Metadrama In Shakespeare Essay - 2636 Words

‘Shakespeare’s plays reflect not life but art.’ Make use of this remark in writing an essay on Shakespeare’s use of Metadrama. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Shakespeare constantly plays with metadrama and the perception of his plays as theatre and not life with the complications inherent that in life we all play roles and perceive life in different ways. The play has recognition of its existence as theatre, which has relevance to a contemporary world that is increasingly aware of precisely how its values and practices are constructed and legitimised through perceptions of reality. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Critic Mark Currie posits that metadrama allows its readers a better understanding of the fundamental structures of narrative†¦show more content†¦This essay examines the various metadramatic constructions that Shakespeare used to achieve this and examines the effect of these dramatic constructs for the audience. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Dramatic constructions were written to be presented and understood in performance. The nature of these constructions lies in how they are assembled. How the words work with and against each other – ambiguity, paradox, pun, literary and cultural reference. Some aspects of the works are conscious, some unconscious but the playwright’s intentions do not matter as we the audience view the art first and then the artist. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There are certain conventions used in Elizabethan theatre. The audience needs to know how these conventions work before they can accept them. As there were only two or three professional theatre groups operating at the time Shakespeare knew his audience and there is evidence to suggest that he wrote specifically for these people who no doubt kept returning because they enjoyed the way he wrote and the experience of the play. One convention which foregrounds the theatrical is the ‘aside’ where for example Hamlet speaks very loudly so that the audience who may be ten meters away can hear him clearly and yet another person on the stage only three meters away cannot hear a word. The audience accepts this as a knownShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Harold Pinter s The Lover2155 Words   |  9 Pagesconversations. As Burns maintains , by means of theatricality (and meta-drama), theatre can function as an agent of social change , and draw attention not only to itself (as theatre) but also to life , the world , and social institutions. In Drama, Metadrama, and Perception (1982), Richard Hornby sees the relationship between theatre and life from a Structuralist and a Poststructuralist view, in which meaning is carried by a system as a whole. In this sense, each play, relates to other plays as a systemRead More Essay on Narcissism and Metadrama in Richard II2800 Words   |  12 PagesNarcissism and Metadrama in Richard II  Ã‚  Ã‚      Over the last thirty years, Shakespeare criticism has demonstrated a growing awareness of the self-reflexive or metadramatic elements in his works. Lionel Abel’s 1963 study, Metatheatre: A New View of Dramatic Form, provided perhaps the first significant analysis of the ways in which Shakespeare thematizes theatricality, in the broadest sense of the term, in his tragedies, comedies, and histories. In his discussion of Hamlet, he makes the observation—perhapsRead MoreThe Roles of Polonius in The Tragedy of Hamlet Essay2058 Words   |  9 Pages Shakespeares reasons behind the creation of such a significant secondary character are important to the play as a whole. Polonius roles add a crucial dimension to the plays development of plot, the characterization of Hamlet, and the themes Shakespeare ultimately conveys. From his first appearances, Polonius seems to be playing the wise old man; he imparts much worldly wisdom to his children--Ophelia and Laertes. In his lecture to his daughter, he claims experience in the matters of love:Read More Politics, Power, and Purpose in Shakespeares Measure for Measure6619 Words   |  27 Pages by virtue of the medium, social and political. Recapturing these social and political meanings, as they existed in the moment of the plays first performance, is the central project of a great deal of contemporary, so-called New Historicist Shakespeare scholarship. New Historicists see the play in performance as a cultural manifestation of issues and concepts being acted out in the society at large. The theatre in Early Modern England (the preferred New Historicist term for The Renaissance)