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TOPIC 44. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIME. THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE WORKS, https…
TOPIC 44. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIME. THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE WORKS
INTRODUCTION
Shakespeare's time was characterised by the social and religious consequences of the Reformation.
English people had to suffer unemployment,
migration to cities, and greater class distinction. About half the population was literate. Printing helped to establish a standard literary language (called the London southeaster dialect), and to develop reading and writing skills.
William Shakespeare was born 6 years after Queen Elizabeth I had ascended the throne, he was contemporary with the high period of the English Renaissance. He was an English playwright, poet, and actor, and he is generally acknowledged to be the greatest of English writers and one of the most extraordinary creators in human history.
LITERATURE IN ELIZABETHIAN'S PERIOD
represented the height of the English Renaissance. The humanist principles are reflected through a great revival of interest in Classical literature and the presence of the anthropocentric themes,
MORALITY PLAYS
are allegorical dramas where characters personify moral qualities (such as virtues and vices) or abstractions (like Death or Youth).
They were acted by trade guilds and composed individually with a primarily
religious purpose
, overtly
didactic
.
They depicted the Christian struggle between good and evil
It also shares a good deal of rough
humour
and they were
acted in public spaces
, produced by travelers who were semi-amateur groups or even by servants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm4dOI7X44s
INTERLUDES
are
short, humorous, dramatic Christmastime
plays
. They are pieces performed at courts between acts of longer plays or during banquets.
They were written blending
entertainment
with social commentary.
some of them heavily depended upon French farce.
MYSTERY PLAYS
were medieval dramas composed in cycles, each representing a different biblical event. They're endeavoured
to make the christian religion more real
to the unlearned by dramatising Biblical stories and by showing what these meant in terms of human experience.
They were acted by amateur members of the local trade guilds, ordinarily on wagons in the streets of the towns.
https://youtu.be/TjlYxlsVAOw?t=163
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbQbnpya4M
Roman
Drama
was a development of the drama into a sophisticated art form. It required the
influence of the classics
: Latin comedies and dramas.
In the mid-16th, 2 authors published their works based upon the Latin comedies:
Nicolas
Udall
wrote a classical comedy in English:
"Ralph Roister Doister"
, which contains a classical cowardly braggart soldier.
John Still
wrote "
Grammar Gurton's Needle
"
, a lively/vivid/native English material put into the regular form of the Latin comedies of
Plautus and Terence
.
English
drama
The first regular English tragedy was called "
Gordobuc
" by
Sackville & Norton
. It was set in the
legendary
very early
period
of English history shared by Shakespeare's "King Lear". Its hero divides his kingdom among his children with disastrous results (as in King Lear). It is
written in blank verse.
Theatres. The Elizabethan Playhouse
The
fusion
of classical form with the English content brought about a mature and artistic drama.
The earliest English drama had been acted by members of the clergy in the church. In the second part of the sixteenth century,
actors
were seen as idle rogues or vagabonds and as such, they were subject to arrest. In order to avoid that, the professional acting companies of Shakespeare's time (including his own) attached themselves to a nobleman.
The
first
accepted and successful
companies
were those of boys. The adult actors played in houses, the hall of an Inn of Court, on makeshift stages or in London inn-yards. In the second half of the sixteenth Century, the Theatre was built outside of London and, by the last decade of the sixteenth century, there were 8 theatres in London.
The
shape
of a typical Elizabethan theatre was round/hexagonal and very simple in structure. PARTS: a main platform, the inner and upper stages, a tiring house (for actors to get changed), a balcony for the actors, a pit in the front stage for the lower classes, a gallery for the gentry, and a roof.
. Also, a flag was flown on performance days to signal that a play was being performed.
The main
features
of a Elizabethan theatre are: person-scenes, women barred by law from stage, splendid costumes, stage hung with curtains, machines were used for raising and descends on stage, very simple stage props.
Private houses appeared for a wealthier audience and they offered more facilities to the audience, such as: seats for the public, a roof to protect it from rain, musicians who produced their own music, and stage lightning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K66AFyeSoYE&t=542s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0SBg-KG4C4
REFERENCES
Grlica, T. (2013). “THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING LITERATURE IN A HIGH-SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT WITH THE INCORPORATION OF FILM AND MULTIMEDIA INTO THE PROCESS”.
Conde, S. J., & Sanchez, R. J. (2013). "A history of the English language". Routledge.
Francis, W. N. (1983). "The English language". W. W. Norton & Company.
