Table of contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1.

Why Shakespeare′s comedy 1

1.2. Methodology

2

Chapter 2: Northrop Frye′s ­ A natural Perspective

2.1.

An introduction into Shakespearean Comedy and Romance 4

Chapter 3: A Midsummer Night′s Dream

3.1.

The plot 9

3.2.

The mythological perspective 11

3.3.

The political perspective ­ an approach of new historical view 17

3.4.

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

in a mirror of psychological and psychoanalyt

criticism 23

Chapter 4: The Tempest

4.1.

The plot 26

4.2.

Fairytale or myth? 28

4.3. The postcolonial perspective ­ The Tempest ­ a paradigm of

colonization? 31

4.4. The Tempest ­ an allegory on Shakespeare′s retirement from the theatre? 3

Chapter 5: New critical approaches on Shakespeare′s comedy

5.1.

A short introduction into the Modern Theories of Literature 40

5.2.

New Criticism 42

5.3.

Deconstruction 48

5.4.

New criticism, Deconstruction and Shakespeare 55

Chapter 6: Personal view 58

Selected works 60

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 1 -

critical approaches

1. Introduction

1.1.

Why Shakespeare′s comedy?

Shakespeare is one of the most analysed and "criticised" poet in the history

of literature. Why Shakespeare? The answer is easy. He is not only most

analysed but also the most popular dramatist that has ever existed.

Shakespeare′s drama has been fascinating his audience and readers through the

centuries. The plots of Shakespeare′s drama seem to be simple, dealing with

human and social themes like

love, marriage, murder, intrigue, complot

and

revenge.

On a first sight, they remember us of a good and entertaining

Hollywood Film. But is this all what Shakespeare has to say through his

drama? Did he really intend to write commercial plays, without giving a deeper

sense to his literary work? I don′t think so. I think Shakespeare achieved

through his "simple" plots to get deeply into the minds and souls of his

audience, in order to make them conceive the complexity of their own lives and

feelings. I do not intend to find out his personal message in the drama or to

interpret his intentions. I will rather concentrate on his work and try to find out,

what kind of message Shakespeare′s comedy transmitted to his audience and

above all to his experienced readers, better said, to his literary critics. My paper

shall reveal the complexity and the deep psychological meaning of

Shakespeare′s comedy. Returning to my first question

why Shakespeare?

I

would like to answer it, by quoting one of my favourite critics, Northrop Frye:

"For all that has been written about it, Shakespearean comedy still seams to me widely

misunderstood and underestimated, and my main thesis, that the four romances are the

inevitable and genuine culmination of the poet′s achievement, is clearly less obvious to

many than it is to me." 1

I consider Frye′s assumption on Shakespearean comedy the adequate answer to

my question. In this paper I intend to seek the deep sense of

A Midsummer

Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

, by posting them in a mirror of changing

1 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London, 1965. Preface. Page xxii.

