Hello friends! This article is about
the intriguing plays and poems of William Shakespeare. Hope you like it!
William Shakespeare was a peerless
playwright and poet. His era was that of the Renaissance, a progressive
movement in Europe wherein literature was at its peak. However, he was even
more progressive than his contemporaries. He is widely renowned for his
positive portrayal of women, at a time when women were widely discriminated
against. His self assertive and witty Portia, in particular, has garnered
critical acclaim. He was also known for his portrayal of “dark women”, that is
morally ambiguous women such as Lady Macbeth from “Macbeth”, Cleopatra from
“Antony and Cleopatra”, and Gertrude from “Hamlet”. All of the quotes that several critics have
praised and debated have been coined by Shakespeare,
for example Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be?” , Macbeth’s “ Tomorrow, and tomorrow,
and tomorrow”, and Julius Caesar’s “Et tu , Brute?” [You too, Brutus?” I now
wish to give a brief summary of some of his best plays and poems.
“Hamlet” is one of the most acclaimed
tragedies of Shakespeare. Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, is the anti heroic
protagonist of the play. He descends into delusional insanity following his
father’s death. He suspects his uncle, Claudius, of having caused his father’s
death, which is later confirmed by the ghost of his father; he makes up his
mind to avenge this. He is indirectly responsible for the deaths of his lover,
Ophelia, her father Polonius and brother Laertes, as well as his mother, Queen
Gertrude. He is directly responsible for
the death of his uncle, finally avenging his father’s murder. Sadly, he himself
dies at the end of the play.
“Macbeth” is another highly praised
tragedy. The character of Lady Macbeth [the dark woman of the play] has, in
particular, garnered applause. The story is about Macbeth, a nobleman, who is
manipulated into killing the king of Scotland, Duncan, by his avaricious wife,
Lady Macbeth. However, after doing the deed, both Macbeth and his wife are
consumed by guilt; Lady Macbeth starts seeing ghosts and this eventually leads
her to commit suicide. Macbeth is eventually killed by Macduff, another
nobleman.
Another equally beautiful, but much
lesser known tragedy is “Titus Andronicus”. The story is about a Roman senator
Titus Andronicus, who is involved in a bitter power struggle with the
beautiful, seductive Goth Queen, Tamora [the vamp of the play] , who seeks
vengeance for the death of her eldest son. Titus manages to kill her at the
end, but is in turn killed by her husband, the emperor Saturninus.
Shakespeare’s comedies
“Twelfth Night” is one of
Shakespeare’s best plays. A resourceful young woman, Viola is seperated from
her twin brother Sebastian and forced to masquerade as a man. She plays her
part well, but falls in love with the duke she is working for, who in turn is
in love with a woman called Olivia. Viola finds herself becoming the object of
Olivia’s affections. At the end, however, Viola gets the man she wants and is
happily reunited with her twin brother, who marries Olivia.
Shakespeare’s poems
“The rape of Lucrece” is a little
known poem by Shakespeare. It tells about the rape of a noblewoman, Lucretia,
which eventually led to the establishment of the Roman Republic.
“Venus and Adonis” tells about the
unrequited love of the goddess, Venus, for the most beautiful man on earth,
Adonis, and her grief when he is killed by a boar.
There are several other plays of Shakespeare,
such as Cymbeline, which tells about a
young woman, Imogen, who is falsely accused of infidelity and forced to cross
dress as a man, “Fidele”. She proves her innocence later.
“Merchant of Venice”, which is a play
about how an intelligent woman, Portia, saves Antonio, a merchant from the
clutches of Shylock a greedy Jew who wants to kill him.
“Julius Caesar”, which is about the assassination
of Julius Caesar by fifty or so senators. The famous quote “et tu, Brute?” is
from this play. The Ghost of Caesar then avenges himself.
“Comedy of Errors” in which twin brothers,
Antipholus and Antipholus get separated at birth and meet after thirty years,
and are mistaken for each other. This play is weaved so beautifully that you
get pulled into the vortex.
“Othello”, which tells about how a
Moorish officer, Othello, blinded by jealousy due to the machinations of a man,
Iago, kills his wife Desdemona and then himself.
“Romeo and Juliet”, a love story
about two star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who eventually die as a sign
of their great love for each other.
“Troilus and Cressida”, this story is
about how a Trojan prince, Troilus, was in love with Cressida. But the girl fell
in love with the Greek Diomed.
There is much more to tell about
Shakespeare; but that is a story for another day.
Thank you!
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