Ecocriticism in Shakespeare's Works: Early Modern View on Environment, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Ecocriticism in Shakespeare's Works: Early Modern View on Environment e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! Letteratura Inglese LM1 EXAM  oral and a written part (an essay, an important part of the evaluation  essay on a subjects of our choice, 10 pag including the bibliography ) essay a week before the exam Shakespeare and ecological approaches to early modern drama and literature in particular shakespeare ’s Look at the way we can study the early modern period 16th 17th century in terms of contemporary ecological and ecocritical concerns, looking at the shakespeare’s plays in which today we could call ecological but at the time it would be called “nature”. Early modern  period in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries were writing  Environmental points of views in Shakespeare’s drama and plays Relatively new development in critical writing and cultural theory  ecocriticism is really grown in the last 20 years. In this period a lot of attention was devoted to Shakespeare’s drama It is possible to dialogue with these texts in an ecological ways to find out something relevant useful for us to front our ecological crisis. There are more recent critics  a kind of idealized nature, there wasn’t a real interest in ecology and environment. OPPOSITE APPROACHES 1) Yes, Shakespeare can indeed be studied legitimately from a ecological point of view 2) No, the literature in the past worked in an opposite point of views, there is a dialogue between the two subjects. Colors A lot of “ecological” colour as an ecological Shakespeare, a green Shakespeare , an approach in which we can improve the environment The “Blue” Shakespeare there is a lot of interest in the sea, and the ocean, in the modern literature was a lot of interest for the ocean as the opportunity to colonize new states and the problem of the sealing. Blue  sea, a positive colour The critics against these views  is wrong to talk about the ocean as “blue” and as a blue Shakespeare  There isn’t a ONE point of views Looking at 4 plays by Shakespeare They talk about lands, fields, oceans, seas, animal spieces, the relationship between man and female and nature a Shakespeare who is particularly concerned about the green and the natural environment As you like it  romantic comedy Twelfth Knight  a play which has to do with the sea  blue issues - Different aspects of nature 2 of the Shakespeare’s last plays The tempest  dominated by the sea and by the force of the sea, the relation btw man and nature The winter’s tale  agriculture Critical and theoretical debate on ecology in Shakespeare Overview on some of the issues on ecocriticism The interest on ecological criticism begins in the 1960, it’s part of the environmental movement, in the 60s in particular there was a new awareness on the impact of industries and pollution. A new era in history and geology in which the world and the environment and the natural elements would now powerful things and influenced by men. Problems regarding pollution, substances used in agriculture, a new kind of awareness in damaging the atmosphere. This new awareness is part of a new ecological culture. The first of a kind ecocritical book which has influenced our awareness on environment and the first book which actual prove with writing could make a difference to change people’s mind - RACHEL CARSON “SILENT SPRING” the first really important book of evidence because she Is a scientist The word ecocriticism begins in the next decades “Literature and Ecology: an experiment in ecocriticism” by William Rueckert  the ecological concepts to the study of literature Romantic literature is very much informed about literature  they know about nature, flowers, symbolizing of nature and flowers and species Natures is represented best by poets. It’s a very positive idea in which nature is a very positive value - The Ecocriticism Reader  landmarks in literary ecology an extreme influential book 2 WAYS OF ECOCRITICISM 1) Emphasis on nature writing as an object of study and as a meaningful practice  central to this wave is the environmental crisis of our age  it is the duty of the humanities and the natural sciences to raise awareness and invent solutions for a problem that is both cultural and physical. A primary concern in first wave ecocriticism was to “speak for” nature, thus giving ecocritism gaines its reputation as a political mode of analysis. This wave kept the cultural distinction btw human and nature, promoting the value of nature. 2) Second wave (present)  deconstructing long-standing distinctions between the human and the non human, questioning these very concepts. The boundaries btw human and the non-human, nature and non-nature are construnctions, challenged by ecocritics. This wave brought with it a redefinition of the term “environment” expanding its meaning to include both nature and the urban. Re define the idea of environment  the environment now includes cities, urban areas and us. Much less positive about ecocriticism NATURE SCEPTICAL ECOCRITICISM a shared sense of the ways in which “nature” has been used to legitimise gender, sexual and racial norms (so homosexuality has been seen as “unnatural”, for example), scepticism about the uses to which ecological language is put in ecocriticism, it can also involve a critique of the ways cultural norms of nature and the environment contribute to environmental degradation. Keep an open mind There is no one definition of Ecocriticism, Lawrence Buell (between the 2 waves)  ecocriticism can be defined as a study of the relationship between literature and the environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis English literature 8/10/19 Question on values, the usefulness of English dramas in representing nature. There are different kinds of ecocriticism  Marxism ecocriticism, gender ecocriticism. A lot of natural element in the elisabethian era come from Ovid PASTORAL ROMANCE A narrative genre 16th and 17th , it was popular. It was a kind of fantasy picture often set in the past or in a exotic lands, there are supernatural elements, fantastic elements. It develops from the Italian pastoral (Sannazzaro). One of the most successful genre and the most famous was one by John Lily “Euphues”  immensely popular and people wanted to imitate it. It was very popular in courts but also outside the courts. Thomas Lodge wrote one of the many kind of sequel for Eupheus. The protagonist was called Rosalind (typical pastoral name) , why there was a female protagonist? Because woman had a particular sensibility towards nature, the was able to communicate with nature. They can interact with nature. And in fact Pastoral is not a feminine genre but it has powerful and intelligent woman protagonists. Thomas Lodge wrote a pastoral romance called “Rosalind”, name which is the protagonist in As you like it from Shakespeare. Rosalynde is a fantasy story but in the beginning it seems like a historical novel  there are geopolitical elements. Eupheus golden legacy  political opening too Rosalynde is extremely beautiful is known and loved by the people in the court, she is kind of magical, typical of pastoral plays and also in Shakesp.  