The image of father in William Shakespeare's selected plays: specificity of interpretation and typology
In the article, based on selected works by W. Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet", "Macbeth", "Othello" and "The Tempest"), it is considered the interpretation of the father's image, and also built a typology of these images in Shakespeare's plays. The choice of plays for analysis is due to the importance for them of the image of the father, both in plot-forming and in problem-thematic terms. The aim of the article is to denote the image of father in William Shakespeare selected plays, also to identify the image of father in Shakespeare's selected plays and to concentrate on the father queerness in Shakespeare's dramatic works. The research object is the image of father. The subject of research in this article is the specifics of interpretation of the image of father. The image of father-character plays an important role in Shakespeare's drama and is collective, which allows revealing serious social problems. Moreover, the images of father in Shakespeare's drama provide the audience with a universal insight into the deep nature of human being in general and the family structure in particular. The originality of this study is predetermined by a new approach to present a new typology of the images of father (Lord Capulet - Inept Father, Prospero - Able Mentor, Brabantio - Possessive Father and Macbeth - Childless Father) based on a systematic unilateral comparative analysis of dynamic context of the following four plays: "Romeo and Juliet" (1597), "Othello" (1622), "Macbeth" (1606) and "The Tempest" (1623). Examples of fragments of a literary text demonstrate the process of transformation of the personality of the father-character under the influence of external and internal factors. It is shown that most of the fathers in the plays reviewed misunderstand the true meaning of fatherhood and do not know how to have a positive impact on the life of their son / daughter. The existence of such a large number of "imperfect" fathers in Shakespeare's plays is explained not only by the pronounced patriarchality of the Elizabethan era, in whose families there were no emotional ties, but also by its transience, when the old and new worldview systems collided.