Shakespeare's Dramatic GenresThe history of genres, or kinds, of drama is one of contradictory traditions and complex cultural assumptions. The divisions established by the original edition of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (the First Folio, 1623) give shape to whole curricula; but, as Lawrence Danson reminds us in this lively book, there is nothing inevitable, and much unsatisfying, about that tripartite scheme. Yet students of Shakespeare cannot avoid thinking about questions of genre; often they are the unspoken reason why classrooms full of smart people fail to agree on basic interpretive issues. Danson's guide to the kinds of Shakespearean drama provides an accessible account of genre-theory in Shakespeare's day, an overview of the genres on the Elizabethan stage, and a provocative look at the full range of Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies. |
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Page 11
... happy events are comic and sad events are tragic — but , in the very neatness of its parcelling out , also limiting . Shakespeare would deal more subtly with the combination of tragedy and comedy when he drew on Pandosto as the ...
... happy events are comic and sad events are tragic — but , in the very neatness of its parcelling out , also limiting . Shakespeare would deal more subtly with the combination of tragedy and comedy when he drew on Pandosto as the ...
Page 60
... Happy Ending In quest of generic definition we come , then , to the happy ending of comedy versus the unhappy ending of tragedy — a distinction sanc- tioned by the precedent of ancient theory and by our experience of Shakespeare's plays ...
... Happy Ending In quest of generic definition we come , then , to the happy ending of comedy versus the unhappy ending of tragedy — a distinction sanc- tioned by the precedent of ancient theory and by our experience of Shakespeare's plays ...
Page 68
... happy ending only if the riddle can be answered — and his paternity proved : ' If she , my liege , can make me know this clearly | I'll love her dearly , ever ever dearly ' ( 5. 3. 317-18 ) . The King too demands a narrative clarifica ...
... happy ending only if the riddle can be answered — and his paternity proved : ' If she , my liege , can make me know this clearly | I'll love her dearly , ever ever dearly ' ( 5. 3. 317-18 ) . The King too demands a narrative clarifica ...
Contents
The Genres Staged | 30 |
Mr William Shakespeares Comedies | 57 |
History | 86 |
Copyright | |
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