The images of women in some of william shakespeares plays

1.2.1The Reformation - change in political attitude 71.2.2 Changes in religious belief- Protestant and Catholic struggle 8 3 William Shakespeare - The greatest of the Renaissance Ages ;

INFORMA nON TECHNOLOGYFOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

CLASS : BA0101

HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2005

Adviser's comments

Nguyen Thi Thu Hien

Examiner's comments

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1.2.1The Reformation - change in political attitude 7

1.2.2 Changes in religious belief- Protestant and Catholic struggle 8

3 William Shakespeare - The greatest of the Renaissance Ages ; 20

II The intelligent woman - Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice" 41

To help students to overcome these barriers, this study tries to analyse somecharacters in Shakespeare's plays However, characters in Shakespeare's plays arevery various Thus, the study is to choose and collect some typical characters,particularly the images of women, such as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet", Desdemona

in "Othello", Emilia in "Othello", Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" and Cordelia in

"King Lear"

Due to the limitation of available books and the author's knowledge, we think thatfurther research on characters of literary works, specially characters inShakespeare's plays, should be done

Teachers and critics sometimes make this stage more difficult by pretending thatliterature is a special subject which only experts can understand And the difficulty thestudents face at the beginning is simply one of choosing what to focus on the richmass of details, characters, events, and so on, which they have met in reading thetext They are faced with the intricate complexity of a literature work as they have todecide what to study first and where to start Beside these, to analyze characters in aplay is truly difficult because the author does not always describe thoughts andfeelings or make comments about the characters How can the students understandthe characters in a play.

To deal with this problem, this study tries to analyze some characters in WilliamShakespeare's plays However, the characters in plays of Shakespeare are various.Therefore, this study's purpose is to focus and analyze the images of women in some

of Shakespeare's play

To help learners have clear views on characters in Shakespeare's play, manyresearch have been done so far Liz Lewis (2001 :3) studied Shakespeare' treatment

of women in the tragedies Hamlet, Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra In this study,

he explored mainly Shakespeare's treatment of three heroines' Ophelia, Desdemona,Cleopatra with an exploration of Shakespeare's representation of the effects ofpatriarchal system upon the characters In Othello, he pointed out that men'smisunderstanding of women and women's inability to protect themselves from

Society's conception of them William Hazlitt (1990:5) wrote essay about thecharacters of Romeo and Juliet He stated that whatever is most intoxicating in the

r'!gnYI~n Thi Thu J-fien 1

is like a tall ship-driven about the by the winds, buffeted by the furious waves, but thatstill rides above the storm, having its anchor fixed the bottom of the sea, it is like thesharp rock circled by the eddying whirlpool that foams and beats against it.

We all know that different authors have different ways to approach the aspect of thecharacters in one play However, this study is limited to analysing the femalecharacters in some of Shakespeare's plays by classifying these characters in somegroups The first group is the innocent, faithful women striving for true love andfighting to protect their love and happiness They are Juliet in "Rome and Juliet" andDesdemona in "Othello" The second group is the intelligent woman, she is Portia in'The merchant of Venice" The last group is the fearless, stubborn and valiantwomen They are Emilia in "Othello" and Cordelia in "King Lear"

The result should be useful for studying English literature Therefore, collecting,describing, analysing are the principal methods of this study

This study is divided into five chapters Chapter 1 is the introduction It presents thestudy, its aim and its tasks Chapter 2 is the literature review It introduces someresearch that had been done up to now Chapter 3 is background It provides someinformation about Renaissance and Elizabethan drama And it also presents someinteresting information about Shakespeare' life and his works Chapter 4 is the mainpart of the study It investigates the images of women in some of Shakespeare's play.The final chapter is the conclusion with some suggestions for further research

i"gn;ir;Ji Thi TJm Bien 2

playwright when neither actors nor the stage were regarded as respectable or of any importance The notion that he was the supreme genius of the English race did not began until he had been dead more than a century but since then it has become so firmly accepted that no schoolboy can avoid a detailed study of at least one of his play" (G.N Harrison, 1996:32)

More than three centuries and a half have passed since Shakespeare's death butscholars in different countries continue to study his works and his plays are stillperformed and will be performed for many years to come

