¶ … Shakespeare's Characters:
The commencement of William Shakespeare's work can be traced to the latter quarter of the fifteen hundreds when he started writing and performing plays. In his work, Shakespeare basically considered the current issues, which contribute to debates among scholars on whether his works should be regarded as contemporary writing or universal philosophical statements. His focus on current issues was mainly geared towards reconstructing the existing political and social concerns and universal concepts and issues. Notably, one of the major issues raised by scholars regarding his work is the significance of historical depiction. Some scholars argue that Shakespeare's historical depiction of his characters should not be overlooked. This depiction plays an important role in understanding the characters themselves as well as gaining important insights from his works. In this case, Shakespeare's characters fall into two major categories i.e. heroes and heroines and villain characters.
Analysis of Shakespeare's Characters:
Shakespeare's works provide unique perspectives of societal functions like politics, gender, and race. These dramas also provide important insights on the universal themes of honor, love, betrayal, and loyalty. Notably, an analysis of his characters requires a study of the historical and contextual setting of the play. The historical setting of the plays is that Shakespeare conducted his work between 1588 and 1613, which was partly known as Elizabethan Age and Jacobean on the other hand. During this period, children of certain classes schooled in the classics while others in higher classes proceeded to study in universities and colleges (Sandoval par, 16). Wealthy people in the society would take travels to Europe as vacation or work trips, though many did not travel. Most of the overseas trips were made by scholars, artists, and ambassadors. In addition, most of his audience, especially those at Globe Theater had never traveled overseas. While Shakespeare's initial plays were staged at court to benefit Queen Elizabeth I, later plays were similarly viewed by King James I.
The understanding of Shakespeare's characters is a process that requires recognizing and analyzing characterization techniques by identifying symbols, important lines, attributes, and internal and external perspective. This process also requires identifying the figurative language used in developing the character and the main psychological changes in the character (Sandoval par, 5). One of the main reasons for understanding these characters is that it helps in developing complete analysis through creation of a complete portrait based on the character's major aspects. Secondly, this process helps in understanding the character's motivation through the identified symbols and words.
The visual portraits of particular characters from each of the dramas are developed through focus on physical attributes, motivation, symbols, figurative language, important lines, and internal and external perspective. While physical attributes represent the character's own heart, symbols represent the abstract themes and aspects of the character. The character's motivation is shown through symbols and words while important lines represent the character's motive or intentions. Furthermore, the use of figurative language and poetic devices by Shakespeare provides important insights about his characters.
Shakespeare's Heroes and Heroines:
Heroes and heroines are concepts that are not only thematic to the fabric of a particular historical and social perspective but also subject to huge variations, even within an established set of standards (Ward, p.12). The heroes and heroines figures in Shakespeare's plays can be understood from factual, interpretive, and evaluative views. The central characters in Shakespeare's dramas are Cleopatra, Macbeth, Othello, Antony, Olivia, and Orsino.
Generally, Shakespeare's heroes and heroines characters are usually Royal personage and from the upper class. Some of these characters include Othello (in Othello), Hamlet (in Hamlet), Antonio (in Merchant of Venice), and Claudio/Benedick (in Much Ado About Nothing). Notably, most of Shakespeare's heroes were tragic heroes who ended up dying by the end of the play or drama. The main characteristic of these heroes include being from Royal personage and upper class i.e. An individual of some stature or high position like nobleman, general, or king. Secondly, the individual must basically be a good person who matters to the society that views him as a...
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