RENAISSANCE / EARLY MODERN (1500 – 1660)
(i) THE ELIZABETHAN AGE (1550-1625)
Named after
the Tudor monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth. This is also known as ‘Golden Age’ or ‘Age of Shakespeare’. “Elizabethan Age” is commonly referred as “a nest of
singing birds”.
Sometimes
this period is counted as 1558 to 1603 and often 1603-1625 as Jacobean Period
(James-I).
With Defeat
of Spanish Armada (1588), England emerged as strong naval power. Navigations
and explorations led to colonization of America. Religious settlement act (1559) and Act of uniformity
failed to
stop the protestant reformation. The scientific advances started raising
questions which are against the law of church.
Drama became
the dominant genre in Elizabethan age. Drama companies owned the scripts and
the play wrights don’t have any legal rights. Shakespeare worked for King’s Men. Women were not
permitted to act on stage, instead boys played the female roles.
British drama from 1560 to 1580 was in
an experimental stage. Shakespeare arrived London in 1586. First theatre in England is ‘The Theatre (1576) started by James
Burbage. Then Curtain (1577), The Rose
(1587), The Swan (1595), The Globe (1599) Fortune (1600), Black Friars (1608)
and Dreary Lane (1701) started in England.The popularity of theatre
contributed to the remarkable development of drama
POETRY:
The Elizabethan Age was the golden age
of sonnets, songs and lyrics. Love is the main theme of Elizabethan poetry.
Sir Thomas Wyatt:
Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey the
two courtly makers of the court of Henry VIII. In 1557 appeared the first
fruits of the Renaissance in the famous collection of songs and sonnets by Wyatt and Surrey known as Tottel’s Miscellany. They are the first harbingers of
Renaissance and first modern poet in England. The age of Shakespeare was the
golden age of sonnet.
Wyatt first of all introduced ‘Sonnet’ in England. He strictly followed the Petrarchan form of
sonnet. He also introduced English the Itailan “TerzaRima” and “Ottawa Rima”.
Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey)
Surrey is a disciple of Wyatt. He was the co-founder
with Wyatt of the English sonnet. He also introduced ‘Blank Verse’ into English poetry and translated Virgil’s Aeneid in this form.
Tottel's Miscellany 1557
Songes and
Sonettes, usually called Tottel's Miscellany, was the first printed
anthology of English poetry by Richard Tottel. It contained 271 poems (40 poems by Surrey and 96 by
Wyatt, 135 by other authors). Some of these poems were fine, some childish.
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)- He
is known as ‘English Virgil’.
He was called by Charles Lamb as “The Poets Poet’’ because he influenced a great number of poets
succeeding him. He introduced the Spenserian
Stanza which consists of 9 lines. Spenser was born as poor in 1552,
studied in Cambridge, died in extreme poverty in 1559 and buried near Chaucer
in the Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.
He is friend of Sir Philip Sidney. Sir Walter Raleigh was so delighted
with the poem, Faire Queen, that he brought him over to England and
introduced him to the Queen who conferred upon him a pension of 50 dollars a
year. It was this visit that the Fairy
Queen containing the first three books was published in 1590. On his second
visit to England, he brought with him the other three books of the Fairy Queen were published in 1596.
Spenserian stanza was a stroke of genius. It consists of 9
lines rhyming ababbcbcc, the last being an Alexandine or line of six
iambic feet instead of five as in the others. It became very popular in the
later Romantic Revival and was used by Thomson, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelly and
Keats.
Ben Jonson said that Spenser ‘writ no language’.
Milton Called him as “Our Sage and Serious Spencer”
1. The Shepherd’s Calendar (1579): Spencer made his poetic debut is a pastoral
poem modeled on Theocritus and Virgil. It consists of 12 eclogues or short
pastoral poems, one for each month of the year. They are in the form of
dialogues among shepherdsincluding the poet under the name of Colin Clout. He
praises Queen Elizabeth and addressed her as “Elisa”
2. The Fairy Queen (1590): It was an allegorical poem inspired by Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. It was written in 6 books; first installment (3books)
was published in 1589 and the second one was in 1596. The main character Prince
Arthur who married Gloriana (Faire Queen) at the end. He planned to write 24,
but completed only 6. It begins with the line, “Fierce
warriors Faithful loves shall memorize my song”
Book1- Red Cross night- Holiness
Book2- Sir Guyon- Temperance
Book3-Virgin Britomart- Chastity.
Book4- Campbell and Britomart- Friendship
Book5- Sir Artegall- Justice
Book6- Sir Calidare- Courtesy
(Code to remember: RGVCAC- HTCFJC)
3. Astrophel: A pastoral elegy on the death of Sir Philip
Sidney, is in the form of allegory.
4. Colin Clout’s Come Home Again: It is another pastoral and the most
autobiographical work about his visit to London.
5. Amoritti (1594): A
collection of 88 Petrarchan sonnets addressed to his lover and neighbor
Elizabeth Boyle, recorded his emotions in a series of sonnets called Amoretti.
Sonnet 75 in Amoretti
“One day I wrote her name upon strand, but came the waves and washed it away”
6. Epiththalamion: It is not only the best bridal poem or
Nuptial song in the language, but the best of all Spencer’s works
commemorating his marriage with Elizabeth Boyle.
7. Prothalamion: written ‘in
honor of the double marriage’ of the two daughters of Earl of Worcester, it
is enough to say that the ‘Spousal’ song is second to the Epithalamion.
Coleridge’s praised this as ‘swan-like movement’.
8. Four Hymns in Honour of Love and Beauty
9. Prosopoeia, or Mother Hubberds Tale – allegorical poem-similar to the beast fable of the "Nun Priest's Tale” in The
Canterbury tales. Story of a fox and an ape- told by Mother Hubberd.
10. Tears of the Muses
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86):
Unlike Spenser who began life as poor
man and died poor, his friend Sir Philip Sidney was an aristocrat. Spenser dedicated his Shepherd’s Calendar to Sidney. He died
fighting at Zutphen (in Netherlands) at the age of 32. As he lay dying, he gave
the cup of water which he needed himself to another wounded soldier saying ‘thy need is greater than mine’. None of his
works were published in his life time.
1. Astrophel and Stella (1591): this is a series of 108 sonnets together
with 11 songs addressed to Penelope Devereux, daughter of Walter Devereux,
first Earl of Essex. The sonnets record his hopeless passion for Penelope who
had married Lord Rich.
Famous lines in
it: “Fool,
said my muse to me, look into thy heart and write”
“Come, sleep, O’sleep, the certain
knot of peace”
“Leave me, O love, Which
reachest but dust”
2.
Arcadia (1590): Its full title is “The countess of Pembroke’s
Arcadia”. a pastoral romance filled with rural life. Samuel Richardson named
the heroine of his first novel after Sydney’s Pamela (=’all sweetness’ in
Greek).
3. Apology for Poetry: It was a fine piece of criticism. Originally
it was an answer to Gosson’s ‘School for Abuse’.
Gosson says, “Poetry is
mother of lies, immoral” (as Plato).
