Term Paper on "Shakespeare's Ghost as a Character in Shakespearean Adaptations 17th 18th Centuries"

Term Paper 4 pages (1289 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Shakespeare's Ghost as a character

Shakespeare is perhaps the most famous playwright of all time. It is hard to imagine that in the seventeenth century, Shakespeare was just another playwright alongside others such as Marlowe and Webster, to name only two. In fact, his works were not truly appreciated until the nineteenth century when "the Bard" became worshipped not only in England, but throughout Europe. In the eighteenth century, Shakespeare was beginning to be awarded increasingly more recognition for his work. However, Britain's "national poet" also became a dramatic character in several of the adaptations of his plays in order to serve certain political goals.

The gap that existed between the new and the old theater was bridged by William Davenant, the first Restoration adapter of Shakespeare. However, Davenant's artistic nature which encouraged him to write poetry and drama was supported by the practical nature of a man who understood the way the theater functioned. The Lord Chamberlain appointed Davenant as "Governor of the King and Queen's company acting at the Cockpit in Drury Lane." Audiences responded well to the adaptations. A few of Shakespeare's plays held the stage in their original form, and several were very successful: Hamlet, Othello, and Julius Caesar.

Theaters were closed down in 1642 at the initiative of the Puritans. At that time, Shakespeare's plays were not officially divided between Sir William Davenant and Thomas Killigrew. Davenant ran Duke's Theater whereas Killigrew ran King's Theater. This official division took place much later, at the end of the 1660s with the arrival of the English Restoration. This is a very important aspect to consider because this formal division influenced the manner in which Shakespeare's plays were used and adapted during the following decades. However, because there was very little audience who was willing to come to the theater solely for the purpose of viewing one of Shakespeare's comedies come to life on stage, popular actors, new characters, music and dance were introduced into the plays in order to attract new audiences. In this sense, in the late seventeenth century there was very little concern with promoting Shakespeare's name or that of his creations (West Scheil 26). Instead, young writers such as Nahum Tate and William Davenant wanted to adapt Shakespeare's plays, but often times, the result did not have much in common with the original.

During the eighteenth century, there were two opposing attitudes as far as the work of William Shakespeare. The first group of scholars were interested in discovering and restoring Shakespeare's works as accurately as possible. Perhaps the most notable scholars who wanted to restore Shakespeare's original plays were Rowe and Malone. However they were opposed by Colley Cibber, John Dennis, and David Garrick who wanted to continue the practice of "improving" Shakespeare's works, a practice which had been very popular during the Restoration. There were also some who showed little reluctance at participating in both activities, i.e. editing and altering Shakespeare (Branam 2). Nonetheless, it is interesting to note here that Shakespeare was mostly adapted by scholars, and not theatrical men.

Changing Shakespeare's words in his plays becomes a way of establishing their true meaning (Dobson 134). From the 1730s onwards, his authority becomes widely accepted. The authorship of his plays is no longer questioned, and Shakespeare is placed at the core of English national culture. Furthermore, turning Shakespeare into a character represented the perfect manner in which to bring social and political commentaries onto the stage. Having virtually no freedom to do so in a direct fashion, Dryden uses Shakespeare's name, by turning him into a character in the prologue to his play, Troilus and Cressida, or, Truth Found Too Late (1679). This seventeenth century play provides the perfect example of the ways in which Shakespeare's persona allowed playwrights and adapters alike to express political views on stage. In this case, on the stage of… READ MORE

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