Shakespearean Themes: Tragedy v. Comedy
Shakespeare is at his core a storyteller, he seeks to entertain and entrance people with his plays/sonnets. Variety is what gives storytelling its longevity. If every story incorporated themes the same way, there would be no variety. Storytelling would become bland. On the other hand, if there is an overabundance of variety, then the author has no distinct voice. Shakespeare treads upon the middle ground, where he uses variety in his storytelling, yet uses common themes in a good deal of his plays. The main themes this paper will be touching on today are spurned love, a decorated soldier, and an exchange of power. Shakespear is able to use common themes to set up suspense
Cheating is a theme that is both in the tragedy Othello, and in the comedy Much ado about Nothing. It is in other plays as well, but the focus will be on these two. In Othello, the plays namesake is made to believe that his beloved, the fair Desdemona is unfaithful. . He then approaches Othello, telling him a tale of adultery between Desdemona and Cassio. This is solidified when Othello “chances” upon Desdemona and Cassio talking together. Cassio’s retreat leads him to suspect there is something nefarious at play between them (Othello 3.3.37-40).Iago then uses Othello's belief that the gift handkerchief symbolizes his beloved’s faithfulness to make him delirious with rage. The amplification of Othello’s rage is what sends him over the top in the end and further solidifies Othello as a tragedy. Meanwhile, In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio is made to believe the fair Hero is likewise unfaithful. Don John seeks to ruin Claudio and to that end he decides to ruin his relationship with Hero, to whom Claudio is to be married. He sets up a farce where he has one of his henchmen act as if he is “courting” Hero (Much Ado About Nothing 3.3.144-163). This plants a seed of anger in Claudio, causing him to publicly shame Hero right before they were supposed to be married. How this differs from Othello is in the fact that Claudio does not seek Hero’s death, but is satisfied by shaming her. He then comes to regret even this action and grieves when he finds that Hero is not only “dead”, but died a maiden. Then when she is shown to be alive and Claudio has been absolved of his guilt, they continue to marry. In this way, Shakespeare ends a sordid tale with a happy ending. The lack of an amplifying factor could be the difference between Comedy and Tragedy in Shakespeare’s plays.
The next theme is a hero returning from battle with high honors. The plays that showcase this theme are Macbeth and Much Ado about Nothing. In Macbeth, the plays namesake is said to have performed bravely and is bestowed a larger title by the king (Macbeth 1.1.63-65). Then the amplifying effect of the witches leads him to believe he will be king and to act towards that goal. He is the driving force of the play and his actions propel him towards both his goal and damnation. In Much ado about Nothing, Claudio returns with the prince having been bestowed much honor (Much Ado About Nothing 1.1.8-11). This is immediately different from Macbeth, because Claudio has no want or need to further his station. In a twist , it is Don John that has an issue with Claudio being favored. The major difference between Macbeth and Claudio is that Macbeth is the enactor of his destiny, whereas Claudio is merely the reactor to his destiny. While both of these characters share supposed honor, this slight difference is enough to make one character reprehensible while the other is redeemed.
The last theme is an exchange of power. While this can take many forms, the chosen instances are of Antonio’s debt to Shylock and King Lear’s Inheritance. In The Merchant of Venice, Antonio becomes indebted to Shylock to the tune of 3000 ducats, this gives Shylock power over him, so much power that it is almost enough power to take his life without repercussions (Merchant of Venice 1.3.9-10). With giving Shylock this power over Antonio, Shylock loses all humanity and comes across as a vindictive villain. This is found to be not wholly true in how the subtext shows that Shylock is indeed a victim in the same way Antonio is not as pure as he is believed to be. In King Lear, King Lear bestows his inheritance upon his two eldest daughters, removing the power he had over them. This causes them to almost immediately lose all outward love for him, since they had no inward love to begin with. This lack of love can be seen very early when King Lear asks how much his daughters love him. Both Goneril and Regan lie to him, as he holds their futures in his hands. It is Cordelia, who actually loves him, who tells the truth, and pays for it (King Lear 1.1.93-94). King Lear also pays for his actions by being forced out by both daughters while he is old and going slowly insane. Antonios debt is an exchange of power that is made worse by his ship's wrecking, but is saved with a deus ex machina. Whereas as soon as King Lear gave his daughters their respective inheritance, they immediately treated him like an unwanted guest. The difference between these two acts is in how it resolves. Antonio is saved by the law or a deus ex machina, but King Lear is not so lucky and ends up dead alongside all three of his daughters.
Shakespeare twists these themes and makes them just as powerful in both comedies and tragedies. He uses adultery to wrench Othello into the depths of despair, while he teaches Claudio a lesson in a “trust but verify” mentality. He uses decorated soldiers as both homicidal maniacs and as loyal companions. The examples in The Merchant of Venice and King Lear show how characters can be influenced by both gaining superiority in the case of Shylock and losing inferiority in the case of Goneril and Regan.The themes may be used in many different plays, but they retain variety in how shakespeare uses agency and other plot devices to set up varied scenes with common themes. He has a distinct voice without sacrificing surprise and intrigue.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
