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Appearanca / Reality
1. in histories
2. in tragedies
3. in comedies
Appearance and reality is a motif that you can find in all of these three play types.
For example, Claudius is playing a role. He pretends not to have killed Hamlet Senior, but he has. He appears that he has not killed him, but the reality is that he killed.
1- In the Lancaster Tetralogy, Prince Hal is befriending the criminals and then he turns out in a battle against the rebel. His experience among criminals gives him extra advantage against Hotspur. So it appeares that Prince Hal is such a son who is fond of entertainment and who cannot be a good king, but the reality is not like that. In reality he becomes a good leader thanks to his experiences among criminals and in taverns.
In QU 29 online reader page 61
Quotation 29b
PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That when he please again to be himself,
.........it goes on .....
Above in the red lines (verses) you see that Prince Hal says himself that he appeares like the sun behind the clouds. He himself says this. As you see in QU 28
Quotation 28
KING RICHARD
Discomfortable cousin, knowest thou not
That when the searching eye of heaven is hid
Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,
King Richard II compares himself to the sun. Eye of heaven means the sun. Richard II compares himself to the sun, however this is amistaken reality. In Qu 29b Prince Hal does the same, however he is a usurper. Unsurpation means unrightful seizure of the throne.
Richard II seems untouchable but he is not untouchable. He can even be deposed. The appearance is that Richard II is untouchable but the reality is not like that. He was touched, he was deposed.
Also Prince Hal does the same in QU 29b like Richard, but it is also an appearance. Ideology referes to appearance. They refer to older kingship by divineright.
Also Henry IV and Henry V appear to be rightful kings, but they are in fact usurpers.
2- In Hamlet, after the ghost called upon Hamlet and asked for revenge, Hamlet plays the mad. He plays the mad, because he wants to gain time, because he has to form revenge. Also Hieronymo does the same. After he learns that his son was killed, he plays the mad. They appear to be mad, however in reality they are not mad. But at some point, in Hamlet it is really questionable if he plays mad or if he is really mad. Polonius dies by mistake, Ophelia drowns. Everything is weird. He is playing mad seems to be reality at some point.
In Hamlet, Claudius plays the rightful king, however he is a usurper. In reality he is not the rightful king.
The story of a tragic hero= tragedy. The tragedy can be traced back to Aristoteles.
Histores are based on histrocial events. You couldn`t call kings tragic heros.
In Romeo and Julit, Rome is not a tragic hero, because there is no tragic flow. It is fate, destiny. His downfall is not done by a tragic flow.
Hamlet is a real tragedy, however it is different from Kyd`s Spanish Tragedy. In Kyd`s Spanish Tragedy, there is character flow. However in Hamlet there is not. Hieronymo has no character defect. He learns the murder, he plays the mad, he makes his plan and then he kills, namely takes his revenge. But Hamlet is unfit. He delays the revenge again and again. This makes Hamlet different from the Spanish Tragedy.
Shakespeare`s early tragedy which is Rome and Juliet is based on Ovid`s antique text Pyramus and Thisbe.
As we return back to Hamlet: Hamlet in the play reveals that Claudius has killed Hamlet Senior, but still he does not kill him. This is his character defect.
Hamlet disguises himself as a classical revenge tragedy,but in fact it is not. Only in the end of teh 4th act, Hamlet decides to take action.Then Claudius is killed in the 5th action sceene 2, and also mother is killed by Claudius with a poisinous glass of drink. Hamlet also dies. Norvegian Prince Fortinbras appeares and the order comes again. In Hamlet, the revenge is delayed and delayed, but in the Spanish Tragedy it is not postponed. Hamlet takes over the form of a revenge tragedy. Killing of participants are prescribed in revenge tragedy. Hamlet is an melancholic prince who is unfit to fulfil the necessities of revenge tragedy. Hamlet appeares to be a classical revenge tragedy, but it it turns out to be something different because of postponing the revenge. In Titus Andronicus revenge is taken rapidly.
3- love`s errors= takes different shapes in different plays.
---->disguise / cross-dressing
cross-dressing: the practice of wearing clothes usually worn by a person of the opposite sex, especially for sexual pleasure
Aristoteles says: ´´People playing comedy, should be less than us.``
That is why, in tragedies there are aristocrats and in comedies you see citizens.
In A Midsumemr Night`s Dream, what happens in forest is appearance. Titania appeares to fall in love with Bottom. This is appearance. Only at the end of the play, reality is restored. Who is who, who loves whom? There are a lot of confusion in the play, and only at the end confusion is gone and garmony is restored. In Midsumemr Night`s Dream, because of the employment of magic, confusion and disorder happens.
Oberon and Titania quarrel. Oberon orders Puck to pour love-potion on Titania`s eyes when she was asleep. So that she would fall in love with anyone whom she sees first. In this case it is Bottom donkey head. What happens between humans is appearance. The things happen in the forest are appearance. Mistaken identities and mistaken love relationships are appearance.
We see appearance/ reality problems in all plays of William Shakespeare.
We see them ':
in histores: kingship by divine right and usurpation
in tragedies: impenetrable appearances. Impenetrable: impossible to understand.
in comedies: love`s errors which was done by magic.
