Ever since I was introduced to Shakespeare in high school, I've always wondered about the sheer number of characters that die in his plays, especially when you're looking at tragedies like Hamlet and King Lear where most of the characters die in the final scene. I suppose classical tragedy probably has something to do with it, but it makes me curious, not only about why he chose to kill off so many characters, but also about the way he chose to do it.
So, for my paper, I'm thinking that I'll compare a few different tragedies and compare how the deaths of the characters work rhetorically within the play. I could also talk about how different performances use the character deaths differently to achieve different effects, but I suppose that might be a separate topic. A couple plays that I haven't read but think might apply are Othello and Antony and Cleopatra. I've already read Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar and I think those also might work well.
It's a good idea to try to figure out the different ways that all of Shakespeare's characters die. You will have a lot of source material to work with!
ReplyDeleteJohn's right-- your source material would nearly be endless! I think Othello would be an awesome read for this topic!
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