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A) The great tragediesJulius Caesar Sources: North's translation of Plutarch's The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Themes: - tragical relation between personal morality and political efficiency - shows "how a man can be destroyed by his own virtue" - well articulated play, in fluid blank verse Hamlet Sources: Saxo Grammaticus, History of the Danes and F. Belleforest, Histories tragiques, the original Hamlet [Ur-Hamlet] [Ur: German prefix for old, original) - lost play Themes: - an old-fashioned revenge play treated in a heroic tradition - revenge is not going to restore either the lost world or bring back health to a tainted society - it shows how moral sensitivity can respond to a wicked world how an idealist man can face reality how powerful imagination may be Othello Sources: Italian novella Hecatommithi, (1565) by G. Cinthio. Themes: - it is less a study in jealousy but a description of the anguish that a beautiful and innocent being can be guilty and deceitful - the paradox of evil which is bred out [may originate in] of innocence King Lear Sources: Celtic mythology and folk tradition Themes: - most elemental and primeval of Shakespeare's plays - shows how the road to true humility passes through bitter insight - it makes use of archetypal images to produce a cosmic view of individual tragedy and destiny - a combination of psychological and symbolic descriptions - existence as determined by the confusion between true and false visions self-knowledge and self-blindness - the question of what is natural and unnatural - the Fool acquires a different, tragic key - Folly is assimilated to revealing the truth and contributes to the tragic dimension - shows a concern for impersonal justice : "None does offend none; all are guilty and in need not of justice but forgiveness" Macbeth Sources: R. Holinshed: Chronicles of England and Scotland Themes: - the destruction brought about by the appetite for power - a mystique of the crown, which represents the achievement of the ultimate earthly ambition the false heroism that originates in the lack of faith - the degree to which power can corrupt and breed immorality - the main characters are not so much damned as they are reduced to moral nothingness - Macbeth: initially a heroic figure loyal and brave - becomes an obsessed nihilist - Lady Macbeth: a devoted wife - is driven by power to self-destruction, to the inability to control her body and spirit Antony and Cleopatra (also listed as a Roman play) Source: North's Plutarch: The Lives of noble Grecians and Romans Themes: - contrast between two worlds, the Roman world, marked by order, structure, loyalty, reason the Eastern magic of Egypt, characterized by disorder, betrayal, passion conflict between public duty and private passion - Cleopatra: one of S.'s most complex female characters: queenly, beautiful, skilful, noble, generous, but also domineering, hysterical, jealous, coward, - Antony: heroic, generous, noble, loyal to his friends, but selfish and immature Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1056
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