“REVENGE IN SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS”
“INTRODUCTION” – PRE CLASS LECTURE
• We set off on a challenging journey into the minds of some of Shakespeare’s most complicated characters; Revenge grows from many sources in the often-blind need to accomplish the goal of making someone suffer “as I have suffered”; in the mind of the character Revenge is “not casual” and “the stakes are always high” – true in all of Shakespeare’s plays.
• Revenge: “The action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.”
• Revenge – Arrived at though the combination of a variety of causes: Envy, Jealousy, Resentment, Power, Greed.
• Revenge – Surely not new – it has so clearly existed from the beginnings of time through long past to the current time (including in much of the “sandbox politics” in countries in all directions on the globe.
• In addition to the basic human action for self-protection, WAR from the dawn of man has been and is about a deadly combination of Revenge, Envy, Jealousy and/or Resentment.
• GREED & POWER are often added to the mix as very close cousins.
• Many have wondered - could Revenge -- instigated by any combination of Envy, Jealousy, Resentment, Greed, Power -- actually be woven into the DNA of man?
• Beyond politics and war, Revenge often rears its ugly head in many of the books written down through the ages: history books, great books, crime novels, romance novels, biographies, auto-biographies…..and here, in many of the plays of William Shakespeare.
• Why did Shakespeare utilize this particular motivation for the action in so many of his plays?.... First, revenge most often moves the action of the play…..Second, ‘tis fascinating for a many a reader and members of an audience to watch a character at work on a path to destruction and, more than likely, to demise…..Finally, do not most of us love a bit, even a lot of intrigue on the trail of a conniving villain?!
• A goodly share of Shakespeare’s plays contain an element of Revenge in its various degrees from the “Revenge-lite” actions of various characters in the comedies to the deepest and darkest levels of Revenge motivating characters in the tragedies and the histories; for example……
• Comedies: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, TWELFTH NIGHT, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM & MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR……..MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
• Romances: THE TEMPEST, THE WINTER’S TALE
• Tragedies: MACBETH, HAMLET, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, JULIUS CAESAR…..OTHELLO
• Histories: Nearly all….but surely HENRY VI (“War of the Roses”), RICHARD II ……..RICHARD III
• “Tragic Epilogue” Plays: CORIOLANUS, TIMON OF ATHENS
• “Problem” Plays: MEASURE FOR MEASURE, ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
• ….and many more.
• GOAL – Our goal in this course is to shine a piercing light on the specific villain in each play in an attempt to discern what has brought the man to Revenge and how the dark determination plays out in the action of the play to the eventual denouement.
• EXPLORE – What do we know or can we assume about the character before the play begins ……this fact-gathering is obvious far easier in the history plays; in most cases the journey has begun due to events that have unfolded prior to the start of the play as is the case with the three plays under our microscope here.
• IDENTIFY - What new facts does Shakespeare include in the text….either spoken by the characters themselves or spoken by other characters; what new information does Shakespeare offer for us to build on what we know or learn happened prior to the start of the play.
• UNDERSTAND the character from his “back story” including the “why” of motivations based on the above information.
• FOLLOW – Track the path of revenge -- the specific acts that emerge in the plays – planned or improvised -- from a mind focused (sometimes blindly) and fueled by Envy, Jealousy, Resentment, Power, Greed – REVENGE.
• NOTE – What other characters in the play are impacted as the result of the villain’s acts of revenge? Temporary? Permanent?
• DEMISE & DENOUEMENT – Follow the character in his journey to demise….listen to what the character says as his denouement unfolds.
• THEORIZE the sequels to the plays – what do you suppose happens next???