The Shakespeare Effect

The Shakespeare Effect

by Lauren Conroy

Introduction

This milestone looks at four of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth, and examines several themes in each work. Certain reoccurring themes can be attributed to events that had a profound effect on Shakespeare’s life which will not be covered on this page. In the Timeline of Shakespeare page, there is a timeline that compares what had happened in Shakespeare’s life and what had been happening in London from Shakespeare’s birth to his death. The themes of betrayal and madness was then implemented in a comparison with examples from the works themselves. There are also visual examples of how these themes are exhibited in the plays. This project informs the reader that Shakespeare’s works have common themes especially in his tragedies.

In high school, I had read and wrote many papers about Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, A Thousand Acres (based off of King Lear) and Macbeth. Then when I started WPI, I helped with the sound engineering of Taming the Shrew. I have taken two theater classes in my freshman year. In my Introduction to Drama class, I preformed several lines from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Shakespeare is a topic that is covered by may colleges and high schools, but many schools neglect to thoroughly explore the themes in his works. My objective was to discover what themes were in four separate Shakespeare tragedies. Based on my research, I found that Hamlet, Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra share a common theme of betrayal. Many of the characters betray or are betrayed their own conscience, or a trusted friend or family member. This often leads to their own downfall as a person. I also found that Hamlet and Macbeth share the common theme of madness. Macbeth power-hungry nature leads him to give into his madness while Hamlet's madness is spurred from his inability to accept the loss of his father as well as his lack of resolve for action. This milestone has helped me get in touch with my inner Shakespeare fangirl and has taught me quite a bit on Shakespeare's themes in his tragedies.

Section 1: Background

Timeline of Shakespeare life and events that happened in London that impacted his writings.

Timeline

Year	Shakespeare	London/England
1564	William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon and is the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare.
1571	Shakespeare is eligible to attend Kind Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford.
1582	William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in November.
1583	Their daughter Susanna is born and is baptized on May 26th.
1585	Their twins Hamnet and Judith are born and are baptized on February 2nd.
	The Lost Years begin
1587	Shakespeare leaves Stratford.	The Rose Theater opens on the Southbank of London.
		The first performance of Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, which was a parody using some of Shakespeare and other playwright's works, occurred.
		Mary, Queen of Scots is executed
1589	Henry I,II,III,IV is written from 1589 to 1591.
1590	Taming the Shrew is written from1590 to 1595.
	The Two Gentleman of Verona is written from1590 to 1594.
	"King John" is written from 1590 to 1591.
1591	Richard III is written from 1591 to 1593.
1592	Shakespeare described as an upstart crow in Green's Groats-wroth of Wit which suggests that he was in London at the time.	The plague begins in London.
	Titus Andronicus is written from 1592 to 1954.	The Rose Theater is closed by order of Privy Council after riots in Southwark.
	Edward III is written from 1592 to 1594.
1593	Venus and Adonis published with dedication to Earl of Southampton	Christopher Marlowe, an English playwright of Shakespeare's time, passes away.
	The plague closes all theaters closed from January on.
	John Norden publishes Speculum Britanniae which includes map of Westminster.
1954	The Rape of Lucrece is published	The Four Year famine beings.
	Titus Andronicus is published.	Roderigo Lopez, who was the physician to Queen Elizabeth I, is hanged.
	The Comedy of Errors is written around 1954 or earlier.	Titus Andronicus is first preformed on January 24, according to Philip Henslowe's diary. Henslowe was a theatrical entrepreneur who's diary gives us a glimpse into the past of Renaissance London.
	Love's Labour's Lost is written from 1954 to 1955.	The Comedy of Errors is preformed at Grey's Inn on December 28th.
	A Midsummer Night's Dream is written from 1594 to 1596.	A theater company formed under Lord Chamberlain, Henry Cary, Baron Hunsdon.
1595	Richard II is written in 1595.	There is a possibility that a performance of Richard II was preformed at Sir Edward Hoby's house in Westminster on December 7th.
	Shakespeare is first recorded as a member of Chamberlain's Men.	There is an apprentices riot in Southwark and at the Tower over the price of fish and butter in June. Five of them are hanged for treason.
	Romeo and Juliet is written from 1595 to 1596.
1596	The death of Hamnet, William and Anne's only son.	James Burbage builds the Blackfriars Playhouse
	After asking for a coat of arms, his request is granted.
	The Merchant of Venice is written from 1596 to 1598.
	Henry IV Part 1 is written from 1596 to 1597.
1597	Shakespeare purchases New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon.
	Henry IV Part 2 is written from 1597 to 1598.
	The Merry Wives of Windsor is written in 1597.
1598	Shakespeare is described as 'best for comedy and tragedy…. among the English's in Francis Meres' Palladia.	John Stow's Survey of London is published.
	Much Ado About Nothing is written from 1598 to 1599.
1599	Henry V is written in 1599.
	"Julius Caesar" is written in 1599.
	"As You Like It" is written from 1599 to 1600.
1600	"Hamlet" is written from 1600 to 1601.
1601	William Shakespeare's father John Shakespeare passes away.	The Essex Rebellion starts and Essex's supporters request a personal performance of Richard III.
	"Twelfth Night" is written in 1601.	Earl of Essex is executed.
	"Trolius and Cressida" is written from 1601 to 1602..	The Earl of Southampton imprisoned is in the Tower of London
1602	Shakespeare buys additional property in Stratford-upon-Avon inculding a garden and cottege opposite New Place.	Twelfth Night preformed at the Middle Temple in February.
	"All's Well That Ends Well" is written from 1602 to 1605.
1603	"Othello" is written from 1603 to 1604.	Queen Elizabeth I passes away at Richmond Palace on March 24th.
	"Sir Thomas Moore" is written from 1603 to 1604.	James I ascends the throne.
1604	Shakespeare lived on Silver Street in the upstairs room of the Mountjoys.
	"Measure for Measure" is written in 1604.
	"King Lear" is written from 1604 to 1606.
1605		Gunpowder plot occurs.
1606	"Macbeth" is written in 1606.
	"Antony and Cleopatra" is written in 1606.
1607	His daughter Susanna marries a physician John Hall.	The River Thames freezes over leading to the first Frost Fair.
	Shakespeare's brother Edmund, who was an actor with the King's Men, passes away.
	"Timon of Athens" is written in 1607.
	"Pericles" is written from 1607 to 1608.
1608	"Coriolanus" is written in 1608.	King Lear is preformed at Whitehall on December 26th.
1609	Shakespeare's Sonnets are published.	The King's Men begin preforming at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Winter.
1610	"Cymbeline" is written in 1610.
	"The Winter's Tale" is written from 1610 to 1611.
	"The Tempest" is written from 1610 to 1611.
1612	"Cardenio",which today is lost, is written from 1610 to 1611.	James' son Prince Henry dies on November 6th.
	Shakespeare appears as witness at Court of Requests on May 11
1613	Shakespeare buys property in the Blackfriars precinct.	James' daughter Princess Elizabeth marries Fredrick, elector palatine and future king of Bohemia on February 14th.
	"Henry VIII" is written in 1613.	The Globe Theater burns down after a performance of Henry VIII on June 29th.
	"Two Nobel Kingsmen" is written from 1613 to 1614.
1614		Rebuilt globe reopens
1616	William Shakespeare passes away on May 5th in Stratford-upon-Avon.
	His daughter, Judith, marries Thomas Quiney
	His daughter's son Shakespeare Quiney is baptized.
1623	Anne Shakespeare passes away.
	The First Folio is published.