Encyclopaedia
Britannica
: about Shakespeare
DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION
This topic can be worked in the language classroom through communicative tasks in which the students are given the chance to watch and listen to a film based on one of the works from Shakespeare or they will read aloud any of the adapted versions of Shakespeare's plays. This will provide students with the cultural knowledge necessary to be able to adapt the linguistic contents they learn to those belonging to a more non-linguistic field but also crucial for the learning of the FL.
In addition, this topic is interesting to see Shakespeare's influences in Andalusian and Spanish works from other writers, fostering the valuation and appreciation of how other cultures can affect our own.
At Shakespeare's time there was a decline of feudal order.
It was a
time of strong central authority
, of order, and of practical solutions to problems.
Sixteenth Century in England was the age of the
Tudor
sovereigns, who ruled from 1485 to 1603.
English place in the world became affected because of new land discoveries (Columbus discovering America), field where the English were not pioneering but they
became great colonisers and merchant adventurers
.
Henry VIII made
commercial treaties with European countries and England moved from being a sheep-raising country to manufacture and export significant amounts of cloth
. London grew into a metropolitan market with more sophisticated commercial institutions.
HUMANISM
Sir Thomas More
was a great leader of this intellectual movement. He wrote "
Utopia
" in Latin, which was an appeal to all of Europe to reconsider social institutions in the light of reason and to achieve economic equality and peace.
Erasmus
of Rotterdam was a friend of More who spent time in England and had strong influence (after his Testament's translation), advocating for education based upon the classics and the Bible. He believed education had to be liberal and practical; designed to prepare able people for the duties of government.
Queen
Elizabeth
is an outstanding example of this education, with her command of languages and practical sense of the problems of diplomacy). However, the Tudors inherited a medieval view of the world (they thought that everyone had their natural place in the unity of the whole, both in the family and the state, which should be governed by a single head).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVe3tgX0RNk&t=281s
ENGLISH
REFORMATION
was:
It was a series of
events in the 16th century that led to the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church
The split was caused by Henry VIII's dynastic moves: he championed against Luther and his opinions,
he needed a legitimate son and he couldn't get one without the divorce
which Rome refused him (he required oaths of allegiance to
become supreme head of the ENglish Church
).
Therefore, Sir Thomas More refused to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
(for this, More was convicted of treason and hence executed).
On top of that, Thomas Cromwell dissolved the monasteries and distributed the property to a group of supporters who remained anti-papacy, further weakening the church's power
As a
result
,
Henry's
actions led to the
establishment of the Anglican Church
, declaring himself its Supreme
head
. He laid the foundation for Anglican Christianity, changing English History.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR1-j7pa4mM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkp7TPZHjyA
https://youtu.be/mcZVRxrBIkk?si=swX0mc3rJk52sGFI
NATIONALISM. ELIZABETH I
Elizabeth Tudor was one of the most remarkable political geniuses ever. She
ruled from 1558 until 1603
. She realized that
England
strength lay in its
middle
position in the balance of power in
Europe
, between Spain and France supporting or not the protestant uprising in the low countries.
There was
opposition
: The
papal
bull of 1570, excommunicating Elizabeth and relieving her subjects of their loyalty to her, along with the
Ridolfi
Plot of 1571 which was meant to bring to the throne Mary of Scots (catholic by faith and French by culture). However, it
resulted in Englishmen rallying to her
and Elizabeth became a symbol of Englishness and nationalism. Her beauty, wisdom and divine became articles of faith.
In 1588, the defeat of the great Spanish Armada seemed to justify that faith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfgeLdXA87I&t=73s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCd6yi1Bao
https://youtu.be/g5ftViSh9sU?si=Aj3LURvu_GT1WR2S
https://youtu.be/KMVORli6lxA?si=KtmqtgFk2A0r53kj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvlZZeTMjK0&t=120s
JAMES I
Upon Elizabeth's death, ENgland welcomed James I (who was already king of Scotland) and his family. His reign sealed the union of the Scottish and English monarchies
. Educated similarly to Elizabeth, he delevoped a similarly balanced approach to governing. James was more liberal in his favours than Elizabeth, granting over 300 knighthoods before even reaching London in his procession from Scotland to England.
Though he was a simple-mannered and unkempt figure, James' extravagant and indulgent lifestyle put unsupportable strains on royal finances (already crippled by war, inflation and Elizabeth's sale of Crown Lands).
He had literary aspirations and encouraged and participated in the translation of the Bible into English (1611):
The King James Bible
because he wanted a unified English translations, free of errors and bias.
