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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER PAGES NO.

Introduction 2I. Four periods of Shakespeares life 3 - 4II. Shakespeare as a dramatist 5 - 8III. Art of characterization 9 - 10IV. Style and Imagery 11 - 12V. Shakespeare Influence. 13 - 14VI. Shakespeares concept of Tragedy. 15 - 19VII. Shakespearean comedy: Its chief characteristics 20 - 22VIII. The Heroines of Shakespeares comedies... 23 - 24IX. Mingling of the Comic and the Tragic. 25 - 26X. Sonnet... 27 - 28XI. Shakespeares Soliloquies... 29 - 31`XII. Shakespeares Roman Tragedies. 32 - 34XIII. Critical Reputation... 35 - 37XIV. Shakespeare-Quotes and Quotations.. 38 - 39Conclusion 40 - 41Bibliography. 42 - 43

INTRODUCTION Ben Jonson called Shakespeare not of an age, but of all ages, but he also referred to him as the soul of the age.Drama, by its very nature, holds a mirror to life, an the plays of Shakespeare not only mirror his age ,but are also a running commentary on the life of the times .Topical allusions and references to contemporary events are scattered all up and down his works .He was a popular dramatist who wrote for the public stage and his art was conditioned by the tastes of the people and the limitations of the stage.William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 23 Apri1 616)was an Englishpoet,playwright, and act or widely regarded as the greatest writer in theEnglish languageand the world's pre-eminent dramatist.He is often called England's national poetand the "Bard of Avon".His extant works, including somecollaborations, consist of about38 plays,154 sonnets, two longnarrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every majorliving languageand are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and brought up inStratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he marriedAnne Hathaway, with whom he had three children:Susanna, and twinsHamletandJudith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of aplaying companycalled theLord Chamberlain's Men, later known as theKing's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters ashis physical appearance,sexuality,religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him werewritten by others. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.His early plays were mainlycomediesandhistories and these works remain regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres. He then wrote mainlytragediesuntil about 1608, includingHamlet,Othello,King Lear, andMacbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known asromances, and collaborated with other playwrights.Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623,John HemingesandHenry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published theFirst Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

CHAPTER I

Four Periods of Shakespeare's Life

Shakespeare's plays can broadly be divided into four time periods:1. Pre-1594 (King Richard III, The Comedy of Errors,etc.)2. 15941600 (King Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream,etc.)3. 16001608 (Macbeth, King Lear,etc.)4. Post-1608 (Cymbeline, The Tempest,etc.)

The first period (pre-1594) has its roots in Greek, Roman, and medieval English drama the plays show certain obviousness. It's possible that Shakespeare was influenced by Christopher Marlowe now considered Shakespeare's greatest literary rival whose writing was gaining recognition as Shakespeare's play wrighting career began.The second period (15941600) shows a clearly maturing author, and the plays are less labored and predictable. The histories of this period portray royalty in human terms rather than as ciphers to move along a plot. He experiments with blending comedy and tragedy, considered a trademark of Shakespeare's that would become a stylistic signature.The third period (16001608) marks the great tragedies. At this point he wrote the plays that would earn him his place in history. Lear, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello are classic tragic protagonists in the best dramatic sense. The comedies, meanwhile, grow moody and ambiguous.The plays of his fourth period, 1608-1613, are remarkable for calm strength and sweetness. The fierceness ofOthelloand Macbethis left behind. In 1608 Shakespeare's mother died. Her death and the vivid recollection of her kindness and love may have been strong factors in causing him to look on life with kindlier eyes. The greatest plays of this period areCymbeline,The Winter's Tale, andThe Tempest.

CHAPTER- II

Shakespeare As A Dramatist: His GreatnessOrThe Universality and Permanence of Shakespeare

His Lack of Originality

Shakespeare was one of the greatest men of genius that have ever been born on this blighted planet of ours. The extent, variety and richness of his plays are quite bewildering as one approaches them. Yet he never took the trouble to be original .He is one of the greatest of literary plagiarists. According to the custom of the times, he borrowed freely from plays already in existence, and often simply reshaped older plays, Few of his plots are his own invention. Most of them are based upon Plutarch,s Lives ,Holinsheds chronicles, or other popular classical translations . Still he shines to us through the intervening darkness of over three centuries with a dazzling light.

