Shakespeare a modern genius. Essay Example for Free

Shakespeare a modern genius. Essay William Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. What Shakespeare did was to communicate his own words in a brilliant way. He created comedy, history, tragedy and poetry that were extremely amazing. The vast majority of scholars consider Shakespeare a modern genius. Surely he was just that. No other writer’s plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his History articles show William Shakespeare born on my birthday April 23, 1564. He became an alderman and bailiff in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Shakespeare was baptized in the town on April 26, 1564. At age 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter in 1583 and twins in 1585. Shakespeare’s works of imagination were based on historical figures. Shakespeare was a keen reader of history and was always looking for the dramatic impact of historical characters and events he read. Richard III as an evil man, a kind of psychopath with a deformed body and a grudge against humanity. Historians can do whatever they like to set the record straight but Shakespeare’s Richard seems stuck in our culture as the real Richard III. Henry V, and Prince Hal, is in our minds as the perfect model of kingship. That is because that’s the way Shakespeare chose to present them in the themes he wanted to develop and the dramatic story he wanted to tell. The understanding of medieval history being shown through the rulers of this period is because of Shakespeare. We have adapted ourselves to Shakespeare’s vision. There have been some disputes over who wrote Shakespeares work but there no true evidence that he didnt. He was an actor as well as an excellent. Shakespeare’s tragedy is a tragic play either written by or in the style of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare plays usually involve murders or deaths, and a terrible ending for the main character. Shakespeare’s tragedies share some common features such as a hero with a fatal flaw that leads to his downfall. And the tragedies often focus on the fall of a nobleman. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are examples of tragedies. Shakespeare communicated his comedy through language and his comedy plays were created with clever word play, metaphors, and insults. William Shakespeare wrote 154 Sonnets mostly in the 1590s. Fairly short poems, they deal with issues such as lost love. His sonnets have an appeal due to his characteristic skill with language and words. â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove:† Shakespeare also understands deceit as he incorporated it into Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare, William). Contrary to love and deceit, Shakespeare uses comedy as the third and final element of the play. Comedy is what gives Much Ado About Nothing its cheerful happiness and wit that gives this play its recognition. Shakespeare had many happy experiences in his life due to his great success in being a playwright. His success started with him becoming the top writer of The Chamberlains Men, which would later be renamed The Kings Men. This led to his great career of writing which brought him fame and fortune, causing him to live and die a happy man. The happiness and clever wit is described like, Merry as the day is long. (Shakespeare). All throughout this play, there is constantly a tone of Comedy although interrupted by scenes of deceitful hate. This is very similar to the life of William Shakespeare, and it clearly the reason that he writes in the style he does. All in all, Shakespeares ability as a Comedic writer is very well spoken for and is the reason that he wrote this play. The elements used in this play as they have happened in Shakespeares life are established in the relationships of the characters of the play. Benedict and Beatrice, throughout the entire beginning of the play, display love, deceit, and comedy. Beatrice finds all men to be repulsive, not in the physical sense, but in the psychological sense. Benedict does not like her attitude and does everything he can to spite her. Through all this, they both love each other, but both are as stubborn and hard headed as each other so it is impossible for either one to know this. At a costume party, Benedict tricks Beatrice into thinking he is someone else by wearing a costume and disguising his voice by talking with a different accent. Beatrice, not being aware of this, talks badly about Benedict to whom she thinks is a stranger. Afterwards, Benedict is furious about her statements and complains to the prince, so everyone else conspires to get them together. They do this by letting them individually overhear talk of each other loving one another. When they hear this, they are both very happy and end up telling each other their true feelings resulting in them getting married at the end of the play. â€Å"The purpose of telling the story of Benedict and Beatrice is that their dialogue and actions resemble the tones and elements of the play; therefore they greatly contribute to what I am proving† (Shakespeare). Finally, the elements used in Much Ado About Nothing directly