But Sydney says, “Poet
can make unpleasant things as pleasant”
Sydney Says “Man can’t better spend his time than in it(poetry)”
Sidney’s: Some of the finest songs:
“To you, to you all songs of
praise are due”
“Only joy! Now here you are”
“Ring out your bell”
Michael Drayton: first to popularize
Ode in England. He is the master of Anacreontics (short poem of love
and wine). His poetic name is Rowland. He is also known as
“Our
English Ovid, Layman (12th century) of the Elizabethan Age.
1. Idea: The shepard’s Garland: pastoral with 9 eclogues.
2. Idea’s Mirror: Collection of 61 love sonnets.
Famous line: “Since there is no
help, come, let us kiss and part”
3. England’s Heroical Epistles- imitation of
Ovid’s Heroids.
4. The Ballad of Agincourt: Historical poem, Tennyson used
it in “Charge of the Light Brigade”
5. Poly Olbion (1612): historical poem in couplets
Remember:
Endymion(play)-
Lyly;
Endymion(poem)-
Keats;
Endymion
and Pheobe (Epyllion)- Drayton
ELIZABETHAN PROSE
The
Essay
The Essay, which Montaigne began in
France, was a very popular prose from during this period. The year 1597, when
Sir Francis Bacon published his 10 essays marked the beginning of essay writing
in England.
Sir Francis Bacon 1561-1626: also known as Lord Verulam or 1st
Viscount St Alban. He wrote in both Latin and English. He is known as
“Father of Essays”; “Father of Scientific Method”.
Pope called him as as "the
wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind".
Hugh Walker commented that “Bacon is the
first English essayist and he remains for sheer mass and weight genius, the
greatest.”.
According to L C Knights, “Bacon’s prose
style is an index of the emergence of the modern world”
1. Essays 1597- 1st edition- 10 essays
2. Essays 1612- 2nd edition- 38 essays
3. The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral. (1625)– 3rd edition- 58 essays included.
Bacon’s popular essays are Of Truth, Of Friendship, Of Love, Of Travel, Of
Parents and Children, Of Marriage and Single Life, Of Anger, Of Revenge, Of
Death, etc. His eesays are full of aphorsims.
o Of Boldness- famous line: If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to
the hill"
o Of Studies- famous lines: “Reading
maketh a full man, conference a ready man, writing an exact man.”; ‘Studies
serve for delight, for ornament and for ability’; “some books are to be tasted,
some are to be swallowed, and some are to be chewed and digested”
o Of Wisdom for a Man’s Self- famous line in it: Divide with
reason between self-love and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not
false to others; specially to thy king and country
4. The Advancement of Learning (1605): Dedicated to James-I, written in the form of a letter to him, defined scientific method. Famous line: “If
a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be
content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”
5. The History of Reign of King Henry VII 1622:
6. Apophthegms
7. Novum Organum Scientiarum 1620– Latin work, (New organ
" New Method" or inductive method). This is now known as the Baconian
method. The title is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon,
which was his treatise on logic and syllogism. In Novum Organum, Bacon details
a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. He
said before applying ‘inductive method’ the enquirer must free his mind from
these 4 types of errors in investigations which are called Idols of mind.
They are:
o
"Idols of
the Tribe" (idola tribus), which are common to the race;
o
"Idols of
the Den" (idola specus), which are peculiar to the individual;
o
"Idols of
the Marketplace" (idola fori), coming from the misuse of language; and
o
"Idols of
the Theatre" (idola theatri), which stem from philosophical dogmas.
8. The De Augmentis Scientiarum 1625- is an expansion of Bacon's The Advancement of Learning
9. The New Atlantis 1626 – published posthumously - unfinished Utopian novel.
10. The Baconian theory of Shakespearean
authorship is a theory that suggests that Sir
Francis Bacon wrote the plays that were publicly attributed to William
Shakespeare. The theory was first proposed in the mid-nineteenth century, based
on ideas found in Bacon’s writings and the works of Shakespeare.
Famous lines:
“Knowledge itself is
power” (Ipsa scientia potestas est)- Meditations Sacrae and Human Philosophy;
“A crowd is not
company”;
“Age appears best in
four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust and old
authors to read.”
“Money is a great
servant but a bad master.”
“It is impossible to
love and be wise.”
‘Unmarried men are best
friends, best masters and best servants.’;
“Wives are young men’s
mistress, companions for Middle Ages, and old man’s nurses”;
“English is a vulgar
language and would remain so for ever"
Bacon said “poetry is
nothing else but feigned history”
Literary Criticism
The earliest critical work was Wilson’s Art of Rhetoric.
The most important critical work of this age is Sidney’s Apology for Poetry.
Stephen Gosson who had failed as a
dramatist attacked all poetry and plays in his School of Abuse (1579). This puritan attack provoked Sidney’s Apology for Poetry.
Thomas Campion’s Observations in the art of Poesie (1602) and Samuel Daniel’s
“Defence of Rhyme (1603) are notable works of literary criticism.
Historical Literature
Holinshed’s Chronicle, the most popular of all, is of interest because it was used by
Shakespeare for his plays. The only noteworthy historical work is Raleigh’s History of the World which though incomplete and unequal makes the
first attempt in English at a philosophical survey of events.
Translations
The most famous and by far the most
popular translations are Plutarch’s Lives
of the Noble Grecians and Romans (1579) by Sir Thomas North and Montaigne’s
Essay (1603) by John Florio. Shakespeare
used North’s Plutarch for his Roman plays and borrowed not only the stories but
sometimes the very words.
Notable Prose works of this
age:
1. Samuel Purchas’s -His Pilgrimagae
(1613)- description of various places and people, inspired Coleridge’s poem-
“Kubla Khan”
2. John Foxe’s -Book of Martyrs- heroic
deeds of protestant martyrs.
3. Gascoigne’s Jocasta – first Greek
Tragedy on English Stage; and
4. Gascoigne’s Steel Glass- a satire.
THE
DRAMA BEFORE SHAKESPEARE
The Artistic Period of Drama
The
artistic drama developed during the Renaissance or the great revival under the
classical influence under tragedy the classical influence was even greater. It
is the golden age of British drama. Seneca influenced the development of
English tragedy, and Plautus and Terence directed the formation of comedy.
Ralph Roister Doister (1552): The
First Comedy
The first English comedy Ralph Roister Doister was written by
Nicholas Udall, the head master of Eton. He wrote this play for his boys,
modeled after Plautus ‘Ralph Roister
Doister’.
The story is about Ralph Roister
Doister (a Doltish Youngman) wooing a rich widow (Dame Christian Constance),
who was already engaged to a merchant (Gawyn Goodluck), but all his attempts do
not succeed.
Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1575): First English Farce Comedy
The next notable comedy, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, was written
by an unidentified Mr.S, representing the rural peasant’s life.
Story of an old woman Gammer Gurton
who lost her needle while mending the pants, and everyone joins the search for
needle. Because of the gossips spread by Diccon (a fool), whole village is in
an uproar and leads to quarrels. At last, with the cry of a servant reveals
that the needle is in the pants.
Gurboduc or The Tragedy of Ferrex
and Porrex (1561): The First Tragedy
First complete tragedy modelled on
Seneca, the Latin playwright, written by two lawyers Thomas Norton (wrote first three acts) and Thomas Sackville (wrote last two acts). It is the first play in
English to be written in blank verse.
