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·A Midsummer Night´s Dream (1594-96)·
FOLKLORE AND LEGEND
- Mayday and Midsummer Night · Both magic and supernatural · Release energy and transforming powers necessary for the continuity of life
- Mayday: · Origins: ancient spring fertility festivals; Easter for Christian Church · Usual celebration at WS´s time: dance around the Maypole, Morris Dances and mumming · Pagan rituals of May celebrated sexuality and fertility · MSND => Sensuality
- MSND meaning: · A direct appeal to the audience, who used to celebrate it · Sets the magical and crazy atmosphere of the play, giving a time when reality and dream mix · Allusion to the sensuality and sexual part of the play
FAIRIES, GOBLIN/HOBGOBLING/PUCK & CHANGELING
- Oberon (patriarch) & Titania (maternal), King and Queen of the fairies VS.
- Puck: · Oberon´s jester and lieutenant. THE FOOL · aka Robin Goodfellow – a common household spirit · An elf or goblin that enjoys playing practical jokes on mortals · Also applicated to a Norse demon · Malevolent (forms part of/evoke the “damned spirits” and doesn´t regret causing human suffering), thus making us aware of the darker side of lide, the underworld realm of shadows and magic · Developed from Reginald Scott´s The Discovery of Witchcraft
CHARACTERS / REFERENCES
• THESEUS
Son of AEgeus, king of Athens, and of AEthra, daughter of the king of Troezen. Most
famous adventures: “The Minotaur” and “Amazones: destroyed by Theseus and his army”
- OBERON Character extracted from Huon of Bordeaux , a XIII century French epic, where he is the protagonist as well as Huon; in this work, Oberon is the fairy king and can create any kind of danger)
- TITANIA Associated with the Titans, a very powerful race of deities
- (^) ASS Ovid´s and Apuleyus´ versions
- PYRAMUS & THISBE Wall-to-wall neighbors who loved each other but could meet because of their parents; they spoke through a hole in the wall. They meet in the forest near Ninus´ tomb; a lioness appears and Thisbe flees: when Pyramus appears, he discovers her veil and, thinking the lioness killed her, commits suicide, dropping his blood over the mulberry fruits. Thisbe founds him dead and the gods turn the mulberry fruit to Pyramus´ blood color. This myth is used by Shakespeare in Romeo & Juliet , in the mechanical´s play in MSND, as well as in the romance between Hermia and Lysander with a few changes: · They have to leave law & order (Green World) · They meat in a ‘sexual’ place · Has cyclical meaning (Mayday)
- APOLLO & DAPHNE This myth is changed too, here Demetrius is Daphne and Hermia is Apollo, the chasing one.
SOCIAL ORDER
- Hierarchies: fairy world/”real” world; don´t respect real world problems
- Mechanicals also have a very little marked hierarchy in their group; in the final act are told to speak really poorly: this means each class has its language. · Peter Quence [wedges] => carpenter => leader · Snug [close-fitting] => joiner · Nick Bottom [bottom of thread] => weaver · Francis Flute [air instrument] => bellows-mender
him from birth to death, struggling with some vices; just as we´d expect from a morality play.
b. Allegoric characters
Bad angel, Good angel, Old man, The Seven Deadly Sins…can be represented as what they name suggest, but they are used as metaphors: parts of a conscience convincing us to do something bad/good, tempting us…
c. Comic interludes to relief
d. The appearance of the chorus
- (^) Themes
a. Medieval man VS Renaissance man · Medieval world placed God as the Center of the Universe VS · Renaissance emphasis on the individual, on classical learning, and on scientific inquiry into the nature of the world
b. Sin/Redemption
c. Salvation/Damnation
d. Predestination VS Free Will
- (^) Language
- Marlowe’s “mighty verse”: blank verse. He popularised and gave featuress to the form (Shakespeare would imitate him)
- When do we have blank verse?
- What about the sublot scenes?
- (^) Are there changes in the literary quality of the man plot?
