3. Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas
Hardy, William Faulkner, and Charles Dickens. The
American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies
owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab in
Moby-Dick is a classic tragic hero, inspired by King
Lear.
Specifically, in plays like Hamlet,
Shakespeare "integrated characterization
with plot," such that if the main character
was different in any way, the plot would be
totally changed
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare mixed tragedy and comedy
together to create a new romantic tragedy genre (previous to
Shakespeare, romance had not been considered a worthy topic
for tragedy).Through his soliloquies, Shakespeare showed how
plays could explore a character's inner motivations and conflict
(up until Shakespeare, soliloquies were often used by
playwrights to "introduce (characters), convey information,
provide an exposition or reveal plans")
Shakespeare's work has
made a lasting impression on later
theatre and literature. In particular,
he expanded the dramatic potential
of characterisation, plot, language,
and genre.
6. Shakespeare's plays portrayed a wide variety of
emotions. His plays exhibited "spectacular
violence, with loose and episodic plotting, and
with mingling of comedy with tragedy".In King
Lear, Shakespeare had deliberately brought
together two plots of different origins. His
closeness to human nature made him greater than
any of his contemporaries. Humanism and
contact with popular thinking gave vitality to his
language. Shakespeare's plays borrowed ideas
from popular sources, folk traditions, street
pamphlets, and sermons etc. Shakespeare used
groundlings widely in his plays. The use of
groundlings "saved the drama from academic
stiffness and preserved its essential bias towards
entertainment
in comedy "
7. If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
—In his first words to Juliet, Romeo, holding her hand, wittily begs
permission to kiss her hand.
8. How silver-sweet
sound lovers’ tongues
by night,
Like softest music to
attending ears!
—In the balcony scene, after Juliet is called in, then
comes back out and calls to Romeo, he is
enthralled by the sound of her voice.
Good night, good
night! parting is
such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say
good night till it
be morrow.
—In the balcony scene, just before she goes
in for the last time, Juliet says good night.
9. “There are more things in
Heaven and Earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
10. “What a piece of work is a man! How noble
in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in
moving, how express and admirable! in
action how like an angel! in apprehension
how like a god! the beauty of the world! the
paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is
this quintessence of dust?”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory,
this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging
firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it
appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation
of vapours. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and
admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a
god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to
me, what is this quintessence of dust?”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
