Shakespeare and Human Character

The Three Plays

The three plays chosen for this unit are Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and King Lear. All three of these plays were discussed in our seminars during the May and July meeting times. All three were new to me. Just as my students have improved their ability to read Shakespeare over the past year, so I have improved mine. I began my Shakespearean fest with the original plays and read them aloud. I have found that just as my students do, I am better able to understand the language by doing this. Things sure have changed, as last year I began with the comics strips first! After reading the six plays we were responsible for, I began to think of my students. Which plays would be most interesting to them? I outlined the main ideas for each of the plays - what were the story lines? More importantly, what were the characters like? Since this seminar focuses on human character, I wanted to be certain that there was enough depth in the main characters of the plays I chose. Of course, with Shakespeare this is easy as he breathes life into his characters; inner turmoil, passion, rage, among other emotions are common and essential to who his characters are. Lastly, I returned to the comic strips, children's versions, and graphic novels to determine which formats were available for each of the six plays we were responsible for reading. After evaluating all of my sources, I chose the three aforementioned plays. All three are considered tragedies and include history, murder, madness, and bad family dynamics, among other themes - all wonderful topics for adolescents! The following is my summary of each of these plays.

Hamlet

This tragedy written in 1600 - 1601, is Shakespeare's longest and what some acclaim to be his first true masterpiece. Set in Denmark, it is the story of a son who is trying to seek revenge for his father, the king. Hamlet returns home from his university studies to find his mother, Gertrude, has quickly married his father's brother, Claudius, after his father's death. As a result, Hamlet is robbed of the position of king - although no one thinks this is important to him. Yet even more disturbing to him are his mother's actions, which he considers to be incestuous in nature. He is in turmoil and contemplates suicide. However, his friend, Horatio, tells him that he has seen his father's ghost; Hamlet looks for this ghost whom he encounters; the ghost insists that he seek vengeance for what has been done to him. Hamlet's inner struggles with what he is undertaking (the killing of his uncle) cause him to delay his actions. His behavior becomes more and more unusual and many of those around him are disturbed by his actions and what he says. Hamlet continues to seek more proof to justify the act he believes that he has to commit. To help him prove his uncle's guilt, he has traveling performers put on a production that includes a death scene reminiscent of his father's. Claudius leaves abruptly during this scene, giving Hamlet the evidence he needs as to his guilt. Claudius, fearful of Hamlet and to ensure his own safety, determines that Hamlet must be sent away to England. When Hamlet later goes to his mother's bedchamber to confront her about her despicable actions, he stabs a person in hiding. It occurs to him after he has done so that it may be Claudius. However, it is Polonius, a counselor to the king and father of Ophelia to whom he was romantically linked. Ophelia kills herself in response to multiple reasons including Hamlet's actions against her father. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are sent with Hamlet to accompany him to England. Claudius has also given them a sealed envelope with orders to kill him upon their arrival. Pirates prevent Hamlet's ship from arriving in England, so he returns, having successfully arranged to consign Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to his own intended fate. Claudius conceives a plan to have him fight Laertes, the son of Polonius and sister to Ophelia. He also has a poisoned drink as a back-up plan. According to tragedy format, the queen drinks the poison and dies, Laertes wounds Hamlet who dies slowly from the poison on the blade and cuts himself so that he too dies. Lastly, before dying Hamlet succeeds in avenging his father by injuring Claudius with the poisoned sword and having him drink the remainder of the poison so that he too dies.

Julius Caesar

This play, written in 1599, depicts the plot to kill Julius Caesar. This tragedy is set in the year that he was killed, 44B.C. He had been a well-thought of leader for two years and an all-conquering general for much longer. In fact, the people of Rome believed him to be almost god-like. A military and political figure and friend of Caesar's, Brutus, is concerned that Caesar is too highly revered and that people will want to give Caesar ultimate power instead of the oligarchic Senate. His talks with Cassius, another military and political figure, make him even more concerned about this issue. Cassius uses these feelings of unrest to manipulate Brutus into thinking with more certainty that Caesar is a too-ambitious leader and should be killed. Key to this plot is a letter that Cassius plants. Brutus reads in this letter that the people of the Republic are concerned about the powerful Caesar. Cassius arrives at Brutus' house and together they devise a plan to rid the Republic of Caesar and his control. As Caesar readies himself to leave his house to go to the Senate, his wife convinces him to stay at home due to the premonition of his death in her dreams she had the night before. He concedes but later changes his mind when one of the conspirators comes by to assure him all is well. Although he is warned again by a soothsayer and a citizen of danger, Caesar arrives at the Senate with the conspirators, who attack and kill him. Antony, a military and political figure, swears revenge for the death of Caesar although we do not know this for sure until his oration. He speaks at Caesar's funeral, convincing the crowd of Caesar's good will and love for Rome and its people. The crowd becomes outraged and seeks to avenge his death. Brutus and Cassius are exiled and begin to raise armies outside the city. Caesar's adopted son, Octavius, returns to Rome and works with Antony and Lepidus to fight against Brutus and Cassius. Due to misinformation, Cassius orders his own death by the sword that had killed Caesar. With certain defeat and the death of his friend, Brutus too asks for the help of his men as he stabs himself with his own sword. Antony speaks warmly over Brutus' dead body, saying that Brutus was the best of Romans as his actions were in the name of the Republic. Brutus is honorably buried.

King Lear

This tragedy, written in 1605, takes place in Britain. It is the story of a king and his three daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. King Lear has decided to divide up his kingdom among his three daughters. He wants to be king yet not have the responsibilities of the position. Summoning the three daughters, he has each of them describe how much she loves him. Both Goneril and Regan flatter him, which he loves. However, when he asks his true favorite daughter, Cordelia, the same question, she responds that she will divide her love between her father and her future husband. King Lear is not satisfied with this answer. He is most disappointed that she did not flatter him in the same way that her sisters did so he disowns her. One of her suitors, the King of France, still decides to marry her, stating she "is herself a dowry". ¹ Cordelia goes to France with her new husband. Not long after, Lear realizes he has made a mistake. His daughters, who should be caring for him, treat him horribly. He begins to go insane as he realizes that his daughters are betraying him and wanders off in a horrible storm to walk around on the heath. Gloucester, an elderly nobleman, also has his own familial problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, gets him to believe that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Edgar, fearful for his life, also heads out to the heath disguised as a beggar. Regan and Cornwall discover that Gloucester is trying to help Lear so they blind him and he is left to wander around. His son, Edgar, encounters him and brings him to the city of Dover where Lear is also to be found. It is there that Cordelia is with a French army trying to save her father. Edmund's troops defeat Cordelia's army. She and Lear are captured. What follows is a series of "tragedies": Edgar kills Edmund, Gloucester dies, Goneril kills her sister, Regan, and then herself, Cordelia is killed by Edmund's order, and Lear dies of grief.