The Literature Book

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rivalry. Despite the differences,

Shakespeare’s plays are connected

through the dramatist’s desire to

give voice to a socially diverse cast

of characters: pimps, madams, and

prostitutes rub shoulders with the

future king of England in Henry IV

Part 1 and Part 2; Bottom the weaver

encounters the fairy world in A

Midsummer Night’s Dream; and

the monarch listens to the thoughts

of a fool and a beggar in King Lear.

The torment of the tragic

Of the plays included in the First

Folio there are certain works

that have acquired the status

of Shakespearian masterpieces.

People do not always need to have

read or seen Hamlet in performance

to be familiar with the words,

“To be, or not to be; that is the

question.” Hamlet’s association

with melancholy and deep thought

is now famous the world over. In

him, Shakespeare created one

of the most poetic voices of all

time, and the literary illusion of a

troubled conscience. Shakespeare

walks listeners through the twists

and turns of Hamlet’s imagined

mind as he struggles with issues

of morality and mortality. Hamlet

is troubled with the idea of “what

dreams may come / When we have

shuffled off this mortal coil”; as

countless poems, novels, and

dramas suggest, Hamlet is not

FIRST FOLIO

Prince Hamlet of Denmark, here

portrayed by Laurence Olivier in the

1948 movie version he also directed, is

a pychologically complex character

who feigns madness to exact revenge.

alone. King Lear is another of the

tragic creations that speaks directly

to Shakespeare’s understanding

of the human condition. In old age

Lear’s understanding of himself

and the world around him is at

odds with the views of a younger

generation. His pride leads him to

make rash judgements, which serve

to ostracize him from friends and

family, leaving him to reflect upon

his actions and his relationships

with other people. Lear, like so

many of Shakespeare’s other tragic

figures, is tormented by his own

thoughts, and it takes the duration

of a play for him to reassess his

situation and “see better.”

Questions of identity

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is

one of Shakespeare’s most popular

comedies, and Bottom one of his

most memorable creations. When

rehearsing in the woods, Bottom’s

head is magically transformed into

that of an ass by the knavish sprite

Puck. Visual effects have a much

stronger impact on the stage than

on the page. The hilarity of seeing

an actor alter their whole being to

Recurring motifs in Shakespeare’s plays

The Two Gentlemen of Verona,

The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It,

Twelfth Night, Cymbeline

King Lear, Twelfth Night,

As You Like It

A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Hamlet, Love's Labour's Lost

Macbeth, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s

Dream, The Tempest, Julius Caesar,

Richard III, Cymbeline

Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost,

Hamlet, Othello

The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado

About Nothing, Measure for Measure,

All's Well That Ends Well

Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest,

Pericles, The Comedy of Errors

Women

disguised

as men

The fool

Play

within

a play

The

supernatural

Overhearing

Mistaken

identity (as a

comic motif)

Storm and

shipwreck

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