His Immense Variety

First of all, his superiority lies in the combination of all the gifts which are scattered or isolated in the works of others, in the extreme diversity of his talents. He could not surpass the pathos and sublimity of the last scenes of Marlowes Dr. Faustus, he created no atmosphere of grief and terror so poignant and terrible as that of Websters Duchess of Malfi. None of his plays is so solidly constructed as Johnsons The Alchemist; and Fletcher and Dekker often equal him in lyrical intensity. His greatness, His superiority over his contemporaries, lies in the combination of all these gifts. While they tended to be stale and stereotyped, Shakespeare is ever changing, ever becoming different from what he was before .Says Legouis, His flexibility was marvellons. He adapted himself to the most diverse material and seemed to use all with equal ardour and joy. His dramas are so astonishingly various in kind that no one theory fits them and each of them must be studied separately. He is never found twice at the same point.He shows equal aptitude for the tragic and the comic, the sentimental and the burlesque, lyrical fantasy and character-study, portraits of men and women. This diversity exists everywhere in his dramas.

His Universality

Shakespeares freshness is perennial; his appeal is universal. He is worlds immortal poet. He wrote for the Elizabethan stage and audience; but he is read and enjoyed even today not only by Englishmen, but by the English-speaking people all over the world . His works have been translated into all the important languages of the world; and the films based upon his dramas continue to draw packed houses. His freshness and appeal seem to grow the more he is read; the mystery of his own Cleopatra seems to belong to him:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom staleHer infinite variety: other women cloyThe appetites they feed: but she makes hungryWhere most she satisfies,Shakespearean drama is like an ever flowing river of life and beauty, and all who thirst for art or truth can have their fill from it.In the field of characterization, the dramatist reigns supreme. It is principally in this respect that Shakespeare surpasses all his rivals and is Shakespeare. They are all alive, they grow, change and evolve before the very eyes of the readers. In sheer prodigality of output, says Albert, Shakespeare is unrivalled in literature. From king to clown, from lunatic to demi-devil to saint and seer, from lover to misanthrope all are revealed with the hand of a master. He is entirely objective and impartial, and paints the good and the evil, the wicked and the virtuous, with the same loving care. He is like the proverbial sun in this respect, which shines on the just and the unjust alike. Hence follows the vital force that resides in his creations.

His Humour

Shakespeare is the greatest humorist in English literature. His laughter is varied, many sided and all pervasive. But when the occasion demands it, he can also be ironical and satiric, grim or morbid. We find in him comedy of character, and wit, as also farcical situations productive of horse-laughter. In his plays, we laugh at fools, at those who pretend to be wise, at affection, at extreme simplicity, at awkwardness and at hypocrisy. We are amused at misunderstandings of intention, fruitless struggles of absurd passion, contradictions of temperament, and situations of utter helplessness.

Blending of Humour and Pathos

Though Shakespeare can laugh incomparably, mere laughter wearies him.He often blends it subtly and skillfully with tragedy and pathos .In the tragedies his humour serves to enliven the general atmosphere of gloom , to relieve tragic tensions, and to heighten the effect of the scene that follows , in short , to provide those tone c lashes .He holds a mirror of nature in the true sense of the term .

The Poetic Element: Style

The first dramatist was also the first poet of his day and one of the first of all times. The poet is not only revealed by the hundred exquisite songs with which the plays are strewn. The ardent passion for beauty which is the distinction of the sonnets, and causes the best of them to reach the high watermark of beauty in English poetry, attains in the playsto results as fine, and there has a diversity of mood and accent impossible to the sonnets.

When at his best similies and metaphors come out of his pen as sparks from a chimney fire. The very syntax is the syntax of thought rather than of language; constructions are mixed, grammatical links are dropped , the meaning of many sentences is compressed into one , hints and impressions count for as much as full bown propositions. He is a matchless painter albeit not with a brush, but with words.

In short, in the words of Dryden, He is the man, who all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and the most comprehensive soul.We may sum up this account of the greatness of Shakespeare with the words of Raleigh : So Shakespeare has come down to us ,as English man of letters; he has been separated from his fellows, and recognized for what he is: perhaps the greatest poet of all times ; one who has said more about humanity than any other writer, and has said it better, whose works are the study and admiration of divines and philosophers of soldiers and statesmen, so that his continued vogue upon the stage is the smallest part of his immortality: who has touched many spirits finely to fine issues, and has been for three centuries source of delight and understanding, of wisdom and consolation.

CHAPTER III

ART OF CHARACTERISATION

Shakespeares Characterisation Superior to His Plots

In nothing Shakespeare so great and original, as in the delineation of character. He takes a story as it comes to his hand, lets the plot take care of itself and devotes his best attention to characterization. Indeed, it is heightened character interest which smoothens the crudities, the absurdities, and the improbabilities of his plots and makes them acceptable. He is the creator of a larger number of immortals of literature than any other single individual. His figure will live as long as English and its literature is read and enjoyed.

The Humanity of His Characters:Shakespeares characters are strongly humanised. They are neither gods nor devils, but real human beings with common human weaknesses and virtues, similar joys and sorrows and moved by similar passions. They have the reality of life itself.

