A description of william shakespeare as the greatest playwright of the english language

When William Shakespeare began writing his plays, the English language was rapidly absorbing words from other languages due to wars, exploration, diplomacy and colonization.

Despite individual differences, the public theatres were three stories high, and built around an open space at the centre. Usually polygonal in plan to give an overall rounded effect, three levels of inward-facing galleries overlooked the open centre into which jutted the stage—essentially a platform surrounded on three sides by the audience, only the rear being restricted for the entrances and exits of the actors and seating for the musicians.

The upper level behind the stage could be used as a balconyas in Romeo and Julietor as a position for a character to harangue a crowd, as in Julius Caesar.

Usually built of timber, lath and plaster and with thatched roofs, the early theatres were vulnerable to fire, and gradually were replaced when necessary with stronger structures.

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When the Globe burned down in Juneit was rebuilt with a tile roof. A different model was developed with the Blackfriars Theatrewhich came into regular use on a long term basis in The Blackfriars was small in comparison to the earlier theatres, and roofed rather than open to the sky; it resembled a modern theatre in ways that its predecessors did not.

Elizabethan Shakespeare[ edit ] For Shakespeare as he began to write, both traditions were alive; they were, moreover, filtered through the recent success of the University Wits on the London stage. By the late 16th century, the popularity of morality and academic plays waned as the English Renaissance took hold, and playwrights like Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe revolutionised theatre.

Their plays blended the old morality drama with classical theory to produce a new secular form.

However, it was more ambiguous and complex in its meanings, and less concerned with simple allegory. Inspired by this new style, Shakespeare continued these artistic strategies, [6] creating plays that not only resonated on an emotional level with audiences but also explored and debated the basic elements of what it means to be human.

He takes from Aristotle and Horace the notion of decorum; with few exceptions, he focuses on high-born characters and national affairs as the subject of tragedy. In most other respects, though, the early tragedies are far closer to the spirit and style of moralities.

They are episodic, packed with character and incident; they are loosely unified by a theme or character. Even in his early work, however, Shakespeare generally shows more restraint than Marlowe; he resorts to grandiloquent rhetoric less frequently, and his attitude towards his heroes is more nuanced, and sometimes more sceptical, than Marlowe's.

In comedy, Shakespeare strayed even further from classical models. The Comedy of Errors, an adaptation of Menaechmifollows the model of new comedy closely. Shakespeare's other Elizabethan comedies are more romantic. Like Lyly, he often makes romantic intrigue a secondary feature in Latin new comedy the main plot element; [10] even this romantic plot is sometimes given less attention than witty dialogue, deceit, and jests.

The "reform of manners," which Horace considered the main function of comedy, [11] survives in such episodes as the gulling of Malvolio. Jacobean Shakespeare[ edit ] Shakespeare reached maturity as a dramatist at the end of Elizabeth's reign, and in the first years of the reign of James.

In these years, he responded to a deep shift in popular tastes, both in subject matter and approach. At the turn of the decade, he responded to the vogue for dramatic satire initiated by the boy players at Blackfriars and St.

At the end of the decade, he seems to have attempted to capitalise on the new fashion for tragicomedy[12] even collaborating with John Fletcherthe writer who had popularised the genre in England. The influence of younger dramatists such as John Marston and Ben Jonson is seen not only in the problem plays, which dramatise intractable human problems of greed and lust, but also in the darker tone of the Jacobean tragedies.

As a sharer in both the Globe and in the King's Men, Shakespeare never wrote for the boys' companies; however, his early Jacobean work is markedly influenced by the techniques of the new, satiric dramatists.

One play, Troilus and Cressidamay even have been inspired by the War of the Theatres. This change is related to the success of tragicomedies such as Philasteralthough the uncertainty of dates makes the nature and direction of the influence unclear.

Shakespeare: Greatest Living Playwright - 59 Productions

From the evidence of the title-page to The Two Noble Kinsmen and from textual analysis it is believed by some editors that Shakespeare ended his career in collaboration with Fletcher, who succeeded him as house playwright for the King's Men.

Style[ edit ] During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, "drama became the ideal means to capture and convey the diverse interests of the time. Later on, he retired at the height of the Jacobean period, not long before the start of the Thirty Years' War.

His verse style, his choice of subjects, and his stagecraft all bear the marks of both periods. In some of his early works like Romeo and Juliethe even added punctuation at the end of these iambic pentameter lines to make the rhythm even stronger.

To end many scenes in his plays he used a rhyming couplet to give a sense of conclusion, or completion. Although a large amount of his comical talent is evident in his comedies, some of the most entertaining scenes and characters are found in tragedies such as Hamlet and histories such as Henry IV, Part 1.

Shakespeare's humour was largely influenced by Plautus. He argues that when a person on the stage speaks to himself or herself, they are characters in a fiction speaking in character; this is an occasion of self-address.

Furthermore, Hirsh points out that Shakespearean soliloquies and " asides " are audible in the fiction of the play, bound to be overheard by any other character in the scene unless certain elements confirm that the speech is protected.Which is not an accurate description of William Shakespeare?

A. He is generally considered the greatest English-language playwright.

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B. He composed many poems and created new words to express his /5(14). Which is not an accurate description of William Shakespeare? a. He is generally considered the greatest English-language playwright. b. He composed many poems and created new words to express his 5/5(2).

The plays written by English poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. Traditionally, the plays are divided into the genres of tragedy, history, and comedy;.

William Shakespeare (26 April – 23 April ) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as both the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent Era: Elizabethan era, Jacobean era.

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