The Classical Unities

When you research Shakespeare’s plays, you quickly come across the concept of the Classical Unities, most definitely because Shakespeare was so fond of violating them in his plays (the idea of which was a relatively new thing). The Classical Unities are three laws to follow when writing a play, as outlined by Aristotle. They are:

Unity of action - One main action and no subplots.
Unity of place - It happens in a single physical space.
Unity of time - It takes place over no more than a single day.

Derived by Aristotle, these were followed rather strictly throughout the ages, until The Bard came along. Apparently Shakespeare didn't believe in these rules one bit (what a rebel) and almost never followed them (the only case where he did was a play I have read already – The Comedy of Errors - which is generally accepted as one of his weaker efforts, so you can see where following the rules gets you). I thought this was interesting in that it shows, in yet another way, Shakespeare’s allegiance to a new kind of muse, a muse that leads him outside the lines sometimes (okay, pretty much all the time), to get you where you’re going. This is great of course, great because it can be so interesting and great because it’s so hard to do right. So, All Hail the Bard!