Let's return one last time to our short supplementary text by Stanley Wells, and read Chapter 6 (Tragedy) and Chapter 8 (Tragicomedy). This will give us a little insight about the tragedies we've already read, and the strange 'tragicomedy' to come, The Tempest.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: 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? Wouldn't it be common sense to assume that a writer's life and events would spill into his work, even if only subsconciously? What might be the danger in looking to deeply for such connections? Would it be better to avoid them altogether?
Q2: Wells makes many critical assumptions in these chapters regarding interpretation, particularly in his brief discussion of the plays we've read in class--Macbeth and King Lear. Are there any assumptions that you disagreed with or wished he had supported wtih evidence? What might be the problem of taking these readings at face value?
Q3: Wells also suggests in Chapter 8 that Shakespeare might have actually been fired from his theatrical company as he got into his 40's. Why is this? What elements that he discusses in both Chapters 6 and 8 might have gradually made him less popular and less useful for a theater company? Do we see any evidence of this in King Lear?
Q4: According to this discussion of the 'tragicomedies' in Chapter 8, why might these be some of his least popular and known plays (excluding The Tempest, which is pretty well-known)? Why don't we read and perform Pericles or Cymbeline very often in colleges and Shakespeare-in-the-Park? Does Wells feel this neglected is warranted?
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