Shakespeare has written three different ‘types of genre’ in his plays. One of these is his Tragedies like ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Another genre he writes within is Comedy, an example of which is ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.
The last genre Shakespeare uses is History; an example of this is ‘Henry V’ where he bases this play on actual historic events. The play is set around the year 1420 and King Henry is faced with the difficult decision, whether to attack France or not. There are a lot of incidents in this play where Shakespeare exaggerates the qualities/attributes of King Henry; he changes the way we think of King Henry. The attributes of King Henry are exaggerated to such an extent we believe that he must have been ‘the perfect king’, cunning, merciful, charming and an excellent speaker.
In act 2 Scene 2 Shakespeare shows Henry as cunning, when he cleverly manages to catch Scroop, Cambridge and Gray trying to plot treason against him.
‘If little faults, proceeding on distemper, shall not be wink’d at, how shall we stretch our eye when capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d and digest’d appear before us?’
This is a very clever line the king uses, because the ‘capital crimes’ include treason which is what Scroop, Cambridge and Gray are committing. He uses this in such a clever way that Scroop, Cambridge and Gray, did not even know that the King was referring to them, and they gave the King the answers which lead them to their own prosecution.
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... last issue Shakespeare uses in his play is Responsibility. This is shown in Act 4 Scene 1 when Henry goes out pretending to be a Welshman to see what he soldiers think of him. ‘So if a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputations of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon the father that sent him.’
Henry is trying to tell Bates that the King is not responsible for whatever happens to a soldier at war just because he has sent him, and uses the example above to illustrate this.
...nations of his thought processes, it is clear that the Pardoner does not practice what he preaches. It is ambiguous, however, as to whether the Pardoner believes what he preaches, but just doesn’t follow his preaches or whether he doesn’t believe what he preaches at all. It is evident, though, that the Pardoner has an astute mind. He is highly effective in what he does. Although he exploits the church for his own personal designs, he succeeds at obtaining that which he pursues. The efficacy of his strategy is confirmed by Chaucer’s description of the Pardoner as being a “noble ecclesiastic” and as being unmatched in his trade . Thus amidst all of his flatteries, there exists a spark of genius that complements his minimal level of ethics. This intellectual finesse is the riverbed from which all of the products of his mind flow.
The pardoner telling a story about greed and saying that if you don’t repent you will get what’s coming to you. A great example of this is in line 289-290, “Thus these murders receive...
From the information delivered by Shakespeare on King Henry, it symbolizes the significance of Henry’s multifaceted personality in becoming a successful ruler, and the fact that relationships will be torn apart, in order to achieve success on the battlefield.
Though Shakespeare was a conservative, he believed in the humility of Kings. The plays Richard II through Henry V assert Shakespeare's idea that a King must understand the common man to be a good ruler. These four plays chronicle the history of three Kings' ability to recognize, relate to, and be part of the humanity he rules. Shakespeare advocates his belief with the falling of Richard II, who could not or would not understand his subjects; the constancy of Henry IV, whose combined humility and strength won him the thrown; and Hal, whose raucous behavior led his father to worry and his country to victory.
...n which it was based in the areas of characters, events, and settings. He changes these aspects of the history in order to make a more intriguing story. Making dramatic plays based on historical events is one reason that Shakespeare became the popular poet and playwright that he was during his lifetime.
“This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave come hither, cover’d with an antic face, To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” (Shakespeare, page 54).
Thou shall honour thy father and thy mother, is not only one of ten powerful commandments but is also the foundation for King Lear's perception of himself and his overwhelming situation in Shakespeare's masterpiece King Lear. After a recent life-altering decision, Lear's seemingly stable and comfortable world has been thrown into upheaval through the disobedience and lies told by not only his two daughters but also by his servants! Thus, after being dishonoured by his family and attendants, Lear forms an accurate perception of his situation, that he is "a man / More sinned against than sinning" (Act III scene ii lines 60 - 61).
Shakespeare’s Henry’s most remarkable and heroic quality is his resolve; once Henry has his mind set on accomplishing something he uses every tool at his disposal to see that it is achieved. ‘If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder’d we shall your tawny ground with your red blood discolour’ Henry meticulously presents himself as an unstoppable force to which his enemies must choose to react; although his methods are morally questionable they a...
The first of these devices, his straightforwardness and matter-of-factness regarding the Pardoner’s hypocrisy, is used first to appall his readers, and then to cause them to take a second look at the church in their own society. Chaucer knew that most of his audience lacked the ability to fully understand his views, but he hoped that by using this device he could plant seeds of reason in them that would lead to reform of corruption he saw among church officials like the pardoners.
William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings.
Shakespeare’s plays are a product of the Elizabethan theatrical context in which they were first performed. A lot of pressure was put on Shakespeare as he wrote his plays because he was not allowed to upset the royal family. His style would have been different than others in those times and a lot more thought has gone into his writing than people listening would think. Usually, the audience take for granted the cleverness and thought of Shakespeare’s writing, however, now we have studied and gone into great detail about Shakespeare’s writing, we can appreciate it more than they did:
Shakespeare’s theatrical works are generally categorized into three all encompassing groups: the uplifting comedy, the lamented tragedy, and the excruciatingly boring history play. However, things can get a little confusing when you end up with a comedy like Measure for Measure or a tragedy like Titus Andronicus. Often we find that many of Shakespeare’s plays do not fit into their ascribed categories, but is it the plays that don’t fit the categories, or the reverse? Are the general groupings of comedy and tragedy really applicable to Shakespeare?
King Henry was not very proud or accepting of his son. This is shown very early in the play when he speaks about him to Westmoreland. The king states:
In ‘A Confession found in a prison in the time of Charles II’ there is
Throughout Shakespeare 's playwriting career he was regarded an architect of the combination of genre 's; tragedy and comic components into the plays. An example of this intertwined genre is The Winter 's Tale, one of Shakespeare 's later plays performed between years 1610-11. This play defies any specific genre such as tragedy or comedy, however is distinctly an amalgamation of both; 'tragi-comedy. ' Susan Snyder explains the attributes of Shakespeare 's genres as;