What Is Shakespeare's Reasoning Behind Twelfth Night?

Social class distinction remains a common theme throughout Shakespeare's plays. Shakespearean era society possessed a structured hierarchy of social class, based largely on wealth and nobility. This system influenced social interactions among the population and often guided marriage arrangements. Shakespeare’s commentary on social class, in his comedy Twelfth Night, exposes the divide humorously, by displaying ironic interactions between varying social classes. Twelfth Night places a variety of characters from different social classes in close quarters, causing inevitable conflict among classes.

In Henry IV Part I, Shakespeare presents a collection of traditional heroes. Hotspur’s laudable valor, King Henry’s militaristic reign, and Hal’s princely transformation echo the socially extolled values of the Elizabethean male. Molding themselves after societal standards, these flat characters contrast Sir John Falstaff’s round, spirited personality. Through Falstaff’s unorthodox behavior and flagrant disregard for cultural traditions, Shakespeare advocates one’s personal values above society’s.

The article helped a great deal to enlighten me on the cultural and social norms during the time when Shakespeare wrote the play. Understanding the social environment of the Renaissance helps to

Shakespeare's Approach Toward Modern Societal Flaws Shakespeare’s As You Like It coveys many societal issues that the modern world continues to face. The play reveals these societal flaws and how they affected the life of those living in the Elizabethan Era. Throughout this play we are presented with the issues within dominants institutions such as political, cultural and sexual, problems- while looking at the Elizabethan Era, transcendentalism and Gender roles, that we deal with in the modern world both similarly or perhaps slightly different.

In the time of the Elizabethan Era there was a strict role of diversity. People were judged by fame, wealth, skills, and birth; then placed in social groups based on how they were judged. In this era many people did not rise above what they were born into, but for William Shakespeare he made becoming famous in the late 1500’s look easy. Still to this day he is talked about, even though somethings about his personal life are uncertain.

In schools all over the country Shakespeare is being taught not only in high schools but also at the college level. My first thought of what to think of this is that Shakespeare shouldn’t be taught nearly as much as it is. There are various different sources severely less painful to teach and learn. But the more I researched and learned the importance of Shakespeare, the more I realized its benefits being taught in today’s society. Shakespeare's plays challenges students with difficult language and style, show a great connection to the knowledge of human behavior and offer a deep understanding into our society.

There is no denying that Shakespeare is a definitive playwright. He has presented us with classic works that have set the precedent for drama and the theatre. Among Shakespeare’s more notable plays are his tragedies. In the tragedy his protagonists are often given flaws in their character and hence, are suitably named tragic heroes. The downfall of these protagonists is often a result of their own character flaws and unfortunately, they suffer a doomed and unhappy ending. While the tragic hero is flawed they must also be honorable and worthy of the audience’s understanding and sympathy. On a quest for righteousness the tragic hero often goes through immense suffering which is why the audience can feel bad for him. For the most

“How would a modern audience view this play in a different way to an audience in Shakespeare’s time, particularly in relation to the role and status of women and attitudes to marriage and courtship?

Michael Wood’s videos did an excellent job of capturing the life of Shakespeare and his spirit during the authoritarian times of the Elizabethan era. Wood showed how the Elizabethan era informed his work, from the Protestant Reformation to the injustice of the government to his inability to explicitly write about current events and thus reversion to creating plays about history that were laced with implicit lessons. He also showed Shakespeare’s humanity. Previously, Shakespeare’s reputation made him seem deity

Around the turn of the century, he argues that Americans lost their love of and patience with oratory. At the same time, those who read Shakespeare’s plays began to insist that the Bard’s talent as a poet went unappreciated when his plays were performed alongside farces, juggling acts, and other popular forms of entertainment. Theatres began to perform Shakespeare’s plays less frequently, and isolated from the other acts that formerly accompanied them. Parodies and alterations of Shakespeare became less popular and even seen as blasphemy. Shakespeare’s works moved from the body of common cultural knowledge to the realm of high art worthy of study by the elite and educated, not crude enjoyment by the masses. This shift in conception of Shakespeare’s place in American culture did not happen suddenly and was not fully accepted, as evinced by the conflict between Mcready and Forrest and the subsequent riots as the masses defended the rights of the audience and the popular theatrical styles while the elite insisted that “discreet” audiences should be privileged to view the plays enacted with more decorum. Those who wished to divorce Shakespeare from popular culture appear to have won in the 20th century, as Shakespeare is now viewed as an artist to be admired and studied but whose works aren’t accessible to the population as a whole, and are certainly not to be compared with popular entertainment, despite their origins as such.

I was in the best of settings when I realized that Shakespeare was indeed great. My freshman year in high school, I had English class with an esteemed teacher, Mr. Broza—hailed as the Paul D. Schreiber High School Shakespeare aficionado, founder of Schreiber’s Annual Shakespeare Day, and, perhaps most heart-warming of all, a self-proclaimed Shakespeare lover whose posters of The Bard could be found as wallpaper in his small office. How lucky I thought I was. Indeed, if I wanted to appreciate Hamlet, I was in the right hands.

Shakespeare, a humanist and a man of crucial perspective, concentrates on moral, political, and philosophical questions of universal significance; he strives to change the world. Shakespeare brought new-fangled realism in drama and took it to great height with profundity. His dramas have the rich diversity of humanity with the help of hundreds living, believable characters showing multiplicity in individuality. Even after centuries, the characters can be identified with their aspirations, their strengths and their failings, and sympathise with their moral dilemmas. He was a true human with true human experiences bringing humanist approach. Janet Suzman: “Shakespeare was a humanist in everything he wrote.*1 Shakespeare’s plays and poetry reveal

This essay will discuss several literary criticisms of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. After skimming through several articles, I ended up with four peer-reviewed journal articles, each a different critical perspectives of the play: feminist, psychoanalytical/freudian, moral, and new historicism. My previous studies of Hamlet, as well as my rereading of the play this semester, has collectively given me a general knowledge of the text. My familiarity of the play made it easier for me to decipher the academic journals and see the connections each critic made with the play.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a play with themes that parallel the folly of the festival it is named after. The main storyline of the plot plays on this a lot by mixing up the stereotypes around gender that were very present at the time. However, a sub-plot involving secondary characters defines this theme even more. It takes the idea even further by relating servants’ attempts to blur the lines between social classes. Twelfth Night’s Maria and Malvolio both have great aspirations to rise above their social class. However, Maria succeeds where Malvolio fails because of her capability to make use of the satiric ambiance of her mistress’s household to achieve her goals.

Prior to Shakespeare’s ascendancy on the English stage, Bloom argues, there was no concept of the individual self, just types. These types persist in Shakespeare’s plays as residual stock characters displaying