Shakespearean Plays Research Articles

Are Shakespearean Plays Suitable Material for Children’s Literature?A Comparative Study Presenting the Two Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Are Shakespearean Plays Suitable Material for Children’s Literature?A Comparative Study Presenting the Two Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

An Exploratory Practice Study on the Use of Film Adaptation in the Tunisian Literature Classroom

This exploratory practice study examined the effectiveness of film adaptation in teaching a Shakespearean play, The Merchant of Venice, during the fall semester of 2022 at the Higher Institute of Languages, Gabès. Qualitative and quantitative data from third-year students majoring in English language, literature, and civilization, as well as teachers of English literature were collected through a questionnaire and two interviews. Questionnaire results indicated that the majority of students had a positive view of the film adaptation of the play in question, noting that it helped them overcome their anxiety when reading Shakespearean works and increased their motivation and engagement. The teachers interviewed highlighted the effectiveness of film adaptation in teaching literature, in general, and Shakespearean plays, in particular.

The First ever Gujarati Translator of a Shakespearean Play – Bhanji Gokul Parekh

The study of translation history is crucial for understanding the choices and influences of translators, both in terms of their personal inclinations and external factors. Unfortunately, in Gujarat, the exploration of translation history has been limited to basic information such as dates, names of translations, and sometimes the names of translators. However, in the Western world, there has been a growing interest in translation history over the past three decades or so. Western scholars have embraced various theories and frameworks that emphasize the importance of investigating different facets of translation history, such as translator identity, patronage, censorship, support mechanisms, interventions, and the selection of texts. Interestingly, translation discussions often focus solely on the text itself, disregarding the translator as a cultural agent who enables the process of translation. By shedding light on the life and context of the translator, new facts and interpretations related to translation history can be discovered. One example of the association between Shakespeare’s plays and Gujarat dates to 1852 when the first adaptation of “Taming of the Shrew” was performed at St. Andrews Library in Surat. Since then, there have been numerous translations and adaptations of Shakespearean plays in Gujarat. However, very little is known about the lives and works of these translators. Bhanji Gokul Parekh is one such translator who rendered Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar into Gujarati, as Karunaras Julius Caesar Natak. Despite being the first translator of Shakespeare’s play, his contribution as a translator has been largely forgotten. Therefore, this paper aims to highlight Parekh’s significant contribution to translation history of Gujarat in the context of Shakespeare’s plays.

Relatives of Major Characters in Shakespearean Plays: A Recherche Research

Relatives of Major Characters in Shakespearean Plays: A Recherche Research

Revolution of Shakespearean Plays' Genre Research: Exploring New Avenues through Machine Learning and Shapley Value Analysis

Revolution of Shakespearean Plays' Genre Research: Exploring New Avenues through Machine Learning and Shapley Value Analysis

Cathartic Egression of Emotions in Shakespearean Plays and Buddhist Jātaka Stories

Catharsis is a psychological stratagem used by people to purge emotions, especially negative emotions like fear, anger, and aggression. Catharsis is a natural mechanism adopted by people in their real-life situations to expel their emotions. The same mechanism has been adopted and integrated into literature, making literature more realistic and closer to human experiences. Introduced by Aristotle and later developed by different scholars, now catharsis has become a major aspect of character development particularly in tragedy. Different approaches to the purgation of emotions have been shown in the literature depending on cultural, social, religious and individual differences. Thus, this study aims to analyse the production of catharsis in William Shakespeare’s Othello and Buddhist Jātaka tales. The two pieces of literature represent two different cultural, social and religious backgrounds and thus, the production of catharsis in them is also different.

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

The Suffocation of Motherhood in Three Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear

Witchcraft, Demonic Possession and Exorcism: The Problem of Evidence in Two Shakespearean Plays

Witchcraft, Demonic Possession and Exorcism: The Problem of Evidence in Two Shakespearean Plays

The Family in Four Shakespearean Plays: A Short Analysis

Gender study is one of the most select areas of modern research in nearly all branches of knowledge, that is, politics, history, sociology and of course literature. Feminist criticism has been phenomenal in closely studying works of literature. The modern era, which tries to usher in a world of equality for all, is highly concerned with the political, economic and social equality and freedom of women. In this article, four plays ( Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline) of William Shakespeare have been selected for the purpose of gender analysis. The article tries to explore the family in Shakespeare’s times, the status of women and the social hierarchy in Elizabethan times. Shakespeare’s plays highlight many more issues of gender and identity that are of universal importance. This article also explores how gender roles were predetermined in the Elizabethan society and how a woman was expected to behave accordingly.

