Such Serious Stuff as Shakespearian Comedies are Made on
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2025.57022Keywords:
William Shakespeare, comedy, drama and institutions, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, or What you Will, The Merry Wives of WindsorAbstract
In this article I intend to argue that the comedies of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), albeit historically underprivileged in relation to the author’s tragedies, present, as one of their main features, the ability to promote broad discussions about life in society, sharing in the scope of interests of early modern drama at large, typified as a “drama of institutions” (Barker & Hinds, 2005, p. 8). With such assumption, I will present a general overview of Shakespearian comedies and their subgenres, and then focus on three plays, highlighting in each one what can be understood as a thorough reflection on issues of structural importance to life in society: marriage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595); desire and its regulation in Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1601); the female question and patriarchy in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597).
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