Shakespeare's use of the supernatural as a structural device.

Abstract

Though the Renaissance was a period during which many new ideas were being introduced into England, the common Elizabethan man still adhered to his traditional beliefs for support in living his everyday life, because many of his basic concepts of life were being threatened. One belief that aided him in reconciling the natural world with the inexplicable phenomena of life was his unquestioned acceptance of the supernatural. For the Elizabethan, then, the ghost, witch, fairy, as well as other supernatural manifestations were real entities existing as actually in the physical world as he himself did. It is only natural that the Elizabethan dramatists utilized the supernatural in their plays, since it was so greatly a part of the lives of the audience for whom they were writing and was, also, inherently spectacular and dramatic. The supernatural, particularly the ghost figure, as an element of drama was not an innovation of the Elizabethan dramatist. Greek and Roman writers were employing the device in their plays centuries before. However, a study of the supernatural element in drama reveals a steady progression in the extent to which it was used by dramatists from the time of the Greeks and Romans through the time of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Scholars conclude that the similarities that exist between Elizabethan and Senecan drama make it fairly clear that the Elizabethans were looking to Seneca as a model in many respects. Therefore, in the opening chapter, the author examines the influence of Senecan drama on Elizabethan drama, especially the influence of the Senecan ghost on the Elizabethan supernatural, because the supernatural does come to play an important part in the drama of the age. The works of John W. Cunliffe and F. L. Lucas are acknowledged as excellent sources of reference concerning the similarities between Senecan and Elizabethan drama. In Chapter II, the author discusses the Elizabethan's specific beliefs of certain supernatural elements, the manner in which they were presented on the stage, and Shakespeare's use of the common beliefs for dramatic effect. The works of Thomas F. Thiselton Dyer and Minor W. Latham were especially helpful to the author at this stage of investigation. In the final chapter, the author studies eight of Shakespeare's plays to demonstrate that Shakespeare carries on the gradual tendency of the Elizabethan dramatists to make the supernatural a more and more important element of the play. No attempt has been made to make an inclusive study of all of Shakespeare's canon nor of all of his utilizations of supernatural elements. The author has been selective and has included plays representative of the various stages of Shakespeare's writing, early, middle, and late, and only those plays in which the supernatural is predominant.