Gurboduc wants to divide his kingdom
between his sons Ferrex and Porrex. Due to ill advices, Porrex invaded Ferrex
and kills him. As the mother of the prince Videna loves his elder son Ferrex,
she kills Porrex. A civil war takes place and people kills Videna and Gurboduc.
The civil war made the country desolate as there is no legal heir. The prime
intension of writing this play is to convince Queen Elizabeth to marry and
leave an heir.
The University Wits
A group of Pre-Shakespearean
dramatists were known as University
Wits. They were so called
because they came either from Oxford or Cambridge. They paved the way for
Shakespeare. They are John Lyly, George
Peele, Thomas Lodge (Oxford); Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe and Christopher Marlowe (Cambridge). Thomas Kyd
not studied any university. He
wrote only tragedies.
The term
"University Wits" was not used in their lifetime, but was coined by George Saintsbury, a 19th-century
journalist and author.
John Lyly: His wrote only comedies. He is the first man
to start verse drama.
1. Eupheus or Anatomy of wit (1578)- comedy. Eupheus is a young man of Athens, literally means “a person well endowed
with wit”. Shakespeare used the character of Don Adriano of Love’s
Labour Lost to satirize Euphemism. Famous line: “All is fair in
love and war”
2. Eupheus and his England: sequel to Eupheus.
3. Six Court Comedies: Endymion; Midas, MotherBombie, etc.
4. Love’s Metamorphoses;
5. Women in the Moon;
George Peele: Well known for
his musical ability. Peele’s plays
show a great variety of subjects.
1.
The Arraignment (=to
charge) of Paris – classical,
mythological pastoral play. Tribute to Queen Elizabeth.
2.
David and
Bethsabe – biblical
3.
Edward I –first step towards Shakespearean historical drama.
4.
The Old Wife’s
tale -satirizes the romantic
dramas of the time.
Thomas Lodge
1. Rosalynd- it is the source of Shakespeare’s “As You Like
It”
2. Looking glass for London and England (1594)- collaborated with Greene
3. The Wounds of Civil War
Robert Greene He sketched charming pictures of pure,
self-sacrificing women that anticipated the romantic heroines of Shakespeare
– Rosalind (As you like it), Viola (Twelfth Night), Imogen (Cymbeline).
1.
Friar Bacon and
Friar Bungayand James IV -Prince Edward plans to seduce Margaret, a
maid with the help of necromancer, Friar Bacon. Bungay is another magician.
2.
Pandosto- it is the source of Shakespeare’s “The
Winter’s Tale”
3.
Groats worth of witty,
brought with a million of repentance. (1592): first work to refer Shakespeare in
print. He says, ‘’Shakespeare is an upstart crow
beautified with our feathers” (about Shakespeare’s plagiarism). He also says
Shakespeare is an absolute Johannes Factotum” (=Jack of all trades).
His famous
lullaby is, “Weep not wanton(=cruel), Smile upon my
knee”
Thomas Nash: He distinguishes himself as a satirist. Father of
Picaresque Novels.
1. The Isle of Dogs. -collaborated with Ben Jonson
2. The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack
Wilton – a picaresque novel., first
Historical Novel.It is episodic in nature, jumps from place to place,
danger to danger. Story of Jack Wilton along with Surrey sets on a journey to
Italy, met Erasmus, Thomas More at Rotterdam, then reaches to Germany and Rome.
3. Pierce Penniless (1592)- prose satire, popular pamphlet in which he
attacked Richard Harvey.
Christopher Marlowe: First to introduce Blank verse. Father of English Tragedy.
Marlowe, son of a shoemaker of
Canterbury was born in1564. He was the most important dramatist before
Shakespeare and also the youngest among the University Wits.He made blank verse
a powerful vehicle for the expression of varied human emotions, as no one had
before him. His blank verse, which Ben Jonson calls “Marlowe’s mighty line’’. He died as the result of a
drunken brawl at the age of 29. All his plays were tragedies.
His major works are the four plays:
1. Tamburlaine the Great– passion is thirst for power. Based on
Asian emperor Timur, once was a Scythian Shepard, and rises to the rank of
emperor, invaded whole east and died of disease. (Massacred one lakh prisoners
in Delhi, chariot was drawn by Captive Kings).
2. Dr. Faustus – Blank verse play. It is the story of a man
coming to grief by his unbridled thirst for knowledge and power. Dr. Faustus is
a scholar longs for infinite knowledge, learns black magic from Valdes and
Cornelius, sells his soul to Lucifer for 24 years of power, but wasted the time
by playing practical jokes. At Eleventh hour, Mephistopheles collects his soul.
He presented the tragic conflict between good and evil forces in it. Famous
quote: ‘was
this theface that launched a thousand ships’; ‘A sound magician is a mighty
god’; Eleventh hour; Sweet Helen make me immortal with a kiss!
3. The Jew of Malta (1592)– the passion is greed of riches as well
as hatred of enemies. When Barabas (cruel money lender) and fellow Jews asked
to give up half of the wealth or convert into Christianity, Barabas rejected to
convert, nor to pay the half of his wealth. When they confiscated all his
property, he weaves many evil plots to take revenge but dies in the end after
falling into a cauldron of boiling water which he had prepared to destroy his
enemies. Barabas suggests cruel money lenders: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
and “The Volpone or The Fox” in Ben Jonson’s play
4.
Edward II- based on Raphael Hollingshead’s Chronicles, predecessor of Shakespeare’s
historical plays.
Remember:
Edward-I- Peele;
Edward-II-Marlowe;
Richard-II and III- Shakespeare
Minor works:
1. The Tragedy of Dido: Queen of Carthage -Centers on Dido, the queen of Carthage, her
love for Aeneas (Trojan Hero) and about her suicide after Aeneas’s betrayal.
2. Hero and Leander – non-dramatic unfinished poem. Completed by
Chapman.
3. The passionate Shepard to his love (1599): famous line “Come live with me and be my love”
Thomas Kyd: not studied in any
university, He wrote only tragedies. He is the founder of Romantic Tragedies.
1. The Spanish
Tragedy or Hieronimo is mad again (1583)–based on a Senecan Tragedy, the play is a
sensational melodrama whose theme is revenge. It inspired Hamlet and Duchess of
Malfi. Ben Jonson refers to it in his Every
Man in his Humour. Shakespeare took more than one hint from the Spanish
Tragedy in his Hamlet.
It opens with the revelation made by
the ghost of Don Andrea that has been foully murdered by Balthazar and calling
for revenge by the end of this play. Horatio (friend of Andrea), son of
Hieronimo, Marshal of Spain, comes to tell the Spanish princess Bellimperia how
her finance Andrea has been treacherously murdered by Prince Balthazar and
Larenzo (brother of Bellimpera). They fall instantly in love and vow vengeance
on the murders by devising a tragedy (play within a play) to be performed, in
which they kill the Lorenzo and Balthazar.
SHAKESPEARE (23rd of
April 1564- 23 April 1616.)
Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on
Avon
(He is known as Bard of Avon), a village in Warwickshire. His father
was a prosperous grain dealer. He was sent to a Grammar school where he learnt
“small Latin and less Greek”.
At the age of 18, Shakespeare married
26-year-old Anne Hathaway. He had three children-two daughters and a son
(Susanna, Hamnet and Judith).
