Untitled genially

9. Maria Rita Pepe (Teacher Mentor)

7. Maria

6. MartynaF

5. Karoline

4. Claudia

3. Chloé & Léu

2. İzabela

8.Nisanur

1. Ainara Azanza

Team FRANCISCA: Members

COMMON THEMES IN SHAKESPEARIAN COMEDIES

• Mistaken identities, often involving disguise : Shakespeare recognised how disguising one’s gender can be funny when it serves the need of the story. For example, in The Merchant Venice, Portia hides her identity and arrives as a lawyer disguised as a man.

• A struggle of young lovers to overcome problems, often the result of the interference of their elders

• An element of separation and reunification :Perhaps the most interesting and insightful depiction of love in a Shakespearean comedy is in Much Ado About Nothing, where Benedick and Beatrice spend most of the play in loggerheads with each other despicable terms. By the final act we can understand that showing one’s feelings can change and throughout the play, we witness that be...

• Frequent use of puns

• Complex plotlines : Consider, for example, the chaos caused by the mischievous fairy Puck mixing up the owners of love potions in The Midsummer Night Dream.

• Family tensions - usually resolved in the end : we can give “The Comedy of Errors” as an example. In this play, because of two very alike twin siblings, the family cannot understand who is who and family problems break out. At the end of the play, things go to the court, but when the chaos is resolved, it ends with a "happy ending" theme.

• A clever servant

• Idyllic Settings : In order to put the characters and the plot motion, Shakespeare makes use of mistakes and complications for mainly the porpose of resolving in the end of his comedies. Using utopic and heavenly figures and locations facilitate this notion of resolution. After all, if things can go awry in seemingly perfect worlds, it becomes strangely comforting to those of us who live in the real world. This is why many find Shakespeare’s comedies so resonant today, as it proves that if things seem too good to be true, they probably are.

THE MERCHANT OF VENİCE

Some details about the "Shakespearen Comedies" and why did I chose this play to tell?

First of all, what is understood when Shakespeare says "Comedy" is commonly known as a play structured as "Not a Tragedy". In other words, his works that are not classified as tragedy because there is no death or loss in the end are known as comedy. Works with 'happy ending' and 'marriage' themes were included in this and it became a unique category. I chose this play to tell because it is one of the works in which Shakespeare skillfully describes the structure of the period. And although it was used for different purposes in some periods, it has survived from the past to the present thanks to its remarkable script and being a Shakespearean work. According to some literary historians, The Merchant of Venice is Shakespearian comedy that comes closest to a tragedy. Because it is a painful tragic element that the Jewish loan shark Shylock asks for some meat from Antonio's body in return for his debt. At the same time, isn't it a tragedy that the Jewish Shylock threatens Christian characters? However, Shylock's latest fall into his own trap puts him in a funny situation.

1. I will talk about one of the comedies of Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice is very popular nowadays too. And here is big news! In 2016, Shylock and Antonio's court/appeal was re-established. I leave the trial link here for those who want to watch https://youtu.be/TADMXgya2q0 When a merchant defaults on a loan from a moneylender, it is more than money that will be demanded from him…

Summary of Play:The villain in the play is loan shark Jewish Shylock. Antonio is a nobleman with ships in the seas. And Antonio has a cash shortage. He uses his reputation in Venice to send his friend Bassanio to his lover Portia. Antonio borrowed money from loan shark Shylock. Shylock adds to the end of their signed bill that if Antonio cannot pay his debt, he will cut about 450 g of meat from his body. As time goes by, news comes to Antonio that his ships are sinking one by one. The noble Merchant Antonio cannot pay his debt. Meanwhile, Shylock's daughter Jessica ran away with her lover Lorenzo. Shlock overstreched.He started shouting in the streets of Venice, "I want my rights, I want what is written on the bill. In a trial where Shylock greedily sharpens his knife, Antonio is saved thanks to the wit of a young lawyer who defends him. The lawyer is Bassanio's lover Portia, who attends the court in disguise. She argues that only meat is written on the bill, not blood.

So Shylock should get the meat without shedding a single drop of blood. If blood is shed, all Shylock's property will be confiscated for shedding the blood of a Christian, such is the law. As a result, Shylock gives up. But this time he's accused of trying to kill a Christian. The decision is left to Antonio. Antonio, on the other hand, donates Shylock on condition that he is a Christian.

I leave the link of this scene for those who want to watch https://youtu.be/tzQLt7Hc3cg

Text Review:

When we read the play, the first thing that comes to mind is that the villain in the play is Shylock. Well is it really so? Is Shylock completely wrong? Although we may not find Shylock's method correct, we can understand Shylock's rebellion. At the time the story was written, Jews in Venice did not have the right to own property and legal rights. They lived in settlements called ghettos in a certain part of the city. In the play, Shylock is punished for being "alien". "alien" and "stranger" were synonymous at that time. So it was "alien" to be Jewis for the British. During the trial, Shylock expresses this rebellion as follows:“He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”

By Nisanur Tokat Milli Piyango İhya Balak Fen Lisesi, Turkey.

