The Analysis Of The Influence Of Greek And Roman Myths On The Production Of Shakespeare's Tragedies

The ancient Greek and Roman Myths are bright pearls in the world's culture. They are one of the important origins of European and American literatures and one of the important components in the world's cultural relics. Deeply influenced by the myths, William Shakespeare, during the Renaissance, created his unprecedented tragic plays. By analyzing the connection between the ancient Greek and Roman myths and Shakespeare's tragedies, we can clearly see the power of influence that this mythical system exerted upon the production of Shakespeare's tragedies and hence deepen the understanding of Shakespeare's tragedies.The interpretation of Shakespeare's works, especially his tragedies, has always been the focus of study. In the process of study, people gradually broadened their research points of view and methods, interpreting these works from some new perspectives. For example, with the development of psychology, some people used the theory of"Oedipus Complex"to analyze Hamlet's melancholy characteristics. What people concerned about is not whether the conclusions are right or wrong, but the new understandings that these new points of view brought to us. Commencing from one of the factors that influence the production of Shakespeare's tragedies—the ancient Greek and Roman myths and combining the theory of thematics in comparative literature, this thesis tries to make a detailed interpretation on the production of Shakespeare's tragedies.This thesis is composed of three parts: introduction, text and conclusion. And the text part is divided into four chapters.The first part is introduction. This part first briefly introduces William Shakespeare's life and his production and then clarifies one by one the ancient Greek and Roman mythical stories that were borrowed by Shakespeare in his tragedies. Finally, the research situation at home and abroad about this selected topic and the research that the writer of this thesis did based on the situation, including research methods, research conclusion and its meaning are introduced. The first chapter first makes a brief overview on ancient Greek and Roman myths, sketching an overall outline about these mythical stories to us. Then, it analyzes the influence that the ancient Greek and Roman myths exerted upon the European culture in the sequence of historical period. All these indicate the broadening and deepening of the influence.The second chapter briefly describes the production of Shakespeare's tragedies. The production and development of tragedy and its theory has a close relationship with ancient Greek and Roman myths. This chapter first describes the origin and development of European tragedy theory in the sequence of historical period, and then in the framework of tragedy theory, briefly introduces the production of Shakespeare's tragedies.The third chapter makes an analysis of the influence from the surface level. The influence that the ancient Greek and Roman myths exerted upon the production of Shakespeare's tragedies was first presented in this level. The imaginative mythical stories can result in resonance in people's inner hearts. Direct citation or making a reference of mythical stories'theme or structure and plot can realize the author's aim. Shakespeare successfully presented this point to us in his tragedies.The fourth chapter makes an analysis of the influence from the deep level. The early period of the influence of the mythical stories may more be represented in the surface level, but with the deepening of the influence, the influence from the deep level will become increasingly clearer. This kind of influence represented in the production of Shakespeare's tragedies can be interpreted from a multi-point of view, for example, ethics, culturology, aesthetics, etc. The process of multi-interpreting gives us an experience of the deepening and broadening of the influence.The third part is conclusion. The myths connecting with tragedies enriched people's power of imagination. Their influence can cross time and space, making tragedies eternal. The production of Shakespeare's tragedies illustrated this point.This thesis tries to make a detailed analysis on one of the factors that influence the production of Shakespeare's tragedies—the ancient Greek and Roman myths. This is a new research point of view and method for the research of the production of Shakespeare's tragedies and it has a good guiding meaning for the study of other authors and works.