It is certain from the death bed words
of Greene who called him an ‘upstart crow’ that by 1592, he had quite
established himself as a playwright. Between 1610 and 1012 he retired to his
hometown, Stratford, where he bought the largest house in the town named the
New Place.
Besides acting in Ben Jonson’s plays,
he acted as the Ghost in Hamlet, Adam in As You Like It, King
Duncan in Macbeth, and King Henry in Henry-V (Nicholas Rowe,
his biographer said Ghost in Hamlet was the top of his performance). The
first notice of Shakespeare as a dramatist occurs in Green’s pamphlet A
Groatsworth of Wit (1592). Sidney
Lee’s monumental Life of
Shakespeare is the most
authoritative source of information available to the students. He began his
career as reviser of old plays seems to have thus collaborated with Marlowe and
Kyd in such plays as Titus Andronicus,
Henry VI and Richard III.
The
theatrical company to which he was attached is Lord Chamberlain’s and after Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603,
it became the King’s Men. Shakespeare’s company performed at various
theaters the Theatre, the Rose, the Curtain, etc. before acquiring the famous
Globe theatre built in 1599. As his prosperity grew, he became a share holder
of The Globe (1599) and Blackfriar’s theatres with which the whole of his
remaining professional career was identified.
Shakespeare’s dramatic career covers
roughly a period of twenty years from 1591 to 1611. During this period, he
wrote 38 plays, besides two narrative love poems and 154 of sonnets. The love
poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594), dedicated
them to the Earl of Southampton.
Only 16 of his 38 plays were published
in quarto (on a sheet folded twice, 2 folds= 4 leaves= 8pages) during his life
time. It was in 1623 seven years after his death, two of his fellow-actors, John
Hemmings and Henry Condell, published the first collected editions of his plays
now known as the first Folio (1623). 36 plays were included in it, except
Pericles and The Noble Kinsmen which had added in a later year. First
folio was prefaced by Ben Johnson in which he wrote,
“Shakespeare was not of and age but for all time”. Arden’s
Edition is known as most scholarly edition. He died on 23 April 1616.
Quotes: (See more quotes in Criticim notes under
Shakespeare crtiticism)
Ø Chronicle plays of Shakespeare
are mirror for kings- Schlegel (German critic).
Ø
Shakespeare
is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that with his tyger’s heart
wrapt in a player’s hide- (It alludes to “O tiger’s heart wrapp’d in a woman’s
hide!”-Henry-VI)- Greene (about Shakespeare’s plagiarism in his pamphlet)
Ø
Shakespeare
is an absolute Johannes Factotum (=Jack of all trades) -Greene
Ø
No
man will ever write a better tragedy than King Lear- G.B.Shaw.
Ø
He
had small Latin and less Greek -Johnson.
Ø
Sweetest
Shakespeare, Fancy’s Child! -Milton.
Ø
Shakespeare
has only heroines, no heroes- Ruskin.
Ø
Shakespeare
is compared to Homer -Dryden.
Ø
The
most excellent in Comedy and Tragedy- Francis Meres.
Ø For a good poet's made, as well
as born. And such wert thou! - in “To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William
Shakespeare” By Ben Jonson.
Ø “Honie-tong’d
Shakespeare” in Weever’s poem
titled “Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare” in Epigrammes in the oldest cut, and
newest fashion (1599).
Mathew Arnold’s sonnet on him is “Others abide our question – Thou art free”
Most reliable biography of Shakespeare,
William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems.
Ans: Edward Chambers
Name the first editor
of Shakespeare.
Ans: Nicholas Rowe
Shakespeare’s
Sonnets: He is the greatest sonneteer of his
age. The majority of his sonnets were written probably in 1594 when he had
gained the patronage of the Earl of Southampton. He preferred the pattern
introduced by Surrey. Thomas Thrope printed a collection of 154 sonnets
of Shakespeare in 1609. The first 126
are addressed to the Mr. W.H (may
be Earl of Southampton), the next
28 are addressed to ‘a dark lady’.
The rhyme scheme of Shakespeare sonnet is ‘abab-cdcd-efef-gg’.(4+4+4+2)
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets is a 1910 short comedy by George Bernard Shaw
in which William Shakespeare, intending to meet the "Dark Lady"
His famous sonnets are:
“Shall I compare love to
thee” (sonnet 18)
“Love is not time’s
fool” (sonnet 116)
“My mistress’ eyes are
nothing like the sun, Coral is far more red, than her lips red.” (Sonnet 130).
Shakespeare’s poems: He wrote narrative
poems when the theatres were closed between due to Plague (1593-94).
1.
Venus and Adonis
(1594): from Ovid’s
Metamorphosis, about unsuccessful seduction of Adonis, a young man, by Venus,
goddess of love. Shakespeare
describes it as the "first heir of my invention."
2.
The Rape of Lucreece (1594): story of Lucrece, who was raped by his husband’s friend. She writes
letter her husband and stabs herself. The angers citizens banished the rapist’s
family.
3.
The Passionate
Pilgrim (1599):
4.
The Phoenix and
Turtle (1601)- about the funeral of
2 birds (turtle is a bird)
5.
The Lover’s
Complaint (1609)
Four
stages of Shakespeare’s literary life (categorized by Dowden)
1.
1st period 1585-1594 (9 years)-Early
experimentations, youthful love and imaginations, wrote 26 sonnets and 7 plays
2.
2nd period 1594-1600 (6 years)- Growth and
Development, Wrote Chronicle and History plays, and Joyous comedies, wrote 14
plays
3.
3rd period 1601-1608(7 years)- Depression/darkness/bitterness
due to death of his father in1601. Wrote tragedies or romances with tragic
resonances
4.
4th period: 1608-1613 (5 years)- Resignation,
grave cynicism, wrote tragicomedies
Do you know “Feminine Ending” in
Shakespeare?
Standard
iambic pentameter (blank line) has 10 syllables.
The last syllable is stressed. It is known as masculine ending.
Ex:
-Macbeth
To be,/or not/ to be,/ that is / the ques-[tion] -Hamlet
Three
main Categories of Shakespeare’s plays(38): (by E K Chambers in 1930)
|
Comedies(18) ü Most comedies
are Romantic type. ü Main theme is
love. ü Frequently all
conflicts gets resolved and ends with marriage/ celebration. ü Set in
imaginative world. Ex: Magical Forest in Midsummer
night’s dream; Forest of Arden in As you like it. 1.The
comedy of Errors (1592-93) 2.The
Taming of Shrew (1593-94) 3.Two
Gentlemen of Verona (1594-95) 4.Love’s Labor
Lost (1594-95) 5.A midsummerNight’s
Dream (1595-96) 6.The
Merchant of Venice (1596-97) 7.Much Ado
about Nothing (1598-99) 8. As you
Like it (1599-1600) 9.Twlelfth
Night (1599-1600) 10.Merry
wives of Windsor (1600-1601) 11.
