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By
Michael J. Cummings © 2003.
.......William
Shakespeare altered his writing style significantly between his first play
(1590-92) and his last (1613). For example, the Shakespeare style of 1590
was somewhat rigid in its adherence to established rules, though it did
contain flashes of brilliance that astounded and delighted audiences. The
style of the early 1600's, on the other hand, was more creative and free
because Shakespeare had learned to listen more to his inner voice and less
to the dictates of literary convention. In his later years–in particular
when he wrote The Tempest–Shakespeare achieved a writing mastery
that confirmed what earlier masterpieces such as Hamlet and King
Lear suggested: that he was one of the greatest writers in history.
.......Scholars
generally assign each of his plays to one of four periods, depending on
the quality and maturity of the writing and characterization. Textbooks
classify these as the Early Period, the Balanced Period, the Overflowing
Period, and the Final Period. Not everyone agrees on which plays belong
to which period. For example, some scholars place Hamlet in the
Balanced Period while others place it in the Overflowing Period. Scholars
also differ on the period to which The Merchant of Venice belongs.
Some place it in the Early Period and others in the Balanced Period.
.......Such
disagreement is understandable. After all, literature is not mathematics
or physics. In King Lear, 2+2 may equal 7 or 9 in the mind of an
old man wrecked by familial perfidy. And in Macbeth, darkness +
nightfall may equal sunshine or dawn in the mind of a witch stewing "eye
of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of frog." The plays and
characteristics of the four periods are as follows:
Early Period
Plays: Comedy of
Errors, Henry VI Part I, Henry VI Part II, Henry VI Part III, King John,
Love's Labour's Lost, Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Richard III,
Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, Two Gentlemen
of Verona.
Style in General:
Technically rigid; somewhat immature. The plots generally are well organized.
Characterization:Often
superficial or shallow compared with the characterization in later plays.
Romeo and Juliet, in which characterization is strong, is an exception.
Dialogue: Sometimes
stilted, unnatural. Shakespeare tries hard–maybe too hard–to be consistent
in the structure of his lines, making his words fit established conventions
rather than making them express the mercurial, inner voice that guided
him in later plays. Puns and other rhetorical devices abound, making the
wording clever but not always profound. In Richard II, John of Gaunt makes
puns even as he is dying. When the king asks how he is, Gaunt uses his
name (the same as the adjective gaunt, meaning thin, bony and haggard)
in a "punny" reply:
Oh, how that name befits
my composition!
Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt
in being old,
With me grief hath kept
a tedious fast,
And who abstains from meat
that is not gaunt?
Balanced Period
Plays: All's Well
That Ends Well, As You Like It, Hamlet*, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part
II, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure*, Merchant of Venice*,
Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello*, Troilus and Cressida,
Twelfth Night.
Style in General:
Less technically rigid; more creative. The plots are generally well designed.
Shakespeare demonstrates his range by  writing
outstanding works in three genres: comedy (As You Like It, Twelfth Night),
tragedy (Hamlet, Julius Caesar) and history (Henry IV Part I, Henry V).
In addition, he presents a highly tragic character, Shylock, in a comedy
(The Merchant of Venice).
Characterization:
Strong and rounded, reflecting deep insight into human nature. Among the
magnificent character portrayals of this period are those of Hamlet, Macbeth,
Shylock, Othello, Iago, and Brutus. In Henry IV Parts I and II, Shakespeare
achieves a wonderful balance between the comic (represented by Sir John
Falstaff) and the serious (represented by Hotspur and others).
Dialogue: A mixture
of verse and prose. Shakespeare also uses the soliloquy as more than a
device to disclose the direction of the plot, to present pretty poetry,
or to deliver long-winded asides. In Hamlet, Macbeth, and
Julius Caesar, for example, soliloquies plumb the depths of the
characters' souls, revealing doubt, indecision, fear, and ambition. The
"To be or not to be" soliloquy in Hamlet, perhaps the most famous
passage in English literature, reveals all of these emotions:
Overflowing Period
Plays: King Lear,
Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens
Style in General:
Highly creative; bursting with insight. Shakespeare ignores many rules
to allow his genius to "overflow." The plots of this period sometimes twist
and turn, challenging the reader with their complexity.
Characterization:
Superb, deeply insightful
Dialogue: Often highly
suggestive of the speaker's state of mind and suffused with memorable metaphors,
similes and other figures of speech. Many passages are in prose. The following
prose passage in the storm scene in Act III, Scene IV, of King
Lear reveals all of these characteristics. Lear is addressing Edgar
in the presence of the Fool. After speaking the lines, Lear tears off his
clothes.
Why, thou wert better in
thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the
skies. Is man no more than this? Consider him well. Thou owest the worm
no silk, the beast no hide, the sheep no wool, the cat no perfume. Ha!
here's three on 's are sophisticated! Thou art the thing itself:
unaccommodated man is no more but such a poor bare, forked animal as thou
art. Off, off, you lendings! Come unbutton here.
The Fool then rejoins in prose
with a surprising touch of humor and more of the same type of imagery:
Prithee, nuncle [Lear],
be contented; 'tis a naughty night to swim in. Now a little fire in a wild
field were like an old lecher's heart; a small spark, all the rest on 's
body cold. Look, here comes a walking fire. [Gloucester enters with a torch.]
Final Period
Plays: Cymbeline,
Henry VIII, Pericles, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale
Style in General:
Masterly. Shakespeare has just the right mix of technical skill, creativity,
and wisdom while exhibiting hope for flawed humanity. Shakespeare tends
to prefer times and places far removed from Elizabethan England–as in The
Tempest, Pericles, and Cymbeline–although Henry VIII
is certainly an exception here.
Characterization:
Several plays of this period–including Pericles, The Winter's
Tale, and Cymbeline–introduce characters who suffer loss, then
regain what they have lost. Superb, deeply insightful
Dialogue: Highly
creative, with many memorable passages in both verse and prose. The following
passages, the first in verse and the second in prose, are from The Tempest:
.
Ariel's Song, Act I, Scene
II
.
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Prospero Speaking to Ferdinand
and Miranda, Act IV, Scene I
.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded.
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