Blank verse used in the main plot. High language/ elevated, educated. Prose used in subplot to make it more comic and to point the lower level of the characters in this plot. Faustus’ language through the play: from good to bad and from bad to worse => representation of the decadence of Faustus through the play. From blank verse to prose.
- Chorus
- What is the function of the “chorus” in Dr. Faustus?
- What kind of information does the chorus deliver and what does that tell you about the state of Marlowe’s dramatic flail and the sophistication of the theatrical audience?
The chorus appears three times in the whole play:
1st time: the chorus introduces the background of Dr. Faustus (where he comes from, etc.) and it appears at the beginning of the play.
2 nd^ time: the chorus appears to give information about things that cannot be stopped. This time the chorus explain (to the audience), the places Dr. Faustus has been, the things he has done, etc.
3 rd^ time: is a warning, final warning to the audience. Is the moral in the morality play. It appears
at the very end of the play as a moral ending.
- Main plot and subplot
- Comment on the parallelism you find between both plots.
- What’s the main purpose of the subplot?
The plot A is the main plot of the play. It is the tragic part of the history. The plot B is like a comic imitation of the plot A. There is a point in which A plot and B plot are at the same level, that is, once Faustus has his power and he starts doing those stupid things he does, like mock the pope, etc. instead of doing what he planned to do before he achieved the power.
Plot B: somehow, to demonstrate how low/pathetic Faustus gets in the play. Purpose: to give a little humor to the plot A.
·Jonson´s Comedy of Humours·
- Comedy of Humours: a form of comedy in which the focus is placed upon a particular trait of personality of one or more characters.
- Simplified humours
- Also influenced by the stock characters from the classical tradition of Terence and Plautus, as well as from the Italian Comedia dell´Arte.
- During the act II, scene ii, he writes about an unguent that restores the humours, and Jonson simplifies the theory but talking about flaws.
- All characters share the same flaw: GREED.
·Satire·
Satire is a mode of writing that exposes the failing of individuals, or societies, to ridicule or scorn. It flourished in England in the 17th^ century. A satire structurally excludes a positive moral perspective from the action. It strength its bases on the disjunction between the social assumptions and the resolution of the plot, and the implicit moral judgement by the author; the idea is that, the more pronounced the disjunction is, the more satiric the work. In England there is a fight between morality play and satire: unlike the morality play, the satire rarely shows the efficacy of virtue, much less the ordering, presence of a just and benevolent deity. The satiric play write has much to criticise but offers no positive alternative to contemporary reality; the central theme in Volpone is the devastating social and moral effect on early capitalism.
·VOLPONE, OR THE FOX·
·Setting·
Why Venice? It was considered for the Jacobean society as the oldest and most advanced centre of mercantile capitalism, and Italy was the classic contemporary land of sensational evil-doing. Jonson also used another setting so the audience wouldn´t feel attacked at all.
·Characters·
- Volpone: the fox. He is the Harlequin. Is a manipulating, stock character of the Roman: captator ; he promises things because he is going to die, and people bring him presents.
- Mosca: the fly, the parasite, the servant.
- (^) The legacy hunters: ·Voltore: the vulture. He is a lawyer who is ready to lie at court; criticises with him all this profession. · Corbaccio: the raven. He is an old man, a doctor. · Corvino: the crow. He is a jealous merchant; the Pantalone.
- (^) The would-be: the parrots. They imitate everything wherever they travel.
- Peregrine: a traveller.
- Celia: means celestial and represents heaven.
- Bonario: the good one.
·References·
- (^) The fox and the crow : a fox tricks a crow telling him how beautiful he is so he can get the food the crow possesses.
·Themes·
- Gold rules the world: GREED
· Religious vision of gold => comparison to God; sacrilegious · Values have changed because of capitalism => Gold as the Center of the Universe
· Neither Mosca, nor Volpone nor the legacy hunters get the punishment they deserve. · Morality is not restored, since satire shows humans can´t be amended.
- Metatheatre · Life is theatre, we change roles in life as Volpone does in the play.
