adminLiterature Corner Morris Mtisi
*PLEASE refer to King Lear and The Merchant of Venice.
Every student who is reading or studying Shakespeare, for pleasure or examinations, must be passionately familiar with Shakespearean Plot Structure. All of his plays, whether they are Comedies, Tragedies, Tragi-Comedies or Histories, follow the same movement or development of events. This is what I refer to as the Plot Structure. It is typical of Shakespeare’s remarkable dramatic progress. He adhered to it with serenity and humanism, masterfully controlled and structured but refused to be limited to a myriad of his temptations to walk on one plain of dramatic progress.
I want you and your teacher or teacher and his pupils to carefully confirm if King Lear (‘A’ level set book) and The Merchant of Venice (Form 3 – 4) conform to the following Plot Structure:
General: No one enjoyed emphasizing the amusement / the humour (comedy) or seriousness of play scenes by dramatic contrasts than William Shakespeare. He achieved this by placing a humorous scene after a serious scene and vice-versa. The scenes that conjured up laughter or amusement helped to achieve comic relief (temporary escape from blood / death / conflict / tension.
Stage One: Shakespeare introduces main characters to the reader / audience. There is order in everything that happens. There is natural harmony between the world and nature.
Stage Two: Problems begin. Things go wrong. There is confusion or confusions, murders, cheating, corruption, deceit and other complications vividly occupy the plot.
Stage Three: As story moves / progresses / there is chaos / disorder and the order and harmony experienced in Stage One is lost. Nature goes bonkers / berserk / -eg flooding, excessive heat, severe winds and whirlwinds, stars, moon, other heavenly bodies are in riot. In other plays animals behave abnormally eg horses running mad and eating each other up.
Stage Four: Climax. This refers to the boiling point of the play. If it is a tragedy you are reading, more deaths occur, more blood, etc, involving the main character: eg Julius Caesar / Hamlet / Macbeth. The climax marks moment of highest intensity, particularly for the protagonist (main character).
Stage Five: Order is regained. The ‘right’ people are in control again. In Macbeth, Macduff and Malcolm move in politically to take positions. Nature and the world are one with main characters once more. In comedies, they get married, feast, wed and celebrate.
Are the above stages true in King Lear and The Merchant of Venice? Mazvionazve zvandaibhuya? Zvinobaadakadza hai!
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