Section 2: Deliverable

The themes of betrayal and madness are common themes that many journal writers, literary critics see within the plays of Hamlet, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth. In the book Hamlet’s Absent Father, Avi Erlich suggests that Claudius betrays Hamlet in an indirect way, but does betray him by sending his friends to spy on him.Maria Macaulay (2005) suggested in her article When Chaos Is Come Again: Narrative and Narrative Analysis in Othello, for the Style, that Iago plays with Othello’s insecurities and leads him to believe his wife is cheating on him, which leads to him betraying and killing his wife because he believes she is impure. In his article called The Time Sense of Antony and Cleopatra, which was written for the Shakespeare Quarterly, David Kaula states that Antony is thrown into a quandary of what to do when he supposes that Cleopatra had betrayed him and the many others she draws after her. Frank McGuinness, a contributor to Irish University Review in his article Madness and Magic: Shakespeare’s Macbeth examines how the desire for power leads him to madness by believing in the dark powers of magic. In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s (1818) Lecture on Hamlet, he states that there is a necessary balance “between our attention to the objects of our senses, and our meditation on the workings of our minds”, which suggests that Hamlet loses his perception of the real world and his resolve for action.

Common Themes among Shakespeare's works.

Betrayal by trusted friends and family

The works of Shakespeare are notorious for having common linking themes among several of the plays he has written. When one breaks down each play down to its basic element, one can find that characters in Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, and Othello all have been betrayed by trusted friends or family members which subsequently leads to their ultimate downfall. The downfall of the character could have been prevented if the character was not blinded by their trust for that person or people.

