“Twelfth Night” is a comedy written by William Shakespeare, in which the central theme is love. The readers are presented with the classic form of comedy that includes the following elements: separation at the beginning, humorous and absurd situations between the characters, and marriage(s) at the end. Nevertheless, the author also incorporated ingredients distinctive of the tragedy. For instance, there are several sad scenes and some of them are even bordering on cruelty. Furthermore, some of the characters (even some of the good ones like Antonio) did not get their happy ending.
William Shakespeare used love and humor to connect to his readers while writing his classic tragedies and comedies. Two of his classic plays Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing, are very alike, yet very different. The characters Mercutio, from Romeo and Juliet, and Benedick, from Much Ado About Nothing, have many similarities and many differences. Shakespeare is known as one of the best tragedy writers along with one of the best comedy writers ever. One of his best known tragedies is Romeo and Juliet; likewise, one of his best known comedies is Much Ado About Nothing.
However, the comedy is also always not fully something one might laugh at it is more often in a line of "grim humor." For example, the use of comedy is present William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus too, for similar and different ways of usage. Famous poet, and play writer William Shakespeare is not shy to include comedic moments into his overpowering tragic plays. Shakespeare is a very serious writer who often has intense, fast pace plots. Therefore, he will often include a brief comedic moment to lighten the mood.
Shakespeare’s ability to illustrate the battle between good and evil is arguably one of his best skills as a writer. Incorporating the art of the morality play, he shows the battle of these two forces for a man’s soul. But the beauty of his writing comes to light in how he shows this process. In both Macbeth and Othello, Shakespeare portrays evil as corrupting, while the source of evil differs. The religious preferences and philosophy of the English Renaissance affected Shakespeare’s writing.
“Shakespeare 's plays are all about one great general theme: disorder” (Johnston). No one is better at writing both comedy and tragedy than William Shakespeare, as evidenced by two of his most known works: Much Ado About Nothing, and Lear. Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy in the most traditional sense. “In the literary sense, dramatic comedy is a drama where the characters experience a change for the better and work things out with hope for the future” (Carroll). Comedies are designed to make the audience laugh.
I believe that Shakespeare choose to develop his character, to add a light comedic, contrast the more serious Romeo. He is constantly joking and making puns which adds pace to the play and entertains the audience. Shakespeare has many symbols of light and dark through the play and Mercutio’s role is key to this theme. His light hearted attitude to life and his Queen Mab speech which starts light but becomes very dark and finally his death which which is both light and dark. Mercutio is neither a Montague nor a Capulet, but because he is Romeo's friend, stands with the Montagues.
Though Richard III can also be compared with Macbeth and Claudius, Shakespeare’s presentation of that character projects more of his villainous nature than of his heroic qualities because he is cruel from nature. But Macbeth and Claudius become villains because of the accidental circumstances (Homchaudhuri 240). Macbeth’s epileptic nature, fear of death and also the fear of exposure of his dark silence of the actions reduces his heroic greatness. On the other hand, Claudius is cool and composed though he also bears in his heart, a dark silence. Both of them have their ladylove and they act as direct or indirect boosting power behind their deeds.
William Shakespeare has created many fascinating characters and the most fascinating being the villains. They comprise of the worst of human vice yet their motives are surprisingly real and easy to relate to with jealousy hatred heartbreak and bitterness. There are a number of villains present in Shakespearean plays like Shylock from The Merchant of Venice, Don John from Much Ado About Nothing, Claudius from Hamlet, Richard iii, Iago from Othello. William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Richard the Third is a masterpiece in the depiction of evil and the study of the psychology of the anti-hero, the villain we love to hate to the point that we almost hope they succeed. Yet we may have been deceived by Shakespeare’s play because he may not have meant us to see King Richard III in it.
By adding some dramatic aspects like love’s difficulty or the pressure of the society, the playwright can make the audience think about the aspects too as they are laughing. This play’s main theme is love’s difficulty and ends with the suicides of Pyramus and Thisbe (or Thisby). Its title is an imitation of sixteenth century play titles and also it contains many paradoxical points because there are both points which make the people laugh and upset at the same time. Also, one of the features of this play is “lamentableness” because it also contains mourning for someone who is already dead. It can be proven by Thisbe’s lines from the
It engages the reader on a number of levels – historical, psychological, ironic, theatrical, and more. The most engaging element of the poem is probably the speaker himself, the duke. It is easy to identify him as a freak like monster, since he had his wife murdered for what comes across as fairly not purposed crimes. And yet he is charming, both in his use of language and his affable address. The ironic disconnect that colors most of Browning 's monologues is particularly strong here.