woman not also were in contact with nature but they had a sort of supernatural power. The nature is an exotic nature. There a lot of surprising aspects in the pastoral Euphues : - Political - Complex gender game Rosalynd is a very powerful woman and there is a symbiosis between the natural world and the woman. 15/10/19 DUKE SENIOR, As you like it The little ice age  16th during the little ice age the glacier which today are in the process of melting and causing devastation for the world, in the age of Shakespeare the amount of ice expanded and the temperature especially in the north was cooler At the right very beginning of the century there was a storm during for month and a very bad weather. “THE GREAT FROST”  Not hyperbolic at all  lakes and rivers froze over  Virginia Woolf described the frozen land The climate change was not resolve due to emissions of CO2 but it was caused by natural causes, and increase of the atlantic…(?) but the Elizabethans was aware of climate change, they knew it. Phenomenon of ship wrecks  the expedition failed due to the presence of ice like the Titanic on a minor scale As you like it Shakespeare reflects frequently about the theatre, the culture, his way of theatre. “As you like it” was not only very popular but also a pop play. The reasons why as you like it was a particularly significant play has to do with the date of the play, it was probably first performed in 1599, at the very very end of the 16th century, it’s a play which linked the end of an era, the company of Shakespeare was very aware of the significance of this moment and the interests of the century. As you like it is a play which wants to celebrate the closing of this glorious era for theatre but also for a political aspects and the new aspect of England in the world  the first colonial expeditions. In a way it celebrates the past and in a certain sense the English traditions, in a certain sense is a nostalgic play. It was a very violent century but As you like it celebrates the old traditions of the English country life. But this is not all, it has not elements of nostalgia, but it’s a comedy with social criticism, it’s a play which is aware of social injustice, and political injustice, it’s a play about misogyny and celebrates the role of women and their strength and power and intellect. It’s possible that As you like it was the first play to be performed in Shakespeare’s new company at the Globe. It’s probable that As you like it was written to be played in the new theatre the Globe. They had to build another theatre, they took the wood from the old side of the theatre to the new side and it was renamed, it was no more the Theatre but the Globe and it was expandend. The Globe was a bigger theatre than the old one. When the new Globe opened was the most popular theatre and the play was a very big event and people went there with very high expectations. Shakespeare knew it. But As you like it was and appropriate choice, not only to end a century but also for the beginning of a new one. There are moments in the play in which the stage is very present, the idea of the theatre as the world  the globe is a very evocative name  the globe refers to the shape of the theatre but suggest the ambition of the theatre, the ambition to represent the world and Shakespeare’s company in the world. The plays performed in the globe could be played all over the world. The “globe” was a very ambitious name, but As you like it is not a play about exotic place, it’s set in England. More than once there are references of the theatre as the globe and the plays is a representation of the humanity. “All the world’s a stage And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.” The theatre-world  very popular topos at the time Elizabethan stage lexicon: - The “heavens” : above the stage, the ceiling represents the nightsky and the constellations - The “hell” : under the stage In As you like it is a play which puts on display what actors can do on the new stage of the globe, the actors changed a lot of costumes. There is something assolutely new in Shakespeare. He officiates a civil marriage but also the suggestion that this new theatre is a magical theatre and there is a magical ending of the play  beautiful costumes ecc, Shakespeare shows the audience what the comedian can do. As you like it was made for the Globe Theatre and it was also performed in the court 16/10/19 AS YOU LIKE IT It’s a play which has a positive ending, something that pleases the audience. The title is a subreferential to the act to inviting the audience to call the play whatever they want to, it’s a Pirandello like concept. an other example “watch you will”. It also introduces a kind of sense of freedom, a pleasure principle in a way this is part of the comedy itself. The names are very important. The names are not casual, the names in As you like it derive from a chevalleric tradition, in particular from the French chevallery “chansons de roland”, the tradition of the knights, Orlando, the name of the protagonist is a reference from Orlando Furioso from Ariosto, it was very fashionable at the end of the 16th century, but it comes from also from the chansons de roland Oliver Rosalind  allusion of the queen Elizabeth, the all play is dedicated to the queen Elizabeth. The pronunciation was /ROSALAIN/ cause it’s rhymed with mind, ecc Celia  the name from Diana and the goddess and an other name for the queen Adam  It’s hard to tell how much it’s a poem and how much it’s authentic . the first psychological crisis was about melancholy. If you were melancholic you were unwilling, dressed in black  JAQUES his name is a joke because in the Elizabethan slang and vulgar idioms was the word for the toilet. The English translation for Orlando Furioso was very popular, after that was invented the first……….toilet, a rudimental version of our WC Shakespeare introduces 2 new figures: the melancholic Jacques and a new kind of clown, a new fool  Touchstone In the first comedy the part of the fool was a physical part, through basic human comedy but Touchstone is more intellectual, although he is a fool, The forest Arden could be the forest of Arden in France but also the forest near shakespeares’s cottage, one forest under the effect of the deforestation. It was a kind of suitable place for a play but with a ecological approach. In a certain sense the future for the forest of Arden was in danger. It was the centrality of the survival of the English country side, in particular for the forest of Arden. There is a chronological study on the forest of Arden. The study demonstrate the devastation of the forest of Arden at shakespeares’s time. “crisis and development” the development was in the agricultural productivity  and crisis, the green area which reduced a lot during the years in particular ins shakespeares’s time. An other reason for the name “Arden” was the name of Shakespeare’s mum, so he was very affectionate to the forest. There are some tensions and conflict which are typical at that time.  it’s a complex issue (famine and agricultural exploitation)