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2. Shakespeare's works: classification and chronology
The chronology of Shakespeare's plays is uncertain, but a reasonable approximation to their order can be determined by publication dates, mentions in contemporary works, allusions in plays to contemporary events, thematic relationships and metrical and stylistic comparisons. It is believed that his first plays were three parts of Henry VI; it is unclear whether the first part was written before or after Parts II and III. Richard III is associated with these plays and is usually grouped with them as the final part of the first tetralogy of historical plays.²
They are followed by "The Comedy of Errors", "Titus Andronicus" (almost a third of which may have been written by George Peel), "The Taming of the Shrew", "Two Gentlemen of Verona", "The Lost Labor of Love" and "Romeo and Juliet". Some comedies of this early period are classic imitations with a strong element of farce. Both tragedies, Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, were popular during Shakespeare's lifetime.
After these early plays and before his great tragedies, Shakespeare wrote Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King John, The Merchant of Venice, Parts I and II of Henry IV, Much Ado about Nothing, Henry V, Julius Caesar,As you like it" and "Twelfth Night". The comedies of this period have less farce and more idyllic romance, while historical plays successfully combine political elements with individual characteristics. Taken together, "Richard II", each part of "Henry IV" and "Henry V" form a second tetralogy of historical plays, although each can stand alone, and they are usually staged separately. In two parts of Henry IV, Falstaff appears, a vividly depicted character who was very popular from the very beginning.
The period of Shakespeare's great tragedies and “problem plays” begins in 1600 with Hamlet. This is followed by "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (written at the request of Queen Elizabeth about another play, including Falstaff, thematically not typical of that period), "Troilus and Cressida", "All's Well that Ends Well", "Measure for Measure", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth", "Antony and Cleopatra", "Coriolanus".
At the family, state and cosmic levels, Othello, Lear and Macbeth represent clear oppositions of order and chaos, good and evil, spirituality and animality. Stylistically, the plays of this period are becoming more concise and symbolic. Portraying political leaders as tragic heroes, "Coriolanus", "Anthony and Cleopatra" involve in the study of politics and social history, as well as the psychology of individuals.
It is not easy to categorically say whether Shakespeare's play is a tragedy, comedy or history, because Shakespeare blurred the boundaries between these genres. For example, "Much Ado about Nothing" begins as a comedy, but soon turns into a tragedy, which leads some critics to call the play a tragicomedy.
His plays are usually divided into four categories:
1. Before 1594 (Richard III, Comedy of Errors);
2. 1594-1600 (Henry V, "A Midsummer Night's Dream");
3. 1600-1608 (Macbeth, King Lear);
4. After 1608 ("Cymbeline", "Storm").
At some point in the early 1590s, Shakespeare began writing a collection of sonnets. The sonnet was perhaps the most popular bound verse form in England when Shakespeare began writing. Imported from Italy (as a Petrarchan or Italian sonnet), it acquired a characteristic English style consisting of three clearly rhymed quatrains, topped with a rhymed couplet consisting of only 14 poetic lines. This allowed the author to build an increasing scheme of complication in the three-act part, followed by a laconic denouement of the last two lines. The traditional theme of the Elizabethan sonnet concerned love, beauty and faith.
Shakespeare as a poet could hardly ignore the sonnet as a poetic form. He seems to have written a series of them dedicated to “Master W.H.”, and the sequence as a whole seems to follow a loose narrative structure. Of the 154 sonnets, there are three main sections:
Sonnets 1-126, which deal with the young, nameless lord, the “beautiful young man" from the sonnets.
Sonnets 127-152, which tell about the poet's relationship with a mysterious mistress, the “dark lady” of the sonnets.
Sonnets 153-154, which seem to be poetic exercises dedicated to Cupid.
These sonnets are poignant reflections on love, beauty, mortality and the influence of time. They also challenge many of the expected conventions of a traditional sonnet, praising the beauty and dignity of a beautiful young man or using the third quatrain as part of the denouement of the poem.
Many people have forgotten (or never knew) about the significance of the Bard for “pop culture” Nineteenth-century America. Today, it is widely believed
that only elite scholars can truly understand Shakespeare and enjoy him, while the vulgar rabble can understand passages (often using his words and phrases, as we discussed above), they at best only appreciate (and not love) The Bard. This belief exists as an eternal truism and is therefore false on two fronts. Firstly, today's American “vulgate” really uses Shakespeare (as cinematic examples of proof, see the success of "Romeo + Juliet" or "Shakespeare in Love"). Secondly, for most of the nineteenth century, Americans could not get enough of Shakespeare.
