Structure, sources, speculations

Speculations

There is really very little official record of the life and times of Shakespeare. There are a number of critics who speculate as to the correctness of the widely accepted version of Shakespeare's history. Most notably are a group of people known as the Oxfordians. Oxfordians believe that William Shakespeare was not the author of the texts that he is credited with writing. They believe that the author was the eccentric Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, who used the name Shakespeare as a pseudonym (an alias an author uses instead of their own name). Most academics dismiss these claims as a conspiracy theory. While the Oxfordians make some interesting points about the social context of William Shakespeare and personal context of de Vere, there are gaps in the logic. De Vere died in 1604, yet there are nine Shakespearean plays written after this date.

People will always speculate about mysterious and famous characters such as William Shakespeare. It is up to you to make sure that you always check sources and actively seek out contrary evidence and opinions before you make up your mind.

Sources

Most of Shakespeare's plays are based on stories, themes and structures that would have been well known to his Elizabethan audience. It was standard practice at the time to re-write stories for different purposes and audiences. There may have been a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the stories were popular and secondly, and importantly, because Elizabethan audiences were not as literate as modern audiences, it was important that they could follow the story closely. This is not dissimilar from the way genres are used in contemporary texts. You will be able to research the sources for each text that you study. More detail on the sources for the plays on this website will be included in the analysis of individual texts. Here are a few examples as an overview.

Shakespearean Text	Source/s
A Midsummer Night's Dream	Chaucer, The Knight's Tale from The Canterbury Tales
Antony and Cleopatra	Plutarch's Antony, Daniel's Cleopatra
Romeo And Juliet	Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragicall historye of Romeus and Iuliet
King Lear	Anonymous The True Chronicle History of King Leir

Just a few examples of Shakespeare's sources

These are the primary sources and Shakespeare used a multitude of other sources for his plays. As mentioned above, these sources will be further discussed in individual topics. It is important to note that Elizabethan audiences would have been familiar with these sources and, as such, would have made the plays more readily accessible.

Structure

Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets and a number of various poems. Below is a list of some of his more famous plays. There are three main categories of Shakespearean drama: tragedy, comedy and history. In general the classifications can be defined as follows:

A Shakespearean comedy:

• Has a happy ending.
• A tone and style that is light-hearted.
• Often deals with the struggle young lovers need to overcome.
• Often has multiple plots.
• Often involves a subversion of class such as a clever servant, an ignorant king.
• Usually involves a family.

A Shakespearean history:

• Is based on actual English kings from the 12th to the 16th century.
• Kings and leaders from the distant past, such as Julius Caesar or Macbeth, are not included in this category.

A Shakespearean tragedy:

• Involves a hero or protagonistwho falls from grace, usually because of a flaw in their character.
• An anti-hero or antagonist who brings about this fall from grace.

Timeline and classifications of Shakespeare's plays

Year	Tragedy	Comedy	History
1590			Henry VI part 1 Henry VI part 2 Henry VI part 3
1592		Comedy of Errors	Richard III
1593	Titus Andronicus	Taming of the Shrew
1594	Romeo and Juliet	Two Gentlemen of Verona
		Love's Labour Lost
1595		A Midsummer Night's Dream	Richard II
1596		Merchant of Venice	King John
1597		The Merry Wives of Windsor	Henry IV Part I
1598			Henry IV Part II
1599	Julius Caesar	Much Ado About Nothing	Henry V
		As You Like it
1601	Hamlet
1602	Troilus and Cressida	Twelfth Night
1603		All's Well That Ends Well
1604	Othello	Measure for Measure
1605	King Lear
	Macbeth
1606	Anthony and Cleopatra
1607	Coriolanus
	Timon of Athens
1609		Cymbeline
1610		A Winter's Tale
1611		The Tempest
1612			Henry VIII

Each category is studied slightly differently. When you first approach a Shakespearean drama you will need to ask yourself the following questions, depending on category. Make sure that you keep these things in mind as you are reading, whether in class or on your own. Make a note of those examples. If you get into the practice of doing this you will astonish yourself by how much more you learn and how much you improve your marks.

Tragedies + What is the fatal flaw of the main character/protagonist? (Are they greedy, selfish or vain?) +Does the protagonist recognise this flaw at any stage? +How does the protagonist contribute to their downfall? + What is the complication or essential conflict that the protagonist is faced with? + What is the motive of the anti-hero/antagonist? + What is the antagonist's plot? + Does the antagonist feel guilty about their action at any time? +What is the relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist?

Comedies +Note any examples of humorous techniques (double entendre, puns, mistaken identities) +What is the conflict that the lovers need to overcome? +Are there multiple plots? What are they? +How would you describe the main characters? (You will need explicit examples from the text.) +Are there any subversions of class? (An ignorant king or a clever fool?)

Histories +What is the historical event or situation upon which the play is based? +What is the context of the time in which it was written? +Is the historical figure a noble hero or an evil villain?