A Quartette of Sensational Similarities of Shakespeare’s Superior Works

1359 Words3 Pages

William Shakespeare, a playwright of the 1600’s, changed how English literature is looked at to this very day. He has influenced the way a character’s emotions are captured on a page and shaped the English language. Drama, tragedy, romance, and comedy are shown in a new light as he manipulated words to become stories of his own. Shakespeare has written numerous classic pieces that he has been credited to such as Romeo and Juliet. Each work has a new plot and storyline, but, Shakespeare seems to use common techniques and styles throughout many of the pieces. Numerous authors use this same method, which develops fluidity and patterns to their stories. This allows the author to be known for a style through their work. For Shakespeare, his works share similarities such as power struggles, love and romance, immediate conflicts, and interlinking sub stories. Power struggles are a common theme in many older, classic works and Shakespeare also falls into the pattern as well. In the play The Taming of the Shrew the struggle is between Katherine and Petruchio, and how they both want the upper hand in situations. They seem to butt heads often, especially when they have conversations in public eye: “Petruchio: I say it is the moon. Katherine: I know it is the moon. Petruchio: Nay, then you lie. It is the blessèd sun.” (TTOTS IV.V.18-20) The conversation these characters are partaking in demonstrates how Katherine is the weaker one because despite her pervious knowledge of the light being the sun she breaks and complies with his ways. It also shows how presumptuous Petruchio is because he intentionally formulated a way for his wife to make a fool out of herself. A further example of this is in A Midsummer Night’s Dream... ... middle of paper ... ...n a way that allows the story to flow and is easy to read. For Shakespeare, a tragedy is simply not just a tragedy, it is a story that flourishes and grows into a profound novel. The manner in which he wrote those tragedies seems to be similar from play to play. These similarities and characteristics is what sets Shakespeare apart from other authors. It allows him to have an overall theme that ties his works together and defines his technique. Earnest Hemingway is another author who is characterized by his style of writing. Hemingway is known for having a deeper meaning under the top layer of the story, such as in The Old Man and the Sea the deeper meaning is that friendship is the most important thing in life. Whether Shakespeare wrote a tragedy, a comedy, a sonnet, or any other genre, he seemed to incorporate many of these different characteristics in his work.

Open Document