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영어

The aim of this paper is to examine a variety of forms and contents of Shakespearean stages of adaptation and retelling from the Restoration through the age of David Garrick in a macroscopic way. It is probable that contemporary stage productions of Shakespeare's plays have been evolved, put metaphorically, by means of the Darwinian survival of fittest, complying with the different tastes and colors of the stages over generations. In the late seventeenth century, Shakespeare was greatly hailed by John Dryden, while condemned by most of theatre critics inclusive of Thomas Rhymer mostly for his overstated figurative language and audacious conceits in the play. Thus, retelling and adaptation of most of his original plays should be made quite properly by such playwright, or theatre manager as William Davenant and David Garrick, two of the leading figures of the change, to seek mostly popular applause from the audiences and partly to contain a certain aspect of social and political issues of the time. These trends of revision successfully continued to the compromised reach of David Garrick in the eighteenth century with intermittent retrospective responses to Shakespeare's artistic genius and originality. Today, we have our own Shakespearean stages and productions flourishing in the various fields of musicals, operas, and even Hollywood films, which seem providing a new medium for representing Shakespeare. It seems that in our own way, we may be approaching once again to the Restoration than we are willing to think.