I like Frye's idea that tragedy and comedy are somehow enclosed in each other. It seems to me that Shakespeare's last four plays extend upon that concept, attempting to reflect on that fact that every comedy contains possible tragedy, and every tragedy can possibly turn to comedy. The romances show darkly comic situations, misunderstandings that lead to tragic outcomes of oedipal significance, yet they still manage to end with some form of cathartic, redemptive power.
Shakespeare in Lear shows the greatest depth of despair that can be had on this world. In Hamlet he confronts the problems of evil head on. In Macbeth he explores the corruption that follows lust for power. Everywhere Shakespeare asks why. Why do we continue with this existence if it can lead to such overwhelming sorrow? Some may argue that the comedies provide answers, their "happy" endings providing hope to life. This hope, however, hangs by a thread of chance, as every comedy contains tragedy within.
It is in the romances, then, that Shakespeare finds his profoundly mythological answer. For although comedy escapes being tragedy by only chance, tragedy can also be transformed to comedy. The romances attempt to unveil this entire cycle, showing an eternal recurrence, a mixture of possibilities that provide hope that man might achieve either the light or the dark
No comments:
Post a Comment