needed by Oberon to act as the target of Titania’s confused affection, thereby letting Oberon obtain the changeling boy. Dogberry has the information that will clear up the misunderstanding of Hero’s chastity, but Leonato can’t make head or tail of what he is saying.
Strong, opinionated women frequently dominate the comedies, they usually have shy, virtuous sidekicks. Beatrice and Hero, Adriana and Luciana, Katherine and Bianca. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night all the women are strong, playing tricks, keeping things in control and putting men in their place. Only in The Tempest is there only a shy virtuous girl. Miranda doesn’t have the pluck that most of Shakespeare’s other women have; she goes along with everything her father says. She even imitates Prospero’s way of treating Caliban.
It is very amusing to watch things get muddled up when people are mistaken for others. That’s all that The Comedy of Errors is about, and it also plays parts in others. When Viola (of Twelfth Night) dresses up as a man she looks a lot like her brother, whom she thinks is dead, it’s all goes fine until Olivia falls in love with her and Sebastian (Viola’s brother) comes to town. Olivia mistakes Sebastian (she isn’t the only one) as the male Viola, Ceasrio and marries him, which is very lucky on her part. Mistaken love, like that in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is also fun to watch/read. The reader or theatergoer feels the frustration along with Hermia and Helena as the men bounce their affections back and forth, and waits to see how it is fixed. It is a wonderful way of keeping the audience interested, it is very hard not to wonder how the wrongs are going to be righted.
While the innocent fall in love and the strong-willed stay high-spirited. While mistakes are made for the audience’s amusement and the vexation of the characters the beautiful weaving of themes and characters is what makes Shakespeare, or any author, so enjoyable to read or watch century after century.
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