Hamlet, from the play Hamlet, is betrayed by a person he had trusted and loved, his uncle, Claudius, who betrays him before the play even begins. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet is an oblivious college school boy who has believed that his mother and father’s relationship was unbreakable and that his life had no troubles. He is blinded from the responsibilities he has to face and of the betrayal of his uncle towards him and his family. However, the death of his father opens his eyes to suffering and responsibility he has to take up from his father’s death. The downfall and eventual madness of Hamlet is directly caused by his betrayal by his uncle. The betray of his uncle sends Hamlet to suicide stating, “O cursed spite! That ever I was born, to put it right." (I.5 215-216). Hamlet automatically thinks that dying is the best choice and thinks the only way to avoid another betrayal is by killing himself. After thinking suicide through, he decides that his redemption can only come from killing his betrayer. This betrayal then leads to Hamlet’s ultimate death when he tries to put things right and kill his uncle. During the final dual fabricated by Claudius between Hamlet and Laertes, the son of Polonius, whom Hamlet had killed, Hamlet is struck and dies of his wounds. His downfall is his ultimate death during the fight to put things right.
Unlike Hamlet in Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra from Antony and Cleopatra must decide whether the betray each other or their political alliances. In the end, Antony kills himself because he betrays his own honor and regrets not being true to his most noble self. Similarly he realizes that he cannot be loyal to Rome, Cleopatra and his own honor simultaneously. This realization is what leads him to kill himself. Cleopatra’s suicide is a bit different because of not loyalty, which was specifically expressed when Cleopatra betrays Antony and leaves him in battle. She manipulates him the entire time to get what she wants and promises the world to him. This however she never delivers because she would betray him whenever she thought it was opportune for her. Cleopatra is selfish and this is seen when she says:

Nay, ’tis most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors

Will catch at us like strumpets, and scald rhymers Ballad us out o’ tune. The quick comedians Extemporally will stage us, and present Our Alexandrian revels. Antony Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness

I’ th’ posture of a whore. (V.ii.210–217)

She does not want to be portrayed as a whore by a young boy actor for the Romans to make fun of. Her motives are always unpredictable and on a whim. The downfalls of both characters are caused for different reasons and both die in the end for their own causes.
In Othello, Othello is betrayed by Iago because he is angry that Othello appoints Cassio to the position of post lieutenant. He states angrily states that, “there are others/ who putting on a good show of duty/ are really looking put for their own interest” (I,1 50-52). This hints the readers to the fact that Iago is looking for revenge and will stop at nothing to get back at Othello. Iago gets his wife to steal Desdemona’s, who is Othello’s wife, handkerchief so he can convince Othello that his wife is sleeping with Cassio. Othello trusts that Iago is telling the truth about his wife and Cassio and ends up killing his own wife. He trusts the wrong person. His wife, as he tries to kill her begs and pleads with him telling him that she had done no such thing, but he only believes Iago. The betrayal of Iago and his lies leads to the death of his own wife Emilia, and Desdemona and is the downfall of Othello. In the end, he realizes that he had been betrayed and lied to and that he has no one left and kills himself.

Madness

Macbeth’s madness is caused by his insatiable need for power and recognition. His weakness and desire is what allows the witches to get into Macbeth’s head and allows them to feed his hunger with their promises of a plentiful reward. Because Macbeth listens to the witch’s words and then subsequently believes the words of the magic, representing the murder of the king, he is allowing himself to commit the deed, which to Shakespeare is a crime of one’s own conscious. The witches in some interpretations could represent voices in his head. By listening to those voices, he is succumbing to the madness. He allows himself to listen to the voices of death just to get power and recognition. After allowing the voices in, he is permitting the destruction of his own self. We can see his disintegration when he says:

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well

It were done quickly: if the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success; that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking-off; And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on the other. (1,VII,1-28)

These lines display the loss of Macbeth’s sanity as he violently goes through the pros and cons of his choices. He thinks of all the different situations he could pursue and their outcomes. Here Macbeth makes sense of his situation by continuing to find the right word or phrase to delay the inevitable outcome, but he is hesitant to act.
Hamlet’s madness is cause by his inability to cope with the fact that his father is dead. It leads Hamlet to debate suicide and begins Hamlet’s descent into madness. This madness enables him see the ghost of his father, which in some interpretations is the manifestation of his own guilt. His madness brought on by guilt leads him to say, “ Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!” (1.3 129) Hamlet is so distraught that he feels that suicide is the only way to end the pain. The loss of his father made him uncleansed and the only way to cleanse himself would be killing himself. In the To be or Not to be speech, Hamlet debates whether suicide the best option. “To die, to sleep--/To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,/For in that sleep of death what dreams may come.” The only thing holding him back from committing suicide is uncertainty of what lies on the other side of death. He can’t make the decision and spends a considerable amount of time debating this point. His father was his whole life and he practically worshipped the ground he walked on. “Possess it merely. That it should come to this./But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two./So excellent a king, that was to this /Hyperion to a satyr. So loving to my mother.” (1.2 138-141) His thoughts are always consumed by his father’s death and how superior his father was to his uncle. These thoughts move from obsession to the fixation on how to exact revenge on the murderer. This fixation blinds him and from seeing any trutshs around him and he doesn’t see his own decline into madness.

