Key Terms
Costume example
For a Roman play like Antony and Cleopatra, three equally valid approaches exist: 1. Ancient Roman garb (historically ac
Old view
Shakespeare included puns and sexual jokes only to satisfy the lower classes who couldn't follow the deeper material.
CORRECT VIEW
Wrong. The humor, sexual references, and puns always carry meaning.
Example
Romeo and Juliet opens with Sampson and Gregory's sexual wordplay about "maidenheads." This is not incidental. The play
Example from the Bible
Jesus said to Peter (whose name means "rock"), "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church." This is a pun
REFERENCE
Eric Partridge's Shakespeare's Bawdy documents Shakespeare's sexual slang and double meanings.
Tragedy
Hero dies. Story ends.
Comedy
Characters survive, learn, and are ready to apply that knowledge. The comedies show beginnings; the tragedies show concl
Early comedies
Imitation of Plautus (who imitated Aristophanes) Middle comedies: As You Like It (combines humor with profundity) Late p
Genre
Tragedy Source: Plutarch, the ancient Greek historian and biographer Written: approximately 1609 Historical ages: Antony
Definition
A literary tradition using the rural world as a symbol of naturalness and simplicity, contrasted with the corruption and
Pronunciation
Two syllables, with a long "a" — "jake-es." This makes the name sound identical to "jakes," Elizabethan slang for an out
Shakespeare never simplifies
At the play's end, when everyone else rushes back to court, Jaques alone chooses to stay in the forest with Frederick. H
But
It is not "happily ever after." The characters still must live in the world. The stage-within-a-stage metaphor reminds u
Rome represents
Duty, military prowess, efficiency, conquest, power, the rational and the bureaucratic, the public world Egypt represent