Shakespearean Drama

Genres

Shakespeare’s plays fall into three distinct genres:

1. Comedies

2. Histories

3. Tragedies

The Comedy

The word comedy referred more to a lighthearted play with a happy ending (rather than just something funny)

Famous Shakespearean comedies: Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, & The Tempest

The Comedy

Common Elements:1. Young lovers struggling to overcome

obstacles2. Mistaken identity3. Multiple plot lines and plot twists4. Use of puns5. Stock characters6. Happy Endings (often involving love or

marriage)

The History

Though many Shakespearean dramas took plays in earlier time periods, only the plays focused on Medieval English monarchs are considered his “history” plays.

Famous Shakespearean histories: Richard II, Henry IV Parts I and II, Henry V, Richard III

The History

Common Elements:1. Each is named after and focused on an

English Monarch2. Only very loosely based on actual history3. Reveal a cross section of life - from the highest

nobles to the taverns, brothels, and beggars4. Though set in the Medieval period, they reveal

much about the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, as Shakespeare used history to comment on his world.

The Tragedy

Aristotle called tragedy the noblest and most serious, dignified and important form of drama.

Famous Shakespearean tragedies:Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Julius Caesar

The Tragedy

Elements of Classic Tragedy:1. The protagonist is of important status (a

prince or king), while still being relatable - so that they can be admired but also identified with

2. The protagonist has a tragic flaw which makes them a part of their own downfall

3. The protagonist eventually recongnizes their mistakes, but only after it is too late

The Tragedy

Elements of Classic Tragedy:4. The audiences observes and identifies

with the protagonists suffering5. At the end, the order is restored to

what it was before the events of the story (in Shakespeare, often by the death of many or all of the main characters)

The Tragedy

Shakespeare’s tragedies rarely, if ever follow all of the rules established by the Greeks.

His works are less formulaic, often bending or even breaking the classic tragedy conventions

Blending Genres

Often Shakespeare incorporated elements of multiple genres in his plays.

For example, Romeo & Juliet appears to be a comedy for the first two acts and only falls into the tragic patterns after the events in Act III.