I would like to read Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Shakespear the Anti-Lover
I want to explore the cynicism of Shakespearean romances. When it comes to Shakespeare's romances, they are always either unbelievable or they end in tragedy. I want to argue that Shakespeare is not the romantic that many people believe he is but one who does not believe in the idealistic love that many people hope is out there. He shows this through the romantic relationships in his plays.
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I can see where you're coming from, but I don't think that applies to all of his plays. In the comedies that I've read, there's usually a romantic element, and it usually works out. I suppose you could still argue that the romance is unbelievable, but usually not more so that your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy today.
ReplyDeleteI think his romances are pretty unrealistic, and there are lots of examples of absurd endings (and downright terrible endings) that could point to an underlying cynicism! I'm intrigued and I want to see what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteI think Jessica is right, but I think your idea still works, because in those comedies the love stories are sometimes so ridiculous that they could easily be viewed as more of a representation than actual stories. And chronologically you could look at the plays and how the sequence of when they were written has to do with how cynical the love story is
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! Everytime that I read Romeo and Juliet I read it as a huge immature mistake on their part to try to run away like a both of children. I see Shakespeare as completely making a mock of them in the play, so I would love to see how this paper about Shakespeare's views on love turns out!
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