Shakespeare and the Drama of his Time

Abstract

SHAKESPEARE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES THE STATE OF THE DRAMA AT ABOUT 1590 A lthough every great artist is unique, valuable because he brings what others do not, yet every writer, except when he is deliberately experimenting, works in the idiom of his age. This is especially true in the drama, since it appeals to mass consciousness, and must be readily understood, almost intuitively apprehended. If Shakespeare were a young man now he would not write as he did; his idiom would be derived, say, from Ibsen or Mr Shaw; whereas, living in his own era he probably developed it mainly from Marlowe and Kyd. This, of course, does not refer merely to the derivation or adaptation of lines or thoughts. No doubt if Marlowe had not written in Faustus : Was this the face that launched a thousand ships And burned the topless towers of Ilium? Shakespeare would not have written of Helen in Troilus and Cressida : She is a pearl Whose price has launched above a thousand ships And turned crowned kings to merchants. But that is only a reference back. What is more radical is the relation of Shakespeare to his dramatic environment (by which is meant chiefly his fellow-dramatists), in the matter handled, in the pattern produced in the handling, and in the medium, that is, the verse and language, employed to produce the effect. And though caution must be employed in treating of so dubious a matter as ‘influence’, it is possible to make what may be considered at least plausible suggestions.

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