Through my review of Shakespeare I want to learn, synthesize, and appropriate the method of writing found in his works. To gain this understanding and to manifest it I will read a few of his plays from each genre (Tragedy, Romance, Comedy, History) and utilize specific tools of Renaissance learning to recreate certain passages of the plays. My end goal for the next few months is to create my own play utilizing the methods that Shakespeare employed to create his plays.
1. To gain “Shakespeare Literacy” I will read:
Tragedy: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear
Comedy: The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, Measure for Measure
Romance: The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale
History: The Tragedy of King Richard the III, The Life of King Henry the V
As I read I will be cross analyzing the text to see what elements spread across various plays. I will most likely adjust my list because where possible I want to read two good plays and one of his more poorly constructed plays from each category (Suggestions welcome!). By studying the plays in this way I can better identify the successful characteristics from the unsuccessful.
2. Analyze Shakespeare critically:
To help me in my cross analysis of the plays I will frequently glean information from academic criticism of each work. If I can find them, I would also like to read period reviews of the plays to see what the impact of changing context has had on the works. I imagine that this will be a substantial part of the research that I will do throughout the course as I decrypt the plays and discover their basic building blocks.
3. Context is essential:
I am not the first person to do this type of analysis-lead-recreation, and I aim to build on what has already been done correctly. In addition to reviewing the works of Shakespeare from the past, I will study contemporary works derived from Shakespeare (Suggestions Welcome!).
Reconstructions: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Tom Stoppard), Kiss me Kate (Cole Porter),
4. Documentation:
Throughout this entire process I will be documenting the things that I research, my discoveries, and the creative retellings that I plan on doing throughout the next three months on this blog.
5. Synthesis:
Write a play based on Shakespeare’s works utilizing the literary techniques observed during study. Incorporate specific source information, and background research in developing theme.