When studying Shakespeare characters in " King Lear", Seth Godin (1992: 145)states that King Lear is considered to be one of Shakespeare's finest plays It is atragedy of full scale emotion and powerful characters that revolves around thetimeless themes of loyalty versus deception In Lear, Shakespeare created his mosthighly character ever According to Liz Lewis (2001:1), he says in his study,Shakespeare's treatment of women in the tragedies Hamlet, Othello and Antony andCleopatra, that Shakespeare was a feminist He necessarily depicted the condition ofwomen within a patriarchal system and created women characters which in theirrichness, transcend the limitation of his time Moreover, Chi Trung Nguyen (2000:13)stresses that Shakespeare was a great humanist He was the enemy of medievalideas, religious and racial discrimination In his works, he affirmed the principle ofequality, the equal moral value of people of all classes and races Beside theseopinions, when analysing characters in "Romeo and Juliet" G.C Thorlnley andGwynneth Roberts (1998:41) show that "Romeo and Juliet " is the first of

I'TguYI;D Tlli ThnFlit;Jj 3

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Shakespeare's great tragedies The plot of this story of pure and tragic love is known

in all parts of the civilized world The deaths Romeo and Juliet are necessary: theirfamilies are enemies and death is the only way out of their hopeless situation

William Shakespeare still lives on as a super playwright and poet not only of Englandbut also of the world He was neither a purely tragic nor a purely comic writer Hedealt with both the tragic and comic sides of life because in actual life, these twosides are closely connected There was a drama in England before Shakespeare, but

it was he who created or real drama, and it was he who raised the English theatre tothe heights it has never since reached

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The Renaissance began in Italy and its first period was marked by a revival of interest

in classical literature and the medieval spirit, and specially against scholasticism, infavor of intellectual freedom and its first sign was a passion for the culture magnitudeand richness of the pagan word

Traces of this revolt can be seen in Petrarch (1304 1374) and Boccaccio (1313 1375) Petrarch was the first true poet of the Renaissance His poems written in Latinhexameter followed the classical model of poetry Petrarch succeeded in writingvernacular love poems and imitating the great ancient Latin authors His perfection ofthe sonnet form later influenced such English poets as Geoffrey Chaucer, WilliamShakespeare and Edmund Spencer Petrarch was also one of the humanist He andother humanists absorbed the ideas of the ancient Romans and made them their ownsuch as ancient Roman writers gave them an example of how to express their ownfeeling of patriotism

-In 1360, the first chair of Greek was established in Florence, Greek scholars werenow encouraged to come from Byzantium to Italy, and in 1396 in turn the learned

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In 1462, the Platonic Academy was opened in Florence, under the patronage ofCosimo de' Medici Its leader became Marscilio Ficino (1468), Ficino wrote severalinterpretive essays of Platonic philosophy Not content with contains Plato's theory ofthe ascent of the soul from the contemplation of the Eternal Idea of the Good andBeautiful, Ficino wrote an beautiful commentary, in which he formulates a theory ofaesthetics based upon the principle of idealism or perfection in artistic creation Thistheory of the inter-relationship between love and beauty as destined to set thestandard of artistic criticism for more than three hundred years.

The second period of the Renaissance is marked by a continued zeal for classicalstudy and by the developmental of a broad learning and the new view of theintellectual life which is now known as Humanism By the time the movement hadspread to Germany, Poland and France, the Netherlands and to other Northerncountries, where it developed into the wide scholarship and sound learning of menlike Thomas More, Campanella, Bruno, Ronsard, Erasmus and Copernius Themovement had gone far beyond the mere revival of classical studies and was felt inevery aspects of life

In geographical field, Christopher Columbus discovered America, Amerigo Vespucciand Vasco de Gama discovered the Philippines, Magellan travelled around the worldand discovered land and island These great geographical discoveries opened newhorizons and bright prospects for European people

In scientific field, Newton discovered " Law of gravity", Galileo and Copernicusdiscovered the Starts and the Stellar system, and Kepler discovered the orbits of

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a much more optimistic attitude They enjoyed their present life and realized thisearthly life was beautiful and interesting that men had the right to live and enjoyeverything on earth.

