Three+types+of+Shakespeare’s+plays

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__COMEDY__

 * [|Comedy], like tragedy, originated in the Greek theatre. The common factor in comedies is the "profound universal 'carnival,' a common denominator of the human in all times and places." This idea means that there is a common existence of pain, suffering and laughter that connects us as humans that we sympathize with--and almost laugh at--in comedies.
 * Shakespearean comedies include: //The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew,// //Twelfth Night// and //The Tempest.//
 * The plot of Shakespearean comedies often move from disorder to order, i.e. hate to love or forgiveness, sorrow to joy, confusion to harmony. For example, the narrative structure of //The Tempest// follows a path from hatred and vengence to peace and forgiveness.

__TRAGEDY__

 * [|tragedy.txt] originated as a Greek art form dedicated to passing the oral history of the god Dionysus. Greek tragedy (drama) took shape in the era of playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes. This article details the growth of Greek theater but it barely touches on the tragic tradition as we know it today.
 * [|Shakespearean tragedy], according to this chapter from //Shakespeare: The Basics//, did not seek to contain moral or philosophical intentions as did Greek tragedies. Instead, Shakespeare wrote dramas in the fashion that would gain the best reception on the London stage. Shakespeare and other Elizabethean playwrights used tragedy as a way to "make statements about political power and the problems of the powerful in the world they knew."
 * Shakespearean tragedies include: //Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet,// and //Romeo and Juliet// (though some scholars categorize R&J under a fourth, less popular category: romance).
 * //Hamlet// is classified as a [|revenge tragedy], a more specific form of drama that centers its plot on the seeking of revenge for a real or imagined tragedy.
 * The plot Shakespearean tragedies often move from order to disorder. In other words, the action may move from order to chaos, life to death, love to divorce, etc. For example, at the start of //Romeo and Juliet//, the young lovers fall in love but their families' feuds lead to the youths' deaths.

__HISTORY__

 * Shakespeare's histories (or [|chronicle plays]) are just that--historical accounts that have been dramatized for the stage. Shakespeare and other playwrights drew their inspiration for these plays from historical chronicles such as //Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande// of [|Raphael Holinshed].
 * Shakespeare's histories include: //King Lear,// the //Henry// plays, and //Julius Caesar.//