For Thursday: Wells, William Shakespeare, Chs. 6, 7, and 8

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Othello is one of several tragedies that Shakespeare wrote in the wake of numerous comedies (Twelfth Night, etc.). According to Wells, what themes and ideas unite Othello to some of his fellow protagonists: Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth? How might we read Othello (either the man or the play) in the light of his theatrical experimentation with tragedy in this period?

Q2: Wells writes that “It is unfashionable, indeed it is often regarded as unscholarly, to look for reflections of an artist’s life in his work” (88). Why do you think this is? What is the danger of doing so? In general, does Wells encourage or discourage us from doing this with Shakespeare? How might the turn of the century, the change of monarch, and his advancing age (turning 40) all play a role in the kind of dramas he was producing in the early 1600’s?

Q3: Writing of Timon of Athens, Wells remarks that “the surviving text is incomplete; editors do something to tidy it up, and theatre directors need to do more to put it in performance shape” (95). The same is true of many of his late plays, notably Pericles and even some of the bare speeches in Antony and Cleopatra. Why do you think his late works are often incomplete or feel ‘half composed’? Was this due to bad luck, the plays’ relative unpopularity, or a new aesthetic for Shakespeare’s art?

Q4: Wells also suggests that Shakespeare’s late writing “has become rarified and involuted, making no concessions to either actor or audience” (107). Why would the most popular playwright of his age become more and more obscure, and less and less interested in his audience? Wells also suggests that many authors become more “autumnal” as they age into their art. Why might this be?