coincide with the events of Shakespeares life. The style that he uses comes from his life from birth to death. In this, it is obvious that Shakespeare experienced love in all its aspects, he experienced deceit in a way, but more minor than others, and also he experienced comedy from all the happy times he had in his life as do these experiences in the play. The personality of William Shakespeare is one of the most interesting for discussion, because people are not sure about his existence and fascinated with his mind. It is really strange that one could write such masterpieces on different topics, revealing various social and philosophical problems so many years ago. One of the most famous Shakespearean lines—â€Å"To be or not to be, that is the question†(Shakespeare) is found in Hamlet, spoken by the title character himself. While this is the most obvious reference that Hamlet makes to his own philosophy, Hamlet makes frequent proclamations about his philosophy of life. Hamlet’s philosophy touches not only on the subject of love, but also about loyalty, family, and the virtue of suffering, among other themes. Hamlet’s philosophy is particular to his own strange obsessions, and helps explain the fates of the characters in the play. Because Hamlet has been disillusioned about love by his mother’s actions, he rejects the possibility that romantic love is an important part of human relationships. He is consumed by the outrageousness of his mother’s love for his uncle, and he rejects Ophelia’s love for him, though he admitted once to loving her. Although Hamlet is justified to feel disgust towards his mother and her actions, his pessimistic view of love has dreadful implications, not just for him, but for other characters as well. For this essay on Hamlet, you might want to take a character analysis approach to Hamlet with this theme as your guide or thesis statement. Any of Shakespeare’s plays involve transgressions that violate social taboos. Hamlet is no exception. In this play, numerous social norms are violated; however, the most powerful taboo is that of incest. Hamlet is outraged when his mother marries his uncle shortly after the death of his father, and his mother’s action causes him to lose faith in love. Although the incest taboo may seem grotesque, Shakespeare puts his characters in such dynamic tension and outrageous situations in order to make profound observations about the nature of both familial and romantic love. Claudius could hardly be considered to be a model of upright behavior and insight; given that he seduces Gertrude while the grief over her husband’s death is still fresh. While he is obviously advancing his own motives, his speech to Hamlet about â€Å"unmanly grief†(Shakespeare) is oddly compelling. Claudius takes the view that all men die; all men lose their fathers. They enter a period of appropriate grief and then move on. Because Hamlet is not conforming to this norm, Claudius suggests that Hamlet’s grief is not only unhealthy, but also unmanly. A close reading of the play supports Claudius’s observation. Although Claudius is certainly not free from reproach, Hamlet’s obsessional grief is not praiseworthy either. William Shakespeare is declared and worshiped as one of the most influential writers of English literature. Shakespeare has in many ways touched the lives of thousands upon thousands of readers throughout time. In addition to introducing new techniques and methods of writing, Shakespeare has had a major impact on both his society as well as our modern society through all his numerous contributions such as historical literature, positive social presence, and again his wonderful new attributes in writing style. Historians often refer to Shakespeare as â€Å"one of history’s most dramatic poets. † In the same breath many scholars would refer to Shakespeare as also being the greatest English playwright in all of history by being â€Å"simple and sentimental and communicating fine moral shades through out his work†(Fowler 72). â€Å"Of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), in the biographical sense, we know both too much and too little. The numerous investigators have been amazed by the quantity of information, most of which is utterly useless and irrelevant† (Sampson 214). William Shakespeare essentially began his luxurious career in literature as a suffering actor in the city of Stratford-on-Avon. This is where is all began for the genius we all know and is called Shakespeare. Works Cited Fowler, Will. Shakespeare: His Life and Plays. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2001. Print. Hamlet Character Analysis. About. com Shakespeare. N. p. , n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Shakespeare Sonnet 116 Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds. Shakespeare Sonnet 116 Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds. N. p. , n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Shakespeare: His Life And Plays. Goodreads. N. p. , n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Shakespeare† William, and George Sampson. Hamlet. London: Christophers, 1925. Print. SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.