1.2 Renaissance men's ideas and attitudes.

1.2.1 The reformation - change in political attitude.

The crucial issues that faced political thinkers in the Renaissance was that ofthe position of the papacy After the Western Roman Empire collapsed in aboutAD.SOO,the Holy Roman Empire and The Roman Catholic church controlled much ofEurope during the Middle Ages The holy Roman influenced the political life of thepeople and through papacy the popes of the Roman Catholic church controlled thereligious life

The church was a huge landowner and monasteries were no longer important toeconomic and social growth in the way they had been to hundred years earlier In factthey were unpopular because many monks no longer led a good religious life butlived in wealth and comfort

In this period, Henry VIII, the famous king of England in Renaissance, was alwayslooking for new source of money He disliked the power of the church in Englandbecause it was an international organization He could not completely control it If theCatholic church in England could work against his own authority, and the taxes paid

to the church reduced his own income Henry was not only European king with a wish

to "centralize" state authority Many others were doing the same thing But Henry had

of supremacy" in 1534 it was a popular decision Now, Henry was free divorceCatherine and marry his new love, Anne Boleyn.

Henry's break with Rome was purely political He had simply wanted to control thechurch and to keep wealth in his own kingdom He did not approve of the new ideas

of Reformation Protestantism introduced by Martin Luther in Germany and JohnCalvin in Geneva Between 1536 and 1539, Henry ordered to close 560 monasteriesand other religious houses Henry did this in order to make money, but he alsowanted to popular with rising classes of landowners and merchants Therefore, hegave or sold much of the monasteries' land to them Many smaller landowners madetheir fortunes Most knocked down the old monastery buildings and used the stones

to create magnificent new houses for themselves Meanwhile, the monks and nunswere thrown out Some were given small sum of work and became wanderingbeggars The dissolution of the monasteries was properly the greatest act of officialdestruction in the history of Britain

1.2.2 Changes in religious belief-Protestant and Catholic Struggle

Most English people still believed in the old Catholic religion Less than half ofthe English were Protestant by belief but these people were allowed to take a lead inreligious matters In 1552, a new prayer book was introduced to make sure that allchurches followed the new Protestant religion Most people were not very happy withthe new religion

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The Catholic priesthood is necessary

as only the meaning of scripture,priests can perform the sacrament

works areBoth faith and good

necessary for salvation

Historians have debated for a long time who the Protestant were, why the new faithappealed to them, where the social and religious fault lines lay and why Marxistshave seen a class struggle between the lower and the upper, others a conflictbetween a feudal Catholicism and a capitalist Protestantism, still to others the appeal

of a more" rational" religion to better educated minds during a time of social flux.Protestant were overwhelmingly more literate than general population, which wasimportant for a religion that so strongly emphasized bible study Members of newtrades like printing and bookselling, as well as newly prestigious trades likes paintingand gold-exploiting, and new manufacturing technologies like silk -making were morelikely to take to Protestantism than members of older, more tradition- bound trades

As a whole, these were artisans with more education, independence, andentrepreneurial spirit than average At least, these generalizations are true in thosereligions of England where these kinds of trades were strong The sober, industriouslifestyle followed by most Protestants went well with the demands of making money intrade and industry It depends on whether or not you think this is a good thing- somehave seen in the Protestant work ethic the sublimation of people who have noabsolution, no ritual means of forgiveness and who must therefore throw themselvesinto their worldly labour to forget

This is by no means a works of theology, but the following tables compares a few ofthe key doctrine issues separating the Protestants from the Catholic

Justification by faith - Christ's sacrifice

atones for all sins, and it is only

necessary to believe in it to be saved

There is nothing humans can do by

their own efforts to add or detract from

it

The priesthood of all believers - all

believers have equal access to God

and no other earthly intermediaries are

needed

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The scriptures as the only source of

true doctrine -studying and

understanding the scriptures is

therefore important to all believers

Translating the Bible into the

vernacular tongues and making it

available to all is essential

No heavenly intermediaries are needed

to intercede with the God Although the

Virgin Mary, saints, and angels are in

heaven, they should not be the objects

of prayer or encourages respect The

making of images encourages

idolatrous worship that should be

directed at the more abstract concept of

God

The Bible only documents two

sacraments: baptism and the Lord's

Supper No priestly status is required to

perform them, although ministers to the

church are necessary and useful to

directing and guilding it

The Scripture is only one way in whichdoctrine is revealed: the decision ofchurch councils, encyclicals from thePope, tradition, etc are all part of it.Only the priesthood of the church cancorrectly interpret the meaning ofscripture- do not try this at home

Although the saints and angels shouldnot be worshipped, their intercession isvaluable and necessary to helping theChristian to achieve salvation TheVirgin Mary is specially honored byGod, and should be also by believers.Religious images should not beworshipped, but they are held to inspiredevotion