CHAPTER- IV

STYLE AND IMAGERY

His Command Over WordsShakespeare had a unique command over the English language. He had a mint of fine phrases in his brain, and his speech is, a very fanatastical banquet. Words come winged at his bidding and seem to know their places. Though he had fed of the dainties that are bred in books, yet he learned his language not from scholars but from the school of life. He went for his words to the language of everyday speech, hence the compass, variety, raciness and perennial freshness of his diction. He may be read again and again, but like his own Cleopatra, he never cloys, even where most he feeds. In his age, the English language was still fluid, and Shakespeare enjoyed a freedom of choice and invention unknown to his successors. He freely mixes up words of Saxon and Latin origins, but the mixture is so judicious, that instead of any loss in vigour and spirit there is a decided increase in grasp and strength.He coins, at need words like, opposeless, vastidity, upright, inaudible etc. He strikes out dimunitives when he needs them as smilets, crownets etc. The more or less precise significations which are now attached to certain Latin prefixes and suffixes are all disordered and mixed in his use of them. Indeed his use of words is impressionistic; if a word sounds aright, he accepts it without further ado.

His Neglect of Grammar and Syntax In his construction of sentences and arrangement of words, Shakespeare does not care for and rules of grammar. He violates almost every rule of syntax, and neglects formal concord in the interests of a larger truth of impression. Sometimes his arrangement of words is so peculiar and arbitrary that the meaning tends to be a obscure. It is for this reason that many of his sentences have been interpreted in a number of ways, and have given rise to endless discussion. But he wrote for the stage, and the actors looks, turns, and gestures went a long way in rendering his meaning intelligible. He cares little for grammar or syntax for his main care is to convey the exact thought. Language with him, writes Hudson, is not the dress, but the incarnation of ideas; he does not rob his thought with garments externally cut and fitted to them, but his thoughts rob themselves in a living texture of flesh and blood.

CHAPTER V

SHAKESPEARES INFLUENCE

Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterization, plot,language, andgenre.UntilRomeo and Juliet, for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy.Soliloquieshad been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds.His work heavily influenced later poetry. TheRomantic poetsattempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. CriticGeorge Steinerdescribed all English verse dramas fromColeridgetoTennysonas "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes." Shakespeare influenced novelists such asThomas Hardy,William Faulkner, andCharles Dickens. The American novelistHerman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab inMoby-Dickis a classictragic hero, inspired byKing Lear. Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works. These include two operas byGiuseppe Verdi,Othelloand Falstaff, whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays.Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and thePre-Raphaelites. The Swiss Romantic artistHenry Fuseli, a friend ofWilliam Blake, even translatedMacbethinto German. ThepsychoanalystSigmund Freuddrew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature. In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardized than they are now,and his use of language helped shape modern English.Samuel Johnsonquoted him more often than any other author in hisA Dictionary of the English Language, the first serious work of its type.Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone conclusion" (Othello) have found their way into everyday English speech.

CHAPTER VI

SHAKESPEARES CONCEPT OF TRAGEDYORSHAKESPEARES TRAGIC HERO

Shakespeares Tragic PeriodShakespeare has felt behind him anumber of great tragedies, written during different periods of his career. They are-1. Richard III and Richard II2. Romeo and Juliet 3. Julius Ceasar and Antony and Cleopatra;4. Timon of Athens and Criolanus;5. Hamlet , Othello, Macbeth and King LearThe last four are his greatest creations and rank among the greatest tragedies of the world. They are the dramatist tour de force, and all discussions of his tragic art centre round them.

The Theme: Struggle between Good and EvilThe theme of a Shakespearean tragedy is the struggle between Good and evil, resulting in serious convulsions and disturbances, sorrows, sufferings and deaths. Says Dowden, tragedy as conceived by Shakespeare is concerned with a ruin or restoration of the soul and of the life of man. In other words, its subject is the struggle of good and evil in the world. It depicts men and women struggling with evil, often succumbing to it, and brought to death by it. Through their heroic struggle, we realize the immense spiritual potentiality of men. For Shakespeare tragedy becomes the stern, awful, but exalting pictures of mankinds heroic struggle towards a goodness which enlarges and enriches itself as human experience grow longer and wider through the age.

