TOPIC 44. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS AGE.

MOST REPRESENTATIVE WORKS

1. INTRODUCTION

In the realm of education, the study of literature and history plays a crucial role
in shaping our understanding of the world. Both disciplines, while distinct, are deeply
intertwined, offering unique perspectives on human experiences and societal
development. Literature, with its rich tapestry of stories, poems, and essays, provides
a mirror to the past and present, reflecting the values, struggles, and aspirations of
different times. History, on the other hand, offers a chronological account of human
events, helping us to understand the contexts in which literary works were created.

By examining literature alongside history, students gain a comprehensive view

of how human thought and culture evolve. Literature often serves as a response to
historical events, capturing the emotional and intellectual climate of its time. It allows
readers to engage with the personal and collective narratives that history alone might
not fully convey. Through characters, plots, and settings, literature brings history to
life, offering insights into the human condition that transcend dates and facts.

2. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS AGE

The Elizabethan era, under Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), was a time of

political stability and cultural flourishing, marked by the Protestant Reformation and
the establishment of the Church of England. This period saw significant religious
tensions and a rigid social hierarchy, yet the influence of the Renaissance and
humanism inspired a golden age of literature and drama, providing a fertile ground for
Shakespeare’s early works.

The Jacobean era, during the reign of King James I (1603-1625), continued
these cultural trends while introducing new dynamics. James I’s rule united the English
and Scottish crowns and saw ongoing religious conflicts, economic developments, and
urbanization. These changes influenced Shakespeare’s later works, which often
delved into darker and more complex themes.

The theatre played a pivotal role in both eras, with venues like The Globe
becoming central social institutions. These theatres attracted a diverse audience and
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were supported by patronage from figures such as the Earl of Southampton and King
James I. Despite strict censorship by government and church authorities, the vibrant
shaping his work and its reception.

Regarding Shakespeare’s life, his figure has always attracted interest, although
the truth is that there is little information confirmed as real. There exist documents that
are briefly connected to his personal life and his family: his baptism, his wedding to
Anne Hathaway; their children’s baptism, to name a few. For there are no personal
letters or reliable documents, scholar are forced to go to his literary works in order to
discover features of his character, thinking, beliefs, or preferences.

However, there is evidence that Shakespeare lacked university education, so

apart from basic knowledge of Latin, rhetoric, and classical texts, he was a self-taught
playwright. His brilliance, then, is not due to erudition, but to mastery in the use of
language which let him transform existing texts into more vigorous texts with an
unbeatable dramatic sense.

Apparently, Shakespeare began his career as a supporting actor, wrote plays,

and was actively involved in the management of his own company, The Admiral’s Men,
which was renamed The King’s Men when Elizabet I died and her successor, James
I, became their patron.

After his death (1616), Shakespeare’s friends and colleagues gathered most of
his works and published them in the First Folio (1623) edition, which takes is name
from the type of binding.

3. SHAKESPEARAN LITERARY LANGUAGE

Shakespeare uses blank verse, that is, without rhyme, with the rhythmic
structure of the iambic pentameter, but avoiding the regularity’s monotony. If the whole
poem, or the dramatic work, had followed the rules without boldness, the effect would
have been sonorous but also terribly monotonous.

Apart from blank verse, Shakespeare uses prose, occasionally. In comedies, it

is the manner of expression generally reserved to comic characters and servants,
besides its use in dialogues between women in domestic scenes.
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 One of the most important and characteristic features in Shakespeare’s
language is its figurative character, the use of similes, metaphors, synecdoque,
allegories, etc., which bestow language with visual and evocative quality.

4. SONNETS

Shakespeare, apart from being a dramatist of universal stature, was a poet.

Shakespeare’s sonnets, except for two which had already been published in a
miscellany, were first published in 1609. They are linked in a sequence of 154 sonnets,
the first 126 are devoted to the friend (male friend) and the rest (28) to the “dark lady”.
In both sections, there are sonnets which refer to a relationship between the lover and
the friend, as well as the rivalry with another poet.

There has been a lot of speculation about the lover’s and the poet’s identities,
but there are no reliable data to establish definite findings.

It has also been discussed the platonic or homosexual relationship between the
poet and the friend; Oscar Wilde was the first one to claim the homosexual passion
expressed in the sonnets, and nowadays many critics discuss the issue. What it can’t
be argued is the spiritual and physical passion expressed.

5. DRAMATIC GENRES

The concept of genre is crucial here because its structure constitutes a frame
that impregnates the works, arising expectations in the audience with which the author
plays. Then, the features of the three dramatic genres are the following:

COMEDIES: they include disappointed and secret love, mistaken identities,

misunderstanding, disguises, and eventually, resolution of conflicts and happy
endings.

HISTORY PLAYS: they turn around leadership and heroism, treason, conspiracy, and
fights for power; they also include secondary plots with manifold characters and battles
on stage.

