Shakespeare as an Author - Essay Example

Shakespeare as an Shakespeare is one of those giants in the history of English Literature that has inspired and awed generations, throughout the centuries with his poetry and plays. He wrote at a time when certain playwrights were more privileged than the others, as they were patronized by the court. Shakespeare had many competitors who enjoyed the favors of the court but he continued to write in his unique manner and this is perhaps one of the reasons why he is so widely read even today. [Thesis statement]: His tragedies may be interpreted as true depictions of human nature and emotions. One can learn through his plays how deep and complex human emotions are and what great impact they have on our decision-making and judgment abilities. He constructed his tragedies on seemingly small and base human emotions like jealousy, ambitiousness, and procrastination that render great errors of judgment on the part of the protagonists, thus triggering their downfall. Through his tragedies, he not only painted the social, political and intellectual mindset of 16th century England; but also enriched English Literature by breathing life into his characters with his originality and creativity. Shakespeare was a versatile playwright as he wrote tragedies, romantic comedies, and historical plays-- each type speaking of his imagination. Among his most famous tragedies are Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear. His tragedies revolve around the error of judgment that his tragic-heroes make: Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear are all men of distinction. Shakespeare handles each character differently and illustrates how the tragic flaws of the tragic heroes change their lives forever. He handles his comedies equally well and deals with different themes about the lighter side of life in his plays like, love and personal relationships. However, “…these are not the only ideas implicit in the comedies; Shakespeare was also concerned with time, destiny, and patience, with old age and youth, with the individual and society, with ignorance and knowledge, confidence and melancholy, with contrasts between love and friendship, nature and art, justice and mercy.” (Brown, 160-161) The most striking feature of his heroes is introspection and self-mirroring, which is significant in Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark; Othello, the Moor of Venice; and Macbeth. Othello, Moor of Venice Othello is one of the most widely read and viewed tragedy of all times. The protagonist, Othello and the antagonist, Iago make this play worth all the admiration it has received for centuries. It seems so simple for Shakespeare to explore base human emotions like jealousy and make it a basis of a fatal tragedy like Othello. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the battlefield is set at two levels. The opponents in the physical battlefield comprise of the protagonist and the antagonist; while the battle that rages in the minds of the men are of more significance, as they decide the fate of everyone in the play. In this case, Shakespeare revealed the vulnerability of human mind that can be overpowered by base emotions like jealousy and compel even the smartest and strongest men to make error of judgment. Othello’s emotions were manipulated by Iago by such words as: O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss, Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger: But O, what dammed minutes tells he oer Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves! (Shakespeare, 106) The careful use of words by Iago, the villain in the play successfully plants the seeds of doubt and mistrust in the mind of Othello for his beloved, Desdemona and his loyal friend, Cassio. Iago speaks about jealousy in a manipulative way so that Othello turns against Cassio. He is silently forcing Othello to take some action instead of wasting time in thinking over it. The way Iago’s evil scheming is delivered speaks volumes about Shakespeare’s craftsmanship as an author. He has painted a real picture of how human emotions can be manipulated by touching upon the weak aspects of one’s personality-- no matter how great or wise or powerful that person is. Despite the fact that righteousness wins in the end, the journey to epiphany is very painful for Othello so much so that he finds consolation for his sin and consummation with Desdemona by giving up his life. It is precisely for this reason that Shakespeare’s heroes have real life qualities in them. They make errors in judgment, and suffer consequently; they repent and forgive; and they display their strength and their weaknesses through their actions. His heroes go through phases of intellectual and spiritual development throughout the course of the play, in order to get atonement. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Hamlet delved into self-reflection to such an extent that he brought about his own tragedy. His procrastination prolonged his decision-making process and he missed the chances thrown to him of taking due action. “To be or not to be- that is the question, / Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles.” (Shakespeare, 50) Consequently, he suffered as a result of his error of judgment and lost his near and dear ones in this process. He could not come to terms with reality, and kept weighing the consequences of his actions. He underestimated the value and importance of time and chances and thus fell a victim to his procrastination. Hamlet’s soliloquy is a perfect example of Shakespeare’s way of representing the conflicts that raged in his mind. The agony in his soliloquy is so intense that it is impossible to ignore the real life-like quality of his character. His soliloquy questions the fate of human beings that places them in such dilemmas. The issues of life and its complexities are dealt by Shakespeare from a human angle and this is what connects today’s reader with his plays. In this connection, Samuel Johnson wrote: “His persons act and speak by the influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated…” (Sabor and Yachnin, 138) Thus, one finds universality in the plays of Shakespeare and people can relate their feelings with Hamlet, who is pondering over his circumstances and weighing the pros, and cons of the available options: whether to suffer or to struggle, as these are the most common options available to people whenever they find themselves in dilemmas. Macbeth In the beginning of the play, Macbeth receives prophesies from three witches. He shares them with Lady Macbeth, who becomes impatient for the prophecies to come true and advises Macbeth to take action in accord with the prophecies: "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised" (Shakespeare, 13). Her ambitiousness becomes so over-whelming and powerful that she proposed to kill the King. “It is Lady Macbeth who plays a vital role in the murder of King Duncan and she seems to be more ambitious than her husband.” (Mishra, 234) Shakespeare is adept at illustrating human desires and passions and how human beings fall prey to them. Macbeth’s hidden desires become his curse when he exclaims: “Stars, hide your fires! / Let not light see my black and deep desires”. (Shakespeare, 13) Macbeth is a classic example of how great men fall prey to their over ambitiousness and end up in a catastrophe. The driving force of tragedy in Macbeth was Lady Macbeth, who insists upon the murder of the king. Macbeth is blinded by the ambitiousness of his wife and he is led into a series of crime that sends him in a merciless and vicious cycle of incidents that are beyond his control. It reveals how one small judgment of error can create such an intricate and complex web of incidents that it goes beyond the imagination of human beings. Had Macbeth waited for the events to take their natural course, his fatal fall could have been prevented. Thus, Macbeth had to face a terrible fate on account of giving in to his innate wishes and desires, rather than harnessing his impulsive behavior and waited for the events to occur in a natural way. Shakespeare sculptures his characters in his signature style and gives them such fine details that people belonging to all times may relate to them on a personal level. The universality of Shakespeare’s characters also lies in the fact that he uses universal themes based on human emotions and nature. “Superficially, [his] stories are of wicked kings, sensual queens, ambitious generals or magnificent princes; essentially they are the personal tragedies of sons and mothers, fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, that is, of common humanity.” (Harrison, 19) He traces the development of a tragedy by starting with a simple human passion like jealousy, or ambitiousness, or procrastination that compels his heroes to make errors of judgment. “The tragic hero sins under the influence of passion...” (Campbell, 101)Consider the example of Hamlet whose procrastination became his tragic flaw. He could not decide the plan of his action; Othello chose his passions over his reasoning power and killed Desdemona with his own hands; and Macbeth whose tragic-flaw was to believe the prophecies of the witches rather than his fate. Even though they are given chances to mend their mistakes or to stop themselves from doing something drastic, yet they fall in the trap of misjudgment and induce their tragedies. The realization of their mistakes glorifies their character; as in case of Othello, he realizes his mistake moments after murdering Desdemona and by killing himself, he restores his glory. In Hamlet, he eventually kills Claudius, though it is rather too late but he is glorified in the eyes of his people. Similarly, Macbeth’s repentance in the end restores his glory and immortalizes his character. Shakespeare portrays life in his tragedies with all its peculiarities, absurdities, and beauty. His ingenuity as an author is articulated by the way he uses human emotions and nature to trace the development and ending of his tragedies. This is perhaps one of the reasons why his readership continues to grow even today and people living in any part of the world can claim to have some sort of Shakespearean experience in their own ways. Work Cited Brown, Russell, John. Shakespeare and his Comedies. Oxon: Routledge, 2005. Print. Campbell, Linda. Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes: Slaves of Passion. Cambridge: CUP Archive, 1961. Print. Mishra, Karuna. The Tragic Heroes through the Ages. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 1992. Print. Sabor, Peter and Paul Edward Yachnin. Shakespeare and the Eighteenth Century. London: Ashgate, 2008. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Bernh: Tauchnitz, 1843. Print. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. USA: Aquitaine Media corp., 2009. Print. Shakespeare, William. Othello. England: Plain Label Books, 1968. Print. Read More