Shakespeare’s Plays

Everything has been done before, and will be done again.

William Shakespeare happened to be born at a particular time and place where he was able to make just about all the possible iterations of stories that can be made.

From a starting point, we can create endless permutations, but it can help to understand the primitives of the craft.

To that end, this is an attempt to draw a patterned comparison between what he made, and what still gets produced in more advanced mediums (i.e., talkies and screenplays).

Comedies

As You Like It

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The Comedy of Errors

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The History of Cardenio (adapted later as Double Falsehood)

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Love’s Labour’s Lost

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The Merry Wives of Windsor

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Much Ado About Nothing

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Pericles, Prince of Tyre

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The Taming of the Shrew

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The Tempest

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    1. A nobleman sorcerer (NS) flees with his infant daughter (SD) to a remote island and enslaves the island’s inhabitant (II) and a spirit (S) to serve him.
    2. Much later, when a ship passes by with his brother (SB) on it, he has S conjure a storm that destroys the ship, which separates all of them: SB and the king (K), the king’s brother (KB), the sorcerer’s minister (SM), one of the lords (L), the jester (J) and alcoholic head servant (HS), and everyone else is placed in a magical sleep until later.
    3. NS and SD rescue the king’s son (KS), and the sorcerer successfully manipulates a romance between the two of them.
    4. J and HS encounter II and comic relief ensues through botched attempts at a “rebellion”.
    5. SB and KB conspire to kill K and SM so KB can become king, but NS and S thwart the conspiracy.
    6. S later takes the form of a harpy and torments K, KB, and SB, driving them to flee in guilt for what they did against each other and NS.
    7. NS intends his daughter, now 15, to marry KS, so he instructs S to create a masque party with other spirits to bless and celebrate the marriage.
    8. The masque party is interrupted suddenly when NS realizes he forgot there was a conspiracy against his life.
    9. NS sends goblins in the shape of hounds to chase J, HS, and II into the swamps.
    10. S brings out the SB, K, and KB. NS forgives all three of them, and his former title is restored. S fetches the ship’s sailors and the three driven into the swamp. II is filled with regret, while NS ridicules and sends away J and HS in shame.
    11. S is instructed to give good weather to guide K’s ship back home, where KS and SD will be married. Following that, the spirit will be set free.
  • THEMES:
    • High self-referential of theater life, with the idea of the theater and portraying various forms shown throughout.
    • Magic, as a clear discipline akin to science, is showcased, with a dualistic white/black magic distinction.
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    • While power-based marriages aren’t fashionable anymore, reproduces the aspect of gaining power via
    • The spirit’s journey is essentially Disney’s Aladdin.

Twelfth Night

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona

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    1. A wealthy young man (YM) is leaving his hometown to expand his horizons in the court of a noble (N) in a larger city. He hopes his best friend (BF) will come, but that friend doesn’t want to leave the girl he fell in love with (FG). YM leaves without him.
    2. BF’s father, however, wants him to advance his career, so he orders him to leave the next day to that larger city. There is a tearful farewell with FG hearing BF’s eternal love for her, and they exchange rings and vows. He leaves with his servant and servant’s dog.
    3. In the big city, YM falls in love with the noble’s daughter (ND), who clearly prefers him over a different wealthy and vain man (WM) that N expects her to marry.
    4. As soon as BF arrives, he also falls in love with ND. After only a brief agony over betraying YM and FG, he lies to N that YM plans to elope with ND with a corded ladder to rescue her from a tower room where she’s imprisoned every night.
    5. N banishes YM, who wanders in the forest until he runs into a band of outlaws (O), who elect him as their leader.
    6. FG decides to join BF in the big city and convinces her maid to dress her in boy’s clothes. She arrives to find BF’s love for ND and watches him serenade her. She contrives to become his servant to learn more, calling herself by a male name. BF sends her/him to ND with a gifted ring that FG gave him before leaving their hometown. ND is repelled by his faithlessness, and scorns BF’s affections.
    7. ND flees into the forest in despair, where O quickly take her prisoner. On the way to YM, they encounter BF and FG. BF rescues ND but continues to press her, secretly observed by YM. YM intervenes when BF tells ND he intends to force himself on her.
    8. BF pretends to be horrified by his behavior, and YM forgives him. At this point, FG is overwhelmed and swoons, revealing her identity. BF suddenly recalls his love for her and vows fidelity again.
    9. D and WM are brought in by O. WM claims ND as his, but YM warns he’ll kill him if he makes a move toward her. In terror, WM renounces his claim. N is disgusted by WM’s cowardice and impressed by YM’s actions, approves YM’s and ND’s love, and consents to their marriage. The two couples are happily united and N pardons O, meaning they may return to the big city.
  • THEMES:
    • It explores the distinction and prioritization of romantic love versus friendship.
    • It also explores the utter stupidity inherent to being in love.
    • The friend conveys the theme of inconstancy, where he goes back on his word because his feelings take over.
  • MODERN COMPARISONS:
    • Most modern romance stories are simplified distillations, with the wealthy man omitted (and the focus on the friend’s betrayal) or the friend omitted (and the wealthy man as the antagonist against the love interest’s favor).

The Two Noble Kinsmen

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Tragedies

Hamlet

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King Lear

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Macbeth

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Othello

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Romeo and Juliet

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Tragedies – “Roman”

Coriolanus

  • Set in the 5th century BC.
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Julius Caesar

  • Set between 45 BC and 42 BC.
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Antony and Cleopatra

  • Set between 55 BC and 30 BC.
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Titus Andronicus

  • Set sometime in the late Roman Empire.
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Tragedies – “Historical”

King John

  • Set between 1199 and 1216.
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Edward III

  • Set between 1327 and 1375.
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Richard II

  • Set through 1398 to 1400
  • Part 1 of a tetralogy that includes Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V.
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Henry IV Part 1

  • Set between late 1402 and mid-1403.
  • Part 2 of a tetralogy that includes Richard II, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V.
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Henry IV Part 2

  • Setting is an expansion of Part 1 in 1403 and finishes in 1455.
  • Part 3 of a tetralogy that includes Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, and Henry V.
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Henry V

  • Set in 1415.
  • Part 4 of a tetralogy that includes Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, and Henry IV Part 2.
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Henry VI Part 1

  • Set between 1422 and 1445.
  • Part 1 of a tetralogy that includes Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.
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Henry VI Part 2

  • Set between 1445 and 1455.
  • Part 2 of a tetralogy that includes Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.
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Henry VI Part 3

  • Set between 1455 and 1471.
  • Part 3 of a tetralogy that includes Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, and Richard III.
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Richard III

  • Set between 1471 and 1485.
  • Part 4 of a tetralogy that includes Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, and Henry VI Part 3.
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Henry VIII

  • Setting is approximately 1510 to 1533.
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Tragicomedies – “Problem Plays”

All’s Well That Ends Well

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Cymbeline

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Measure for Measure

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The Merchant of Venice

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Timon of Athens

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Troilus and Cressida

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The Winter’s Tale

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