Shakespeare information

Shakespeare

1. Life and Creation

William Shakespeare (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616) is the most outstanding representative of European literature during the Renaissance. *** wrote 37 plays, 2 poems and 154 sonnets. His creations widely reflected the British politics, economy, thought, culture, customs and habits at that time. Ben Jonson called him "the soul of the age." His plays occupy an important position in the history of European drama or literary development.

(1) Life

1 Youth

Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. . His father, John, was a yeoman farmer in Warwick County. He moved to Stratford Town in 1551 and engaged in wool, leather manufacturing, grain trading and other industries; some say he also worked as a butcher. In 1565, John served as civil administrator of Stratford Town and was elected mayor three years later. William, the eldest son, was sent to a local grammar school to study Latin and ancient history, philosophy, poetry, logic, rhetoric, etc. When he was 13 or 14 years old, his family was in dire straits and he may have dropped out of school to help his father in his business. In November 1582, when he was 18 years old, he married Ann Hathaway (26 years old), the daughter of a wealthy yeoman farmer in the neighboring village. In May of the following year, he gave birth to a daughter, Susanna. In 1585, he gave birth to twins Judith (female) and Hamnet. (son), Hamnet died when he was 11 years old.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare’s former home

2 First arrival in London

Shakespeare lived between 1585 and 1587 Leave home and go to London. This was the heyday of Queen Elizabeth I's reign in England. Shakespeare was introduced to the troupe by a fellow Stratford man named Richard. He first worked as a groom, waiting for the gentlemen watching the theater at the entrance of the theater. Later he became a hired actor. While he studied hard and practiced his acting skills, he also did odd jobs. He also used his spare time to observe the performances of other theater groups. Around 1588, Shakespeare began adapting old plays and revising other playwrights' plays for his theater company. From this time on, Shakespeare began his career as a playwright.

Contact with the poetry and drama of ancient Rome - theater handyman - hired actors - screenwriters - theater company shareholders - hereditary gentlemen

3 Creative Peak

Beginning in 1594, Shakespeare's troupe was protected by the Lord Chamberlain and was called the "Lord Chamberlain's Company". Later, he co-built the Globe Theater with others, and his drama works were mainly performed here in the future. Shakespeare's plays before the age of 35 have been praised as "unparalleled" by everyone, and can be regarded as the first-class drama poets in ancient times. But he never published any of his plays during his lifetime. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in more than 20 years. Their themes were mostly based on historical records, novels, folklore and old plays, etc., reflecting the historical reality of the transition from feudal society to capitalist society, and promoting the rise of the emerging bourgeoisie. Humanistic thought and human nature perspective. On the one hand, he extensively drew on ancient drama, British medieval drama, and emerging European culture and art, and on the other hand, he deeply observed life, understood society, and grasped the pulse of the times.

Shakespeare was able to create many lifelike characters. The image depicts a broad and colorful picture of social life, and makes it feature a blend of sadness and joy, rich in poetry and imagination, unified in contradictions and changes, and rich in life philosophy and critical spirit. Shakespeare has had a close relationship with the company for more than 20 years. In addition to being a screenwriter, he also acted and directed plays. When writing a play, he always thinks about the specific actors, and also keeps in mind the theater and performance effects. He strived to appeal to a variety of audiences, especially the more educated ones, inheriting the existing tradition of popular drama while absorbing the artistic tastes of the Italian and British court aristocrats. This was Shakespeare's golden age.

4 Late Years

The period from 1608 to 1611 was the late period of his creation. Started to write legendary dramas. He returned to his hometown from London around 1613. Shakespeare spent most of the last few years of his life in his hometown. He died on April 23, 1616, his 52nd birthday. On the 25th, his body was buried under the altar of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. For the insignificant, history is ruthless; for the great, history is like a passionate lover, standing there all the time, describing the elegance of his beloved to every follower.

(2) Creative process (detailed version)

Fortunately, a large number of Shakespeare's works have been handed down and have become an extremely precious part of the treasure house of human culture. This involves Shakespeare's creative path. We divide the poet's entire creative career into three periods: 1590 to 1600 is the first period; 1601 to 1607 is the second period, and 1608 to 1607 is the second period. 613 was the third period.

1 The First Period

Some people call the first period of Shakespeare's creation the "comedy period", but this statement is not accurate.

