William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1594-1616) was the son of an English merchant and was born in the small English town of Stratford-on-Avon. At the age of twenty one he left Stratford for London. Soon Shakespeare found an opportunity of showing his ability as an actor and became a member of one of the chief acting companies of the day. He shortly afterwards began writing plays for the company and in a few years became famous and prosperous. Many of his plays were acted in London theatre called «The Globe».

Shakespeare's knowledge of stage, combined with his poetical genius and deep insight into the life and thoughts of his time, gave his plays a character of unsurpassed realism.

The wit and sayings of the English people, English folklore, London life and manners, all may be found in his plays «Romeo and Juliet», «Macbeth», Hamlet», «Othello», «King Lyre», «Richard III» and «Henry IV» as well as in his comedies «The Taming of the Shrew». «The Merry Wives of Windsor», «As You Like it» and others. His plays are continually staged and enjoyed by the public.

Shakespeare's lyrics and sonnets are also universally acknowledged to among the best in the world. His sonnets are suberb both in form and in content. Professor Galperin believed that «a great volume of emotional charge is always blended with rational elements. Only the genius of Shakespeare could display the enormous powers of human intellect in struggling with the devastating and devouring flame of passion. In this struggle the reasoning powers always take the upper hand. The emotions, violent though they may be, are unable to shatter the logical arrangement of the utterance. The form, bridled by the idea, grows into an additional source of communication and begins to fulfil its part»*.

* Galperin I.R. An Essay in Stylistic Analysis. Moscow, 1968, p. 17.

Date: 2015-12-12; view: 364; Нарушение авторских прав