There are seven sacraments: baptism,Eucharist, penance, confirmation,marriage, holy orders, extreme unction

Of these, baptism can be performed byanyone in an emergency, and marriage

is technically bestowed by the twopartners on one another - the rest canonly be performed by a priest

1.3 England in the Renaissance.

There was never any doubt that due to the Renaissance, England became themost prosperous and important European country Especially, during the reign ofQueen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603), English society witnessed dramatic transformations.Following were some salient changes:

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1.3.1 Economy and society

At the Renaissance, England and Wales contained more than four millionpeople The population had nearly doubled over the previous century Populationincrease created severe social and economic problems, not the least of which was along - term inflation English society was predominantly rural, with as much as 85percent of its people living on the land Small market towns of several hundredinhabitants facilitated local exchange, and in contrast to most of western Europe therewere few large urban areas Only London could be ranked with the great continentalcities Its growth had outstripped even the doubling of the general population Londonwas the center of government, of overseas trade and finance, of fashion, taste, andculture It was ruled by a merchant class, whose wealth increased tremendously overthe course of the century as international trade expanded

London not only ruled the English commercial world, but it also dominated the ruraleconomy of the southeast by its great demand for food and clothing The ruraleconomy was predominant agricultural, which mixed animal and grain husbandrypracticed wherever the land allowed The population increase, however, placed greatpressure upon the resources of local communities, and efforts by landlords andtenants to raise productivity for either profit or survival were the key feature ofagriculture development

The economic division between rich and poor, between surplus and subsistenceproducers, was a principal determinant of rank and status English society wasorganized hierarchically with a tightly defined ascending order of privileges andresponsibilities This hierarchy was as apparent in the family as in the state There, aselsewhere, male domination was the rule; husbands ruled their wives, masters of theirservant, parents their children But if hierarchy was stratified, it was not ossified; thosewho attained wealth could achieve status The social hierarchy reflected gradations ofwealth and responded to changes in the economic fortunes of individuals In thissense it was more open than most European societies; old wealth was not preferred

Both rich and poor lived in small family groups Brothers and sisters usually did notlive with each other or with their parents once they had grown up They tried to find aplace of their own People expected to work hard and to die young Poor childrenstarted work at the age of six or seven.

One Scholar gives an interesting view of English society in the Renaissance times:

"The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them;they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world butEngland"

In spite of the hard conditions of life, most people had a larger and better home to live

in than ever before Chimneys, which before had only been found in the rich family,were now built in every house This technical development made cooking and heatingeasier and more comfortable For the first time more than one room could be used inwinter

Between 1530 and 1600, one group of people suffered badly during the Renaissancetimes These were the unmarried women Before the Reformation many of thesewomen could be nuns, and assured that in the religious life they would be safe andrespected After the dissolution of the monasteries, thousands became beggars on

the roads of England In future an unmarried woman could only hope to be a servant

in someone else's house, or to be kept by her own family She had little choice in life

1.3.3 Language and culture

At the beginning of this period, English was still spoken in a number of differentways There were still remainder of Saxon, Angle, Jute and Viking invasion indifferent parts of country Since the time of Chaucer, in the mid - fourteenth century,London English, itself a mixture of south Midland and south eastern English, hadbecame accepted as standard English

Literacy increased greatly during the mid - sixteenth century, even though thereligious houses, which had always provided traditional education, had closed.Nothing, however, showed England's new confidence more than its artistic floweringduring the Renaissance In the early years of the sixteenth century English thinkershad became interested in the work of the Dutch philosopher Erasmus One of them,Thomas More, wrote a study of the ideal nation, called Utopia, which becameextremely popular throughout Europe

The Renaissance also influenced religion, encouraging the Protestant Reformation,

as well as a freer approach to ways of thinking within the Catholic Church In musicEngland enjoyed its considerable interest in the new painters in Europe, and Englanddeveloped its own special kin of painting, the miniature portrait

Literature, however, was England's greater art form Playwrights likeChristopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare filled the theatres withtheir exciting new plays

These were true Renaissance men who were both brave and cruel in war, but alsohighly educated Sir Edmund Spencer, and Sir Philip Sidney were examples Whileimprisoned in the Tower of London waiting to be executed, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote apoem which describes how time takes away youth and gives back only old age anddust It was found in his Bible after his execution:

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Even such is time, that takes in trustOur youth, our joys, our all we have,And pays us but with earth and dust

Who, in the dark and silent grave,When we have wandered all our ways,Shuts up the story of our days

But from this earth, this grave, this dust

My God shall raise me up, I trust

2 Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.