You mistake people and that cause confusion. Only at the end harmony comes.
In A Midsummer Night`s Dream. Father Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of Lysander. And Puck distrubutes love-potion. These are the examples of broken harmony.
In As You Like It, we have Rosalind and Orlando. In this comedy unlike in A Midsummer Night`s Dream, we have the act of usurpation. Duke`s brother usurpes.
Duke Senior - The father of Rosalind and the rightful ruler of the dukedom in which the play is set. Having been banished by his usurping brother, Frederick, Duke Senior now lives in exile in the Forest of Ardenne with a number of loyal men, including Lord Amiens and Jaques.
Duke Frederick - The brother of Duke Senior and usurper of his throne. Duke Frederick’s cruel nature and volatile temper are displayed when he banishes his niece, Rosalind, from court without reason.
Orlando`s brother Oliver is a persecutor.
Oliver - The oldest son of Sir Rowland de Bois and sole inheritor of the de Bois estate. Oliver is a loveless young man who begrudges his brother, Orlando, a gentleman’s education. He admits to hating Orlando without cause or reason and goes to great lengths to ensure his brother’s downfall.
After giving some information about some of the major characters, Let`s look at the appearance and reality motif.
Read the Summary, click here
As it is mentioned in the summary in the above link, In the Forest of Arden, Rosalind pretends to be male Ganymede against Orlando. At those times no woman actor was allowed. So there is a male actor who playsthe female character Rosalind. And that male actor, namely Rosalind, pretends to be male Ganaymede. And Ganymede talks with Orlando about his true love Rosalind.
And the male actor who plays Rosalind at the same time pretending as Ganymede, asks Orlando that he poses as Rosalind, and what would Orlando say and do.
I repeat again. 4 times dusguising:
A male actor plays the role of woman Rosalind. Because at those times no woman on the stage.
A male actor becomes a female Rosalind.
Later on that female Rosalind becomes, namely pretends to be male Ganymede.
Rosalind, who became male Ganymede offers Orlando to act as Roslaind and wants him to practice the things he wants to say in front of Rosalind.
Here we have cross-dressing. Cross-dressing belongs to appearance and reality. Who is who?
At the end appearance is removed and you can see reality.Rosalind has to diguise, because she is fleeing from his uncle Duke Ferdinand.
From online reader page 65
Shakespearean comedy
Early 1590s: S. picks up plot structure of classical New Comedy –
love's errors overcome in lovers' union and reconciliation between parents and children;
comic characters morally balanced and attractive (marked by euphonious names)
-> audience laughs not about but with the characters
More philosophical vision in A MidsummerNight's
Dream (159495):
contrasts urban civilization with unpredictable nature;
dreamlike
unreality – dreaming and love as resembling artist’s imaginative vision
S.’s festive comedies: esp wooing, but also married life (Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew,
The Merry Wives of Windsor );
focus not on sexuality (as in classical comedy), but on love in its romantic form (Petrarca)
Twelfth Night (16001602)
explores festive style most fully:
Viola in male disguise and her twin brother Sebastian arrive in Illyria – farcical complications
-> exploring identity through difference: selfknowledge
leads to celebration
Female characters (e.g., Rosalind, Viola): intelligent/witty/sensible young women,
determine course of action: esp role playing, masquerading, crossdressing,
e.g., Rosalind (male actor) pretends to be Ganemede, who himself plays part of Rosalind
-> undermining gender identities (and heterosexual normality) – both liberating and frightening:
Page 68
Also play-within-the-play,
theatre-metaphors:
add to artificial/playful character
-> meta-theatrical
reflections, leitmotif of appearance/role playing vs. reality
At the end of S.’s comedies of love: lovers united, misunderstandings/conflicts solved –
restoration of cosmic harmony underlined by music and dance;
S.’s comedies and late romances (e.g., The Winter's Tale [161011],
The Tempest [161112]):
utopian vision of equality in social relations
Some notes about different topics:
Farse is a literary genre. It is grotesque and bizarre. It makes something meaningful into something meaningless. It is ironic on superficial level. Farse originally comes from theatre, drama. But farse is shorter than theatre. It is a staged sceene, sketch or dramulet. If drama takes one and half hours, we can say that a dramulet takes twenty or thirty minutes. It is a farse-like play means the play has visual humour. If we look at Doktor Fustus, his cheap tricks. At the beginning he aims at the deeper knowledge of the world and that is why he sells his soul to the devil. However, what he gets is cheap tricks. His serious aim turns into cheap tricks. It is a farse-like play.
Sir Sidney Philip was a romance narrator. He wrote Arcadia. He is teh first man who wrote about teh abdication of the kings. That is why, Mr. Professor mentioned him in one of the lectures. Shakespeare is not the first one who wrote about the abdication of the Kings, but it is Sir Sidney Philip and maybe he affected Shakespeare.
John Lyly wrote Euphues. Therefore the style is euphuist. Euphuism is a mannered style of English prose,taking its name from works by John Lyly. It was a preciously ornate and sophisticated prose style. It is famous for its conscious rhetorical devices and high language.
Euphemism is different from Euphuistic style. Euphemism is using ´´pass away`` instead of
´´die.``
THE END
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