Question

Read back over the passage. What types of support does the author use to make his claim?
A) The author uses quotes from famous Shakespearean scholars.
B) The author uses various examples from Shakespeare's canon to discuss the faults in the plays.
C) The author uses events from Shakespeare's life to explain the imperfections of the plays he wrote.
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Story in comments.
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please help <3

Answer 1

I. Introduction:
A. William Shakespeare is almost universally proclaimed to be “the greatest poet who ever lived.” And of course it is true that Shakespeare is an incredible writer—38 five-act plays (all written in iambic pentameter), 154 perfect sonnets, and two epic poems—but sometimes, in our desire to celebrate our greatest artists, we have a tendency to forget that these almost god-like people were first and foremost human beings too. They too struggled, often failed, and made mistakes. We shouldn’t shy away from discussing our literary heroes’ flaws. If nothing else, the knowledge of their failures help us appreciate what success and greatness these authors did achieve. Often our hero-worship keeps us from truly seeing the complexity of a great author. Thus, I would argue, nothing would be better for high school students than to take Shakespeare down a peg or two.

II. A General Overview of Shakespeare’s Entire Career:
Throughout high school, students are exposed only to Shakespeare’s greatest and most successful plays, so students naturally assume that everything Shakespeare wrote was perfect. What students don’t realize is that Shakespeare definitely had “off days” as a playwright. Shakespeare began his career writing dreadful almost unreadable tragedies and histories. It wasn’t until after completing his early play, Richard III, that Shakespeare began his ascent to greatness and composed his most perfect comedies and (the crown of all his work) the great tragedies. Soon after writing his tragedy King Lear, Shakespeare began to write his last or “late” plays. These plays show a clear falling off from the great tragedies. In fact, they are so different from Shakespeare’s great plays that critics commonly call them the “problem plays.” In other words, unbeknownst to most students, Shakespeare’s career, rather than being an instant attainment of perfection, follows a basic success-story arc—beginning in struggle, attaining a high point of greatness, and then weakening right at the end.

III. Starting Out Rough: Shakespeare’s Early Plays:
Shakespeare’s early plays were marked by a crude—almost vulgar—style that is so far from what we think of as “Shakespeare” that most people have never even heard of the plays, much less seen them performed. His early tragedy Titus Andronicus is as bloody (and stupid) as any gory horror movie now seen at the Cineplex. His early history plays (like Henry IV Parts 1, 2, and 3) are most aptly called “rant-fests” by critic Harold Bloom and would put any modern audience straight to sleep. Shakespeare’s early comedies (like The Comedy or Errors aren’t bad, really, but they are silly, derivative of other Roman playwrights’ work, and often more than a little obscene.

IV. The Peak of His Career—As Great as It Gets:
Shortly after his blockbuster success with the early history/tragedy Richard III, Shakespeare wrote his greatest plays, the ones everyone knows, at least by title: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. But great as these plays are, they too often have weak spots. Hamlet, as any director will tell you, is far too long—the longest play Shakespeare wrote and is full of digressions and long topical speeches that are incomprehensible to anyone but a person of Shakespeare’s day and age. Julius Caesar loses all its plot momentum in the third act after its title character is killed. Pick any traditionally “great” Shakespeare play, and you’ll run across some stumbling block to its greatness somewhere.

V. A Falling Off: The Late Plays
Sometime after composing King Lear, Shakespeare’s poetic powers began to weaken. He grew tired of all the genres he’d triumphed over—comedy, history, and tragedy—and tried to experiment with new forms of theatre. Some critics call them “tragicomedies”; others “romances,” and still others just call them “problem plays” because they are, for lack of a better word, just plain “weird.” These plays are so strange that most people don’t even recognize the titles as something Shakespeare wrote: Timon of Athens, Pericles, Cymbeline, Coriolanus, and others.

VI. Conclusion: A Modest Proposal
It seems strange to advocate teaching Shakespeare’s “bad” or “weak” plays, but studying a play that isn’t entirely successful from one of our greatest playwrights can be a very valuable experience. Of course students should still read the “great” plays, but sometimes just knowing something is “great” makes it automatically boring and difficult to truly appreciate. A more balanced approach to Shakespeare, a humanizing approach, could help students truly appreciate what makes the playwright so well-known. Too often students say that Hamlet is famous simply because “Shakespeare wrote it.” Wouldn’t it be better for students to take Shakespeare off his cultural pedestal and recognize the play as great because of its successful content? Perhaps teaching a bad Shakespeare play or two would make the famous plays’ greatness truly understood and deserved.

Answer 2

Sorry kid, But im not big on Shakespeare.

I cencerily Apologize.

Answer 3

But the best i can give you is break it down into small pieces.

Answer 4

@MissSmartiez Can you help this kiddo out?

Answer 5

@HannahA can you help this kiddo out?

Answer 6

@Hayhicks I am probably around the same age as you ya know ._.

Answer 7

What age r u?

Answer 8

I turn 15 in a month

Answer 9

@Hayhicks

Answer 10

im turning 16 on april 7th

Answer 11

Pretty dang close lol.

Answer 12

yep.

Answer 13

@HannahA You good at Shakespeare? I dont like him at all

Answer 14

Haha nah not a Shakespeare fan either, however this one makes sense, I'd go with B

Answer 15

thank you @HannahA

Answer 16

sure thing ;)