2.1 what is drama and the origins of drama.

Drama is a type of literature usually written to be performed Works of dramaare written not only to be read but also to be presented in public by a group ofperformers, each of whom plays one of characters in the story The elements ofdrama are divided into dialogue, theme, plot, character, setting, stage directions,stage property, little description of the situation The main kinds of drama includecomedy, tragedy, and history

The origins of drama are more the concern of anthropologists because drama andreligion ritual seem to have been bound up with one another in

the earlier stage of all civilizations

These things lie in the background of all drama:

As far as, we can trace the history of English drama, it begins with the elaboration ofthe ecclesiastical liturgy in mutually answering dialogues Other sources are pre -

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Christian seasonal festival, St George and Robin Hood plays, maypole dances, andsimilar folk activities

No substantial continuity can be established between the origins of European drama

in the Middle Ages and the drama of Greek and Rome, which had already run itscourse by the time the Christian era began

Strolling minstrels and other varieties of itinerant entertainments might havepreserved some bit of Roman theatre but they eventually became absorbed into therepertory of the profession long before it contributed anything to the acting of Miracle

or mystery and morality plays

2.2 the origins of the Elizabethan drama

The origins of the Elizabethan drama may ultimately traced to the

"Mysteries", "Miracles", which were performed during the Middle Ages in order toinstruct the people in the essential facts of the Bible

• Mysteries:

The fifteenth century is the century of the" mysteries" The word is doubtless derived

from the Latin ministerium and means" act" In the middle Ages sacred dramas were also called by other names, in Italy funzione, in Spain autor (acts) Even today, we

say" drama", a word of analogous signification

The mysteries were often devoted to a saint and emphasized the super natural.intervention of a saint or the Blessed Virgin

We have the" mysteries of the Siege of Orlean" and" Mystery of the Destruction ofTroy" Taking account into the aesthetic side of this drama, modern standards shouldnot be applied The theatre of mysteries plays the scenes are not derived from oneanother They succeed one another without any other unity than the interest whichattaches to the chief personage and general idea of eternal salvation The plays used

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of character there was no art whatever The drama of Middle Ages are simply grandand animated spectacles.

In Mysteries, places were indicated by vast scenery, rather than really represented.For example, two or three trees represented a forest, and although the action oftenchanged from place to place, the scenery did not change, because localities wherethe characters successively appeared in the course of the drama If the scenery wasimmovable, it was very rich and secrets of theoretical mechanism of producedsurprising and fairy - like effects The actors were richly dressed each paid for hisown costume

The subject - matter of Mysteries admitted of the marvellous and was borrowed fromreligion, Holy Scripture The tradition doctrine and august characters of the chiefpersonage had to be respected the poet recalled not only the event of this world, butdepicted before the audience the terrors and the hopes of the next

They expounded at the same time heaven, earth and hell and this enormous subjectgave occasion for scenes of powerful interest

• Miracle plavs:

It is true that the church forbade the faithful during the early centuries to attendthe licentious representations of decadent paganism The church contributed itself togradual development of a new drama, which was not only moral but also edifying andpious Therefore, Miracles had as their subjects a story from the scriptures on the lifeand martyrdom of saint

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I Miracle plays were performed in the churchyard and then later and they moved into

even larger space, traditionally the market place of the town or even a convenientgrassland Once outside the church, the vernacular ousted Latin and the focus of thestory moved away from just the liturgy to encompass the whole range of sacredhistory from the Creation to the Last Judgment Drama began to present the entire ofreligious history

• Morality plays:

While the miracle plays were still going strong, another medieval dramatic formemerged in the 14th century and flourished in the 15th - 16th, a form which has moredirect links with Elizabethan drama This is the morality play, which differs frommiracle play in that it does not deal with a biblical or pseudo - biblical story but withpersonified abstractions of virtues and vices who struggle for

man's soul Simply put, morality plays dealt with man's search for salvation

Morality plays were dramatized allegories of the life of man, his temptation andsinning, his request for salvation, and his confrontation with death The morality play,which developed most fully in the 15th century, handled the subjects that were mostpopular among medieval preachers and drew considerably on contemporary homiletictechnique