How Should You Perform and Watch Othello and Hairspray in a Country Where You Could Never Hire Black Actors? Shakespeare and Casting in Japan

This paper discusses how Japanese theatres have handled race in a country where hiring black actors to perform Shakespeare’s plays is not an option. In English-speaking regions, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, it is common to hire a black actor for Othello’s title role. Blackface is increasingly unacceptable because it reminds viewers of derogatory stereotypes in minstrel shows, and it deprives black actors of employment opportunities. However, the situation is different in regions where viewers are unfamiliar with this Anglo-US trend. In Japan, a country regarded as so homogeneous that its census does not have any questions about ethnicity, it is almost impossible to hire a skilled black actor to play a title role in a Shakespearean play, and few theatre companies would consider such an idea. In this cultural context, there is an underlying question of how Japanese-speaking theatre should present plays dealing with racial or cultural differences. This paper seeks to understand the recent approaches that Japanese theatre has adopted to address race in Shakespearean plays by analysing several productions of Othello and comparing them with other major non-Shakespearean productions.

Medicine in Shakespearean Plays: Compilation of Descriptions of Clinical Features and Pathophysiology

William Shakespeare’s plays provide an invaluable compendium of medical terminology in the form of brief to detailed descriptions of clinical features and pathophysiology of various medical conditions. Shakespeare’s ability to describe dysfunctions of the human body and mind is astounding and has remained so for almost four centuries. The afflictions appear in the characters of kings, princes’ and commoners in his plays and their clinical features described in verse are more or less true even to this day. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive compilation of medical afflictions from Shakespearean plays in alphabetical order containing verses that specifically depict clinical features, pathophysiology of medical conditions and medical ethics, and to provide short clinical explanations of relevance of passages in modern times as appropriate. Most passages do not reflect on the clinical conditions of actual patients, but deal with figurative expressions, drawn from clinical relevance in medicine during the Shakespearean era and used figuratively by the bard to illustrate those expressions through characters in the plays. Keywords: Shakespeare and Medicine, History of Medicine, Clinical features, Symptomatology, Pathophysiology DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/62-16 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

What is Lost of Shakespearean Plays, besides a Few Titles?

What is Lost of Shakespearean Plays, besides a Few Titles?

Teenage Dick by Ma-Yi Theater Company

Reviewed by: Teenage Dickby Ma-Yi Theater Company Dan Venning Teenage DickPresented by Ma-Yi Theater Company in association with The Public Theater at The Public Theater, New York. 06 12– 07 29, 2018. Written by Mike Lew. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel. Choreography by Jennifer Weber. Set by Wilson Chin. Costumes by Junghyun Georgia Lee. Lighting by Miriam Nilofa Crowe. Sound by Fabian Obispo. Movement choreography by Robert Westley. Dramaturgy by Jesse Cameron Alick. With Marinda Anderson (Elizabeth York), Alex Breaux (Eddie Ivy), Shannon DeVido (Barbara "Buck" Buckingham), Sasha Diamond (Clarissa Duke), Gregg Mozgala (Richard Gloucester), and Tiffany Villarin (Anne Margaret). In the late nineties and early aughts, a number of major films were released that set the plots of Shakespearean plays within the world of American high schools, including Gil Junger's 10 Things I Hate About You(1999), Tim Blake Nelson's O(2001), and Andy Fickman's She's the Man(2006). To some degree, these films obscure their Shakespearean origins, at least from a marketing perspective. I have taught many undergraduates who adored She's the Manwithout realizing that that it is an adaptation of Twelfth Night. Yet Mike Lew, in his new play Teenage Dick, takes a strikingly different tack. Teenage Dickassumes a basic familiarity with Richard III, which was not problematic for audiences at the Public Theater, which annually produces Shakespeare in the Park, especially considering the glut of productions of Richard IIIthat have appeared in New York since the dawn of the Trump Era (most notably Thomas Ostermeier's version at BAM and as part of Ivo van Hove's Kings of War). Playing on the conventions of both Shakespeare's plays and the genre of high school dramas, Lew, director Moritz von Steulpnagel, and the extraordinary designers and cast created a searing yet frequently hilarious examination of disability, otherness, and what it takes to turn a person into what we would call a "villain." Shakespeare's Richard of Gloucester, at the opening of his play, announces in soliloquy that "since I cannot prove a lover / To entertain these fair well-spoken days, / I am determined to prove a villain" (1.1.28–30). [End Page 707]And of course he does just that, gleefully murdering many of the other characters in his play, including his own brother, wife, and young nephews. Lew's play complicates the question of how Richard arrives at this villainy, engaging with contemporary discussions of disability. Lew's play acknowledges that few people simply announce a choice to be malicious, even when they have been ostracized from society due to disability or difference. Lew's adaptation is pared down to six characters: Richard Gloucester, the junior class secretary who has cerebral palsy; his best friend Barbara "Buck" Buckingham, who uses a wheelchair; Elizabeth York, a well-meaning English teacher and faculty liaison for student government; Eddie Ivy, the junior class president, a jock, and a bully; Clarissa Duke, the junior class vice-president, an overachieving ultra-religious type; and Anne Margaret, a dancer, Eddie's ex, and formerly one of the most popular girls in school. Lew's Richard is determined to become senior class president—he just has to find a way to get Eddie and Clarissa out of the way. He lights upon the idea of becoming Anne's boyfriend, catapulting himself to new popularity. Yet his campaign does not go exactly as planned. Richard's debate with Eddie is a disaster in which he is publicly shamed via social media. But when Richard has genuinely earned Anne's trust, she reveals a secret to him that he uses to destroy Eddie—and, in the process, Clarissa and Anne. At first, the very fact of setting a Shakespearean plot in a high school, utilizing only six actors, removing most of the verse (Lew's Richard has a weird habit of speaking in iambic pentameter; Buck repeatedly tells him to stop), and running only ninety minutes without an intermission might seem like the height of reductiveness, removing all of the grandeur from this early Shakespearean play. But part of Lew's point is that Shakespeare's Richard is ultimately a cartoon...