Yes, the poet did create ten comedies during this period from "The Comedy of Errors" to "Twelfth Night", but at the same time he also created nine historical dramas ("Henry VI" Parts 1, 2 and 2). Three historical dramas, the first and second parts of "Henry IV" count as two, and the remaining "Richard III", "King John", "Richard II" and "Henry V" are not divided into parts, and each one counts as one), Three tragedies, two long poems (Venus and Adonis and The Humiliation of Lucrece), and some sonnets. It is obviously not appropriate to call this period of Shakespeare simply the "comedy period". However, on the other hand, ten of the seventeen comedies written by Shakespeare were created during this period, and some of his most famous comedies such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merchant of Venice", "As You Like It" ", "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Twelfth Night" were all written during this period, so Shakespeare's comedies occupied a particularly important position during this period. We must look at both aspects at the same time and not be partial to them.

Let’s talk about comedy first. All so-called comedies should have a happy ending. This is self-evident. Shakespeare's comedies all have a happy ending. But in addition, Shakespeare's comedies also have some obvious and distinctive characteristics, namely:

(1) The themes of comedies are mainly about love, friendship, and marriage, through which they express humanities the ideal of a Christian. Take "As You Like It", an important comedy of this period, as an example. It describes the pure love of two aristocratic young men and women, Orlando and Rosalind, Oliver and Celia, and also writes about the shepherd Silvis. The simple love between the shepherd girl Phoebe, the clown Touchstone and the village girl Audrey, two pairs of common young men and women, despite all kinds of hardships and twists and turns, the last four pairs of lovers got married at the same time. It is true that "lovers eventually get married", Everyone is happy. At the same time, this comedy also writes about loyal friendship: Rosalind and Celia are cousins. Celia’s father Frederick, regardless of brotherhood, usurped his brother (that is, Rosalind’s father). ), the Duke was driven away and forced to live in exile in the forest. However, the two cousins ​​had always loved each other and would rather escape to the forest to live a hard life together than be separated. This kind of innocent friendship is also precious.

(2) Most of Shakespeare's comedies have a strong romanticism. In "A Midsummer Night's Dream" there are beautiful forests, fairy queens and fairies, and the fairy king Oberon, the king of the Nordic dwarves. , there is the legendary good elf Robin in British folklore, there are fragrant bean curds, web-weaving spiders, petite and exquisite moths, as well as wonderful music and so on. This is not a simple comedy, it is simply a beautiful fairy tale full of poetry, fascinating and fascinating! Take "The Merchant of Venice", a drama full of serious struggles, for example. The heroine Portia chooses her husband not because of "the orders of her parents or the words of a matchmaker", nor because she asks someone to introduce her husband to her, but because (dear reader, you He placed three boxes of gold, silver, and lead in his boudoir, allowing the suitors to choose. Whoever chooses the box containing Portia's portrait will be considered victorious and can marry her. What a romantic way to choose a mate!

(3) Another characteristic of Shakespeare's comedies is that each script often has one, two or even more storyline clues in addition to one main plot. The play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" has three parallel clues: one is the series of adventures and experiences of the fallen knight Falstaff; the other is the marriage of Miss Ann Page, with three men chasing her; Page's marriage caused a dispute between Caius, a French doctor, and Evans, a Welsh priest. The story of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has more clues, including four: one is the relationship between Theseus, Duke of Athens and his fiancée Hippolyta; the other is Lysander, Hermia and Demetrius The love entanglement between four people and Helena; the third is the quarrel between the fairy king Oberon and the fairy queen Titania; the fourth is the relationship between the craftsmen headed by Burton.

The plots of these comedies by Shakespeare are intricate and complex. Each clue is relatively independent and closely related to each other. They include real life, fairyland and fantasy, making the whole comedy ups and downs, confusing and extremely artistic. charm. The above comic storylines cannot be described in detail due to space limitations. However, it doesn't matter. Readers can read the original play based on these rough introductions and it will be very clear. In addition, some works will be specially introduced below in this book, so I will mention them here to give readers a preliminary impression. Reading Shakespeare's plays is a great artistic enjoyment. I sincerely hope that readers will not be satisfied with the simple introduction of our little book, but use this little book as a key to open the treasure house of Shakespeare's art. If you further read Shakespeare's works, you will enter a magnificent palace of art, full of dazzling beauty.

Regarding historical dramas, as mentioned before, Shakespeare *** wrote nine historical dramas during this period. Historical plays are scripts based on historical facts, while Shakespeare's historical plays are all about emperors in British history.