Troilus and Cressida (1601-02) 12.All is
Well that Ends well (1602-03) 13.Measure
for Measure(1604-05) 14.Pericles,
Prince of Tyre. (1608-09) 15.Cymbeline(1609-10) 16.The
winter’s Tale(1610-11) 17.The Tempest(1611-12) 18. The
Two noble Kinsmen(1612-13) |
Tragedies(10) ü Concerned with
a person of high rank, suffers as a result of tragic flaw (error of judgment) ü Ex: Sexual
Jealousy in Othello Lack of Judgment in King Lear Indecision in Hamlet. Black and Deep desires in Macbeth 1.Titus
Andronicus (1593-94) 2.Romeo
and Juliet (1594-95) 3.Julies
and Caesar (1599-1600) 4. Hamlet
(1600-01) 5. Othello
(1604-05) 6. King
Lear (1605-06) 7. Macbeth
(1605-06) 8.Antony
and Cleopatra (1606-07) 9.
Coriolanus (1607-08) 10. Timon
of Athens (1607-08) |
Histories(10) ü Related to
history. ü Usually
episodic in plots. ü Primary source
is Hollingshead’s Chronicles of England Scotland and Ireland. 1.Henry
VI, part-II (1590-91) 2. Henry
VI, part-III (1590-91) 3. Henry
VI, part-I (1591-92) 4.
Richard- III (1592-93) 5.
Richard- II (1595-96) 6. King
John (1596-97) 7. Henry
IV, part-I (1597-98) 8. Henry
IV, part-I (1597-98) 9. Henry V
(1598-99) 10. Henry
VIII (1612-13) |
|
Other
Categories are: 1)
Roman Plays: Plays set in Rome;
blood, violence, mayhem(confusion), suicide are common features. Inspired
from North’s Translation of Plutarch’s “Lives of the Noble Grecians and
Romans.” Ex:
Julies Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, Cariolanus. 2) Problem
Plays: Term
coined by Frederick S. Boas, used by Ibsen and Shaw. They are centered
on problems. Ex: All is well that ends well, Measure for measure, Troilus and
Cressida. 3)
Romances: sometimes his late
comedies are grouped together as romances. These plays seem more like
tragedies than comedies but they have happy ending. Ex: Pericles, Cymbeline,
The winter’s Tale, The Tempest. |
||
Shakespeare’s plays in chronological order:
1. Henry
VI Part-II: Historical play, based on the life of Henry VI on the back drop of War
of Roses.
2.
Henry VI
Part-III: Historical play, a new king maker Richard Neville emerges to throne.
Famous line: “My crown is in my
heart, not on my head”
3.
Henry
VI Part-I: about the young King Henry-VI, War of Roses & Defeat of his armies
by Joan of Arc (French)
4.
Richard-III:
Richard-III taking over the throne by murders of his own family members
and his marriage to Queen Anne. His victory was short lived as Henry-VII
succeeded him.
5.
Comedy
of Errors: Inspired by Plutus’ Menaechmi. Comical drama of mistaken identities,
involving two sets of identical twins, separated since birth, united at the
end.
6.
Titus
Andronicus: Shakespeare’s first tragedy modelled on ‘Spanish Tragedy’. Set against
the back drop of Roman Empire. Story of Titus, Roman General, and his thirst of
bloody revenge against Tamora, Queen of Goths.
Famous
line:
“Vengeance
is in my heart, death in my hand, blood and revenge are hammering in my head” (Aaron,
act-II, sce-3), "These words are razors to my wounded heart"
7.
Taming
of a Shrew: It is a misogynistic play. Taming a shrew’s (unpleasant, nagging,
aggressive and ill-tempered woman) independent spirit by man. Story of
Petruchio, taming Katherine with various psychological torments. It inspired
Heywood’s “Women killed with Kindness”.
Famous
phrase: Breaking the ice.
8.
Two
Gentlemen of Verona: first play to
introduce cross dressing (heroine dresses as male). Story of two
friends, Proteus and Valentine, who fall in love with the same women, Silvia.
Second heroine, Julia fiancée of Proteus disguises herself as a boy to spy on
him. Ends with marriages.
9.
Love’s
Labor Lost: Story of Ferdinand, king of Navarre, and his companions who takes oath
not to allow women within a mile of the court. When Princess of France and
ladies arrive, king and his companions try to woo the ladies.
Ends with a famous song: “When daises pied and violets blue”
Don
Adriono Character is used to satirize Peele’s Euphemism
Holofernes
is School Teacher in the play uses different pronounciation (Ex: Great Vowel
Shift)
10.
Romeo
and Juliet: Based on the Arthur Brooke’s “Tragical history of Romeus and Juliet (1562).
it is
considered as the prelude to his great tragedies. Love Story
of Romeo and Juliet from two rival families, Montagues (their only
son is Romeo) and Capulets (their only daughter is Juliet). To
cancel her marriage with Paris prince, Juliet takes a drug to pretend herself
as dead to call Romeo. Romeo believes her dead and poisons himself. Julies
wakes up and stabs herself. Brutus is the famous character.
Famous phrases/lines:
Ø
“Wild
Goose Chase”;
Ø
“Good
night! Good Night! Parting is such sweet sorrow”;
Ø
“What’s
in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”(Juliet);
Ø “Thus with a kiss I die (final
words of Romeo at Juliet’s tomb)”;
11.
Richard-II:
historical play about Richard-II.
12. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – set in Magical Forest. about the
marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens and Hippolyta, Queen of
amazons; andadventures of 4 young lovers and 6 actors in the forest. Nick Bottom
is one of the greatest comic characters in Shakespeare’s plays who provides
comic relief throughout the play. Bottom’s head was transformed into
that of a donkey by Puck (robin Goodfellow). Famous
song: “the spotted snakes with double
tongue”
13. King John: historical play
14. The Merchant of Venice or the Jew of Venice-story of two fiends Antonio (good moneylender)
and Bassanio. Shylock was a cruel money lender. Antonio borrows money from
shylock to arrange it for Bassanio to get her lover Portia. Antonio’s ships
sank and losing all his wealth, falling in debt to Shylock. Shylock demand for
a “Pound of Flesh” as per the agreement, when Antonio fails to pay it on
time. Portia disguises as lawyer pleads the case and delivers her famous “mercy
speech” in court and saves the life of Antonio.
Ø
Bassanio’s
song” Tell me where is the fancy bred”;
Ø “All that glitters is not
gold";
Ø “Love is Blind”.
15. Henry IV Part-I: Falstaff is a famous comic character in it.
16. Henry IV Part-II: Famous line: “A man can die but
once”
17. Much Ado About Nothing –Noting (Nothing) means gossip, rumour.set in Messina and centers around two romantic couples, the
first, between Claudio and Hero, the secondbetween Claudio's friend Benedick
and Hero's cousin Beatrice. Comedy is redeemed
by the delightful wit-combats of Benedick and Beatrice.
Famous songs/lines:
Ø “sigh no more ladies,
sigh no more; men were deceivers
ever;
one foot in sea, and one
in shore;
to one thing constant
never.” (Balthazar’s song about men’s infidelity)
18. Henry V: historical play.
19. Julius Caesar – Based on Thomas North’s translation of
Plutarch’s lives. It is the first play to be performed at The Globe. Play opens
with the victory of JuliesCaesar, with a famous line: "“I
came, I saw, I conquered’’(Veni,
vidi, vici)". A soothsayer
warns him to “Beware of Ides of March” (March15th). Conspirators forged
letters of support from Roman people and tempts Brutus to kill Caesar.
