Context plays an important role in understanding of any literary texts. Context here is referring to the historical setting, physical setting and geographical setting of a piece of literary text. For example, most of the literary texts come together with the author’s background and the context of the literary texts in order to allow readers to understand the texts better although they are from different cultural background or different time zone. I found understanding the context should come first before we start to analyze a piece of text. For example, a few days ago, I learned about the drama “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. My lecturer read an extract of the drama text aloud for the purpose of looking at how the playwright portrays the characters through their speeches. We were asked to read this drama in the introduction week. But I read the drama text without reading the context of the drama. I think most of us did. As the result, we did not find the conversation between Cecily and Gwendolen was humorous and funny when we were supposed to laugh at the sarcasm that was made Gwendolen towards Cecily’s social status.
Cecily: …… When I see a spade, I will call it a spade.
Gwendolen [Satirically] “I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious
that our social spheres have been widely different.”
On the other hand, I can understand “Antigone” by Sophocles better because I was provided with the context of the play. For example, I had learned about the history of Greek theater as well as the Greek culture and their belief of the Gods and myths. Besides, I had learned before Shakespearean’s plays “The Midsummer Night Dream”. This helps me to understand other Greek plays better.