The Melodramatic Note Our dramatist wrote for the stage and not for our armchair reading. He strove to display themes essentially stirring and often melodramatic and that his primal thought was dramatic effectiveness. In this tragedies, he presents a rich series of excitements that is likely to rouse the most apathetic audience. The themes of all the four great tragedies are sensational. For example, Macbeth has its witches, its ghosts and appartions, its murder in a darkened castle, its drunken tipsy porter, and its thrilling site of Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep. In Hamlet, we have the ghost and the grave-diggers in Othello night alarm and sword fights, and in King Lear The celebrated trio of madness. Obviously this is only the outward framework : beyond and within the external sensationalism, Shakespeare has placed a more subtle, a more poetical, and a less tangible tragic spirit.The Tragic HeroA Shakespearean tragedy is pre-eminently the story of one person the hero or at most of two, the hero and the heroine. It is only in the love tragedies, Romeo and Juliet, and Antony and Cleopatra, that the heroine is as much the centre of action as the hero. There are no doubt, a number of other persons, but the attention is concentrated on the main figure. A typical Shakespearean tragedy is single star. The story leads upto and includes the death of the hero- at the end, the stage is often littered with corpses.His Exalted Rank and StatusThe tragic heroes are all conspicuous persons who stand in a high degree. They are either kings, or princes, or great military generals indispensable for the state. Thus Hamlet is a prince, Lear is a king, Macbeth belongs to the royal family, and is a trusted kinsman and general, and Othello is a great warrior and brave general. Shakespeare conception of tragedy is medieval, for he is not concerned with the fate of the common man, his sorrow and suffering which is the concern of a modern tragedy. These exalted personages suffer greatly; their suffering and calamity is exceptional. Thus, Macbeth after the murder suffers the tortures of Hell, as if there were scorpions in his brain: Othello is on the rack with jealousy for the greater part of the play; Lear goes mad and raves; and Hamlets soul is torn within. Their suffering is contrasted with their previous happiness. The hero is such an important personality that his fall affects the welfare of a whole nation or empire, and when he fall suddenly from the height of earthly greatness to the dust, his fall produces a sense of the powerlessness of man and the omnipotences of Fate.

An Exceptional Individual The Tragic Flaw The tragic hero is not only a person of high degree, he also has an exceptional nature. He is built on a grand scale. He has some passion and obsession which attains in him a terrible force. He has marked one-sidedness, a strong tendency to act in a particular way. They are all driven in some one direction by some peculiar interest, object, passion, or habit of mind. Bradley refers to this trait as the tragic flaw. Thus Macbeth has valuting ambition. Hamlet noble inaction, Othello credulity and rashness in action , and Lear the folly and fondness of old age. He is passionate and lacks in self-control. Owing to the fault or flaw of his character, the tragic hero falls from greatness. He errs, and his error, joining with other causes, brings ruin upon him. In other words, his character issues in action, or action, issues out of his character. It is in this sense that character is destiny is true of a Shakespearean tragedy. The character of the hero is responsible for his actions; and from this point of view they appear to be instruments shaping their own destiny.

Three Complicating FactorsAs a matter of fact, the characteristic deeds of the hero i.e, deeds issuing from his character, are influenced, and complicated, by the following three additional factors:Some abnormal conditions of mind as insanity, somnambulism, or excitable imagination resulting in hallucinations. Thus king Lear suffers from insanity, Macbeth has hallucinations, and Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep. The deeds that proceeds from such abnormal conditions of mind are not characteristic or voluntary such abnormality never originates deed of any grammatic importance, though it may influence the cource of action and and precipitate the fall of the hero.The supernatural, ghost and witches. The supernatural element is not a mere illusion of the hero. The witches in Macbeth and the ghost in Hamlet have an objective existence as they are seen by others also. Further, the supernatural does contribute to the action, and is often and indispensable part of it. But it is always placed in closest relation with character. It gives a conformation and distinct form to the inner workings of the heroes mind. The ghost which Brutus sees is an expression of his sense of failure; the witches in Macbeth are symbolic of the guilt within his soul; and the ghost in Hamlet results from the suspicion already present in his mind. But its influence is never of a compulsive kind; we are never allowed to feel that it has removed the heroes capacity or responsibility of dealing with the situation in his own way. It is merely suggestive: the hero is quite free to accept the suggestions or to reject it. But the hero follows its suggestion. It is in this way, that the supernatural hastens the downfall of the hero. In most of the tragedies Chance plays a prominent part as it does in life itself. Such chance happenings always work against the hero and quickens his downfall. It is just a chance that Romeo never got the Friars message about the Romeo and that Juliet did not awake from her sleep a minute sooner : that Desdemona dropped her handkerchief at the crucial moment and that Bianca arrived on the scene just in time to serve the purpose of Iago; that the pirate ship attacked Hamlets ship and he could return to Denmark so soon; and that Edgars messenger arrived too late at the prison to save Cordelias life.

