For more than four centuries, Shakespeare’s plays have been hailed for their insights into the human journey. This year’s forum at Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival explores a common thread; each play portrays a character who casts aside preconceived notions to gain a more realistic understanding of the world. SFU professor Dr. Paul Budra will lead an examination of how Shakespeare’s characters, and his audiences, have their illusions shattered and replaced with new perspectives.
“One of Shakespeare’s favourite devices is to have his characters enter with certain expectations and then have to find a new, unexpected way forward. It is this progress of the character through the narrative that makes the stories so compelling,” Dr. Budra explains.
At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is mindlessly mimicking the romantic fashions set by the Italian poet Petrarch; he worships his unapproachable lady from afar and peppers his language with fashionable, if meaningless, oxymorons, such as “feather of lead.” His behaviour is clichéd and embarrassing and, like Benvolio, we are meant to laugh at this romantic stereotype. However, when he meets Juliet, Romeo throws away that persona. Immediately his language changes – “She doth teach the torches to burn bright” – and a whole new perspective arises from this formerly-pretentious teenager. He must create his own form of romantic love.
Juliet also changes. Until she met Romeo, she was a dutiful daughter. After their encounter, she takes control of their relationship, curbing Romeo’s rash behaviour and arranging their hasty marriage. She becomes the direct opposite of the illusive, passive love object celebrated in Petrarch’s poetry. She finds a strength she didn’t know she had when she abandons the roles imposed upon her by her family and society.
In Romeo and Juliet, we also see a good example of how Shakespeare masterfully shifted audience expectations. Today we describe this play as a tragedy, but in Elizabethan times a tragedy consisted of a story about a great king who fell. It was never the story of two young teenagers trying to get into bed together. That was the plot line of the typical comedy. And, in fact, the first half of this play is like a comedy; there are funny servants and jokes about sex. But when Mercutio’s blood is spilled, the comedy becomes a tragedy and the audience can only watch in horror as it closes inevitably around the young lovers.
Julius Caesar is another case of Shakespeare frustrating audience expectations. The Elizabethans were fascinated by the assassination of Caesar and saw it as a pivotal moment in history. While they believed in monarchical government, they could not help but admire the Roman republic that Caesar was killed to protect. Were the assassins heroes or traitors? Freedom fighters or Judases? Shakespeare refuses to offer easy answers. Who is the audience to sympathize with? Caesar is presented as a towering man who is proud but physically frail; does he really want to be king? Brutus is an idealist, but totally impractical. Mark Anthony is effective, but can we trust a demagogue who stirs the Roman people to riot? Budra notes that, “Shakespeare’s capacity for rendering complex characters necessitated that he take nuanced stances on complex issues. There are no easy answers because there are no simple characters and vice versa. This is why we can re-interpret the plays again and again.”
The domestic comedy The Taming of the Shrew centres around Kate and Petruchio who start out with definite reasons for avoiding or pursuing marriage. They too begin as stereotypes, but become more complex as the play progresses. At that time in history, women were seen as wives, widows or whores; those are the role models that Kate has grown up with. It is all that she can see and she rejects them. However, she eventually abandons her selfish antagonism for the more imaginative, nuanced world of loving relationships.

For a richer understanding of the characters and the shifts they undergo throughout each production, join SFU’s Paul Budra, education consultant Mary Hartman and members of the Bard company at Bard, Monday, July 9, 7 PM. Tickets $5. For more information on the 2007 season, visit www.bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.