Account for William Shakespeare as a dramatist giving emphasis on his literary works written in different periods of his life.
Answers
Shakespeare was one of the important writers during the Elizabethan era which extends from the sixteenth century to the seventeenth century. During this period the language which was used was middle English. English as a language was going through the stage of transformation and progress. Hence, the plays written by the playwrights were in Middle English.
Shakespeare's comedies are full of witty dialogues and wordplay exchanged by the characters. The play contains a comic character in it whose thoughts and dialogues are both to evoke laughter and to analyze the seriousness of it. The play contains several love stories moving simultaneously and the different troubles the lovers had to face when they are in true love. Though with such difficulties, the play moves on lightly with the presence of comic reliefs and ends on a happy note.
Shakespeare followed the definition of tragedy which Aristotle had given in his book “Poetics.” According to Aristotle, a tragedy is a complete tragedy when there is a reversal of fortune of the protagonist in which he witnesses the real side of the society. The betrayal is done by the family members themselves which leads to a great tragic effect. A tragedy involves many deaths and murders which evoke in its viewers' pity and fear both. It is after watching the play that the audience feel pity for the couple and fear at the same time about the ills that are there in the society. The tragic flow of Shakespeare’s plays about love is bound by the rules that society builds.
The plays of Shakespeare's are full of soliloquies. They tell the audience about the inner thoughts o the character. The plotting about revenge or any murder and lamentations on one's fate are the main soliloquies. Usually, soliloquies are said by the characters when they are alone.
Shakespearean sonnets are organized in three quatrains and a couplet.
Shakespearean sonnets are composed of fourteen lines which are divided into three quatrains and two lines of concluding couplet. The rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnets is abab cdcd efef gg. He wrote the lines in iambic pentameter which is a form of a metrical line in which each line contains five unstressed syllables followed by five stressed syllables. They are usually arranged in an alternating pattern.