Comedias: Un sueño de la noche de San Juan. Las alegres casadas de Windsor. La doma de la furia. El mercader de Venecia

by William Shakespeare

In Shakespeares time, the term comedy did not necessarily denote something funny or amusing. Rather, through such plays such as A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Merchant of Venice, the playwright examines other defining characteristics of comedic dramathe social interactions of common folks and a focus on the contradictions inherent in everyday life. Readers explore the major themes of Shakespearean comedies, which have enchanted readers and theater-goers alike for centuries.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Amira · Rating 4 out of 5]

El manejo de personajes de Shakespeare es de las cosas que más admiro del autor.

Está claro que al principio es un jaleo, vas leyendo obras que están pensadas para ser representadas y hay personajes que se ubican mejor en un escenario (por la ropa que llevan, cómo andan, qué pose adoptan, el tono de voz etc.) que al leerlos, pero al final le coges el ritmo.

Destaco El Sueño de una Noche de Verano y Las Alegres Casadas de Windsor, estas últimas me hicieron reír bastante.

La Doma de la Furia y El Mercader de Venecia no es que no estén a la altura, pero tienen ciertos tópicos (que se entienden por la época) que no me han dejado disfrutar las obras del mismo modo que las otras dos (que también tienen tópicos, pero son quizás más esperables). Tampoco me queda claro hasta qué punto no rozan esos tópicos la ironía o la sátira por parte del autor o si lo creía de verdad.

[Felicidad · Rating 4 out of 5]

El año pasado leí Sueño de una noche de verano y me encantó, de lo mejor que he leído en mi vida, sin exagerar. Hace un mes aproximadamente, no sabía qué leer, me apetecía algo barroco y dije pues Shakespeare, ¿por qué no? Las alegres comadres de Windsor... bueno, entretenida; sin más. La doma de la furia, muy divertida e ingeniosa la verdad, me lo pasé muy bien leyéndola. El mercader de Venecia, tan reconocido, no he tenido el valor de acabarlo; no es mi momento para leerlo.

Lo que me llevo de esta lectura son dos cosas:

1. No voy a volver a atiborrarme de un autor tan antiguo, por mucho que me apetezca. Ya se me ha visto que a la tercera lectura me he cansado. Mejor lo trataré como lo que son manjares exquisitos que se comen pocas veces al año y en pocas cantidades. Lo bueno, breve, dos veces bueno.

2. Hay lecturas que estoy harta de escuchar de lo buenas y conocidas que son, sin embargo, a mí me ha encantado descubrir La doma de la furia, comedia que no conocía y que me ha motivado a seguir buceando entre los mismos autores que tanto me gustan.


Ha sido un placer volver a Shakespeare. Ya lo retomaré más adelante y me leeré El mercader de Venecia cuando el libro y yo nos podamos disfrutar mutuamente.