How Shakespeare Changed Over Time

Over the last five centuries one could say that our world has changed substantially. Between cultures and religions, knowledge and power, entertainment has always been a way to alleviate the changes and stress of the world. In the late 1500’s and early 1600’s there was one dramatist famous for his specific type of entertainment known as William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was born in 1564 and was known as the greatest playwright of all time. “He makes his audience laugh and cry; he turns politics into poetry; he recklessly mingles vulgar clowning and philosophical subtly” (Greenblatt, 11). During this period Shakespeare wrote in a specific genre of plays referred to as Elizabethan theatre. Moreover, some of his greatest writes were considered Elizabethan comedies. There are many elements that go into the comedies of that century, some are relative to today’s times, where some are very different. In his “Much Ado About Nothing” Shakespeare vividly shows the comic aspects of Elizabethan theatre.
Elizabethan theatre originated in England during the Elizabethan era and was active between the years 1562-1642, which was also considered “a golden age” in history. There were a handful of men who wrote in this genre such as Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare. (Woog, 60) Although he did not create, or contribute many new ideas to …show more content…
One could say it has a hint of pertaining to both genres. It’s a comic play in the sense that there is name calling, along with trickery and joking. The two characters who show this comic standpoint the most would have to be Verges and Dogberry. Dogberry is the constable, where Verges is the commander of the watchmen and Dogberry’s right-hand man. Although the two are elderly men, and rather dumb witted, they do all they can to accomplish their duties. They’re known for constantly