Shakespeare, the Maturing Playwright

Shakespeare has been considered one of the greatest playwrights of all time, and his plays are included among some of the finest literary masterpieces even to this day. However, even talented playwrights sometimes struggle to make every play production a brilliant success. As Shakespeare entered into the last phase of his career, courtly audiences desired to see plays in the widely popular genre of romance that was reintroduced during the reign of King James I. Shakespeare’s first effort at pleasing audiences with the composition of his novel romance play Cymbeline was not as successful as some of his earlier works of drama, tragedy, and history or the romances that he later learned to perfect.
During the time that Shakespeare was composing many of his dramas, the Elizabethans encouraged theater as a central part of entertainment. The audience craved excitement and drama to offset the mundane activities of daily life. Towards the end of Shakespeare’s career, the Puritans harbored a great deal of influence in society and public theater began to be viewed as a sinful indulgence.

By the early 1600’s, popular audiences became increasingly dissatisfied with drama as a form of entertainment. The scope of the theater turned from public venues to private courts, and playwrights began to recognize the importance of catering directly to
courtly audiences. Sophisticated audiences at court “responded to pastoral and romantic drama as a nostalgic evocation of an idealized past, a chivalric ‘golden world’ fleetingly recovered through an artistic journey back to naiveté and innocence” (Bevington, 3). Therefore, Shakespeare began his novel attempt at producing a romantic drama that would please the viewers in the private theaters. Between 1609 and 1610, he wrote his first romance Cymbeline.
In the play Cymbeline, Shakespeare revisits his earlier plays in a less powerful way. Several of his characters in the romance play resemble similar portrayals from earlier productions, but they are not as cleverly defined and developed in Cymbeline as in the earlier works. The relationship between King Cymbeline and Imogen mirrors that of King Lear and Cordelia; however, King Cymbeline is not nearly as developed as the powerful and fearsome King Lear. In fact, King Cymbeline makes his first appearance in Act One, Scene Two and then disappears from the play until Act Two, Scene Three. Posthumus Leonatus is merely a parody of the earlier Othello and never achieves the valiant status of the tragic hero. After being sent away from court, Leonatus is willing to challenge the chastity of his wife by making a bet with the deceitful and greedy Iachimo when he boldly claims, “My mistress exceeds in goodness the hugeness of your unworthy thinking. I dare you to this match; here’s my ring” (1.4 145-147). Although his
challenge attests to the faith he has in his devoted wife, it is cruel and unlike a hero to place his wife’s reputation in a compromising situation. Not only do some of the characters in the romance Cymbeline lack the polished appearance and astounding features that make the earlier characters shine; several of the plot lines within Shakespeare’s earliest romance cause an imbalance in the overall composition of the play.
Although there are inklings of comedic relief arbitrarily placed throughout Shakespeare’s earliest romance, Cymbeline remains overwhelmingly tragic until the final scene of the play. Even the seemingly comedic offerings by the deceptive Iachimo carry with them the undertones of tragedy as he humorously attempts to sway Imogen’s faithfulness to her husband with desperate pleas such as “let me my service tender on your lips” (1.6 141). Likewise, one of Shakespeare’s favorite devices to add humor and spice to the earlier comedies is reused in Cymbeline namely to avoid further tragedy. In As You Like It, Rosalind’s disguise as Ganymede sparks a series of humorous scenes; it is particularly amusing when Rosalind attempts to provide love lessons for the love struck Orlando as she musters in a manly voice, “Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humor and like enough to consent. What would you say to me now, an I were your very very Rosalind?” (4.1 47-49) Whereas the audience recognizes the humor in Rosalind’s disguise in the comedy, there is almost no humor in Imogen’s disguise as a man seeking after her seemingly lost husband. Imogen is even burdened by her disguise as she laments, “I see a man’s life is a tedious one. I have tired myself, and for two nights together have made the ground my bed. I should be sick but that my resolution helps me” (3.6 1-4). The overwhelmingly tragic elements of the play develop almost to the brink of disaster until the final scene fulfills the expectations of the romance play genre.
After several different plot lines narrowly escape the claws of looming disaster and the villains are eternally avenged as in any romance, the play takes a rather abrupt turn towards what appears to be a happy ending. The reintegration of all the characters in the final scene also appears sudden and incoherent, especially with the unexpected arrival of Jupiter in the scene leading up to the conclusion of the play. The god’s promise to restore happiness to Leanatus provides the only explanation for the final scene of forgiveness and redemption; it appears as though Shakespeare had no other logical method for why the play should end with such mirth when the remainder of the play until this point has been shadowed with calamity. This sudden reestablishment of peace after the overabundance of chaos seems unstable and not nearly as convincing as the final scene in Shakespeare’s later romance A Winter’s Tale.
By the time Shakespeare was composing his second romance, he had a much better grasp of the balanced elements that make up a successful romantic play. To balance the extreme jealousy and darkness of Leontes’ character, Shakespeare creates Perdita who is kind and angelic and Florizel who is constant and true. The plot line follows a logical sequence and scenes of lightheartedness offset the potentially tragic ones. The last scene of forgiveness and restoration is not merely contrived by the merciful act of a higher being but instead by the choices of the deeply remorseful Leontes who seeks to mend his own faults that have haunted him for sixteen years. Leontes’ words even before he knows of the life still coursing through Hermione’s veins displays his truly repentant attitude when he woefully sighs, “I am ashamed. Does not the stone rebuke me for being more stone than it?” (5.3 37-38) Forgiveness seems much more likely and appropriate after a powerful emotional display of lamentation over his seemingly lost love rather than Cymbeline’s misplaced proclamation “pardon’s the word to all” (5.5 422).
Although Shakespeare will always be celebrated as one of the finest playwrights, he did struggle to shift the scope of his plays to appease the changing interests of his audiences from drama to romance. His earlier works enjoyed a greater success than did his first romance Cymbeline, but it is certainly appreciable that he continued to work to enhance his skills in the widely popular genre of that time.

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