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 2 -

critical approaches

critical approaches, beginning with the mythological view, continuing with the

political and new critical perspective and ending with my personal notes. My

main purpose in this paper is to demonstrate that Shakespeare′s comedy does

not only have a delighting function but also exercises a deep psychological

impact on the old and new generations. In my opinion he was not only a genius

of the drama, but also an initiator of the renaissance of mythical and archaic

values in the modern world. Through his work he gave us a possible definition

of being human and convinced us about the universal complexity of the

mankind.

~~~~~~~

1.2.

Methodology

After the short introduction concerning the reason for my desire analyzing

Shakespearean comedy, I would now like to continue explaining the methods I

will use in my paper. First of all I will give an introduction into the

Shakespeare′s comedy world. This introduction will be based on Northrop

Frye′s study on "the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance" in

his book

A natural perspective

2. While introducing Shakespeare′s comedy and

romance I will also introduce some of the critical principals, Northrop Frye

refers to in the book mentioned above and of course those one that I am going

to apply in my paper. Further on I will deal with the first comedy I have

chosen,

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

considering on the one hand the

mythological perspective and on the other hand the political and last but not

least the psychoanalytical approach. Moreover I will try to demonstrate that

A

Midsummer Night′s Dream

can also be seen as an allegory of Shakespeare′s

early age, maybe as a come back on the stage. My fourth chapter will deal with

a second comedy I have selected,

The Tempest

which seems to be the opposite

of the first one by representing an allegory of Shakespeare′s retire from the

stage. There are a lot of interpretations of

The Tempest

; some critics describe

The Tempest

as a paradigm of colonization, other just as a nice fairytale. My

2 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London, 1965.

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 3 -

critical approaches

purpose will be to analyze all the mentioned theories and to find my own

interpretation. My way to approach

The Tempest

is a psychological one. In my

opinion Shakespeare′s tempest represents his own life, his passion and love for

the theatre and his dedication to his work. His "tempest" ceased together with

his retire from the wonderful fairy island, he describes in the romantic comedy

with the same name. This theory I support will be found in the sixth chapter of

this paper, which shall contain my personal notes on the selected comedies.

Before revealing my own interpretation, I will accord my attention in chapter

five to the new critical approaches on Shakespeare. The modern theories I will

try to apply on Shakespearean comedy are New Criticism, Deconstruction,

New Historicism and Cultural materialism. By mentioning "I will try to apply

these theories" I mean that some of the new critical approaches cannot be

applied on Shakespeare′s work, for an approach of Shakespeare′s texts without

the implication of the author cannot be accepted. According to my theory,

Shakespeare′s work cannot be approached without considering Shakespeare′s

perceptible personality in all his dramatic work. This would be the case of

trying to apply Deconstruction on Shakespeare. I will use the last chapter of

this paper in order to reveal my own perspective on Shakespeare and the two

selected comedies. My interpretation will try to combine the applied literary

theories, the psychological and religious aspects of the plays as well as

discovering a new perspective, namely the merge of generations reading

Shakespeare by getting the old and the new ones together. Shakespeare uses in

his work both archaic and modern elements and achieves through this perfect

combination the highest level of a career as a dramatist. Reading Shakespeare

it′s like discovering the complexity of the universe, with all its wonderful and

terrible experiences.

~~~~~~~

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 4 -

critical approaches

2. Northrop Frye′s ­ A natural Perspective

2.1.

An introduction into Shakespearean Comedy and Romance

As mentioned above, I will dedicate this chapter to one of my favourite

critics, Northrop Frye, dealing with the critical principals he points out on

Shakespearian comedy in his book

A natural Perspective3

.

But before speaking about the critical principles Northrop Frye deals

with, I would like to give a short definition of criticism, in order to emphasize

the importance of critical reading and the influence of the critical principles on

the different ways of understanding literature.

M. H. Abrams describes "criticism" as "the overall term for studies

concerned with defining, classifying, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating

works of literature"4.

As we see the first step in applying criticism is defining the literary

work. Concerning Shakespearian Comedy and Romance, Northrop Frye

describes the comedies as an apart world:

"Each play of Shakespeare is a world in itself, so complete and satisfying a world that

is easy, delightful and profitable to get lost in it."5

Frye continuous describing the comedies as "a single group unified by

recurring images and structural devices". Moreover he asserts that the

comedies "seem more like a number of simultaneous chase games played by a

master who wins them all by devices familiar to him, and gradually, with

patient study, to us, but which remain mysteries of an unfathomable skill"6.

According to Northrop Frye′s definition on Shakespearian comedy, I think he

approaches it in a romantic and imperialistic way. He doesn′t consider

3 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London, 1965

4 Abrams, M. H. A glossary of literary terms. Sixth edition. Cornell University. London. 1999. Pg. 39

5 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. xxii

6 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. xxii

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 5 -

critical approaches

Shakespeare′s work "an achieved unity of meanings"7 like the New Critics

would do, neither "a galaxy of signifiers"8 such as in a deconstructive way.

Shakespeare′s comedy represents a world of its own, a world that lives and

breathes, a world full of feelings and sentimentalism.

Getting from defining to classifying Shakespearian comedy, we will see

that there are several ways achieving it. Northrop Frye uses dichotomy in order

to classify the comedy, focusing on some "oversimplified" statements as

differentiating Platonists from Aristotelians, girls from boys, liberals from

conservatives and in the same way Iliad critics from Odyssey critics. He

explains the last dichotomy asserting that: "interest in literature tends to center

either in the area of tragedy, realism and irony or in the area of comedy and

romance"9. With other words the Iliad critics tend to concern with tragedy and

Odyssey critics with comedy and romance.

Based on the same kind of dichotomy Frye distinguishes two types of

literature. His distinction implies two traditional functions of literature: "to

delight and to instruct". In this sense Frye makes a distinction between a kind

of literature represented by the kind of detective stories, etc. and on the other

hand the instructive literature. A detective story for instance will always be

read for the sake of reading, following attentively the plot of the story, being

interested in the climax of the story and not necessarily in the stylistic meaning.

The reader will accept the convention and will not think about whether the

story is plausible or not. He is only interested in "what′s going to happen in the

story". This kind of literature has the function to delight and to relax the reader.