Visualization of the Two Common Themes

In many of Shakespeare's plays, there is the use of symbols to forebode the future and express themes that have a profound effect on the overall tone of the work. I decided to use infographics because the background was a lot of information to take in at once and they say a picture is worth a thousand words. By using my research and background information, I was able to identify several symbols that convey the common theme found within several plays. Some symbols I found using journals and literary critics's analyses. In her articles for the English Literary Renaissance, Lynda Boose stated that the handkerchief was a sexual symbol “for the promise of generation” meaning the consummation of a couple’s love. The promise referring to Desdemona’s purity and abstinence before marriage. Walter Forman states “Clouds have various shapes, lives have various shapes, plays have various shapes, and to show this variety and evanescence of shape, this seemingly ever-shifting order of things…” in his book The Music of the Close: The Final Scenes of Shakespeare's Tragedies . This relates to how Cleopatra changes her decisions so quickly to whatever suits her needs. These symbols and others were then used in an info-graphic and I selected the specific colour scheme and layout.

Madness

The first info-graphic displays betrayal in its many forms through out Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and Hamlet. For Hamlet, which is represented in letters b,e,t,r, I choose to use a green vile of poison, the poison which Claudius used to betray his brother and betray Hamlet. The colour green is used to symbolize the jealousy that Claudius had towards his bother for being king instead of him and the skull shaped bottle symbolizing how he will die in the end. I also chose to use a sword through a crown symbolizing how Clausius metaphorically took the crown. Even though he took the crown by poisoning the king, I felt that it was just as if he had stabbed the king in the back. The colour red is for the metaphorical blood that is on Claudius's hands. For Othello, which is represented in the letter a, I chose to use the handkerchief that Iago used to make Othello think Desdemona was cheating on him. The handkerchief is white and the background is baby blue to represent her innocence and purity even as she died. For Antony and Cleopatra, which is represented in the letters y,a,l, the changing of the clouds symbolize the changing of alliances and how Cleopatra betrays Antony deserting him in a naval battle. In the play, he speaks of how the clouds change shapes forms dragons to lions and believes that they are just illusions. He does not realize they are foreboding his future. For this info-graphic, the medium used was watercoulour and permanent markers.

Betrayal

The second info-graphic displays the madness of Hamlet and Macbeth. For "Hamlet", which is represented in the background of the first three letters, I used the ghost of Hamlet's father which is what initially causes his madness. If the dead king did not alert Hamlet to the true circumstances of his death, Hamlet may have not gone mad. I also used the skull of Yorick, which is the scull he talks to during his ‘To Be Or Not To Be’ soliloquy when he is deciding whether suicide it the answer to end his madness. For Macbeth, which is represented in the background of the last four letters, I used the three prophesies and the three witches because the represent Macbeth giving into the madness and believing anything to feed his insatiable need for power. For the lettering of the entire word, I chose a chaotic font that someone could automatically think disorganization and madness by just glancing at the image. The colour red represents the blood that is shed from those who are affected by the character's madness. For this info-graphic, the medium used was watercoulour and permanent markers.

Conclusion

Shakespeare had so many common themes that has stretched across many of his plays. Madness and betrayal was just the tip of the iceberg. His contribution to literature is enormous. If anyone has interests in this topic, I didn't really explore how his life really effected his works such as how the death of his son Hamnet could have had a major effect on the play Hamlet. It would be interesting to what other themes that other people can find in common among his other plays as well as tie in how London had truly effected his writings. I only looked at it in a timeline, but I am sure others can find other ways to express how London effected his writings.

References

Weinberg, A. (2017, January 18). Shakespeare FAQ. Retrieved May 08, 2017, from http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-faq
Shakespeare’s Plays: Location Map. (n.d.). Retrieved May 09, 2017, from http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/shakespeares-plays/shakespeares-play-locations/
MIT. (1993). The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Retrieved May 09, 2017, from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/index.html
Sanders, Tracey. "Dr Tracey Sanders". Resource.acu.edu.au. N.p., 2017. Web. 15 May 2017.
Bloom, H. (2010). William Shakespeare's "Othello". New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
Bloom, H. (2009). William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
Bloom, H. (2010). William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra". New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
Bloom, H. (2010). William Shakespeare's "Macbeth". New York, NY: Bloom's Literary Criticism.