“From the large and often luxurious theaters of large cities to improvised scenes in the halls, saloons and churches of small towns and mining camps,” writes Lawrence Levin, "Shakespeare's plays were staged in a prominent place and often". In the 1880s, Karl Kurtz (a German who visited the United States) said:
Undoubtedly, there is no other country on earth in which Shakespeare and the Bible enjoy such universal respect as in America... If you entered a secluded log cabin in the Far West, and even if its occupant discovered many traces of life in the wilderness... you will certainly find the Bible and in most cases also some cheap edition of the works of the poet Shakespeare. ³
Shakespeare was close and familiar to Americans, not just to some townspeople in the Northeast. Americans not only enjoyed him, they perceived the Bard as their own: “James Fenimore Cooper... he called Shakespeare "the great author of America" and insisted that Americans have "the same right" as the British to call Shakespeare their compatriot". Parodies of Shakespeare's works abounded in the nineteenth century - which was only possible if many people knew Shakespeare's works to understand the joke. Modern fans of bards may recall with horror that Shakespeare was often put next to a poster with dancing dogs, jugglers and minstrel shows. People argued in print and on the streets whether the emotional Edwin Forrest was a better American Shakespearean actor than the mentally retarded Edwin Booth, with the same passion with which sports fans argue on talk radio today. Indeed, the riot at the Astor Place Opera House in 1849 was due to such passions. While on the other side of town Edwin Forrest's Macbeth was a delight, Englishman William Charles Macready's Macbeth was booed at Astor Place. His “aristocratic manners" irritated the audience. Macready wanted to stop showing the film, but he was persuaded to stay by people like Washington Irving and Herman Melville. On May 10, eighteen hundred people filled Astor Place while ten thousand stood outside. A riot broke out, as a result of which twenty-two people were killed and another hundred and fifty were injured. That's how much Shakespeare meant to Americans! Levine sums it up this way:
“Shakespeare was performed not just alongside popular entertainments as an elite addition to them; Shakespeare was performed as an integral part of them. Shakespeare was a popular entertainment in nineteenth-century America.”
Given Shakespeare's undoubted influence on American culture, do we see the same influence on American English? Yes. “Early modern English was shaped by Shakespeare,” Bloom tells us, but American English was also shaped. We see this in two areas.
The first is grammatical errors. These misconceptions are often pointed out by critics of American English (and the English language in general) as examples of our laziness and inability to formulate accurately. However, Shakespeare himself used the same “incorrect” constructions:
“You and I” is correct, “You and I" are not. “Nevertheless, about 400 years ago," writes Aitcheson, "in the Merchant of Venice Shakespeare's merchant Antonio says: ”All debts are settled between you and me," thereby violating the supposed "rule" according to which "you and I" is the "correct" form after the preposition."
Double negations are incorrect. However, for clarity, it seems to be accepted: “most scientists agree that the more negatives there were in a sentence, the more decisive the negation was” (Cheshire 120).:
I have one heart, one chest and one truth
And no woman has ever had this; and never one
No one will participate in this, except me alone. (Twelfth Night III:I, qtd. in Cheshire 120)
“This is me” is correct, “This is me" is not. It is the Latin grammatical constructions that make “It's me” seem wrong. But both forms are used in Twelfth Night (II.v).:
MALVOLIO: You're wasting precious time on a stupid knight -
SIR ANDREW: It's me, I assure you.
MALVOLIO: A certain Sir Andrew.
SIR ANDREW: I knew it was me because a lot of people really call me a fool. (qtd. in Bauer 134).
When representatives of the elite complain that American English is illiterate, we can see that they are just following in the footsteps of this most influential author.
The second area in which Shakespeare shapes American English is related to our supposed “pure” linguistic ancestry. Here the influence is based on myth, not fact, but this does not detract from the importance that Americans attach to Shakespeare. In the book “In Appalachia, they speak like Shakespeare” Michael Montgomery debunks this myth and shows that it is false: “Two things in particular explain its continued viability: its romanticism and its political usefulness. Its linguistic validity is another matter.” Montgomery gives several reasons why this is invalid; there is little evidence that this is true, the few proofs that exist are inconclusive, and one irrefutable fact: “Shakespeare and Elizabeth I lived 400 years ago, but the southern mountains were inhabited by Europeans only half of that time period. Since no one came directly from Britain to Appalachia, we are surprised how they have preserved their English over the past period.” However, the myth persists. The fact that the so-called uneducated villagers would like to identify themselves with Shakespeare shows how much Americans revere him and want to identify themselves with him even in the “backwoods” The United States.