Texts: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Twelfth Night
The order in which Shakespeare composed his plays is generally agreed in outline but uncertain in detail — but among the uncertainties both internal and external evidence strongly suggest some plays as standing in particular relation as season-pairs, presumably written and apparently first performed in close proximity. The course will look at two such pairs, asking what we can learn from their mutual reflections.
The connection of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet is most often remarked in relation to Dream’s inset-performance of ‘Piramus and Thisbe’, a skeletal version of Romeo and Juliet, and to Mercutio’s ‘Queen Mab’ speech, filled with imagery that seems to come straight from Dream. Incidental overspill from a fast-working playwright? Merely moments of incidental laughter and wonder? Or is there some more profound and creative connection that led Shakespeare to balance his tragedies and comedies of love in 1595-6?
The connection of Twelfth Night and Hamlet is less often remarked, but their dates are very close; one is a rather funny revenge tragedy and the other a rather bleak revenge comedy; and the casts show unexpected similarities. Both plays have, for example, a brother–sister pairing parted by (supposed) drowning, a female figure who mourns too much or too little, and an odd couple about whom a painful comedy swirls, while at their hearts a melancholic revenger puts on an antic disposition and a professional fool manipulates the whirligig of time to bring in his revenge on another melancholic.
Starting with a consideration of what might be involved in creating such pairs, and of Shakespeare’s concerns with sequence and multi-play structures, we shall look at each of the four plays in turn with a beady eye to similarities and variations. Some clips from various screen adaptations of these plays will also be on offer.
