Lewis Theobald is the author of
Shakespeare Restored (1726). Theobald boldly exposed the follies and
lapses committed by Alexander Pope while editing the works of Shakespeare. Alexander Pope reacted very violently against Theobald and
composed his poetic satire The Dunciad with Theobald as its hero. In this
satire, Pope follows the foot-steps of Dryden in his Macflecknoe.
Voltaire's famous verdict is that "Shakespeare is a
savage, with sparks of genius which shine on a horrible night".
Richard Barbage played the role of Hamlet for the first time. In the Eighteenth century David
Garrick played the role of Hamlet.
Hamlet and Midsummer Night's Dream are two plays in
which Shakespeare introduces a Company of actors.
The famous actor David Garrick produced two
adaptations of Shakespeare's plays in 1754. He produced Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending and converted The Taming
of the Shrew into a farce of Katherine and Petructio.
Shakespeare belonged to the dramatic company 'Chamberlines'.
Important theatres of Shakespeare's time were The Rose, The
Curtain and the Globe. The Globe theatre, built in 1599, was the most important since most of the plays of Shakespeare were staged
there. Shakespeare was also a partner in the theatre.
The first play performed in the newly built Globe Theatre was Henry V. The play in
performance when the Globe Theatre was burnt in 1613 was Henry VIII.
James Barbage built the first public theatre with the name 'The Theatre'.
Shakespeare had his sources for both his British and Roman historical plays from Holinshed
and Plutarch respectively.
Shakespeare was influenced by
Thomas Kyd in shaping his revenge tragedies adopting
Senecan conventions namely horror, murder, bloodshed, introduction of ghost, madness real or feigned and vacillating avenger. Seneca,
the Roman dramatist introduced revenge tragedy, but it was Thomas Kyd who introduced it in English literature through his
outstanding work Spanish Tragedy. In
Shakespeare's plays King Lear and Ophelia become really mad whereas Hamlet, Titus Androncus and Edgar feign
madness.
Marlowe'sJew of Malta has influenced
Shakespeare in writing Merchant of Venice and Richard III. Shakespeare adopted the idea of greed in a Jew for
Merchant of Venice and the conception of hero-villain for Richard III.
Sir John Old Castle, the Lollard leader, who was burned to death was the source for the character Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV.
Shakespeare refers to Falstaff as 'Old Castle' in Henry IV part I.
Shakespeare borrowed the stories of Venus and Adonis & The Rape of Lucrece
from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
The reason why Shakespeare's heroines slipped into boy's clothing was that during
Shakespeare's time, the role of women used to be played by boys usually below 16. So it was easy for them to put on their usual dress
and say that they are women in disguise.
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© 2005 Atanu Bhattacharya
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