1, Hamlet

At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, Britain is in the transitional period from feudal system to capitalist system, which is a major turning point in the historical process of Britain.

During the prosperous period of Elizabeth's rule, the bourgeoisie supported the kingship, and the kingship only used the bourgeoisie. The two sides did not object, but also formed a temporary alliance. Due to the relatively stable political situation, social productive forces have developed rapidly.

Although the development of this new capitalist production relationship accelerated the collapse of feudal society, it still relied on the cruel exploitation of farmers.

After James I succeeded to the throne, he further promoted autocratic centralization, and the resistance of the bourgeoisie and the working people was severely suppressed. The further intensification of social contradictions fundamentally shook the feudal order and prepared the conditions for the British bourgeois revolution in the17th century. Shakespeare's creation profoundly reflects the art of this era.

Hamlet reflects the social reality of1the end of the 6th century1the beginning of the 7th century through the history of Denmark in the 8th century. Britain at that time, as mentioned above, was an "upside down chaotic era", and Hamlet was "the epitome of this era".

The struggle between Hamlet and Claudius in the play symbolizes the struggle between the emerging bourgeois humanists and the representatives of reactionary feudal kingship.

Through this struggle, the work reflects the contradiction between the British humanistic ideal and the dark feudal reality, exposes the desperate power struggle between the British feudal aristocratic landlord class and the emerging bourgeoisie, and criticizes the criminal acts of kingship and feudal evil forces.

2. Othello (one of Shakespeare's four tragedies)

Othello is mainly based on the novel collection The Moors of Venice by Italian novelist Zincio. The story tells the story of a jealous Moor who killed his innocent wife because he believed the rumors of his subordinates. The original story is simple. Except Desdemona, all the other characters have no names.

3. King Lear

The story of King Lear comes from ancient English legends, and there are many poems and essays about it. On the basis of the original story, Shakespeare added original contents such as tragic ending and King Lear's madness.

Shakespeare was at the peak of his artistic career when he wrote King Lear. His views on life and the world are clearer and more thorough, and he pays more attention to the speculation of human nature, morality and philosophy.

4. Macbeth

Macbeth's creation 1606 is a tragedy in Shakespeare's later period, which is based on the Chronicle of Helinhide. Macbeth in the original work is a royal aristocrat and famous soldier in Scotland in the 1 1 century. Driven by ambition and incited by the witch's prophecy, he murdered King Duncan.

After usurping the throne, Macbeth suffered from extreme fears and doubts, but in order to keep the throne, he practiced tyranny and killed innocent people, and became a crazy and cruel tyrant, which was finally destroyed by the Crusaders led by Marcand, the son of Duncan.

In the process of writing Macbeth, Shakespeare made great changes to the records in The Chronicle: he turned the young Duncan into an old and kind monarch, killed the king in his unguarded sleep, and described Banco as a kind and upright general, so as to highlight Macbeth's insidious cunning and cruelty, and Banco in the original work was an accomplice.

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1, Hamlet

When Prince Hamlet of Denmark was studying at Wittenberg University in Germany, he suddenly received the news of his father's death. When he returned to China to attend his funeral, he met a series of events, such as his uncle Claudius ascended the throne and his uncle and his mother Gertrude got married in a hurry one month after his father's funeral, which filled Hamlet with doubts and dissatisfaction.

Then, while Horatio and Bernardo were on guard, the ghost of their father old Hamlet appeared, explaining that he was poisoned by Claudius and asking Hamlet to avenge himself.

Later, Hamlet used to pretend to be crazy to cover himself, and proved that his uncle was really an enemy who killed his father through "in the play and out of the play". Because Hamlet killed Polonius, Ophelia's beloved father by mistake, Claudius tried to get rid of Hamlet by the hand of the king, but Hamlet took the opportunity to escape to Denmark, only to learn that Ophelia committed suicide and had to accept a duel with his brother Laertes.

In the duel, Hamlet's mother Gertrude died of poisoning because she accidentally drank the poisoned wine prepared by Claudius for Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes were both poisoned by swords. Knowing that Hamlet was poisoned, she killed Claudius before she died and asked her friend Horatio to tell her story to later generations.