Conspirators stabbedCaesar and Brutus too stabbed him. Caesar utters thefamous lines: "Et Tu, Brute?"
("You too, Brutus?"); conspirators says that they did it
for the sake of Rome. Brutus’ says: “Not I love Caesar less, But that I loved
Rome more” and for the
moment crowd is on his side. Mark Antony’s
famous speech at the corpse: “Friends, Romans, countrymen, Lend me your ears!” and
all the public was turned by his speech and drove the conspirators from the
Rome. Conspirators (Brutus, Cassius, Casca) prepared a civil war against the
Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar (son of Caesar), but was defeated at the battle
of Philippi. Brutus commits suicide by
stabbing.
Ø
“Cowards
die many times before their deaths, The Valiant never taste of death but once”
(Caesar);
Ø “The fault, dear Brutus, is not
in our starts, But in ourselves, that we are underlings”
Ø “It
was Greek to me” (Casca)
20.
As You
Like It – Plot from Thomas Lodge’s Rosalind.
set as a long picnic in the Forest of Arden(fictional). Duke Senior was
exiled to forest when his brother Frederik usurps the throne. Orlando falls in
love at first sight with Rosalind, daughter of Duke senior results in
punishment to Rosalind and Celia (daughter of Frederik). Rosalind (disguised as
Ganymede), Celia (disguised as Alena) along with Touchstone(clown)flees to
forest. Frederick repents and makes his brother Duke Senior as king. Play ends
with marriages of Rosalind with Orlando, Celia with Oliver and Touchstone with
Audrey.
Famous songs/lines:
Ø “A Fool! A Fool! I met a fool in
the forest”. (Speech by Jacques)
Ø ‘All the world's a stage, we
have mere entrances and exits (Speech by Jacques in Act-II, sce-7; about seven ages
of man)
Ø “Under the greenwood”- Song by Amie (Thomas
Hardy used it as title for his novel).
Ø “Blow, blow, thou winter
wind, Thou art not so unkind …….. Most
friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly” – song by Lord Amiens, a musician, before Duke
Senior, Act-II, Scene 7
21. Twelfth Night or What you will–
set in Illyria.Viola shipwrecked and lost contact with her brother, Sebastian.
Viola disguised as Cesario and enters the service of the Duke Orsino. Orsino
uses Cesario to convince her lover Olivia, but Olivia has fallen in love with
Cesario, thinking him as man. Comic subplot involves Malvolio (Olivia’s
steward), Sir Toby (Olivia’s uncle) and Feste (a fool). Return of Sebastian (who
looks similar as Viola), adds confusion. Play ends with the marriages of Duke
Orsino with Viola, and Sebastian with Olivia.
Famous songs/lines:
Ø
“If
music be the food of love, play on” (Orsino);
Ø
“Better
a witty fool than a foolish wit” (Feste);
Ø “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have
greatness thrust upon them”- Melvolio about Olivia’s Home
Ø “O Mistress mine, where are you
roaming?” (Feste’s song);
Ø “Dost, thou think, because thou
art virtuous, there shall be no more Cakes and Ale” (Sir Toby to Malvolio)- Somerset Maugham’s “Of Cakes’ and Ale” title
drawn from this play.
Melvilio’s punishment in Twelfth
Night is to mock Puritans
22. Hamlet– Full
title: The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark”. Souce of the play:
Thomas Kyd, Saxo Grrammarticus and F. De Belleforeset. It is the Shakespeare’s
longest play. Set in Denmark. The play begins with the lines: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (Marcellus
in the opening scene). Prince Hamlet, incited by the Ghost of his father,
decides to take revenge on Claudius (brother of King Hamlet) who seized both
the throne and Gertrude (wife of the King). Prince Hamlet vows to affect
madness. Hamlet plans to perform a play within the play, “Murder of Gonzago (mouse
trap)”to confirm Claudius as villain. Hamlet stabs Polonius (father of his
lover, Ophelia) who spies on him. Claudius plans him to kill Hamlet with the
help of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but Hamlet escapes. Ophelia distressed
over her father’s death and Hamlet’s behavior drowns. Laertes (brother of
Ophelia) plots with Claudius to kill the Hamlet with a poisoned sword in a
duel. Laertes wounds Hamlet, and Hamlet with the sword cuts Laertes. Gertrude
drinks the poisoned cup intended for Hamlet and dies. Knowing the truth from
Laertes, Hamlet stabs Claudius too. Horatio (friend of Hamlet) is the only
person survived at the end of the play.
Famous songs/lines:
Ø
‘‘Frailty
thy name is woman’’(Hamlet to Gertrude).
Ø
“To
be or not to be that is the question” (soliloquy by Hamlet, in Act-III, sce-1).
Ø
“Readiness
is all”- by Hamlet
Ø
“Though
this be madness, yet there is a method in it’’ (Polonius to Frederick).
Ø
“Neither
a borrower nor a lender”; “Brevity is the soul of wit”; and “Clothes maketh man” (Polonius
advie to his son Laertes).
Ø
“There
is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so”- (Hamlet in Act-II, sce-2).
Faulkner’s Sound and Fury;
Tomstoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildernsten are dead; The Black Prince by
Iris Murdoch; Nutshell by Ian Mc Iwan are based on Hamlet
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor- It was written at the behest of Queen
Elizabeth who desired to see Falstaff in love. Fallstaff (clown), in
short of money, to obtain financial advantage, tries to woo rich married woman.
24. Troilus and Cressida: Back drop of Trojan war, Troilus, Trojan
Prince, woos Cressida (beautiful widow) before Cressida is exchanged to Greek
side. This play ends without climax.
25.
All is
Well that Ends Well: Based on Boccaccio’s Decameron. story of
Helena, daughter of a doctor who cures a king’s disease
26.
and as a gift she has chosen a young count,
Bertram as her husband.
27. Measure for Measure: main theme is Justice, love and mercy in
Vienna. Famous song: “Take O take those
lips away”.
28. Othello or full Title: The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice– Based on Cinthia’s Hecatommithi. Othello is a great captain in Venetian army. Iago, enemy of Othello, hatches a plan to wrongfully accuse Othello’s wife Desdemona (she is innocent) of infidelity by using a hand kerchief. Maddened by jealousy Othello kills Desdemona. Emilia, wife of Iago, discloses her husband’s plot and tormented by grief, Othello kills himself. “Motiveless Malignity” phrase belongs to Iago was coined by Coleridge.
Famous lines: “Put out the light and then put out the light” (Othello in Act-V, Scene2).