Leaving aside the fact that "King John" (King John's reign was from 1199 to 1216) is a play of its own and is incoherent with other historical dramas due to the characters and events in the play, the other eight historical dramas just constitute two "tetralogy" , namely: "Richard II", "Henry IV" Part 1 and 2 and "Henry V". This "tetralogy" is about the "Plantagenet" family in British history. The other "tetralogy" is "Henry VI" Part I, Part II, Part II and "Richard III", which are related to the two major families of York and Lancaster. These two "tetralogy" wrote about the history of Britain for one hundred years from the end of the 14th century to the end of the 15th century, and wrote about major events such as royal disputes, internal turmoil, war against France, and the "War of the Red and White Roses" in Britain during this period. , and an important spirit that runs through these eight scripts is the spirit of the times shared by humanists at that time: patriotism. These historical dramas profoundly reflected the British people's desire to oppose feudal separatism, feudal tyrants, and long for national unity.

The most representative of Shakespeare's historical dramas are the first and second parts of "Henry IV" and the following "Henry V". Through these three scripts with coherent plots, the poet created the image of Henry V for us: he went from being dazed when he was a prince to hanging out with drunkards and gangsters in restaurants and other entertainment places all day long. After being educated by his father, he gradually understood After the death of his father Henry IV, he ascended the throne, determined to change evil and do good, and finally became a wise monarch who worked hard to govern. Shakespeare described Henry V as an ideal monarch. Even so, he did not describe this monarch as a divine, flawless, extraordinary, divine man with an aura on his head. Instead, he did not avoid contradictions and wrote The various shortcomings of Prince Hal (the name Hal was given when he was the crown prince before Henry V came to the throne) made him gradually change amidst the various contradictions in real life and become a wise king. In sharp contrast to the praise of Henry V, Shakespeare severely condemned the unjust and foolish king Richard in the play "Richard II". It can be seen that Shakespeare did not praise feudal emperors in general, but clearly distinguished right from wrong and made necessary praise and criticism of historical figures based on historical facts.

2 The second period

If Shakespeare mainly wrote comedies and historical dramas in the first period of his creation, then he wrote tragedies in the second period of his creation. Lord. During this period, he wrote seven tragedies, four comedies and some sonnets. The number was only half of the previous period, but it was extremely important. Why? Because he became more mature in thought and art during this period, and the four most important tragedies in his life (the so-called Shakespeare's "Four Tragedies": "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear" and "Macbeth") were all created during this period and have become his immortal masterpieces. Shakespeare believes that tragedy must have the following three characteristics:

(1) It must end with the death of the hero. All of Shakespeare's tragedies (he wrote three tragedies in the first period, seven tragedies in the second period, and a total of ten tragedies) all end with the death of the tragic hero. This was mainly influenced by his contemporaries and forerunners, the two famous tragic poets of the English Renaissance, Thomas Caeder (1558?-1594?) and Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) , but also because people at that time had different views on tragedy than later people. During the Renaissance, humanists like Shakespeare believed that a tragedy must end with the catastrophic outcome of the protagonist, and death is the greatest disaster for a person, so a tragedy must end with the death of the protagonist. end. This is not the case with modern and modern tragedies. The protagonist of the tragedy may or may not die. What is important is not only the personal experience of the tragic protagonist, but also the depth of the contradictions expressed in the tragedy, which reveals the depth of the character's thoughts and personality.

In Shakespeare's tragedies, although the protagonist dies, it is heartbreaking (only the play "Macbeth" is an exception. Macbeth's death was due to his own crime of killing a wise monarch and massacring innocent subjects. Heinous crime, his death is deserved), but the ideal that the tragic hero fought for has won, making people feel that the future is bright. The death of the tragic hero gives people a sense of tragedy, rather than pure sadness, and certainly not pessimism.

For example, in the play "Hamlet", the protagonist Hamlet dies, and the Norwegian prince Fortinbras arrives with an army and declares that normal order has been restored in Denmark; in "King Lear" In "Othello", Lear is too kind, deceived and instigated by the conspirator Iago, and killed by mistake. After Othello, who married his wife, realized the terrible mistake he had made, in order to punish himself, he committed suicide with a sword. His lieutenant Cassio immediately took over to handle military and political affairs, and arrested the villain Iago, who was about to be tortured. ; In "Antony and Cleopatra", the lovers died one after another, and General Caesar, one of the three rulers of Rome, buried the two in the same tomb so that they would never be separated. In short, it makes people see that although the protagonist in the tragedy paid a heavy price and sacrificed his life, he still has a bright future, which comforts and encourages people.