No Poetic Justice But one thing Shakespeare makes quite clear- that this order or ultimate power is moral. It is just. Its justice may be terrible, but still our sense of justice is always satisfied. Ofcource, there is no poetic justice in Shakespearean tragedy. Poetic justice means that prosperity and adversity are distributed in proportion to the merits of the agents. The tragic heroes suffer more, infinitely more, than is merited or deserved by their faults. The good and the virtuous are often crushed and they do not get that prosperity which they fully deserve. Lear and Othello suffered terribly out of all proportion to their faults; and Desdemona and Cordelia are wholly good. poetic justice is not fact of life and so Shakespeare, the realist, does not introduce it in his tragedies.

In short, the dramatists tragic vision is solemn, terrible and convincing in its reality. As Raleigh puts it, they (tragedies of Shakespeare) deal with greater things than man; with powers and patience, elemental forces, and dark abyssesof suffering : with the central; fire which breaks through the crush of civilizations. And makes a splendor in the sky above the blackness of ruined homes. Man is presented with a choice, and the essence of the tragedy is that the choice is impossible.

CHAPTER- VII

SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDY: ITS CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS

COMEDY: ITS NATURE A comedy is often rather crudely defined as a dramatic composition with a happy ending. It has also been defined as a play aiming at the production of laughter, more laughter and nothing but laughter. A Shakespearean comedy has both these elements: it has a happy end and it also makes us laugh. Follies and affections are exposed and ridiculed, and the treatment is gentle and sympathetic, as it should be in a comedy.

ITS TWO KINDS - (1) THE CLASSICAL COMEDYA Comedy like the drama in general, may be of two types Classical and Romantic. The classical comedy follows the rules of dramatic composition as laid down by the ancient Greek and Roman masters. The more important of these rules are (1) The observance of the three unities of time, place and action(2) The strict separation of the comic, and tragic or the light and serious elements(3) Realism. It deals with the everyday, familiar life of ordinary people, and (4) Its aim is corrective and satiric. Some human folly, weakness, or social voice is exposed and ridiculed.

THE ROMANTIC COMEDY The Shakespearean comedy, on the other hand, is a Romantic Comedy. It grew out of national tastes and traditions. The dramatist does not care for any rules of literary creation but writes according to the dictates of his fancy. The three unities are carelessly thrown to the wind. There is a free mingling of the comic and the tragic, the serious and the gay, for Shakespeare instinctively realized that life a mingled yarn of joy and sorrows, and it would be unnatural to separate them. Its aim is not corrective, or satiric, but innocent, good natured laughter. Follies are, no doubt, exposed and ridiculed, but the laughter is gentle and sympathetic and there is no moral indignation, or the zeal of a reformer. The dramatist sympathizes even when he laughs.

MUSIC AND THE SPIRIT OF MIRTH Music is the food of love, Shakespearean comedy is intensely musical. Music and dance are its very life and soul. Twelfth night opens with music which strikes the key-note of this merry tale of love. Several exquisites songs are scattered all over As You like It, and A Midsummer Nights Dream, too abounds in music. In the end, there is always music, dance and merrymaking with Hymen, the god of love, presiding. Indeed, Shakespeare is prodigal in the provision of light-hearted mirth and revelry in his comedies. It is only in the later and darker comedies, when the dramatists mind was centered on tragic themes that this spirit of mirth takes on a graver and more serious turn.

THE FOOL : HIS ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE This all pervasive spirit of mirth gains much from the presence of the Fool, or some clownish characters, whom the dramatist introduces into all his love tales. Bottom and his companions, the musical Feste, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, Touchstone, Dogberry and Verges, come readily to the mind of all readers of Shakespeare. Besides contributing fun and humor to the play, they inter-link the main and the sub-plots, and provide a running commentary on character and action. Sometimes the Fool is not really a fool, but the wisest character of the play. For instance, Touchstones acid comments are replete with much practical wisdom.

CHARACTERISATION : HIS GLITTERING HEROINESThe characters of a Shakespearean comedy are kindly, light hearted and humorous. They are lovable creatures who win our sympathies so that we share their joys and sorrows and wish them all success. The women specially are winning and charming. They dominate the action and are always in the front. An array of glittering Heroines, bright, beautiful, and witty, enlivens the world of the comedy of Shakespeare. It is true of most of Shakespeare comedies, as it is of daily life, that where woman is, there also, probably, is the root and heart of the matter.

CHAPTER- VIII

THE HEROINES OF SHAKESPEARES COMEDIES

SHAKESPEARES HEROINES : THEIR WIDE RANGE AND INDIVIDUALITYIn his works, Shakespeare has treated of every shade and type of womanhood, ranging from Miranda, representing simplicity and innocence, at one extreme to Cleopatra, the eternal courtesan, at the other. Much has been written to eulogies his penetrating insight into the female mind and heart. Various attempts have been made to classify his heroines on the basis of some dominant traits by the scholars like Dowden and Mrs. Jameson.