By: Ainara Azanza

Much Ado About Nothing

Hero She is Leonato's daughter and Beatrice's cousin. Hero is charming and kind. She falls in love with Claudio when he falls in love with her, but when Don John slanders her and Claudio rushes his revenge, she suffers terribly. Don PedroHe is an important nobleman of Aragon. Don Pedro is a longtime friend of Leonato, and he is also close to the soldiers who have been fighting under his command: the young Benedick and the very young Claudio. Don Pedro is generous, courteous, intelligent and loving with his friends, but he is also quick to believe the evil of others and is quick to take revenge. He is the most politically and socially powerful character in the play. Leonato A respected and well-off elderly nobleman at his home in Messina, Italy. Leonato is Hero's father and Beatrice's uncle. As governor of Messina, he ranks second in social power only after Don Pedro.

Main CharactersBeatriceShe is Leonato's niece and Hero's cousin. She is a very strong character and at the beginning of the play she said that he would never fall in love or marry anyone; at the end of the play she ended up in love and married to Benedick.Benedick Benedick is very witty, always making jokes. Like Beatrice at the beginning he said that he would never marry or fall in love; but in the end he marries and falls in love with Beatrice Claudio Claudio falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge.

https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-plays/much-ado-about-nothing/#

Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare. Summary Count Claudio falls in love with Hero, the daughter of his host. Hero's cousin Beatrice and Benedict (an eternal bachelor) are each duped into believing the other is in love with them. Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchaste before they marry. She faints and is believed dead, but recovers to be proved innocent by a chance discovery. Benedict wins Beatrice’s love defending her cousin’s honour, and to his surprise, Claudio is reunited with Hero, who he believed dead.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by: MartynaF.sobieski

MartynaF.sobieski

When was it written?

It is unknown exactly when A Midsummer Night's Dream was written or first performed, but on the basis of topical references it is usually dated 1595 or early 1596, which means that Shakespeare had probably already completed Romeo and Juliet and was still in contemplation of The Merchant of Venice.

MartynaF.sobieski

A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of the most popular and widely performed comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595 or 1596.

The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict between four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue.

MartynaF.sobieski

Some have theorised that the play might have been written for an aristocratic wedding, while others suggest that it was written for the Queen to celebrate the feast day of St. John, but no evidence exists to support this theory. In any case, it would have been performed at The Theatre and, later, The Globe.

MartynaF.sobieski

PLOT

Theseus, duke of Athens, is preparing for his marriage to Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, with a four-day festival of pomp and entertainment. He commissions his Master of the Revels, Philostrate, to find suitable amusements for the occasion. Egeus, an Athenian nobleman, marches into Theseus’s court with his daughter, Hermia, and two young men, Demetrius and Lysander. Egeus wishes Hermia to marry Demetrius (who loves Hermia), but Hermia is in love with Lysander and refuses to comply. Egeus asks for the full penalty of law to fall on Hermia’s head if she flouts her father’s will. Theseus gives Hermia time until his wedding to consider her options, warning her that disobeying her father’s wishes could result in her being sent to a convent or even executed. Hermia and Lysander plan to escape Athens the following night and marry. They make their intentions known to Hermia’s friend Helena, who was once engaged to Demetrius and still loves him even though he jilted her after meeting Hermia. Hoping to regain his love, Helena tells Demetrius of the elopement that Hermia and Lysander have planned. At the appointed time, Demetrius stalks into the woods after his intended bride and her lover; Helena follows behind him.

MartynaF.sobieski

In these same woods are two very different groups of characters. The first is a band of fairies, including Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, his queen, who has recently returned from India to bless the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. The second is a band of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play that they hope to perform for the duke and his bride. Oberon and Titania are at odds over a young Indian prince given to Titania by the prince’s mother; the boy is so beautiful that Oberon wishes to make him a knight, but Titania refuses. Seeking revenge, Oberon sends his merry servant, Puck, to acquire a magical flower, the juice of which can be spread over a sleeping person’s eyelids to make that person fall in love with the first thing he or she sees upon waking. Puck obtains the flower, and Oberon tells him of his plan to spread its juice on the sleeping Titania’s eyelids. Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, he orders Puck to spread some of the juice on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Puck encounters Lysander and Hermia; thinking that Lysander is the Athenian of whom Oberon spoke, Puck afflicts him with the love potion. Lysander happens to see Helena upon awaking and falls deeply in love with her, abandoning Hermia. As the night progresses and Puck attempts to undo his mistake, both Lysander and Demetrius end up in love with Helena, who believes that they are mocking her. Hermia becomes so jealous that she tries to challenge Helena to a fight. Demetrius and Lysander nearly do fight over Helena’s love, but Puck confuses them by mimicking their voices, leading them apart until they are lost separately in the forest.

MartynaF.sobieski

When Titania wakes, the first creature she sees is Bottom, the most ridiculous of the Athenian craftsmen. Eventually, Oberon obtains the Indian boy, Puck spreads the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids, and by morning all is well. Theseus and Hippolyta discover the sleeping lovers in the forest and take them back to Athens to be married—Demetrius now loves Helena, and Lysander now loves Hermia. After the group wedding, the lovers watch Bottom and his fellow craftsmen perform their play, a fumbling, hilarious version of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. When the play is completed, the lovers go to bed; the fairies briefly emerge to bless the sleeping couples with a protective charm and then disappear. Only Puck remains, to ask the audience for its forgiveness and approval and to urge it to remember the play as though it had all been a dream.

MartynaF.sobieski

FUN FACT

In 1787, British astronomer William Herschel discovered two new moons of Uranus. In 1852 his son John Herschel named them after characters in the play: Oberon, and Titania. Another Uranian moon, discovered in 1985 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, has been named Puck.