Faith
in Shakespeare's characters
by Dr. Kristen Poole
Shakespeare's brilliance lies in
his characters. His plots were almost entirely borrowed – for instance, Hamlet
and King Lear were re-makes of earlier plays; Romeo and Juliet re-tells an
Italian story; the English history plays are based on sixteenth-century
historiographies like Holinshed's Chronicles; the Roman plays are built from
ancient sources like Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
Many of these stories were
already known to Shakespeare's audience. If Shakespeare were a filmmaker today,
he would be known as an artist who primarily re-makes classic films. If he were
a singer, he would be known as one who specialises in cover songs.
So Shakespeare's audience didn't
go to see his plays for the thrill of a suspenseful plot. Instead, the drive of
Shakespeare's plays comes from the intensity of the characters he created.
Shakespeare had a gift of perception, able to observe and comprehend human
emotions and behaviour with keen insight. And he had a talent for expressing
these observations with exquisite verbal precision.
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