A first critical principle Northrop Frye notices is that "the most

obviously conventionalized fictions are the easiest to read."10 A second critical

principle mentioned by Frye is that "if the general shape and structure of the

story is prescribed in advance, then the literary merits of the story, the wit in

7 The expression ,,achieved unity of meanings" is based on Abram′s explanation of New Criticism in "A

glossary of literary terms", pg. 247, as an "organic unity". The new critics have seen the form of a work to be

primarily "a structure of meanings", which evolve into an integral and freestanding unity.

8 ,,A galaxy of signifiers" is the expression Roland Barthes uses for Deconstruction in his essay "Interpretation",

S/Z, 1970, when speaking about the "ideal text": "In this ideal text, the networks are many and interact, without

any one of them being able to surpass the rest; this text is a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds."

(Source of quotation: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Claas, The Importance of Reading, -A Reader- , Heinrich- Heine-

Universität Düsseldorf, Roland Barthes, S/Z,1970, Interpretation, pg. 67)

9 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 1

10 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 3

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 6 -

critical approaches

the dialogue, the liveliness of the characterization, and the like, are a technical

tour de force"11. What he means is that those literary merits of the story

"illustrate the author′s rhetorical skill in working within his conventions"12.

The literary critics may reject the convention, Frye assumes, by

considering all the individual works belonging to it being all alike. They prefer

another type of literature, namely the instructive literature, near to reality,

which offers them the possibility to analyse and interpret it through their own

precritical experience and to find answers to their fundamental questions

toward the reality of life.

Concerning the difference made by the "distinction of critics in

approaching Shakespeare", Northrop Frye notes that "the critic interested

primarily in tragedy, irony and realism would probably, in Shakespeare′s own

day, have considered Ben Jonson a more serious, at any rate in comedy"13.

Jonson′s comedies, "if not realistic plays, still maintain a fairly consistent

illusion"14, assumes Frye comparing them to Shakespeare′s comedies and

romances. Shakespeare never fails to include something incredible in the story,

like fairies, magical forests, etc. Shakespeare′s comedies and romances

represent a world of mythical elements which make us forget the objective

reality for a moment, but in the meantime bringing us back to our sentimental

roots, awaking in us our subjective reality, our feelings and our emotional

experience. The fairy world and the magical forests may have been used by

Shakespeare not only to create a magic world but also to emphasize the eternal

reality of being human, with our entire positive and negative life experiences,

for the emotional part has been forgotten or suppressed by the cruel every day

life.

The Iliad critics will see the height of Shakespearean achievement in

the great tragedies and feel, like Frye assumes, "that the romances of the final

period represent an exhaustion of vitality or a subsiding into more facile and

11 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 4

12 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 4

13 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 5

14 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 6

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Shakespeare′s

A Midsummer Night′s Dream

and

The Tempest

in the mirror of changing - 7 -

critical approaches

commercial formulas"15. Frye considers himself an Odyssey critic and sees in

the Shakespeare′s late romance, his "genuine culmination". He compares

Shakespeare′s romances to Bach′s

The Art of Fugue

and

The Musical Offering

,

describing them as "not retreats into pedantry, but final articulation of

craftsmanship"16.

Getting back to the Abrams′ definition of criticism, we have already

defined and classified Shakespearian comedy and romance. The next step

according to Abram will be to analyse the selected work. Analysing a work of

literature means to define its structure and to determine its conventions. The

word "structure" seems to be a key word within criticism. The word "structure"

is, according to Northrop Frye, "a metaphor from architecture", which "has

become applied to literary criticism partly as the result of a curious

phenomenon in criticism itself"17. Frye argues that the arts of poetry and music

move in time. In the same way the reader of a novel or a spectator of a play is

also following a movement in time. Frye distinguishes here between the

practice of "proper" criticism and "the direct experience of literature which

precedes it"18. The direct experience of literature represents the first key to

understanding a literary work without paying attention to its structure and

conventions. A deeper Form of understanding literature is practicing the

"proper" criticism mentioned above, not only experiencing literature but also

defining, classifying, analysing, interpreting and evaluating it. Although the

direct experience of literature has a precritical function according to Fryes

opinion, "works of literature differ in the extent to which they subordinate the

critical faculty during the experience of reading or listening", so that in comedy

and romance "direct experience is not only precritical but as uncritical as

possible"19. What he means is that the Iliad critic is closer to critical activity

during his direct experience than the Odyssey critic. The first mentioned sees

the literary work as a reflection of real life and his theory is based on

15 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 7

16 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 8

17 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 8 -9

18 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 9

19 Frye, Northrop. A natural perspective ­ the development of Shakespearean comedy and romance. Columbia

University Press. New York and London. 1965. Pg. 9

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