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TRAGEDIES: these plays are characterized by the presence of a main character, the
hero around which the action turns. The protagonist must confront with a dilemma, a
mistake or a fatal decision whose aftermath is his/her own death.

5.1. COMEDIES

Shakespeare wrote a significant number of comedies, which indicates how

popular the genre was. These comedies encompass an ample spectrum of the existing
traditions at that moment.

Shakespeare’s comedies are traditionally divided into three groups:

NEW COMEDY: The Comedy of Errors or Two Gentlemen of Verona.

PASTORAL AND ROMANTIC COMEDIES: As You Like It or A Midsummer Night’s

Dream.

PROBLEM PLAYS: these plays are difficult to classify because their plots include
elements that verge on tragedy, as in All’s Well That Ends Well, Troilus and Cressida
or Measure for Measure.

All of them explore, from different perspectives, the relationship between sexes.
The central element of the plot is love and its complications; there are other themes
that are equally or more important, in The Merchant of Venice, for instance, a problem
play, difficult matters such as the relationship between Jews and Christians, money,
ambition, friendship, piety, or love are explored.

5.2. HISTORY PLAYS

When Shakespeare begins his career as a playwright, the historical genre

enjoyed great popularity. A great number of historical treaties were published and the
dramatic genre appears, which includes a number of plays under the name “history
plays”, for their themes are related to England’s historical events relatively close to
time when they were written.

Shakespeare wrote ten history plays, gathered in two tetralogies:

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FIRST TETRALOGY. It consists of three plays devoted to Henry VI simply titled King
Henry VI, Part I, Part II, and Part III, written between 1591 and 1592; they are followed
by one dedicated to Richard III titled The Life and Death of Richard the Third, circa
1593.

SECOND TETRALOGY. This tetralogy focuses on Henry VI’s predecessors. It starts

with The Life and Death of Richard the Second and continues with those of his heirs:
Henry IV, Part I and Part II, and The Life of King Henry V, written between 1595 and
1599.

Framing both tetralogies, there is an isolated play, King John, published after
Shakespeare’s death, and Henry VIII, whose authorship is arguably.

For a quite diverse and illiterate audience, who had suffered the successive
reigns of Henry VIII and his three children, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, whose
religion beliefs and political actions were totally opposed, history plays served as a
means of information.

5.3. TRAGEDIES

Shakespeare’s tragedies are some of his most profound and enduring works,
delving deeply into the complexities of human nature and the dark facets of life.

These plays typically revolve around noble protagonists who possess a fatal
flaw or are subjected to external pressures that lead to their inevitable downfall.

The themes explored in Shakespeare’s tragedies include ambition, jealousy,

betrayal, and fate, with each play presenting a unique exploration of these universal
human experiences.

The plays are driven by intense internal and external conflicts that challenge
the characters and propel the narrative forward, resulting in a sense of catharsis, or
emotional purification, for the audience.

Supernatural elements, such as ghosts and prophecies, often play a significant

role, influencing characters and foreshadowing events. Shakespeare’s ability to craft

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deeply complex and psychologically rich characters ensures that his tragedies remain
compelling and thought-provoking.

Among Shakespeare’s most notable tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth,

King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra,
Coriolanus, and Timon of Athens. The emotional depth and dramatic intensity of these
works have cemented their place as some of the most significant contributions to
English literature.

6. CONCLUSION AND TEACHING IMPLICATIONS

It is not an easy task for teachers to include literary works like the ones
proposed in this essay in an EFL classroom, not to mention historical events that even
though can be considered of great importance due to cultural implications are hard to
introduce in a syllabus aimed at teenagers. Non-adapted literary works and historical
texts are cognitively more demanding and the students’ age, on this matter, is crucial.

The legal framework that establishes the curriculum for Secondary and Post-
Obligatory levels, namely Royal Decree 217/2022, of March 29, and Royal Decree
243/2022, of April 5, at national level and Decree 65/2022, of July 20, and Decree
64/2022, of July 20, at regional level, take into account this issue and set up specific
competences, for instance, specific competence 6, to deal with literary texts and
cultural aspects since very early stages of their secondary education.

Encouraging students to become long-life readers has always been an issue

that educational professionals and legislators have tried to solve over the years. Not
all students live in a reading-friendly environment in which they have access to other
books than the mandatory ones in the school curriculum. How to make literary texts
available for those who do not have access to mainstream literature or literature in
general can be a good reason to work with this type of texts.

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

- De la Concha Muñoz, Ángeles, and Marta Cerezo Moreno. Ejes de la literatura

inglesa medieval y renacentista. Editorial Universitaria Ramón Areces. 2010.

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- Garber, Marjorie. Coming of age in Shakespeare. Routledge. 2013.

- Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. WWW Norton
& Company, 2018.