note:
His poems mainly praise love and friendship. The long poem Venus and Adoni describes Adoni, a hunter who loves Venus, and preaches the irresistible natural law of love. The Shame of Lucretius narrates that the tyrant and his son committed all kinds of crimes, which brought their own destruction and warned the nouveau riche to learn from them. Although the theme of sonnets is love and friendship, there are also many social and political contents (such as sonnets 66 and 67).
Apart from King John, nine historical dramas in his early works, namely Richard II, Henry IV (up and down), Henry V, Henry VI (up and down) and Richard III, are connected with each other in the historical order, artistically reproducing 65,438+03 to 65,438+.
By describing the past, the author aims to guide people to relive their own history, draw lessons from it and avoid disasters from happening again. Therefore, opposing feudal civil war, supporting centralization and demanding peaceful reunification have become the basic themes of historical dramas. Henry VIII, written in his later years, expressed his hope for a new generation of rulers through the tragedies of three characters.
In the comedy of 14, most of the early comedies were about love. In vain love and much ado about nothing preach that love is human nature and attack asceticism; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Everybody is Happy and Twelfth Night describe new love relationships, advocate equality between men and women, and are full of romantic tone and cheerful atmosphere, reflecting the optimism of the poets in their youth.
Only The Merchant of Venice (1597) eulogized kindness, friendship and love, but lashed cruelty, greed and ruthlessness, and tragedy permeated the comedy. Although the theme of later comedies is still love, it is shrouded in an evil shadow. The heroine in "All's well that ends well" does whatever it takes to achieve her personal goals. The tit-for-tat Andrew broke the law and traded love. These show that the author has deepened his understanding of society and strengthened his criticism of reality.