Shakespeare, Plautus and the Humanist Tradition

Abstract

Wolfgang Riehle contends that recent scholarship has exaggerated theinfluence on Shakespeare of the native popular tradition, at theexpense of a full understanding of the importance that Roman, particularly Plautine, comedy would have had for an Elizabethan dramatist. Shakespeare is shown to have considered Plautus, as did the Renaissance humanists, a dramatist of great qualities from whom much could be learned. The study concentrates on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errorsand its two Plautine sources, the Menaechmi and Amphitruo. Riehle's approach reveals Shakespeare's relation to his sources and his idea of comedy in a new light. The later plays are examined in this context. Riehle also argues for the continuation in recognisable form of the New Comedy tradition throughout the middle ages and into the Renaissance.WOLFEGANG RIEHLE is Professor of English literature at Graz University; he studied English, German and Classical literature atTubingen, Durham and Munich.