Would you say Shakespeare needs no introduction? You would be wrong. Most of us really do not know Shakespeare. Those who have read the abridged versions of his stories, definitely, cannot claim to know the bard. After all many of the stories he used in his plays were folk tales that were popular during his time. They were hardly his own!
English Literature students too (who may have read the original plays), cannot claim familiarity. Most of them are caught up in famous critical interpretations of the work rather than the work itself!
A popular joke that used to do the rounds in our literature classes truly illustrates the state of Shakespeare studies in colleges in India and abroad. The joke was–if Shakespeare were to attend classes on Shakespeare, he would be the only one to fail the year end examination as he would be bewildered with the interpretations of his text!
Having said all this, what kind of introduction to Shakespeare is this post going to offer? Well, to use the cliched phrase, let us begin at the beginning and re-introducte/introduce (as the case may be) ourselves to the bard and his works in very general terms. Perhaps with the next posts we can worm our way into the heart of the bard?
Shakespeare was a man who understood mankind. He understood the impulses of the people around him in near absolute terms. In fact, his plays underline the universal truth that “human nature never changes”. Love, hate, anger, jealousy, lust, greed, betrayal (and all the shades of emotions in between) spring forth with the force and energy of yore in the hearts of men and women eternally. So, why should the characters in his plays be any different? He represented man (and woman) as he found him (her).
Therefore, it is not surprising that Shakespeare’s comedies are tragically comic and his tragedies are comically tragic! He laughs at the follies of men and is saddened by the consequences of their folly. Antonio or Bassanio provoke tense laughter as the audience waits with bated breadth for the looming tragedy–consequent upon their “humanness”–to manifest and miraculously find a resolution. A Lear or a Macbeth evoke sympathetic pain as their emotions carry them beyond reason and they descend to the level of being comically tragic as their bizzare responses to the situation and their worldview borders on madness.
Has the foregoing commentary on the bard made you any wiser? I am sure it has not! So what must be done? Watch this page for further inputs!
–Dr.Vanitha Vaidialingam, Phd, IRS(retd)
