Make ‘em laugh! Make ‘em cry? Make ‘em feel…weird???
We are talking genre! Specifically the genres of Shakespeare’s
plays, how we started to categorize the plays into these genres in the first place, and how that’s affected our reading of and study of the plays since.
I also cover what constituted a comedy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and how it’s not as straightforward as you would think. Afterwards, I dive into the tragicomedies, which have been confusing people even more for hundreds of years.
This episode is a part one! Next time I’ll be covering tragedies and histories. So come back for part two!
Further Reading:
Why We Should Celebrate the 400th Anniversary of
Shakespeare’s First Folio: https://lithub.com/why-we-should-celebrate-the-400th-anniversary-of-shakespeares-first-folio/
The First Folio (see more about the First Folio and the
catalogue page at the Folger Shakespeare Library website: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/)
The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare, particularly the chapters:
“Shakespeare’s comedies” by Stanley Wells
“Shakespeare’s tragicomedies” by Janette Dillon
The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare by Russ McDonald, particularly the chapter:
“Theater à la Mode: Shakespeare and the Kinds of Drama” and
accompanying primary documents
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber, especially the introductory information and the chapter on The Merchant of Venice
Some Shakespearean comedies:
The Comedy of Errors
Twelfth Night
The Merchant of Venice
And some Shakespearean tragicomedies/romances:
The Tempest
The Winter’s Tale
Cymbeline
For more on The Tempest, listen to my episode on The Tempest as theater metaphor
Credit where credit is due
Art by Halie Branson
Music recording by josdvg