(2) The protagonist of the tragedy must be a noble. This view is obviously wrong.

This is due to the class and era limitations of Shakespeare and Renaissance humanists, as well as the influence of ancient Greek and Roman tragedies. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, there were many plagues and diseases, and the people were extremely poor. Coupled with frequent wars, the lives of working people were worthless. For example, in the years starting from 1349, the so-called "Black Death" (or plague) occurred across Western Europe. In England alone, the death toll reached two-fifths of the total inhabitants. Under such circumstances, who cares about the lives of ordinary working people?

There is also the influence of traditional concepts starting from the three great tragedians of ancient Greece, and then summarized theoretically by the famous Greek literary and art theory master Aristotle (384-322 BC), all the way to ancient Roman tragedy. , people have always believed that only the disasters that befell emperors and noble men and women can be written as tragedies, and the disasters of working people cannot be the subject of tragedy. This class prejudice and the limitations of the times make Shakespeare's tragic heroes all emperors, queens or other noble men and women.

(3) The actions of tragic characters must come from their own will and heart, that is, the tragic ending of tragic characters cannot be attributed to objective reasons, but should be their own responsibility ("Romeo and Juliet" may is an exception, which will be discussed separately below). Macbeth committed regicide and murdered the wise monarch, not because of Lady Macbeth's urging, nor because he met three witches in the wilderness who predicted that he would become the King of Scotland, but because of his own personal ambition. The Athenian Timon was so rich that he was so poor that he had no food or clothing. The main responsibility was not others but himself, because he was too generous and hospitable and spent extravagantly. He did not know how sinister some people in the world he lived in were. The above three points are the main characteristics of Shakespeare's tragedy.

3 The third period

This is the third and final period of Shakespeare's creation. During this period, the poet *** wrote four plays, namely "Cymbeline", "Winter's Tale", "The Tempest", three comedies and a historical drama "Henry VIII". The latter was co-written with the famous playwright John Fletcher (1579-1625), but was mainly written by Shakespeare. Regardless of the latter historical drama, the three comedies are all legendary dramas, that is, the works deal with comic characters and their encounters in a fairy tale or legendary way. The realism component of these works has been greatly weakened, and the criticism of society has also been weakened. Sharp social contradictions are often solved by unrealistic methods.

Take the play "The Tempest" as an example. This play tells the story of Prospero, Duke of Milan, who was usurped by his younger brother and ran away to sea with his three-year-old daughter Miranda, living on an island. The Duke knows magic and uses magic to rescue the elves who were imprisoned by a witch on the island for his own use. In addition, he also used the ugly monster Caliban, the only resident of the island who was raised by a witch. Twelve years later, the usurper Antonio, his co-conspirator King Alonzo of Naples, and Prince Ferdinand, the son of Alonso, and many others went out to sea in a ship. Prospero used magic to sink the ship, and the whole ship came to the island. . After this, Alonzo's brother Sebastian conspired with Antonio to kill King Alonzo of Naples and his loyal minister Gonzalo. On the other hand, Caliban, Stephano and the jester Trinculo are also planning to take over the island after killing Prospero.

While these two murder plots were secretly going on, Miranda and Ferdinand, a pair of young men and women, fell in love with each other at first sight. After Prospero learned that Caliban and others were planning to kill him, he immediately sent the elf Ariel to punish them. Finally, Prospero publicly disclosed his past identity as a duke, asked his brother Antonio to return the land to him, and warned Sebastian and others not to engage in conspiracy. At this point, all conflicts were resolved immediately, and people were ready to set sail the next day and return to Naples and Milan respectively. The younger brother usurping the elder brother's position as written in "The Tempest", or the younger brother preparing to kill his own brother, all have certain practical significance, but the solution to the conflict is unrealistic.

In Shakespeare's time, it was not uncommon in British history for brothers to kill each other in order to compete for the throne and title. However, in "The Tempest", this life-and-death conflict is instantly resolved by kindness and forgiveness, and its persuasiveness is very small. Despite this, "The Tempest" is still Shakespeare's first-rate work in terms of rich fantasy, twists and turns of the story, vivid characters, full of romantic interest and even poetic artistic techniques.