Key Elements And Themes Of Morality Plays:

Morality plays held several elements in common:

•The hero represents Mankind or Everyman

• Among the other characters are personifications of virtues,vices and death, as well as angels and demons who battle forpossession of the soul of man

•The battle for the soul, was a common theme,and associated with the whole idea of medieval allegory,and it found its way into medieval drama - and even intosome Renaissance drama, as Dr Faustus indicates

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• A character known as the Vice often played the role of thetempter in a fashion both sinister and comic

Certain themes found a home in the morality plays:

•The themes of the Seven Deadly Sins, which was a

commonplace of medieval art and literature;

• The themes of Mercy and Peace pleading before God forman's soul against Truth and Righteousness;

• The Dance of Death, which focuses on Death as God's messenger come to summon all, high and low The Dance of Death

is a dramatic rendition of the Sin theme, which figures so larger inliterature of the Middle Ages This theme rhetorically asks:

"where are all those who were before us"

The earliest morality play is The Castle of Perseverance, which was written circa

1452 this was an elaborate play with 360 lines and 34 characters, and its theme isthe fight between Mankind's Good Angel and his supporters and his Bad Angel, who

is supported by the Seven Deadly Sins The actions takes Man from his birth to theDay of Judgment

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To the Reader.

This Figure, that thou here seest put,

It was for gentle Shakespeare cut, Wherein the Graver had astrife with Nature, to out-doo the life :

0, could he but have drawne his wit

As well in brasse, as he hath hit His face; the Print would then sur passe All, that was ever writ in brasse.

But, since he cannot, Reader, looke Not on his Picture, but his Booke.

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3 William Shakespeare - the greatest Humanist and the idol of

the Renaissance Ages3.1 His life:

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford - upon Avon, baptized on 26th April

1564, according to the parish register of the Holy Trinity Church The name ofShakespeare is an old one in Warwickshire, dating back as far as 1248, when'William Shakespeare" was executed for thieving The dramatist had seven brothersand sisters, according to the same church register, three of them died in childhood.Shakespeare himself may have narrowly escaped the plague that was devastatingLondon and its Surrounding townships in the year of his birth Shakespeare's mother,Mary Arden, was land - owing heiress with the fifty - acre estate of Asbies from herfather, Robert Arden, upon his death in 1556 His father, John Shakespeare movedhis residence to town of Stratford in 1552, he was a prominent and prosperousalderman in the town of Stratford - upon - Avon, and was later granted a coat ofarms by the College of Heralds

John Shakespeare would have been able to

enjoy the absence of tuition for William as a

benefit of his position in Stratford The

school in Stratford was of very good quality,

better than Eton at the time More support

for this assertion comes from Shakespeare

himself: in The Merry Wives of Windsor,

he re - enacts a school - room scene, right

down to the learning of Latin by memorization The Globe Theatre

The next major event in the life of William Shakespeare is his marriage to AnnaHathaway

They were married by the Bishop of Worcester on 28th November 1582 AnnHathaway is most likely the eldest daughter of Richard Hathaway, who lived inShottery, a small village a mile or so to the west of Stratford She was 26 at the date

of wedding They had three children The birth of their first child, Susanna, was on 26May 1583 Twins Hamnet and Judith were born on 2 February 1585

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timbers of ''The Theatre", with motto "Tofus mundus agif hisfrionem" (A whole world

of player ).

Shakespeare entertained the King and the people for another ten years until June

19th, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre for gala performance ofHenry VIII set fire to the thatch roof and burned the theatre to the ground Theaudience ignored the smoke from the roof first, being too absorbed in the play, untilthe flames caught the walls and the fabric of the curtains Amazingly there were nocasualties, and the next spring the company had the theatre "new built in a far fairermanner than before" Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retiredfrom the stage to the Great House of New Place in Stratford that he had purchased in

1597, and some land holdings, where he continued to write until his death in 1616 onthe day of his 52nd birthday He was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church on

25th April After his death, two actors who had been in The Lord Chamberlain's Men,John Heminges and Henry Condell printed the First Folio edition of Shakespeare'collected plays and sonnets as a tribute to their friends in 1623, including 18 plays notprinted anywhere else

According to George Stevens, a knowledgeable Shakespearean Scholar of the1700's, he said " all that is known with any degree of certainty concerningShakespeare, is that he was born at Stratford - upon - Avon, married and hadchildren there, went to London, where he commenced actor, and wrote poems andplays, returned to Stratford, made his will, died and was buried"

