Shakespeare's Writings

Shakespeare’s Writings

William Shakespeare used many different writing styles in order to capture the minds and hearts of his audience. He wrote thirty eight plays (Boyce 119), two narratives (Boyce 294), and 154 sonnets (Boyce 607). In order to do his writing, Shakespeare had to put his mind, body, and soul into his work.

Shakespeare wrote three different types of genres, comedies, histories, and tragedies. “A comedy is a drama that provokes laughter at human behavior, usually involves romantic love, and usually has a happy ending.” The plots of the comedies were usually about the struggle between two young lovers. Shakespeare wrote eighteen comedies (Boyce 119). His histories dealt with England’s historical events. He wrote his histories to define the perfect king. Shakespeare wrote ten histories (Boyce 294). “A tragedy is a drama dealing with a noble protagonist placed in a highly stressful situation that leads to a disastrous, usually fatal conclusion.” He developed his tragedies from other tragic plays. Shakespeare based all of his plays from these three genres (Boyce 652).

Shakespeare had five major themes about which he wrote. He used these themes in almost all of his plays. In his comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, a “drunkard” named Christopher Slay is tricked into believing he is a lord and later finds himself in many conflicts with the ladies of the house (Chazelle, n.p). In this comedy, Shakespeare demonstrated contrasting worlds by comparing men versus women. He also showed the rise of one person at the expense of another when Lucentio betrayed Gremio and Hortensio (Shakespeare, n.p.).

In Shakespeare’s, Henry IV: Part II, King Henry and his troops go to war with the fighting rebels (Smith, n.p). In this history, he showed deception and disguise when Hal and Poins disguise themselves in the tavern (Shakespeare, n.p.).

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies. Romeo and Juliet are two lovers who fall for each other but pay a tragic death when they are not allowed to see each other. Shakespeare showed disorder yielding to order