His comedies are unsurpassed for the marvellous harmony they establish among so many apparently disc
ordant elements. His tragedies, rightly interpreted, do not reveal a spirit of gloom and disillusionment. Yet, if we ponder carefully, while the themes of Shakespeare rquote
s tragedies are indeed dark and dismal, the message that they impart is that, no matter
how deep the misfortune or how dreary the circumstances, man is capable of rising from his own ashes, like Phoenix; think of Richard II, Henry V, King Lear, or Prospero. Good will triumph over evil, in the end; think of Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar.
par tab As the theme and message in Shakespeare rquote s comedies, they can be summed up in two lines from }{ i fs24 ldblquote As You Like It rdblquote }{ fs24 :
par } pard qc nowidctlpar widctlpar adjustright { fs24 ldblquote All the world rquote s a stage,
par And all the men and women merely players rdblquote
par } pard qj nowidctlpar widctlpar adjustright { fs24 tab In his comedies, just as in real life, the protagonists play different parts in
the little playlets they have themselves improvised in order to get what they desire. No one is hurt, no one is denied the opportunity to join in the game, no one is left out. Life is a merry-go-round and each individual may get off the platform as soon a
s he no longer enjoys the game. As long as all ends well '85
par tab All Samuel Taylor Coleridge maintained, Shakespeare was more interested in character-development than in his plots. Besides, in most cases, he did not invent the plots, he merely borrowed them from
Holinshed and Hall Chronicles. Yet, his plots follow the classical Aristotelian outlines.
par tab Of Shakespeare rquote s tragic characters, Mark Antony is quite outstanding in point of versatility. He does not exactly fit the Aristotelian description of the tragic hero
. He is reliable and trustworthy friend, a highly intelligent and tactful man, a good psychologist, a skilful orator. Analysing Antony rquote
s famous speech of act 3, scene 2, we admire its uncanny rhetorical effects and the most persuasive use of the emotional
appeal that assist him in disentangling the truth from the pack of lies concerning Julius Caesar that Brutus had just told the Roman citizens. By using the apophatic approach (the device by which one mentions something by saying it will not be mentioned:
}{ i fs24 ldblquote I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him rdblquote }{ fs24 , and }{ i fs24 ldblquote I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke rdblquote }{ fs24
), Antony manages to do just what he was not expected or allowed to do: praise Caesar and disprove what Brutus spoke.
