Shakespeare in General
So, you want to know
a few interesting things about Shakespeare, eh? Well, you've come
to the write place. Here are a few things that I have learned in
my various literature classes that I think are worth noting. Some
of these are facts were told to me by the teacher, and some were my very
own observations. You may have noticed the same things I have (if
you did, then good for you).
In general, Shakespeare's tragedies
are hard to understand. Probably the biggest reason that this is
so is because Shakespeare's plays are "written funny" (i.e.. not written
in the usual form that we are used to).
More or less everyone dies at the end
of the play.
Dying people have a tendency to make
speeches (usually long) before they konk out.
Shakespeare did, in fact, add a few
humorous elements to his tragedies, though we tend to miss the fun because
of fact number one. That, and he didn't use very much humor either.
The type of humor he did use tended to be words with double meanings, puns,
and stuff like that. I will give you a few references to the humor
in Hamlet, but not in this section.
Shakespeare made up words. For
real, I mean it. I used to know a few of the ones he invented, but
I have forgotten them. I know this is true, though, because this
is one of the things the teacher taught us. Anyway, apparently whenever
Shakespeare needed a word but couldn't think of one, he just made up one.
No wonder his plays are hard to understand.
Well, that's Shakespeare in
general. Now go check out the other sections for some in depth Hamlet.