·Language·
- Ben Jonson usually writes in blank verse, except in songs and when Volpone is as Mountebank; then he uses prose.
·HAMLET·
··Dramatic structure·
- Basic plot structure: ·Simple basic structure: a wrong occurs and the hero seeks revenge to make it right. In the process, everyone is destroyed. ·Shakespeare develops the plot of his “revenge” tragedy in the classical form: -Act I – exposition; main chatacters and the conflict are introduced. -Acts II, III & IV – rising action, largely in Hamlet´s mind. -Act V – climax, a short period of falling action and the denouement or conclusion, in which Fortinbras takes control of Denmark to bring order to this country once again.
·Climax·
- Act V – is it the climax when Hamlet kills Claudius? Anagnorisis: Hamlet discovers Claudius has always been plotting agains him, and is sad because everyone dying.
- (^) Act III – when Hamlet kills Polonius? It is the first time Hamlet acts without thinking, which is a turning point => in the same way Hamlet wanted to take revenge, now Laertes in going to take revenge. Anagnorisis: Hamlet thinks Polonius was Claudius behind the curtains.
- Act III – when Hamlet has the Murder of Gonzalo acted? He realizes who really the murderer is.
- Act I – when the ghost reveals the murder?
- Critics do not really define a certain climax for this play; we can find all these theories.
·Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy·
- Shakespeare reworks the genre: it takes too long for the revenge to take place
- (^) One of the main themes is revenge, or rather, delayed revenged, showing the clash between action and inaction.
- Compare Hamlet to Laertes or Fortinbras! He is not a man of action as them: he is more of a philosopher, a man that overthinks everything.
·The tragic hero·
- (^) Hamlet as an Aristotelian tragic hero: · Belongs to the nobility
· We see him falling down · Conflict takes place within the family (it also has a political dimension) · He is almost perfect: cares about family and friends, is well educated (he has been to Wittenberg)… · Black humour: melancholy · Hamartia: hesitation
- Hamlet VS most characters:
HAMLET OTHER CHARACTERS
- Clever • Polonius: thick-headed
- Honest • Claudius: dishonest
- Displays decency • Gertrude: displays impropriety
- Emotionally strong • Ophelia: emotionally weak
- Man of thought • Fortinbras: man of action
- Has scruples • Laertes: unscrupulous
·Themes· ·Delayed revenge·
- The ghost scene: ·Bernardo, Francisco and Horatio present it in an uncertain way; they are not sure of the ghost being the king´s ghost. · Hamlet has to see the ghost by himself.
- Hamlet delays the revenge because: · He is not sure if it is the ghost of his father. · Maybe the avenging ghost is jealous of his brother, now married to Gertrude. · Killing Claudius is high treason. · Killing Claudius is a sin. · He thinks he is not prepared to be king. · He feels this mission is too much for him.
- Second soliloquy: · Feels his inability to enact revenge. · His own lack of passion vs. First Actor · Curses his lack of action (like a whore). · The Murder of Gonzago, the mouse-trap.
·Women´s position·
·Gertrude·
- Hamlet may have Oedipus’s complex.
- (^) Hamlet gives orders to Gertrude about how to act: · Don´t take me for a mad person, you would be covering your guilt. · Don´t participate of Claudius´s corruption. · Don´t tell anybody I am pretending to be mad.
- Relationship marked by sexuality and the idea of incest.
·Ophelia·
- Absolutely controlled by males.
- Laertes: does not want her to have sex with Hamlet.
- Polonius: tells her to do the opposite.
- Hamlet scorns her too.
·Role-playing·
- Metatheatre III,ii
- Hamlet gives instructions to the actors. We see here some ideas about what Shakespeare thinks it is correct to act like and what is not right: · Hates histrionic actors. · Theatre is supposed to be a mirror of nature. · Actors have to look human. · The fool also plays a serious part, and must not be just a clown so this serious part is not ignored.
- How does this affect our understanding of Hamlet´s “madness”? We may see that he is just pretending to be mad, but pretending may lead to “be”…
