Essays and Notes

Unhappy Fortune! The Plague in the Plays

Shakespeare killed scores of his characters — by sword, by dagger, by poison, by flame, by drowning, by hanging, by murder, by suicide, by accident — men, women, children, all ages, killed by many means, even by a bear. But the deaths of only two of his central characters can be attributed to the plague, and even then, only by proximate cause, not directly by the plague.
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Romeo and Juliet

Character(s):

Friar John, Friar Lawrence, Juliet of Verona, Mercutio, Romeo

Themes:

Hate, Love, Plague

Figures of Speech:

Irony, Metaphor, Metonymy, Oxymoron, Paradox

Banishment: Romeo and Coriolanus

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For two of Shakespeare’s most passionate male characters, banishment holds passionately different meanings. Romeo, banished from Verona, is grief-stricken and in fear of never seeing Juliet again. For him, banishment is the equivalent of death. Coriolanus, banished from Rome, is enraged and contemptuous of the plebeians who he hopes he will never have to see again. For him, banishment is an opportunity for a new life.
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Coriolanus, Romeo and Juliet

Character(s):

Caius Martius Coriolanus, Friar Lawrence, Romeo

Themes:

Anger, Banishment, Grief

Iago and Ulysses on Order and Degree

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Ulysses and Iago express similar themes about order and degree. Iago speaks more specifically about seniority versus affections and recommendations.
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Othello, Troilus and Cressida

Character(s):

Iago, Ulysses

Themes:

False Fronts, Leadership, Self Interest, Social Order

Figures of Speech:

Metaphor

Lear: Act One Scene One

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King Lear’s first scene is notable in its length and structure. At over 300 lines, with more characters on stage than in all but the last scene of the play, and being divided into three sub-scenes, this first scene is almost a play in itself.

It begins, as do so many of Shakespeare’s plays,
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This Note references:
Source(s):

King Lear

Character(s):

Cordelia, Edmund, Gloucester, Goneril, Kent, Regan

Themes:

Astrology, Bastards, Children, Demons, Madness, Nature, Nothingness, Parents, Storms, Words

Figures of Speech:

Allusion, Metaphor

Animal Imagery

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Animal imagery dominates Henry VI, Part 3, as in two passages here:

Margaret
And yet shalt thou be safe? Such safety finds
The trembling lamb environèd with wolves.
Had I been there, which am a silly woman,
The soldiers should have tossed me on their pikes
Before I would have granted to that act…
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Henry VI Pt 3

Character(s):

Henry VI, Queen Margaret

Themes:

Anger, Cowardice, Revenge

Figures of Speech:

Simile

Video: St. Crispin’s Day Speech, Mark Rylance at the Globe

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Mark Rylance at the Globe as Henry V

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Source(s):

Henry V

Character(s):

Henry V

Themes:

Brothers, Heroism, War

The Snare of Vanity

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In Act 2, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar, Decius Brutus uses “betrayed” to mean fooled, tricked or misled. A person can escape a unicorn by hiding behind a tree; a bear can be misled by seeing itself in a mirror; an elephant can be tricked into falling into a hole; a lion caught in a trap; and men seduced by flatterers.
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Julius Caesar

Character(s):

Decius Brutus, Julius Caesar

Themes:

Deceit, Humors

Figures of Speech:

Simile

Immigration in Tutor England

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Shakespeare’s contribution to the play Sir Thomas More, which may never have been produced, is noteworthy for More’s compassionate speech about immigrants. The scene recounts the events of Evil May Day in 1517, during Henry VIII’s reign when Londoners, after sporadic rioting, threatened to kill Flemish and other European immigrants who were thought to be taking Englishmen’s work.

From the British Library by Andrew Dickson and British Library curators:

… continue reading this noteManuscript of a portion the play Sir Thomas More in what is believed to be Shakespeare’s handwriting.

This Note references:
Source(s):

Sir Thomas More

Character(s):

Sir Thomas More

Themes:

Immigrants

You and Thee

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In Henry IV Part 1, in the exchange between Hotspur and Owen Glendower, about calling up devils from the vasty deep, Hotspur deliberately shifts from the word you to thee when he addresses Glendower. You was often used to convey respect while thee was used when speaking to someone of inferior rank,
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This Note references:
Source(s):

Henry IV Pt 1, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night

Character(s):

Hotspur, Juliet of Verona, Owen Glendower, Romeo, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch

Themes:

Demons, Devil

Epilogues and Genders

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Rosalind in As You Like It, the arch-feminist of Shakespeare’s plays, is the only female character to deliver an epilogue. But for the final laugh, she steps out of character and, as the boy actor who played her, says, —If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me–
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