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William Shakespeare Research Paper

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It’s been over 400 years since the great poet, playwright, and actor, William Shakespeare, has died, yet it feels like he’s still very much alive. But why is this? Maybe it’s because of all his timeless iconic plays that are very common to this day. Maybe it’s the impact he left on the entire world of literature. Or maybe it could be the 1,700 words he created that is used every day by almost everyone. All of these are arguably the reason for his relevancy 400 years later. His works of literature are timeless because of his style and approach. William Shakespeare’s most famous plays include either comedy or tragedy. Perhaps these genres are what make his plays so seminal. This research paper sets out to explain exactly just how Shakespeare …show more content…

Some of Shakespeare’s most famous comedic plays include; The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and of course, Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is a play where many characters fall in love but things such as identity and love triangles prevent them from really experiencing love. Through these struggles of finding love, the audience gets a good laugh and a satisfying ending when almost everything gets resolved. One of the most comedic elements in the story is how the characters play around with gender roles. Viola dressed as a man to hide her identity but ends up falling in love with Duke Orsino. Since Viola is disguised as a man she can’t confess her love. Orsino on the other hand, is in love with Olivia who is in love with Viola’s male disguise, Cesario. All these love disasters lead to comedic misunderstandings. Perhaps, the most comedic moment in the story was when Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and of course Maria, played a trick on Malvolio. This prank was meant to make Malvolio look like a fool in front of his crush, Olivia. Maria wrote a letter that made it seem like it was written by Olivia to Malvolio confessing her love for him. The letter states that in order to show his love back he must wear yellow stockings and “go cross-gartered” (to wear the straps of his stockings crossed around his knees). The humiliation

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