SUPERIOR TO MALE CHARACTERS Shakespeares men cannot, as a class, compare with his women for practical genius. Their imagination often masters and disables them. While Orsino remains at home passively enjoying the luxury of love, Viola courts his lady for him, and brushes aside all obstacles in her way. It is Beatrice who incites Benedick to a duel, and thus tries to defend the honour of her cousin. In his ideal woman, says Gordon, the heart and head sway equal in his women alone, will you find that perfect harmony which is the basis and first condition of a happy life.

SOME LIMITATIONS: ARE THEY INFERIOR TO MAN ?Though the note of praise is more persistent and frequent, the women of Shakespeare have also come in for some criticism. First, fault has been found with them for their occasional jests and remarks considered improper for the fair sex. In this connection, it may be noted that in the age of Shakespeare, ladies of even the noblest families used stronger language in their letters and day to day conversation, than is ever used by any female character of the dramatist. Secondly, it has been pointed out that his range of feminity does not include women of wit and humour - there is no female character like Falstaff among his gallery of womanhood. The dramatist was right in not painting any such character, for it would have been a monstrous caricature, gross and unnatural. Witty women there are, but it is not all of them, the other part of them consist of the usual virtues of real, natural women.

CHAPTER- IX

MINGLING OF THE COMIC AND THE TRAGIC

In this scene, says one critic, Shakespeare achieves a remarkable inter-penetration of the comic, the tragic and the pathetic. Hudson, commenting on this mingling of the comic and the tragic,writes,His humour in tragic scenes carries the power of tears as well as smiles; in his deepest strains of tragedy is often a subtle infusion of it, and this, too, in such a way as to heighten the tragic effect; we may feel it playing delicately beneath his most pathetic scenes, and deepening their pathos .One of the most remarkable instances of their interpretation of the comic and the tragic in all Shakespeare occurs in Othello,when just before the final catastrophe, Emilia humourously tells the pathetic and suffering Desdemona , that she is willing to do such a deed for all the world , for it is great prize ; but she would prefer to do it in the dark and not by the light of day. The dramatic value of the episode needs no comment.

CHAPTER- X

SONNET

Sonnet is derived from the Italian sonnetto which means a song. Its a poem consisting of 14 lines (of 11syllabals in Italian, generally 12 in French and 10 in English) with rhymes arranged according to one or other of cer in definite schemes , of which the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean are the principal .The rhyme scheme of the Petrarchan sonnet is abba, abba, followed by 2 or 3 other rhymes in the remaining six lines with a pause in the thought after the octave.The sonnets of Shakespeare (also called as Elizabethan) are a little different from the Petrarchan variety. They have three quartrians, followed by a concluding couplet . the rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.the var iety of sonnet was introduced to England by Wyatt and developed by survey;and was thereafter widely used notably in the sonnet; sequence of Shakespeare. Sidney,Daniel,Spencer are the other poets who wrote sonnets during the golden period, most of which are amatory in nature and contain a certain narrative development. Later sonnet sequences on the theme of love include those of Donne, Keats, Elizabeth, Barret, Browning,D.G.Rossetti and Teats. All these poets have used the form to great and varied effect and it continues to flourish in the 20th century. The latest form is that of Rilke and is by far the simplest since it consists of seven couplets. The sonnets of Shakespeare were printed in 1609 and probably date from 1590s in 1598 meres referred to Shakespeares sugred sonnets among his private friends, but these were not necessary identical with the ones we now have. Most of them trace the course of the writers affection for a young man of rank and beauty. The first 17 sonnets urge him to marry, to reproduce, the same number as in Sydneys sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella. The complete sequence of 154 sonnet was issued by the publisher Thomas Thrope in 1609 with a dedication to Mr. W. H. the only begetter of these insuing sonnets. Mr. W.H has been identified as, among others William Laud, Herbert afterwards Earl of Pembroke or Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and further as the young man addressed in the sonnets. Another view argues that Mr. W.H was a friend of Thrope, through whos good offices the manuscript had reached his hand begetter, being used in the sense of getter . other character are alluded to in the sequence, including a mistrers stolen by a friend 40-42 are rival poet 78-80 and 80-86 and a dark beauty loved by the author (127-52) numerous identification for all the characters involved in the sequence as well as for Mr. W.H, have been put forward, none of them is certain. Perhaps the most ingenious and amusing of these is Oscar Wildes, The Portrait of Mr. W.H.