Justice or Injustice in Shakespearean Plays: Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure

Justice or Injustice in Shakespearean Plays: Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure

A Note On Sanity In Stage Productions Of Shakespearean Plays

A Note On Sanity In Stage Productions Of Shakespearean Plays

"Hamlet" in Contemporary Turkey: Towards Postcolonial Feminist Rewrites?

dictionary definition of adaptation is make which implies an intercultural or intergeneric transfer. In Linda Hutcheon's (8) words, The adapted text is an acknowledged transposition of a recognizable work in a process of creation and reception, which involves difference and repetition (114). According to Geoffrey Wagner (20-21), adaptation can be examined in three categories, namely transposition, commentary and analogue. Drawing on above mentioned arguments, it can be suggested that process of adaptation requires an intentional dialogue with another text as well as new interpretive contributions. In this respect adaptation aims at making adapted text, which is similar and dissimilar to interests of target reader or audience, thoroughly suitable to newly introduced context. Adaptation inevitably becomes a chaotic process for readers and audiences, and can be considered as hybrid in postcolonial sense that Homi K. Bhabha (2) uses in Location of Culture as the one and Other both while at same time neither One nor Other. purpose of this study is to examine transformation of readings of Hamlet given context of contemporary Turkey. This study draws on Homi K. Bhabha's (5) concept of hybridity which reflects on cultural anxieties in Turkey, always at crossroads of an important cultural encounter between Western and Eastern cultural identities.The history of adaptation in Turkish literary history dates back to mid nineteenth century, to a specific period called Tanzimat (1839-1876), during reign of Ottoman sultans Mahmut II and Abdulmecit I. Tanzimat, English word connotation of which is reorganization, is usually received as a period of Westernization in Turkish history, followed by first constitutional period. Tracing Turkish literary background, one can argue that from Tanzimat Period onwards, adapting a Western source text to Turkish audience has become a problematic issue, manipulated by ongoing political debate of Westernization versus Easternization. Following Ahmet Vefik Pa§a's adaptations of Moliere, Shakespearean plays, especially tragedies, started to be adapted to Turkish stage in mid 1800s. Turkish literary scholar inci Engunun (251) traces reason why Shakespeare was introduced to Ottoman Empire two centuries later than it was in Europe to dominance of islamic tradition on national literature. It is noteworthy that Turkish audience's encounter with Shakespearean tragedies corresponds to Westernization discourses during Ottoman Empire.Sources suggest that Turkish audience's initial recognition of Shakespeare was in 1867, as MacBeth was staged by Naum Theatre Company in Armanian, followed by their further performances in istanbul and izmir. next Shakespearean play to be staged in Ottoman theatre was another tragedy, Othello, which was performed by Greek originated actor Soutsas and his company. It is recorded that a noteworthy number of French translations of Shakespeare including Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice and Richard III were published in istanbul in 1874. first Turkish translation of a Shakespearean play, source text of which was French writer Ducis's adaptation, unfortunately included no references to Shakespeare. It was first published in 1876 and staged many years as a play by Ducis. Hasan Sirri's translation of Merchant of Venice in 1884 is thus noteworthy as first Turkish translation of a Shakespearean play as a play by Shakespeare. King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet were staged many times by different theatre companies during Ottomans.It is quite remarkable that during Tanzimat, Shakespearean tragedies were more welcomed on Turkish stage while there is little trace of performance concerning Shakespearean comedies and history plays with exception of Merchant of Venice. …

Bringing in the Bard: Shakespearean Plays as Context for Instrumental Analysis Projects

Scenes from the works of William Shakespeare were incorporated into individual and group projects for an upper-level chemistry class, instrumental analysis. Students read excerpts from different plays and then viewed a corresponding video clip from a stage or movie production. Guided-research assignments were developed based on these scenes. These projects required students to make significant use of primary scientific literature to address open-ended research questions inspired by Shakespearean plays. Projects were scaffolded with in-class activities to guide and encourage student progress. Class performance, student perceptions, and learning outcomes will be discussed, and a student perspective is included. Recommendations for the incorporation of Shakespeare into other chemistry courses are provided.

The Modernity of Shakespearean Plays and Renaissance Ballad

The Modernity of Shakespearean Plays and Renaissance Ballad