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Certainly, records from Elizabethan England are not as detailed as records from morerecent times, but we know more about Shakespeare than we do about most otherplaywrights from his period We known his existence, we have all of the major recordsand documentation of his life

3.2 His works:

William Shakespeare, in terms of his life and his body of work, is the mostwritten-about author in the history of Western civilization His canon includes 38plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 epic narrative poems The First Folio was publishedposthumously in 1623 by two of Shakespeare's acting companions, John Hemingesand Henry Condell Ever since then, the works of Shakespeare have been studied,analyzed, and enjoyed as some of the finest masterpieces of the English language

It is all the more wondrous when one can study the works and see Shakespearedeveloping as a playwright right there upon the pages Love's Labours Lost and theearly comedies are the work of a gifted and clever author Perhaps such plays alonewould have earned him literary fame in later days The grandeur of a Hamlet or KingLear, however, is the work of a master who learned from his own writing and longpractice

In his time, Shakespeare was the most popular playwright of London As centurieshave passed, his genius eclipses all others of his age; Jonson, Marlowe, Kyd,Greene, Dekker, Heywood-none approach the craft or the humanity of characterthat marks the Bard's work He took the art of dramatic verse and honed it toperfection He created the most vivid characters of the Elizabethan-or any other-stage His usage of language, both lofty and low, shows a remarkable wit andsubtlety Most importantly, his themes are so universal that they transcendgenerations to stir the imaginations of audiences everywhere to this today

His plays generally fall into four categories:

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1-The first period: 1591- 1594

The first period was considered his apprenticeship As his contemporaries, heimitated the styles and plays of Roman playwrights He sometimes collaborated withChristopher Marlowe and others in composition This is the period of optimism ofWilliam Shakespeare His early works were comedies, historical plays, tragedies andpoems as following:

Comedies:

1 - Comedy of Terror

2 - Taming of the Shrew

3 - Two Gentlemen of Verona

4 - Love's Labour's Lost

Tragedies:

1 - Titus Andronicus

History plays:

1 - Henry VI, part 1

2 - Henry VI, part 2

3 - Henry Vi, part 3

4 - Richard III

Poems:

1 - Venus and Adonis

2 - The Rape of Lucrece

2 - The second period: 1594-1600

In this period, although Shakespeare wrote all the types of drama, he wasreally interested in composing romantic comedies They contain joyous poetry andmuch optimism They describe friendships, loves, the search for happiness of theyoung people Many humorous incidents inserted in the plays bring about laughter ofthe audience " Rome and Juliet" which was the only tragedy of the period, started theappearance of a series of more later This is of maturity of William Shakespeare Hisworks in this time are:

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Comedies:

1 - A Mid Summer Night's Dream

2 - The Merchant of Venice

3 - Much Ado about Nothing

3 - Henry IV, part 1

4 - Henry IV, part 2

5 - Henry V

Poems: Sonnets

3 - The third period: 1600 - 1608

Shakespeare' s plays changed from optimism to pessimism They reflect theproblems people had to face in life such as falsehood, cruelty, love, hate, jealousy,ambition, etc his tragedies showed his disbelief in man's values, man's capacity and

in the meaning of human life, even expressing his hatred for mankind They areconsidered the most profound of his works Besides, the laughter in his comediesbecame darker and more bitter than it was in two above - mentioned period

Comedies:

1- Twelfth Night

2 - Troilus and Cressida

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3 - All' well that ends well

4 - Measure for measure

4 - The fourth period: 1608 - 1613

The plays seemed to be mixture between comedies and tragedies, they werealso called dramatic romances They expressed calm, sober and quietly lovelysituations They told of happiness which was lost, and then found again The followingplays are the famous ones of Shakespeare in this period:

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1.1 Juliet in " Romeo and Juliet".