Creation Chronology

Early Period (1590-1600)

Comedy

"The Comedy of Errors" 1592

"The Taming of the Shrew" 1593

"The Two Gentlemen of Verona" 1594

"Love in vain" 1594

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" 1595 < /p>

"The Merchant of Venice" 1596

"Much Ado About Nothing" 1598

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" 1599

"As You Like It" 1599

"Twelfth Night" 1600

Historical drama

"Henry VI" 1590

"Richard III" 1592

< p>"Richard II" 1595

"King John" 1596

"Henry IV" 1597

"Henry V" 1598

Tragedy

"Titus Andronicus" 1593

"Romeo and Juliet" 1595

"Julius Caesar" 1599

Middle Period (1601-1607)

Comedy

"Troilus and Cressida" 1601

"Finally Married" "1602

"Tit for Tat" 1604

Tragedy

"Hamlet" 1601

"Othello" 1604 < /p>

"King Lear" 1605

"Macbeth" 1606

"Antony and Cleopatra" 1606

" Coriolanus" 1607

"Timon of Athens" 1607

Late period (1608-1613)

Comedy

"Pericles, Prince of Tire" 1608

"Cymbeline" 1609

"The Winter's Tale" 1610

"The Tempest" 1611

Historical drama

"Henry VIII" 1613

(2) Creative process (concise version)

Creative stages

q q Early period ( 1590-1600): historical drama, comedy period

Main works: comedies "Henry IV", "Henry V",

"A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merchant of Venice" "

"Twelfth Night"

Tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", "Julius Caesar"

q q Middle period (1601-1607) : Tragic period

Main works: tragedies "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear",

"Macbeth", "Timon of Athens"

p>

Comedy "Tit for Tat"

q q Late period (1608-1612): Legend drama period

Main works: Legend drama "The Tempest"

Historical Drama "Henry VIII"

1 Early (1590-1600) Historical Drama and Comedy Period

This was the formative period of Shakespeare's thought and art. During this period, Elizabeth's regime was still consolidated, and the temporary alliance between the royal family, industrialists, merchants, and new aristocrats was still developing. After defeating the Spanish "Invincible Fleet" in 1588, the country's power was greatly boosted. This makes the author full of optimism about life and believes that humanistic ideas can be realized. The historical dramas and comedies written during this period all showed a clear and optimistic style. Historical dramas such as "Richard III" (1592) and "Henry IV" (1597) condemned feudal tyrants and praised enlightened monarchs, expressing humanistic enlightened political ideals against feudal tyranny and feudal separatism. Parts 1 and 2 of the historical drama "Henry IV" are representative works, among which Falstaff is one of Shakespeare's most famous comedy characters.

Comedies such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1596), "Twelfth Night" (1600), "As You Like It" (16O0), etc., describe gentle, beautiful, resolute and brave women who break through numerous feudal obstacles. , finally won the victory of love, expressing the humanistic social life proposition of praising free love and anti-feudal ascetic bondage. Even the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" (1595) written during this period also has many elements of optimism.

Poetry

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, two long poems and other poems. The long poems "Venus and Adonis" (1592-1593) and "The Humiliation of Lucrece" (1593-1594) are both based on the works of the Roman poet Viovid Gil. Their themes are about the irresistibility of love and the Condemn the bestiality that violates the concept of "honor". Sonnets (1592-1598) mostly adopt the form of continuous poems, with the theme of praising friendship and love.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a lyrical comedy full of fantasy

and romance

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is about an Athenian The story of a girl's pursuit of true love. Her father wanted her to marry an aristocratic young man, but she loved someone else. Finally, with the help of the immortal, she finally got her wish. The contradiction between the mythical world and reality in the play is intertwined, making it one of Shakespeare's most poetic and imaginative plays.

"Since it seems to be a law of fate that true lovers will always be tortured, let us practice patience; for this kind of torture is just like memories, dreams, sighs, hopes and tears. , are all the indispensable followers of poor love..."

"The Merchant of Venice" is the most satirical of Shakespeare's comedies

<. p> "The Merchant of Venice" is the most socially satirical of Shakespeare's comedies. Its main plot is a lawsuit between the Venetian merchant Antonio and the Jewish merchant Shylock. The former values ​​friendship, while the latter is mercenary. Antonio borrows money from Shylock and sets up an IOU. If he doesn't repay it when it's due, Shylock will cut off a pound of Antonio's flesh. Antonio was unable to repay the debt as scheduled for some reason, so a lawsuit arose. The judge pointed out that the IOU did not allow for a drop of blood to be taken, so there could be no bleeding during the cutting of the flesh. As a result, Shylock failed. The script is also interspersed with several love plots, all of which have happy endings.