He was strongly committed to a peace policy, and tried to avoid involving in religious wars, ending England's war with Spain in 1604. However, his reign saw the infamous
Gunpowder Plot
of 1605, a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics to assassinate the king and blow up the Parliament
He was succeeded by the second son, Charles (who was to be overthrown by a Puritan-dominated Parliament and its army).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENswh8jzBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN7-EvgKAsk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc3A8hPlRqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9JW-RE4-ZE
SHAKESPEARE
life
he was son of a prosperous glover who later became the presiding officer of the Corporation.
her mother was a farmer's daughter.
he attended the
local grammar school
where he was taught correct English (the commonest form of education in the Tudor age)
He
married Ann Hathaway
and they had 3 children.
He
left to London and became an actor
and professional playwright in 1592. He joined the Chamberlain's Men (who later were called the King's Men when James I ascended to the throne), mainly working for the Globe (theatre he helped to build, open in 1599). Then he started writing plays too.
He was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1564.
In 1593, the
plague
killed thousands and theatres were closed. During this time, Shakespeare started writing poems (
sonnets
) instead of plays.
works
usually divided into 5 acts (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution)
PHASE 3:
problem plays
, difficult to interpret and sombre in tone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTu39aMg_mU
PHASE 4:
the great tragedies
, showing a mode of thought quite unlike Greek tragedy or Earlier English tragedy, demonstrate a fully developed style with
complex characterizations, moral ambiguity, profound exploration of human nature, and intense emotional resonance
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5goS69LT4
PHASE 2: more mature style with more flexible syntax and rhythm
: more concentrated imagery; more forceful characterisation; a
mixture of comedies and history plays
.
PHASE 5: the romances or
reconciliation plays
; little of the partial realism of the tragedies; tragedy transformed into reconciliation of the opposing elements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvznOeSyESU&pp=ygUnd2h5IHNob3VsZCB5b3UgcmVhZCB0ZWQgZWQgc2hha2VzcGVhcmUg
PHASE 1: variety of different modes of no great complexity or imagery; written in
end-stopped blank verse and with quite a lot of rhymed lines
.
SONGS AND SONNETS
were the last collection of 154 Shakespeare's poems to be printed. They explored
themes
of
love
, beauty, politics and mortality. It seems he wrote them for private readership. It is as if he had planned
2
contrasting
series
:
one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion, and another one about conflicted love for a fair young man.
They illustrate many sides of Shakespeare's genius, his incomparable lyric gift, his ready humour, his marvellous sensitivity to the sights and sounds of English life.
They are almost constructed of 3 quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a final couplet. The sonnets are composed in
iambic pentameter
. The structure of the sonnet frequently reinforces the power of the metaphors. The rethorical strategy of the sonnets is also worth observing.
The
vocabulary
is often
simple
, and the
metaphorical style
is
rich
. The imagery comes from a wide variety of sources. The
moods
include
delight, pride, melancholy, shame, disgust, fear
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDpW1sHrBaU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5lsuyUNu_4&t=112s&pp=ygUnd2h5IHNob3VsZCB5b3UgcmVhZCB0ZWQgZWQgc2hha2VzcGVhcmUg
LANGUAGE
= both the state of English around 1600 and Shakespeare's use of it. It's renowned for its richness, wordplay, puns and impact on the English language
Though no play embodies the full range of Shakespeare's linguistic ideas and practices, "Richard II" is notably concerned with the powers, limits and dangers of Shakespeare's language.
Shakespeare's
vocabulary
is estimated around
2,000 words
. To achieve that, he drew on Renaissance technical terms, derivations, compounds, archaisms, polysemy, etymological meanings, and idioms.
With respect to the
orthography
, the original editions of Shakespeare's works used
no apostrophe for possessives
; and the letters v/u varied according to position rather than sound (something similar happened with letters i/j). Other non-substantive variants included
silent final e
(robbes).
In
pronunciation and rhyme
, the early editions of Shakespeare spelled the vowel in
band
and
bond
indifferently, and
made no distinction between the consonants in words
such as
murders
/
murthers
. Presumably, the spellings represented indistinguishable pronunciations.
The
syntactic
structure of Shakespeare's Early Modern English includes features such as:
playing with word order
, the polarity of adjectives and verbs; transitivity;
subject-verb concord; negation and the use of
do
; relative pronouns and conjunctions; verb inflection; personal pronouns; and strong/weak verbs. The ending -s and -th occurred in the third-person singular indicative.
His
influence
still lives in the English language, with many
expressions
he created that we still use today, such as "
break the ice
".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMkuUADWW2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp3HeCfHz1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkOOX2iGsGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zZU-ofEiOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsvcXwcrHt0
https://youtu.be/7hGbNcAvT60?si=2oqzh3463t1qi6za