2. Othello (one of Shakespeare's four tragedies)

Othello, a black-faced moor, was a general employed by the city-state of Venice. Influenced by racial restrictions, he fell in love with Desdemona, the daughter of Brobanshaw, a noble senator. She was smart, beautiful and generous. Knowing that marriage would not be allowed, they married secretly from their parents.

Othello, as commander-in-chief, had a brave-looking flag officer Iago. He was jealous that Othello promoted Casio to lieutenant and ignored himself. At the same time, he coveted Desdemona's beauty, so he was jealous of Othello's success in marriage.

Iago is a despicable person with sincere appearance and cunning heart. He tried to create false appearances and evidence to make Othello mistakenly think that Casio was having an affair with his wife Desdemona, so that Othello could see that this had been confused by the jealousy caused by Iago's words.

Destroying the happy marriage between Othello and Desdemona became Iago's greatest satisfaction. So he tried his best to take advantage of the urgency of Rodrigo, a young aristocrat who secretly loves Desdemona, and his wife Amelia.

The evidence of Desdemona's infidelity was believed by Othello. He allowed the poison of "suspicion" to burn in his heart like sulfur, filled the fracture zone between the chains of "indirect evidence" provided by Egu with his own association, fermented and amplified, and finally jealousy made him almost crazy.

In her newly-married bed, she strangled her loyal and simple wife Desdemona. But when Iago's wife exposed the lie and deception, Othello woke up from his dream and drew his sword and committed suicide.

3. King Lear

There are two parallel story clues in the whole play. The main clue tells the story of King Lear in ancient England, who was old and groggy and wanted to give his land to his three daughters according to his love for him.

The eldest daughter Gonaril and the second daughter Reagan coaxed the old man with sweet words, but the youngest daughter Cordelia told the truth and said, "I love you only according to my birthright, neither more nor less."

King Lear angrily expelled her little daughter, married her to distant France, and divided her land equally between two hypocritical daughters. As a result, she was ruthlessly ignored by her two daughters. In a rage, she ran to the wilderness in the storm and interacted with Edgar disguised as a crazy beggar.

Later, the youngest daughter came from France to crusade, and finally the father and daughter met, but the British and French armies fought, the French army was defeated, Cordelia was captured, and Edmond ordered her to be executed soon. Lear died crazy with the body.

Another clue is that Count Gloucester listened to his son Edmund's slanders and exiled his eldest son Edgar. Later, his eyes were gouged out because he sympathized with King Lear. When he was wandering in the wild, he met his son Edgar, who had become a beggar. He helped him forward, but he didn't know that it was his son who was driven out by himself.

Edmund, an illegitimate child, hooked up with King Lear's eldest daughter and second daughter at the same time after inheriting the title, causing them to be jealous of each other and kill each other. Finally, the second daughter was poisoned, and the eldest daughter committed suicide after the plot to murder her husband was exposed. Edmond was challenged by Edgar and killed in a duel.

4. Macbeth

General Macbeth, the cousin of King Duncan of Scotland, came back from rebelling against the invasion for the king and met three witches on the way. The witch told him some prophecies and code words that he would become king, but he had no children to inherit the throne. On the contrary, he was the descendant of his colleague General Banco and became king.

Macbeth is an ambitious hero. He murdered Duncan at the instigation of his wife and became king. In order to conceal himself and prevent others from taking the position, he killed Duncan's bodyguard step by step, killed Banco and killed Macduff's wife and children.

Fear and doubt make Macbeth more and more haunted and indifferent. Lady Macbeth died of insanity, and Macbeth was not sad at all. In the case of betrayal, Macbeth faced the siege of Duncan's son and the English reinforcements he invited, and was finally beheaded.

When Macbeth appeared, he had ulterior motives, killed the king and usurped the throne. In order to consolidate the throne, he brutally slaughtered the people, resulting in rivers of blood, social chaos and people trapped in from the mire. It can be said that he and Richard III are the same tyrant. Such a tyrant deserves to suffer and collapse.

Baidu Encyclopedia —— Four Tragedies of william shakespeare