29. King Lear – Based on Monmouth’s “Historia
RegumBritannia”. King Lear divided his inheritance to his 2 elder daughters
(Goneril and Regan) who showed fake affection and ignored his youngest
daughter, Cordelia. The Earl of Gloucester and King Lear is bosom friend but
they both have failed to judge their eligible children. “Earl of Gloucester
subplot” concerns the Earl of Gloucester, who gullibly believes the lies of
his illegitimate son, Edmund, and spurns his honest son, Edgar. Driven into
exile disguised as a mad beggar, Edgar becomes a companion of the truly mad
Lear. Excessive egoism, ungovernable temper, Lack of judgement is the reason
for the tragedy. After the ill treatment from his 2 daughters, King Lear
realized his mistake, but leads to the deaths of Cordelia and Lear. Reason
inmadness” phrase belongs to King Lear.
|
REGAN:
Hang him instantly. GONERIL: Pluck out his eyes. (King Lear, Act 3, Scene 7.) When Regan
suggests that they kill Gloucester, Goneril outdoes her sister in viciousness
and cruelty by coming up with the idea of torturing him by taking out his
eyeballs. |
Famous lines:
Ø “Ripeness
is all” (Lear);
Ø “Nothing
will come of nothing”- King Lear to Cordelia.
Ø “I
love your majesty according to my bond, not more, nor less”- Cordelia to King
Lear
Ø “As flies to wanton boys, are we to gods” (Act
4, Sce1, Golding used this phrase in Lord of the flies).
30. Macbeth – Set in Scotland. play begins with three
witches talking “When
shall we three meets again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?”. They prophesy that Macbeth will become king
and Banquo as a successor to throne. (Shakespeare uses three witches in the
play as a type of chorus to foretell Macbeth's demise). Persuaded by his wife
Lady Macbeth, he kills King Duncan, but Duncan’s sons Malcom and Donalbain flee
to England and Ireland. Later he kills
Banquo. The Ghost of Banquo (only visible to Macbeth) creates fear in Macbeth.
The three witches visits Macbeth once again and preaches: (1) Beware
of Macduff (2) No one born to woman can kill him (3) He is safe until,
Birnamwood comes to Dunsinane Hill. (4) Banquo’s son will reign. So,
afraid of Macduff, he seizes his castle kills lady Macduff and children, but
Macduff fled to England. Lady Macbeth’s Sleepwalking sceneshows the reverse of
her earlier claim, i.e., “A little water can clear us of
this deed”. Lady
Macbeth’s suicide makes him to deliver his famous speech “Tomorrow,
and tomorrow, and Tomorrow”. Prince Malcom and Macduff raised an army and invaded Macbeth and cuts
Birnam Wood to camouflage their number. In the battle, Macduff declares that he
is “Untimely Ripped (born by Caesarian, and is not
of woman born)” and
beheads Macbeth and becomes king. “Stupid Full of Horrors” phrase belongs to Macbeth. Famous line: Fair
is foul, and foul is fair. (This
phrase is the theme of the play which highlights the hypocrisy that people
adopt to hide their true intentions.; King Duncan loves Macbeth dearly, it is
Macbeth who ends his life).
Famous line:
Ø "blood
will have blood"- Macbeth in Act3.
Ø “what's
done, is done" and “What's done cannot be undone”- By Lady Macbeth in Act3;
Ø “Life
is but a walking shadow, a poor player, ………Life is a tale told by asn idiot
full of sound and fury signyfing nothing”- Tomorrow soliloquy
In which
tragedy which character describes life as ‘a tale told by an idiot
full of sound and fury signifying nothing’.
Ans: Macbeth in Macbeth (in Tomorrow
soliloquy)
Tomorrow,
and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in
this petty pace from day to day,
To the last
syllable of recorded time;
And all our
yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to
dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a
walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts
and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is
heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an
idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying
nothing.
31. Antony and Cleopatra – Love story of Mark Antony of Rome and
Cleopatra of Greek. Mark Antony marries Caesar’s widowed sister, Octavia. He
learns about the Cleopatra’s charms: “Age can’t
wither her, nor custom stale”. He marries Cleopatra and raises a war
against Rome but was defeated. He denounces Cleopatra for his failure, she
kills herself by a snake bite and then Antony kills himself by sword.
Cleopatra was compared to a lustful “gipsy,” a “wrangling queen”,
a “slave”, an “Egyptian dish”, and a “whore”; she is called “Salt Cleopatra”
and an enchantress who has made Antony “the noble ruin of her magic”
Famous line:
Ø
“His legs bestrid the ocean. His reared arm Crested the
world. His voice was propertied As all the tunèd spheres, and that to friends.”
(Cleopatra tells Dolabella about a dream she had of “Emperor
Antony,” in which he was gigantic)
Ø
“There
is beggary in the love that can be reckoned”. (Antony says that his love can’t be fathomed
to Cleopatra)
Ø
“One
of the triple pillars of the Roman world transformed into a Strumpet’s fool.” (Roman soldier named Philo tells his fellow
soldier Demetrius)
“Age
cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite variety”. Who is the person referred to? -About
Cleopatra by Mark Antony
32. Coriolanus: story of Caius Marcus (known as Coriolanus),
Roman army general who angers easily at trivial things. The Senate nominates
him as consul but he cannot win the people's vote, so he is banished from Rome
and allies with his old enemy. He comes to attack Rome, his mother persuades
him not to, and his new-found ally kills him for the betrayal.
33. Timon of Athens: Timon, An Athenian noble man, who is generous,
ultimately bankrupt. None of his friends helped him. He leaves Athens and lives
in a cave by the sea and discovers gold. It is a tragedy of misanthropy (hatred
of mankind).
34. Pericles –Based on Gower’s Confesso Amantis. Gower is the narrator. Play opens in the court
of Antiochus, who offers his daughters hand who can answer the riddle, but
those who fail shall die. He discovered that the king but discovers that its
answer reveals the incestuous relationship between father and daughter.
Pericles doesn't reveal the truth, and Antiochus gives him 40 days before his
death sentence. Pericles flees to Pentapolis and marries Thaisa, a princess, in
a tournament. While he is going back to Tyre with his pregnant wife, the storm
separates the baby, mother and father. They all united at the end. This play
was not included in first Folio.
35. Cymbeline, the king of Britain – Based on Boccaccio’s Decameron.
Cymbeline is the Celtic King of Britain. His two sons were kidnapped as
infants. Play revolves around Imogen, his daughter. Play ends with the king
united with his two sons. Its notable character isImogen, one of his
greatest heroines. It contains the beautiful
funeral song “Fear no more the heat of the sun”
36. The Winter’s Tale–Based on Greene’s romance Pandosto. It
is unforgettable for the character of that charming rogue Autolycus. Story of
two childhood friends Leontes and Polixenes.Famous
for Autolycus’ song, “When daffodils begin to peer(bloom)”.
37. The Tempest–Inspired by a shipwreck that occurred in 1609
within the Bermuda Triangle. Story of Prospero, former Duke of Milan, and his
daughter Mirinda (only female character in the play). Prospero was
punished to exile to an island (His throne was usurped by his brother Antonio)
along with his magic books, and savage creatures Caliban and Ariel. When a
group of people washed ashore on same Island in a shipwreck, Antionio (usurper),
Alosnso (king of Naples), Sebastian (brother of Alonso) and Prince Fredninand
were among the passengers. Mirinda sees a ship full of men from outside world
for the first time and ddleivers her famous speech: “Oh Brave World, that has such people in it” (Aldus Huxley
used the phrass ‘Brave New world’ as title for his novel). Ferdinand falls in
love with Mirinda and marries her. Other Characters: Stephano (the drunken
butler), Sycorax (a witch), Trincilo.
