Shakespeare's Genius Was Essentially a Dramatic One

Author

• Marie Valentine Prudeaux

Date of Award

Summer 7-25-1929

Document Type

Thesis

Keywords

William Shakespeare, Elizabethan Drama, Shakespearean Tragedy, Shakespearean Comedy, English Renaissance Literature, Dramatic Criticism, Source Study, Elizabethan Theatre, English Literary History, Playwriting

Abstract

This thesis, submitted to Xavier University in 1929, argues that Shakespeare's genius was essentially a dramatic one, examining his life, artistic development, and dramatic works across four periods of composition. A biographical account of Shakespeare's life at Stratford-on-Avon and London opens the study, followed by an analysis of the qualities that distinguish his genius, including originality, insight into character, and the power to portray emotion.

Prudeaux draws on the critical tradition of Dryden, Hazlitt, Johnson, Pope, and Schlegel, among others, to organize Shakespeare's dramatic output into four periods, characterized in the thesis as "In the Workshop," "In the World," "Out of the Depths," and "On the Heights." Early comedies and histories such as "Love's Labour's Lost," "The Comedy of Errors," and "Richard II" represent the first period, followed by mature comedies including "The Merchant of Venice," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "Twelfth Night" in the second. The third period centers on the major tragedies "Macbeth," "King Lear," "Othello," and "Hamlet," analyzed for their treatment of passion, character, and moral consequence. The fourth period examines the late romances "Cymbeline," "The Tempest," "The Winter's Tale," and "Measure for Measure." The thesis also traces source material for several plays, including chronicle histories by Holinshed and classical biography by Plutarch, and situates Shakespeare's work within the broader literary culture of the Elizabethan Age, including the university-educated "University Wits" among his contemporaries.

Note: No original abstract was included; this abstract is provided by the XULA Digital Commons editors.

Recommended Citation

Prudeaux, Marie Valentine, "Shakespeare's Genius Was Essentially a Dramatic One" (1929). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 44.
https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/etd/44