Rough Draft

Sarai Davila
Professor Gideon Burton
English 382
22 November 2015

Romantic Shakespeare and American Realism

The literary tradition of juxtaposing country and city life to exacerbate the differences between the two is a far-reaching one. It gained most of its fame, however, in the 1600’s when various writers used this pastoral idealism to demonstrate the stark contrast between how people in different settings might act. These were most certainly stereotypes rooted in a certain level of truth, and therefore many writers utilized this strategy. Shakespeare took this idea to another level by using many elements, setting included, to characterize the plot and develop the characters. These strategies have been copied by writers throughout the years, writers who romanticized settings, elements, and so forth to demonstrate distinct characteristics in order to further the plot. In American literature, previous to the 1800’s, settings and non-human aspects were either described in great detail without emotion or not at all. They were merely physical descriptions. The era of realism, but more specifically “regionalism”, brought a very different style to the written word. Settings and non-human elements, such as mythical beings, were suddenly characters in their own right. Essentially, the characterization of settings had come full circle. A great deal of 19th century regionalism and local color writing in American literature was indirectly inspired by the representation of characters in Shakespeare’s romantic countryside.

As a general idea, anybody who has never visited the English countryside has one idealized notion of what they might experience when they do. A lush, green and pleasant landscape where quaint farmers and shepherds speak with thick accents and smile with ruddy cheeks. They might invite you in, give you fresh goat’s milk, teach you a few things around the old farm, and if you happen to be a young marriageable woman, you might just fall in love. This notion has been drilled into the minds of all non-British people from all angles. It crops up most specifically in the romantic literature and the subgenres. Contrary to these picturesque dioramas is the reality of a cold, rainy, sometimes very sometimes very bleak place. Especially during the 1600’s when Shakespeare’s pastoral comedies were being performed. These beautiful images certainly existed to a certain degree, but not to the level that the population expects. In the modern world you are even less likely to encounter such incredible, untouched landscapes, although you are also less likely to encounter starvation. {At some point in this paragraph I will use this quote: “…attempts to sell a landscape and a lifestyle that no longer exist, and more significantly only did so (if they were ever a reality) at the cost of all sorts of dispossession” (Gilroy xii).
OUTLINE:
This next paragraph would delve into the history of pastoral settings in plays, specifically in Shakespeare and in As You Like It, as well as in various other comedies. The Norton edition of As You Like It has an article called “Perspectives on Pastoral”, with this quote, although I may use another to discuss the meanings and uses of pastoral settings. “The pastoral permitted and encouraged opportunities for mixing in one work ‘imitation’ with ‘invention’, art with artifice, the artless with the artful—and generated discussions of such mixes” (Colie 254). I want to also work in some of the history of the genre, specifically before Shakespeare’s time. I can then point out that despite his imitation of previous traditions, he is still the most recognized writer from that time period, and thus we can presume that he had a farther-reaching influence on later genres.

I would like to also use Midsummer here to discuss the use of setting in something other than pastoral: woods setting vs court setting, and how that affected characters and their actions. Especially since this also has the aspect of crossing worlds when the lovers venture into the woods and begin acting more recklessly, bringing to light the more carnal sides of them. This is not pastoral, in genre, but it does display exactly the same principles of genre that one might find there. Shakespeare uses this setting to exacerbate their behaviors, and how nature affects that. And again, in this play the court and city life is cold and unfeeling when compared to the wild woods.

Next could be a paragraph or two analyzing the various affects of this trope. Basically identifying the stereotypes within this scope. Rural and pastoral as being playful and fun, woods and being wild and representative of human nature, city as being rigid and classist. I can identify the aspects and how they take these ideas further while talking about how this is a romantic form of literature.

I would need to go into depth about the local color genre in American literature, at some point, and I would do that here. I might use Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn as an example because I think he’s the strongest example of that type of writing. I could also bring the romantic genre into this again just as an example of how far-reaching that type of trope is. The story Young Goodman Brown is a perfect example of woods and wild, sinful humans. But again I’d bring it back to realism and how a seemingly unconnected part of American lit could still be affected by the genius that is Shakespeare.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, Leah S. Marcus, and Rosalie Colie. "Criticism." As You like It: Authoritative Text, Sources and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 254-268. Print.
Gilroy, Amanda. "Introduction." Green and Pleasant Land: English Culture and the Romantic Countryside. Leuven: Peeters, 2004. Xii. Print.