How many different dramatic genres?

[Cicero]

Yesterday a friend and I were discussing Shakespeare and the question came up into how many different dramatic genres Shakespeare's plays can be subdivided. I answered my friend's question with three: tragedy, comedy and history plays. My friend, however, claimed that they can be subdivided into six distinct genres. Apart from the three I already mentioned, he added Shakespeare's Roman plays as a distinct genre and the other two he couldn't remember. I would argue that Shakespeare's Roman plays are simply a variant of his history plays and I seriously cannot think of two more distinct dramatic genres that Shakespeare could have used, so I would still maintain that his plays can only be divided into three different genres. Could you tell me if I am wrong and if there are in fact six distinct genres and if so tell me how they are called?

[Dark Lady]

You're not exactly 'wrong'. Whent the plays were first released in the folio they were, as you said, divided into three genres: tragedy, comedy, and history. However, many Shakespeare critics and scholars since then have had problems with this simple way of categorising the plays and have come up with 'new' genres. There have been many suggested but as far as I know the ones that have most caught on are the 'problem plays' and the 'late romances'.

The problem plays (again depending on who you talk to you might get slightly different answers) tend to be agreed as All's Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida.

The late romances tend to be agreed as Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

Hope that helps.

[Cicero]

Thanks for your detailed answer. If the question pops up in my oral exam, I now can not only give a mere number and name the genres, but actually say something about this issue. I hope you don't mind me using your explanation ;-)

[JBI]

Hamlet alone defies all genre, and seems to contain everything.

[Wilde woman]

The problem plays (again depending on who you talk to you might get slightly different answers) tend to be agreed as All's Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida.

The late romances tend to be agreed as Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

That's interesting. Since Shakespeare isn't my area of specialty, would you mind explaining the definitions of "problem play" and "late romance" to me?

[Dark Lady]

Thanks for your detailed answer. If the question pops up in my oral exam, I now can not only give a mere number and name the genres, but actually say something about this issue. I hope you don't mind me using your explanation ;-)

Be my guest! Glad I could help. :D

[Dark Lady]

That's interesting. Since Shakespeare isn't my area of specialty, would you mind explaining the definitions of "problem play" and "late romance" to me?

Again this is all information that some people disagree about but I'll give you the definitions as I understand them.

As far as I know the term 'problem play' started getting used for plays by playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen who were trying to portray and tackle certain social issues of the time. They're often meant to promote thought and debate in the audience and can be a bit didactic. It was a guy called F. S. Boas who first used the term to describe some of Shakespeare's plays and it's caught on.

As for the 'late romances' it was apparently a guy called Edward Dowden who first used the term. When they were in the First Folio all of those plays were under 'Comedies' except Cymbeline, which was under 'Tragedies'. People have been uncomfortable with these categorisations, though, and if you look, for instance, at Cymbeline it has a 'happy' ending even though it was in the 'Tragedies'. It's not quite a comedy, though, because characters die and nobody gets married at the end (the main couple are already married at the beginning of the play). As with all of the plays mentioned in my first post, they just don't quite sit right in any of the three original genres. Also the 'late romances' are all plays considered to have been written late in Shakespeare's life and career (hence the 'late' part!).

Hope that helps. I would write more but I need to study for my uni finals and I've already done my Shakespeare one. ;)

[Wilde woman]

Dark Lady, good luck with your finals!


As for the 'late romances' it was apparently a guy called Edward Dowden who first used the term...As with all of the plays mentioned in my first post, they just don't quite sit right in any of the three original genres. Also the 'late romances' are all plays considered to have been written late in Shakespeare's life and career (hence the 'late' part!).

But why "romance"? Does Dowden mean "romance" in the sense that all of these plays feature romantic love or marriage? I specialize in medieval literature and "romance" has a particular meaning in that period; does Dowden's term refer to that tradition at all?

[prendrelemick]

As a starting point you could look at what Shakespeare wrote himself.
(From Hamlet)

The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,
historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-
comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or
poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor
Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the
liberty, these are the only men.

Words spoken by Polonius, and intended to be ridiculous. But it shows that Shakespeare was aware of dramatic genres, and pokes fun at those who try to pidgeon-hole dramatic works.

[xman]

The romances all end in marriage the way a good comedy should, but spend the plot time wallowing in tragedy. All's Well and Measure for Measure are also comedies by classification (wedding ending) but it isn't always exactly the ending you expect. Since even Romeo and Juliet begin unconventionally (for a tragedy, it spends the first half acting like a comedy) and could be considered a problem play. Shakespeare wrote outside the box.

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