While it is certainly better to read these literary works, this post from Mental Floss provides the ultimate -- one sentence summaries of 14 Shakespeare comedies.
___________________________________________________________________________
14 Sentences about 14 Shakespeare Comedies
Little dark out this morning? What you need is some lighthearted fun. Shipwrecks, traitors, rape—that sort of stuff. Okay, so Shakespeare’s comedies aren’t always funny. But they’re generally less bloody than his histories and tragedies. Although the bard’s reputation rests largely on the brooding stuff (the Macbeths and Hamlets), you’ll need to know the comedies if you truly want to impress with your obscure knowledge. And, let’s face it, every genius needs some familiarity with the undisputed heavyweight champ of literature. Not long after Shakespeare’s death in 1616, Ben Jonson wrote, “He was not of an age, but for all time!” Indeed, lunchtime, dinnertime, downtime, even naptime (for all our aspiring pre-school geniuses trying to make a good impression); sprinkling in a little Shakespeare always goes a long way. And so: The Comedies.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Complicated interconnected plots don’t lend themselves to single-sentence summaries, but basically this girl Hermia and her boyfriend Lysander try to elope while fairy-King Oberon and his estranged fairy wife fight and a bunch of low-rent traveling actors rehearse a play, and then eventually everyone lives happily ever after despite a brief scare when Oberon’s wife falls in love with a guy with a donkey head.
All’s Well That Ends Well: Helena, who’s gorgeous but from a low-rent family, gets to marry her dream man, Count Bertram, who enjoys her company so little that he immediately heads off to war, desperately hoping he’ll die before he has to return to Helena; but Bertram ends up not dying, making the play one that ends happily, but doesn’t end particularly well. (AWTEW is one of Shakespeare’s least well-regarded plays.)
As You Like It: A Duke (who’s never given a proper name) is unseated from his Duchy, whereupon he moves to the forest for a while until the Duke’s traitorous son is saved from a lioness by the Duke’s loyal servant, which leads to no fewer than four weddings, and the Duke’s return to Dukeness.
(The remaining 11 summaries appear below)
Cymbeline: So poorly regarded that some scholars think Shakespeare wrote it as a joke, Cymberline stars Posthumous (that’s his name), who gets kicked out of a kingdom for secretly marrying the King’s daughter, which leads to a series of events so convoluted that in Act V, Scene IV, the god Jupiter descends from heaven and orders everyone to shut up and explain what’s going on, which everyone does, whereupon the play ends with no deaths, making it a comedy.
Love’s Labour Lost: Three men who’ve just sworn off girls happen across three attendants to a beautiful princess, and sure enough they forget their swears.
Measure for Measure: A favorite in Political Science classes, a politico named Angelo condemns young Claudio to death for getting his (Claudio’s) fiancée pregnant, but then Angelo, in a stirringly honorable turn, agrees to spare Claudio’s life if Angelo can engage in some fornication of his own with Claudio’s hot sister—an event that is narrowly averted, perhaps because it would have been hard to stage, what with everybody being played by guys.
The Merchant of Venice: Classified as a comedy, even though its most famous character, the Jewish moneylender Shylock, ends up bankrupt after trying to extract a pound of flesh from Antonio, who is saved by the lawyer-like contract analysis of the hot young heiress Portia (who’s like Paris Hilton, except smart).
The Merry Wives of Windsor: Sir John Falstaff tries to win over two wealthy, married Windsor women—and fails, making him perhaps the stage’s first fat, ugly guy who can’t get lucky (cf., George Costanza).
Much Ado about Nothing: A grumpy old man named Don
John endeavors to break up young lovers Claudio and Hero apparently
because he just hates their happiness; meanwhile, Hero’s cousin
Beatrice and Claudio’s buddy Benedick fall in love–so in the end, not
only does Don John’s attempt at romantic terrorism fail, but two
couples end up happily instead of just one (Curses!).
Pericles, Prince of Tyre: Shakespeare probably only
wrote the last 13 scenes (everything before is pretty wretched) of this
play that follows the sea-faring adventures of the title character, who
faces a lot of impediments (a shipwreck, pirates, and a girl with a
serious Elektra complex) before he finally manages to get married.
The Taming of the Shrew: A vulgar, man-hating shrew, Katherina Minola, is (eventually) tamed by her suitor, Petruchio, but not before Shakespeare reveals a hint of misogyny.
The Comedy of Errors: Shakespeare’s shortest play, and our shortest summary: Egeon almost loses his life, his wife, and his children—but then doesn’t.
The Tempest: In the greatest of Shakespeare’s later plays, the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda are stranded on an island with the deformed (and possibly homosexual) Caliban when a second shipwreck brings ashore the man of Miranda’s dreams.
Twelfth Night: This cross-dressing, gender-bending extravaganza stars Viola (a girl) who lives as Cesario (a boy), who works for Duke Orsino (a boy), who’s in love with Olivia (a girl), who herself falls in love with Viola/Cesario (a, uh, whatever), who’s in love with the Duke, and it only gets more complicated from there until finally the Duke marries Viola and Olivia marries Viola’s brother Sebastian (who, we forgot to mention, washes ashore after a shipwreck round about Act II).
The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Two gentlemen from Verona find—you’ll never guess—love, although in this case it’s after a discomforting, pathos-ridden scene in which one of the purported “gentlemen” attempts to rape the character Silvia.
The Two Noble Kinsmen: This tragicomedy often lumped with Shakespeare’s comedies was a collaboration with lesser playwright John Fletcher in which two cousins fight over a princess; eventually, the cousin who hasn’t just died (Palamon) gets to marry the princess.
The Winter’s Tale – Set it Bohemia, this play features a character named Hermione (see also, Harry Potter), the oracle of Delphi, a magical resurrection, and Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
And If That’s Not Enough To Start Your Morning Off Smart…
Terms Shakespeare Coined:
Full circle
Foregone conclusion
Brave new world
Bated breath
Neither rhyme nor reason
Strange bedfellows
A spotless reputation
Method in the madness
Arch-villain
Well-bred
There now, feeling a little more like an English major already,
aren’t we? If you like this sort of thing, and are looking to beef up
your right brain in minutes (or even your left brain for that matter!),
check out The Genius Instruction Manual, where the inspiration for this column came from.
Comments