The recent discussion on R3 Shakespeare prodcutions got me thinking about how I would personally rate the 4 great trageides - which I take to be Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth and Othello. If anyone wants to make out a case for Timon Of Athens or Troilus and Cressida being a great tragedies (the latter probabl has a good claim to be in that company but isn't often seen, for very good reasons), then please go ahead....:)
I'd rank them thusly:
1) Hamlet - a bit obvious, perhaps, but I feel this is S. at his best, the best play he ever wrote and very possbily the greatest play in the English language. Why? The universality of the central character, the seamless integration of theme and action, the masterly control of such vast material, the wonderful characterisation, the perfectly placed moments of low comedy, the magnificent Polonius family sub-plot. It's long but it all works!
2) Othello - my personal favourite S. play. That it hardly ever works in performane is not the author's fault, whatever crtiics say.
3) Macbeth - this is actually as good as Othello and should properly tie for second place. Unlike Hamlet, this one hurtles forward at a breakneck speed (is there a scene missing? Personally, I don't think so but wouldn't care anyway). I like the Hecate scenes but would agree they add nothing to the play. The English court scene provides a necessary moment of stillness and contemplation and it can be very moving when you have a good actor playing Malcolm (as rarely happens).
4) King Lear - to my mind, definteily the least of the 'four greats'. It suffes from having a passive central character who, once he sets the ball rolling, does not do things so much as have things done to him. The Gloucester-Edmund-Edgar subplot is unwieldy and keeps threatening to overwhelm the main action (properly speaking, they deserve their own play). Ulimately, I don't care enough about Lear, whom I find hard to forgive for his selfishness and egotism. But Cordelia doesn't make virtue attractive, either.
OK: over to you....:)
I'd rank them thusly:
1) Hamlet - a bit obvious, perhaps, but I feel this is S. at his best, the best play he ever wrote and very possbily the greatest play in the English language. Why? The universality of the central character, the seamless integration of theme and action, the masterly control of such vast material, the wonderful characterisation, the perfectly placed moments of low comedy, the magnificent Polonius family sub-plot. It's long but it all works!
2) Othello - my personal favourite S. play. That it hardly ever works in performane is not the author's fault, whatever crtiics say.
3) Macbeth - this is actually as good as Othello and should properly tie for second place. Unlike Hamlet, this one hurtles forward at a breakneck speed (is there a scene missing? Personally, I don't think so but wouldn't care anyway). I like the Hecate scenes but would agree they add nothing to the play. The English court scene provides a necessary moment of stillness and contemplation and it can be very moving when you have a good actor playing Malcolm (as rarely happens).
4) King Lear - to my mind, definteily the least of the 'four greats'. It suffes from having a passive central character who, once he sets the ball rolling, does not do things so much as have things done to him. The Gloucester-Edmund-Edgar subplot is unwieldy and keeps threatening to overwhelm the main action (properly speaking, they deserve their own play). Ulimately, I don't care enough about Lear, whom I find hard to forgive for his selfishness and egotism. But Cordelia doesn't make virtue attractive, either.
OK: over to you....:)
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