CHAPTER- XI

Shakespeare's Soliloquies

Asoliloquy is a device often used in drama when a character speaks to himself or herself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience, giving off the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections. If other characters are present, they keep silent and / or are disregarded by the speaker.The term soliloquy is distinct from amonologueor anaside: a monologue is a speech where one character addresses other characters; an aside is a (usually short) comment by one character towards the audience, though during the play it may seem like the character is addressing him or herself.Soliloquies were frequently used in dramas but went out of fashion whendramashifted towardsrealismin the late 18th century.

Soliloquies in ShakespeareShakespeares soliloquies contain some of his most original and powerful writing. Possibly prompted by the essays of Montaigne, he explores in his greatest tragedies the way someone wrestles with their private thoughts under pressure, often failing to perceive the flaws in their own thinking, as in the great galloping I-vii soliloquy (if twere done when tis done) in which Macbeth unconsciously reveals through his imagery his fear of damnation but fails to realise what really holds him back from murdering his king: simply the fact that it is wrong.The earliest of the mature soliloquies occur in Julius Caesar where Shakespeare develops Brutus as a forerunner of Hamlet: the self-critical and honest man struggling to do whats right in unpropitious circumstances. Hamlets seven soliloquies, and the single major soliloquy of Claudius in Hamlet can all be described as a search for a difficult sincerity, and represent Shakespeares most extended study of the workings of the human mind; it is not until the novels of Dostoyevsky that a characters inner self is examined with such power, discrimination and technical skill.

Shakespeares soliloquies are written in blank verse of unparalleled variety, invention and rhythmic flexibility, suggestive of the rapidly changing moods of their speakers. Often, it is through vivid and memorable imagery that an individual registers his unique take on the world: Hamlets perception of Elsinore as an unweeded garden that grows to seed, the frantically deluded Leontes who feels he has drunk and seen the spider, the self-dramatising murderer, Othello Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse or Antonys transcendent vision of his afterlife with Cleopatra: Where souls do couch on flowers, well hand in hand, And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze.

CHAPTER- XII

SHAKESPEARES ROMAN TRAGEDIESORHISTORICAL PLAYS

THE ROMAN PLAYSShakespeare has left behind him, three plays dealing with Roman history. They are:(1) Julius Caesar, 1601(2) Antony and Cleopatra, 1608(3) Coriolanus, 1609 For the themes of his Roman plays Shakespeare is indebted largely to Norths translation of Plutarchs Lives. He has adhered more closely to his original in his treatment of Roman history than he did while writing the series of plays dealing with English history. He has deviated from history only when he was compelled to do so by the needs of dramatic art. However, this does not mean that there is a faithful, recording of facts. There may be literal fidelity to fact sometimes, but more often than not the dramatist has succeeded in capturing the spirit of the remote far off ages which he was dramatising.

COMPARISON WITH THE ENGLISH HISTORIESThe Roman Plays differ from the English histories both in the selection of their material and in the treatment of the selected material. Selection of themes for the English history plays was influenced by contemporary historical interests. These interests were the unity of the country under a strong sovereign, rejection of Papaldomination, and the power, prestige and safety of the country against such enemies as France. All the ten plays on English history deal with rivalry for the throne, the struggle with the Pope of Rome , and the success or failure of the English in France. But while dealing with Roman history the circumstances were different. Despite keen interest in antiquity, Roman history was known to the people only in the mass, so to say, and they were likely to be impressed only by the outstanding features. He, therefore, selected episodes of more salient interest and more catholic appeal.

COMPARISON WITH GREAT TRAof GEDIESBut this does not mean that they follow the tragic technique of the four tragedies of the dramatist. The Roman plays differ from the great tragedies in as much as the background, the atmosphere, and the environment is always provided by the larger political life of the state. The chief characters are always exhibited in relation to the great mutations in the state. The political vicissitudes and public catastrophes are not of such interest and significance in the tragedies proper.

IMAGINATIVE TREATMENT OF HISTORICAL FACTSThus his treatment of Roman history is marked with a dual characteristic: it combines a pious regard for the facts of history with complete indifference to critical research. The fact is that Shakespeare was neither an antiquarian nor a classical scholar like Ben Johnson, and, therefore, we do not find in him any scholarly accuracy or fidelity to fact. Facts are accepted as they are without any critical investigation or verification. He was an imaginative artist, and certain aspects of his material were realized in his mind with all the power of his imagination, emotion, passion and experience. Hence it is that his delineations are often more authentic that those of far greater scholars. He may not reproduce the minor peculiarities but he gives us the very essence of the times, the spirit, the living energy and principal of it all. He does never distort history. He may introduce fictitious characters like Lucius in Julius Caesar and Sillius in Antony and Cleopatra but such fictitious characters do never interfere in the political story. No unhistorical person has historical work to do, and no unhistorical episode affects the historical action. He represents historical truth as idealized by his poetic imagination.

