The Myth of Deliverance: Reflections on Shakespeare's Problem Comedies

by Northrop Frye

Book by Frye, Northrop

Genres: Shakespeare, Literature, Literary Criticism

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Born in Quebec but raised in New Brunswick, Frye studied at the University of Toronto and Victoria University. He was ordained to the ministry of the United Church of Canada and studied at Oxford before returning to UofT.

His first book, Fearful Symmetry, was published in 1947 to international acclaim. Until then, the prophetic poetry of William Blake had long been poorly understood, considered by some to be delusional ramblings. Frye found in it a system of metaphor derived from Paradise Lost and the Bible. His study of Blake's poetry was a major contribution. Moreover, Frye outlined an innovative manner of studying literature that was to deeply influence the study of literature in general. He was a major influence on, among others, Harold Bloom and Margaret Atwood.

In 1974-1975 Frye was the Norton professor at Harvard University.

Frye married Helen Kemp, an educator, editor and artist, in 1937. She died in Australia while accompanying Frye on a lecture tour. Two years after her death in 1986 he married Elizabeth Brown. He died in 1991 and was interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario. The Northrop Frye Centre at Victoria College at the University of Toronto was named in his honour.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop...

Reviews

[jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

more thesis readings! frye has been quoted in so many of the articles i've been reading, so i was looking forward to finally reading him. there are some individual takes here that i have issues with (particularly the characterization of isabella in measure for measure) but frye's layout of how the comedic genre tends to function is very accessible and a key foundation of the work i will HOPEFULLY be doing this year.

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise study of the three major "problem plays", Measure, All's Well, and Troilus. Frye tries to make sense of their place amongst Shakespeare's plays, which leads to an depthy study of tragedy, comedy and eventually romance. He draws a lot on Aristotle, stressing the special use of the 'reversal' concept in these plays as compared to all the others, a study which, by proxy and sometimes directly, sheds light on the higher plays. While the other Frye shakespeare book I read was general lectures, Frye shines more here in shorter, more focused analysis, and puts forth some solid, well-defended arguments about how we are to structurally approach Shakespeare. It's a brief read, only 90 pages plus an introduction, but he makes it worthwhile. Also noteworthy is his two-page digression into the Aeneid, and the other peripheral studies he calls in to clarify his argument.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love to read Northrop Frye. Even in the most esoteric of literary analyses, he is approachable and good-humored. This book centers on the nature of three of Shakespeare's 'problem' comedies. He analyzes them in terms of Aristotle's concept of peripeteia (reversal), a term that is usually used in a discussion of tragedy. The three sections are:
a) The Reversal of Action (discussing Measuer for Measure)
b) The Reversal of Energy (All's Well That End's Well)
c) The Reversal of Reality (Troilus and Cressida)


The discussions were really enlightening and shed a lot of light on these often baffling plays. The discussions also include analyses of plays other than the three mentioned.

I found the analysis of All's Well That End's Well to be particularly helpful as I am never sure what to make of that play!