"There is a kind of people in the world who pretend to be calm and calm, deliberately expressing their calmness so that others can praise them for their deep wisdom and profound thoughts; their expressions seem to Said, "My words are all in the language of heaven. If I open my lips, no dog will bark!" "Ah, my Antonio, I have seen through such people, who gain the reputation of being wise simply because they do not speak; but I am certain that if they did speak, everyone who heard them would call them fools. ..."

Romeo and Juliet

This is a love tragedy with an anti-feudal consciousness. It tells the story of a pair of young lovers who are unable to unite due to a feud between their families and finally end up together. sacrifice. The play begins with a fight between one and two families and ends with the reconciliation between the two families in exchange for the death of the protagonist. The author uses this to condemn the feudal family feuding and feudal arranged marriages.

Characters in the play: Escalus, Paris, Montague, Capulet, Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, Tybalt, Father Lawrence, Father John, Paul Thaser, Samson, Gregory, Peter, Abraham, the medicine seller, three musicians, Mercutio's page, Paris' page, Lady Montague, Lady Capulet, Juliet , Juliet's wet nurse

"Romeo and Juliet"

(Romeo and Juliet)

In Verona, Italy, there are two families that are hostile to each other. They are the Capulet family, headed by Juliet's father, and the Monte family, headed by Romeo's father. Continuous violent conflicts between the two families cast a pall over the city.

Romeo is a young man who indulges in love and fantasy all day long. Encouraged by his friend Mociola, Romeo participated in the masquerade party held by Capulet's family. Juliet's mother held this ball in order to marry Juliet to a young man of her choice, but it backfired. Juliet met Romeo at the ball, and they fell in love at first sight.

After the ball, Romeo sneaked into the Caplet's backyard to meet Juliet, and the two confided in each other their love. With the help of the priest, the two got married secretly. The priest hopes to resolve the long-standing hatred between the two families. Juliet's cousin Taihua is a cruel and murderous guy. He found Romeo and asked for a duel with him, but Romeo, who wanted peace, refused. Taihua beat Romeo crazily, which aroused Mochiuto's anger. Under Romeo's dissuasion, Mochiuto did not kill Taihua, but Taihua took the opportunity to kill Mochiuto. Tragedy happened. The angry Romeo killed Taihua and was punished by being expelled.

Romeo left after meeting Juliet at night, but at this time Juliet's father wanted to marry Juliet to a young man she did not love. Under the priest's planning, Juliet pretended to commit suicide by taking poison, but the priest's letter failed to reach Romeo's hands. After receiving the bad news, Romeo rushed to the church. When Juliet woke up, Romeo had drunk the poison, and Juliet shot herself. The feud between the two families led to the love tragedy of the younger generation.

"Run quickly, your horses riding on the clouds of fire, and drag the sun back to its resting place; may Phaethon, the charioteer, spur you to the west, and let the gloomy evening hurry up Come. Unfold your dense curtains, and cover the eyes of those who travel in the night. Let Romeo fall quietly into my arms, unseen and undiscussed by all lovers! Love each other in the light; even if love is blind, it is just in line with the night. Come, gentle night, your simple woman in black, teach me how to fail in a winning gamble and make everyone pure. Their virginity is a bet.

Use your black scarf to cover the shy blush on my face, and wait until the love hidden deep in my heart slowly becomes bolder and I no longer feel ashamed to show my true feelings in my actions.

Come, night! Come, Romeo! Come, you day in the night! For you will sleep on the wings of night, whiter than the new snow on a crow's back. Come, soft night! Come, sweet dark night, give me my Romeo! After he dies, take him with you and scatter him into countless stars, decorating the sky so beautifully that the whole world will fall in love with the night and no longer worship the dazzling sun. …”

2 The middle period (1601-1607) Tragedy Period

This is the period when Shakespeare’s thought and art matured and deepened. At this time, the “enclosure movement” in the British countryside was accelerating. Progress, the temporary alliance between the royal power, the bourgeoisie and the new aristocracy was disintegrating, social contradictions were deepening and the political and economic situation was deteriorating day by day. The profligacy and perverse behavior of James I after he succeeded to the throne intensified the people's suffering and revolted repeatedly. In this case, Shakespeare deeply felt the humanistic ideal and reality.