It was during the early days of Shakespeare’s writing career when the medium term tragicomedy had reached its peak。 Even more popular were the Four Tragedies ("Hamlet," "Othello," "King Lear," "Macbeth ")。
But with the reign of James I, plays had become subject to more stringent policies。 In 1606, dramas were regulated and the use of blasphemous language in dramas was prohibited。
Thus, a new British drama trend had emerged。 The new trend had a tendency be more “aristocratic” to please the aristocrat’s taste of courts and masquerades。
The scripts were superficial, the story absurd; the setting was grand, but the plot was bizarre。 In this era of Jacobean literature, Fletcher’s and Beaumont’s works were the most representative。
Shakespeare , in order to meet the trend of the time, created his four new plays, that is, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" (1608), "Cymbeline" (1609), "The Winter's Tale" (1610), "The Tempest" (1612)。
Shakespeare still insists on his humanist thoughts and themes, but its artistic form was lost。 Regardless of quantity or quality, the works Shakespeare created during this era were not as good as the first two periods。
The creation of these legendary dramas had, thus, became the mark of the decline of the Shakespearean era in the Renaissance England。