1.1.1 A brief summary of " Romeo and Juliet"

In the city of Verona in the northern Italy, during the fourteenth century, twowealthy and noble families, the Montagues and the Capulets have been feuding formany years The feud between them still continues although the original cause of thequarrel has been forgotten Romeo, a child of the Montague family, first lovesRosalin, a beautiful woman in Verona Romeo is sad because she has refused hislove His cousin and friend, Benvolio, advises him to think of another woman but hesays that he could not forget Rosalin

The great rich Capulet family organises a party on Sunday evening and allpeople in Verona, except for the Montague, have been invited However, Romeogoes to the party in order to see Rosalin There he meets Juliet, a Capulet, andsuddenly he forgets Rosalin and falls in love with Juliet That night, they exchangesvows of eternal love on the balcony of the Capulet s' house The next day, they aremarried secretly by Friar Lawrence

Romeo 's appearance at the Capulet's party makes Tybalt, a nephew of LadyCapulet, feel angry and he thinks he will punish Romeo for this Later that day hemeets Mercutio, a friend of Romeo and relative of the Prince of Verona, withBenvolio They quarrel and fight each other Unfortunately, Mercutio is killed by Tybalt

so Romeo gets revenge for his friend's death by killing Tybalt The Prince sentencesRomeo to banishment from Verona The friar advises Romeo to leaves Verona to live

in the nearby city of Mantua and wait for a opportunity to proclaim the marriagepublicly Romeo agrees with j;r.iar'O~rNdecid~ to leave Verona after spending

Graduation paper

Monday night with Juliet When Romeo has gone, Juliet is really very sad but herparents think the death of Tybalt is the cause of her sorrow They tell her to marry hersuitor, Count Paris but she refuses Her father threatens never to see her again if shedoes not obey his order

The next day, Juliet seeks Friar Lawrence for advice He suggests to her topretend to accept the marriage with Paris The Friar also gives her a lotion which willmake her sleep and look as if she is death on her wedding morning Then she will beplaced in the family vault where he and Romeo will rescue her when she awakes.Romeo will take her to live with him in Mantua Meanwhile, the Friar will send amessage to Romeo Juliet carries out the Friar's plan However, before the massage

is delivered to Romeo, he hears a news of the death of Juliet He returns to theCapulet vault There he meets Paris and they fight Paris is killed After that, Romeotakes the poison and dies When Juliet wakes up and sees the dead body of herlover, she stabs herself After their death, Friar Lawrence explains to the Prince, theCapulet and the Montague what has happened This makes two families understandthat their children's death is caused by their feud, so they forget their hate andpromise to live in peace

1.1.2 Juliet.

" Romeo and Juliet" is the only tragedy which Shakespeare has written entirely

on a love story It is supposed to have been his first play, and it deserves to stand inthat proud rank There is the buoyant spirit of youth in every line, in the rapturousintoxication of hope, and in the bitterness of despair It has been said of Romeo andJuliet by William Hazlitt (1990: 5) that" whatever is most intoxicating in the odour of asouthern spring, languishing in the song of the nightingale, or voluptuous in the firstopening of the rose, is to be in this play"

William Shakespeare created the beautiful woman, who is considered as asymbol of the youth, innocence, and faith She overcomes the long - standing hatebetween the Capulets and The Montagues to give Romeo her true love That leads to

I;g:lJ;,!(~nThi Tim Bien 28

the tragedy of her life We can find the development of character Juliet from thebeginning to the end of the play She begins the playas an obedient girl who lives asheltered life, but after she meets Romeo and falls in love with him, she becomes aresolute woman who dares striving for her true love

Juliet is a very young girl, she is only fourteen She is the daughter and theonly heiress of the wealthy and powerful Capulet family She first appears indirectlythrough the talk between Capulet and Paris, a wealthy young man of Verona, who issuitor of Juliet In this talk, Paris asks Capulet to allow him to get married to Juliet.Although Capulet accepts, he says that Paris should wait two years more because hethinks his daughter is childish:

My child is yet stranger in the worldShe hath not seen the change of fourteen yearsLet to more summer wither in their pride

Era we may think her ripe to be a bride

(Act I, Scene 2)

Juliet is a modest and obedient girl, who has never loved before She has notknown about the nature and power of love Thus, when her mother suggests thatParis might make a good husband, she simply replies:

I'll look to like, if looking liking moveBut no more deep will I endear mine eyesThan your consent gives strength to make it fly

(Act I, Scene 3)

However, the meetings with Romeo at her family's party is an awakening toher feeling of love She is impressed by Romeo's handsome appearance andbeautiful behaviour, and falls in love with him at the first sight It is the first time sheknows what true love is She loves Romeo naturally and strongly, even when shediscovers that Romeo is a Montague In the balcony scene, she talks aloud of herown love for him, she is also sad because Romeo is a number of the Montagues, but

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