ical advances of three centuries have served to weaken thedemands on the public imagination and to assign the actors to roles of simple instruments in an ever-growing orchestra. The stage made a dramatic change from the upper and lower stage of the Elizabethan playhouse, yielding in the seventeenth century, to the proscenium that we know today. Shakespeare was performed under what must have been extraordinarily cumbersomeconditions (Cahn 230). Shakespeare was in fact fortunate that he lived in the period he did. It was an era when English drama flourished. His works were based on many different aspects of that period. Many of his plays are traced back to the life or works of saints, biblical accounts, and morality plays, which were particularly from the medieval ages (Cahn ix). The Elizabethanera that he lived in brought about a renewed interest in classical drama.Shakespeare drew upon the literary brilliance of other great writers in that same time period such as Christopher Marlowe, Sir Philip Sydney, Edmund Spenser, Holinshed, and Edward Hall. Shakespeare was influenced by elements of classical literature to create his own distinct form of poetry and drama. His history plays borrow from English histories, and his comedies often incorporate aspects of English folklore. His mythological themes were modeled after Ovid’s works (Cahn 5). Much of Shakespeare’s stylistic qualities of writing can be attributed to elements of Roman classicism, derived from Plautus and Terence. The themes of his comedies are often reflected byItalian Renaissance literature. His history plays tend to trace the English monarchy from the fourteenth century to the emergence of the Tudors in the sixteenth century (Cahn 283). There are numerous reasons as to why William Shakespeare is so famous. He is generally considered to be both the greatest dramatist as well as the most brilliant poet who has written in the English language. Many rationales can ...