THE SPLENDID ROMANS : THEIR MORAL WEAKNESSBut these mighty Titans have faults equally great, and these faults ultimately bring about their ruin. Antony knows no self control, and his lordly nature and heroic powers go waste, owing to his blind infatuation with Cleopatra. Both of them are given to pleasure, thogh pleasure of a magnificent kind, and hence their downfall. Caesar is over-ambitious, tyrannical and arrogant and hence he arouses the hostility of the lords and senators of Rome. Coriolanus brings about ruin on himself by his inordinate pride. These are all figures drawn to heroic proportions, and through their moral degradation, Shakespeare has highlighted ethical values and the need for moral control and orientation of life.

CHAPTER XIII

CRITICAL REPUTATION

Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received a large amount of praise.In 1598, the cleric and authorFrancis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy.The authors of theParnassusplays atSt John's College, Cambridgenumbered him withChaucer,GowerandSpenser.In theFirst Folio,Ben Jonsoncalled Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", though he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art".Betweenthe Restorationof the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare belowJohn Fletcherand Ben Jonson.Thomas Rymer, for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Nevertheless, poet and criticJohn Drydenrated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare".For several decades, Rymer's view held sway; but during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those ofSamuel Johnsonin 1765 andEdmond Malonein 1790, added to his growing reputation. By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet. In the 18th and 19th centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writersVoltaire,Goethe,StendhalandVictor Hugo. During theRomantic era, Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopherSamuel Taylor Coleridge; and the criticAugust Wilhelm Schlegeltranslated his plays in the spirit ofGerman Romanticism.In the 19th century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation"That King Shakespeare," the essayistThomas Carlylewrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible".TheVictoriansproduced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale.The playwright and criticGeorge Bernard Shawmocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as "bardolatry", claiming that the newnaturalismofIbsen'splays had made Shakespeare obsolete. The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of theavant-garde. TheExpressionists in Germanyand theFuturistsin Moscow mounted productions of his plays. Marxist playwright and directorBertolt Brechtdevised anepic theatreunder the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and criticT.S. Eliotargued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern.Eliot, along withG. Wilson Knightand the school ofNew Criticism, led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for "post-modern" studies of Shakespeare.By the 1980s, Shakespeare studies were open to movements such as structuralism,New Historicism,African-American studies, andqueer studies.In a comprehensive reading of Shakespeare's works and comparing Shakespeare literary accomplishments to accomplishments among leading figures in philosophy and theology as well, Harold Bloom has commented that, "Shakespeare was larger than Plato and then St. Augustine. Heenclosesus, because weseewith his fundamental perceptions."

CHAPTER-XIV

SHAKESPEARES QUOTES AND QUOTATIONSShakespeare quotes such as "To be, or not to be" and "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" form some of literature's most celebrated lines. Other famous Shakespeare quotes such as "I'll not budge an inch", "We have seen better days" ,"A dish fit for the gods" and the expression it's "Greek to me" have all become catch phrases in modern day speech. Furthermore, other William Shakespeare quotes such as "to thine own self be true" have become widely spoken pearls of wisdom.SOME FAMOUS QUOTES OF SHAKEPEARE We know what we are, but know not what we may be. It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. If music be the food of love, play on. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow. There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words. God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? No legacy is so rich as honesty. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. This above all; to thine own self be true. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. The wheel is come full circle. When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.

CONCULSION

CONCLUSION

About 150 years after his death, questions arose about the authorship of William Shakespeare's plays. Scholars and literary critics began to float names like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere andFrancis Baconmen of more known backgrounds, literary accreditation, or inspirationas the true authors of the plays. Much of this stemmed from the sketchy details of Shakespeare's life and the dearth of contemporary primary sources. Official records from the Holy Trinity Church and the Stratford government record the existence of a William Shakespeare, but none of these attest to him being an actor or playwright.What seems to be true is that William Shakespeare was a respected man of the dramatic arts who wrote plays and acted in some in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. But his reputation as a dramatic genius wasn't recognized until the 19th century. Beginning with the Romantic period of the early 1800s and continuing through the Victorian period, acclaim and reverence for William Shakespeare and his work reached its height. In the 20th century, new movements in scholarship and performance have rediscovered and adopted his works.Today, his plays are highly popular and constantly studied and reinterpreted in performances with diverse cultural and political contexts. The genius of Shakespeare's characters and plots are that they present real human beings in a wide range of emotions and conflicts that transcend their origins in Elizabethan England.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Dr. Raghukul Tilak: Shakespeare Julius Caesar2. Dr. Raghukul Tilak: Shakespeare Othello3. William Shakespeare- Wikepedia4. Brainyquote.com5. Shakespeare.mit.edu