Famous song: “Full fathom Five thy Father
lies, of his bones are coral made”(Act-I, sce-2)
38. Henry-VIII: story of Henry -VIII’s courtship with Anne
Boleyn, separation from Catholic church. generally considered a
collaboration between Shakespeare and Fletcher.
39. Two Noble Kinsmen: dramatization of Chaucer’s Knights tale (story
of Palamon and Arcite). Attributed to Fletcher and Shakespeare.
Jacobean Writers:
Jacobean (from Latin word ‘Jacobus’ which
means James) literature. It is the body of works written during the
reign of James I of England (1603–25). The king himself published four books:
two on poetry, a work on demonology and the famous A Counterblast to Tobacco
(1604). The successor to Elizabethan literature, Jacobean literature was
often dark in mood, questioning the stability of the social order;
William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies may
date from the beginning of the period. Among dramatists, Ben Jonson, Beaumont
and Fletcher, Webster, Tourneur, Ford, Middleton and Rowley were all very
active. Donne and Drayton were two of the most famous of the lyric poets of the
period. Bacon and Robert Burton were best known prose writers.
The era’s monumental prose achievement was the
King James Version of the Bible (1611).
OTHER
ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS
Ben Jonson (1573-1637)
The greatest of the group of writers
for the public theatre outside Shakespeare was Ben Jonson.He was virtually the
literary dictator of his times, just as Dr. Jonson occupied a similar place in
the 18th century. He killed fellow actor and was branded for life on
his left thumb. He died in poverty and was buried in Westminster’sAbbey. The
epitaph on his tomb is ‘O Rare Ben Jonson’. The comedy which Ben
Jonson created is known as the comedy of
humor. Based on 4 fluids. (see criticism notes)
Dryden compared him to Virgil (Shakespeare to Homer)
and said, “I admire him but, I love Shakespeare”.
According to Dryden he is “more correct poet”. Dryden in his “Dramatic Poesy” praised him
as
“most learned and judicious writer, which theater ever had”
1. Every Man in His Humor (1598) – it was his famous and first comedy work. It
tells us about the life of Londoners. Story of a gentleman, Kno’well who spies
on his son for his moral development.
2. Everyman out of his humor (1599): sequel to the first play. (Comedy of
humors).
3. Volpone or the Fox (1607)– from Marlowe’s Jew
of Malta, Man of Barabas (money lender). story of a wealthy childless man, Volpone and his
servant, Mosca (Fly). They tricked a lawyer, Voltore (Vulture); an old miser,
Corbaccio (Raven); and a merchant, Corvino(crow) that Volpone is on deathbed (fake
illness) and receives costly gifts. In the end, all his wealth is seized.
4. The Alchemist – two negative qualities of human life are
highlighted. On the outbreak of Plague, Lovewit (gentleman in London) leaves
his house to his butler Jeremy (also known as Face) and flee to the countryside
temporarily.
5. Epicoene or the Silent Women (1609)–play is about Dauphine who creates a scheme
to get his inheritance from his uncle, Morose, a rich man who is afraid of
noise. Plan involves Epicoine (a boy disguised as woman) marries Epicoine and
irritates him with noise, Dauphine helps in divorce and gets his inheritance.
6.
Bartholomew Fair
1614- Jacobean play- set at
Bartholomew Fair, which from 1133 to 1855 was one of London's preeminent summer
fairs
7. Eastward Ho! (Collaborated with Jonson and Marston)
8. Cynthia’s Revels – the purpose of this book is to bring to
light the false literary standards of the period.
9. The Poetaster – it deals with the literary quarrels and
rivalries of the day is a scathing satire on Marston and Dekker. (War of
theatres)
10.
Sejanus & Catiline-
his two Roman Tragedies
11. Sad Shepherd or A Tale of Robinhood (Unfinished Work)
12. “To the Memory of my Beloved
Mother” and “Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes”- famous songs
13. Timber or discoveries 1641: a series of observations on life and letters. published posthumously in
1641. (Collection of short essays).
George Chapman:
Song writer,
dramatist and translator of Elizabethan age. Keats made him famous by his sonnet as the Translator of Homer.
Hecompleted Marlowe’sHero and Leander(poem).
1.
Eastward Ho! (Collaborated with Jonson and Marston)
2. All Fools- famous comedy.
3. Bussy D’Ambros- tragedy
Thomas Dekker
1. The Shoemaker’s Holiday or The Gentle Craft
(1600) – his famous play and it is
remarkable for its central character Simon Eyre, the shoemaker, who became the
Lord Mayor of London.
2. Satiromastix– he hits back at Ben Jonson (by using the
name Horace) for his attack on him in the Poetaster.
3. The Honest Whore (1604): story of Bellafront
(prostitute). collaborated with
Middleton,
Thomas Middleton
1. A Trick to Catch the Old One:
2. The Revenger’s Tragedy (1607):
3. Women Beware Women (1621):
4. Witch
Thomas Heywood: Charles Lamb describes him as ‘a sort of prose Shakespeare’
1. A Woman Killed
with Kindness – it is pathetic domestic tragedy.,
title from Shakespeare’s “Taming of Shrew’.
Story of Master Frankford and his wife Anne Frankford. Frankford
punishes(starvation) her wife for her infidelity, united at the end.
Cyril Tourneur
1. The Revenger’s Tragedy 1606- disputed authorship between Toutneur & Thomas Middleton
2. The Atheist Tragedy or the Honest Man's
Revenge 1611- is a Jacobean-era
stage play,
Webster
1.
The White Devil (1608) – The white devil is Vittoria Corombona,
famous courtesan(prostitute) of Rome. Duke of Brachiano kills his old
wife by using a painting of his, with poison on lips (she kisses painting and
dies). He also kills Camillo (husband of Vittoria), a poor gentleman, in
order to marry her. They both get married and killed at the end of the play.
2.
The Duchess of
Malfi (1612-13) – Story of widowed
Duchess who secretly marries Bandello (Antonio Bologna), her steward, inspite
of the warning of her brothers Cardinal and Ferdinand. Bosola, a servant
(complex character) sent by Ferdinand to spy on Duchess, who involves in
murders of Duchess, Antonio and their children. Famous line: “Cover her face,
mine eyes dazzle; She died young (by Ferdinand)”
Beamount and Fletcher: Chief dramatists of King’s men (after
Shakespeare). Collaborated in writing 55
plays.
1. Philaster or Love lies a bleeding (1609)- a fine study of jealousy.
2. The Maid’s Tragedy.
3. A King No King (1611)– it brings incestuous love between
brother and sister.
4. The King of the Burning Pestle
5. The Two Noble Kinsmen–fletcher collaborated with Shakespeare.
6. The Faithful Shepherdess – a pastoral drama of great poetic beauty.
Philip Massinger
1. A New Way to Pay Old Debts: Based on Sir Giles Overreach, a popular villain.
2. The City Madam: Lady Frugal is known as City Madam.
John Ford
1. Tis a Pity She’s a Whore (1624) – theme of incest. Controversial work in
English literature. passionate love between brother (Giovanni) and sister
(Arabella), leads to the deaths. Giovanni murder Arabella and her suitor,
Soranzo. He was murdered by the killer hired by Soranzo.
2.
The Broken Heart
(1629): story of a brother who forces her sister to leave her love and marry
another man.
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