Classification of the plays
In the late 19th century, Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances, and though many scholars prefer to call them tragicomedies, his term is often used.[190] These plays and the associated Two Noble Kinsmen are marked with an asterisk (*) below. In 1896,Frederick S. Boas coined the term "problem plays" to describe four plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida and Hamlet.[191] "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may therefore borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays."[192] The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though Hamlet is definitively classed as a tragedy.[193] The other problem plays are marked below with a double dagger (‡).Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed below according to their folio classification as comedies,histories and tragedies.[188] Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, are now accepted as part of the canon, with scholars agreed that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their composition.[189] No Shakespearean poems were included in the First Folio.
Plays thought to be only partly written by Shakespeare are marked with a dagger (†) below. Other works occasionally attributed to him are listed as apocrypha.
Level 1
:) So there you have it. Once we find our would-be-play's genre....the theme(s) will be a bit more difficult.Level 2
Obviously, there can are multiple ways to analyze each play; you can analyze and re-analyze authorial intent. So if we wanted to use this for our intent, we could try taking a Shakespearian play and changing the intent. For example, if you play off the fact that Romeo and Juliet were only acquainted for a single day, Romeo & Juliet could be a comedy: making fun of young, rash love. Just an idea...- Unmerited but super cool site: http://shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetanalyze.html
Level 3
We might think about manipulating the theme within the play. Say you turn Merchant of Venice from a tale of forgiveness to a moral debate about justice/mercy. Totally different outcome, yeah?- What Sparknotes has to say: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/merchant/themes.html
Level 4
Thematic Analysis across plays. Much much harder. This takes a true Shakespeare whizz. I think this is adds AND takes away some of the reasoning behind people "finding new Shakespeare plays" or why some people "think this-or-that play doesn't belong to Shakespeare." Because Shakespeare definitely has themes across his plays...but could we nail them enough to make our would-be-play believable? .....not sure about that one.
- Check out the "Contents" pages of this book. Impressive. http://books.google.com/books?id=hjejOqMvUxsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Like my previous post about Anonymous suggested: we have the capacity to take something and make it our own! Ready...GO!
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