Letteratura Inglese 1 - English Literature 1: Beowulf > Hamlet, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

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ENGLISH LITERATURE 1 - LETTERATURA INGLESE 1 English Literature 1 - Letteratura Inglese 1 THE ORIGINS AND THE MIDDLE AGES (C. 700BC-1485) - The Iberians: • Little is known about the prehistoric Iberians, who were the first inhabitants of England, however, a very well-known monument made up of a circle of enormous stones, which we now believe was a temple, remains, and is known as Stonehenge. - The Celts: • When the immigration from Germany began, around 700 BC, people known as the Celts (or Britons) Came to Britain; they lived in small villages and were divided into tribes who would often battle against each other, their economy was based on fishing, hunting, and agriculture and they spoke their own Celtic language, which roots are still present today in the form of Welsh (Wales), Irish (Ireland), and Gaelic. - The Romans: • Under the leadership of Julius Caesar, the Romans invaded England, were they didn’t settle until a AD 43. They built towns and rows and introduced their culture and language, but never managed to conquer Ireland or Scotland. Since emperor Hadrian gave orders to build a “great wall” in northern England to protect it against possible invasions, the English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh developed their own culture independently. England remained part of the Roman empire for 400 years until, in AD 410, The Romans withdrew their forces to protect Rome and other parts of the empire from Germanic Conquest. - The Anglo-Saxons: • After the Romans, around 455, the territory was conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, a mixture of Germanic tribes known as the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. - Old English Poetry • The Anglo-Saxon invaders spoke an early form of the English language, known as Old English. However, we only have circumstantial evidence regarding Old English poetry, Due to the fact that they pass down their traditions orally through scops, Who are the living by singing myths, legends, and historical events linked with famous kings or warriors; they knew their poems and songs by heart, creating a sort of historical memory through constant repetition and often improvising on the spot to satisfy the audience. • This changed when Christian scribes began to transform the oral into a written form. The Britons, along with the rest of the Roman empire, became Christians after the conversion of emperor Constantine, but for about 150 years after the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Christianity was maintained only in the remoter regions, where the then pagans failed to penetrate. The Anglo-Saxons accepted the Christian ideology, adapting it to their own principles of heroism, loyalty, and generosity; which is why old English poetry is characterized by the blending of Christian and heroic ideals. 1 • These writings became the foundation of early literature and the earliest records are found in four manuscripts produced in monasteries and religious establishments in the 7th century, known as: the Beowulf Manuscript, the Junius Manuscript, the Exeter Book, and the Vercelli Book. One of the oldest and most important epic poems of Anglo-Saxon literature is Beowulf. - The heroic code: • The heroic code is based on tribes made up of groups of people who share a strong feeling of connection, known as kinship, which was deeply significant to this society. They were ruled by lords or kings who lead their men in battle rewarding them for their courage with spoils. In return, their men are morally obligated to fight for them and avenge them in case of death, and the failure to do so was considered shameful. Royal generosity is an important aspect and bloody vengeance is a sacred duty, this mindset provoked never ending blood feuds. In poetry, men were so consumed with thoughts of war that romantic love hardly appeared at all. • Old English slow paced and direct, and often use literary devices to describe creatures are objects enigmatically so that the reader can guess their identity. Some of the most common literary devices are: - Kenning, which is a type of metaphor that describes a noun with other words that we can associate it with (“helmet bearer” vs “warrior”); - Caesura (suh-zyoo-ruh), which is a break or pause in a line of poetry usually dictated by the rhythm of the language (indicated by the // symbol: “they lay on the sea-bench // slain with the sword”); - Alliteration, which is the use of the same sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words in a sentence (“Sally sells seashells by the sea shore). - The Vikings: • The Celtic people were protagonists of many battles, but the greatest battle was against the common enemy: the Vikings, who came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and began their conquest of England in the 8th century (around the time Beowulf was written). - The last invaders: the Normans • In 1066, William of Normandy defeated Harold II of England and the Anglo-Saxon troops at the Battle of Hastings, beginning a permanent Norman occupation of England. The Normans, who originally came from Denmark, adopted the French language and Christian religion and built great castles and magnificent churches in both Normandy and Britain. The conquest resulted in new forms of political organization and literary expression. The Normans established a feudal system, which consisted in a hierarchical state with the king at the top, who could even force people to pay taxes against their will. • The presence of a French speaking ruling class in England created exceptional opportunities for linguistic and cultural exchange, as well as exchange between literature‘s, were English receive material directly through French sources, which intern have been drawn from Celtic or Latin sources. Four languages coexisted in Anglo-Norman England: 2 Although it is part of heroic poetry, the blood feuds it deals with are not between men, but against evil monsters, with familiar motifs from folklore. • Beowulf focuses on 3 great fights against the supernatural evil surrounding human society: - 1. During a feast organized by Hrothgar, the king of Danes, Grendel, a monster in human form, carries off to his cave and eats 30 of the king’s men. Grendel continues to terrorize the people for 12 years, until Beowulf, who is nephew to the king of the Geats, comes to the rescue with fourteen helpers. Beowulf undertakes the fight against Grendel to save the Danes, exact vengeance for the men it killed, and demonstrate his strength and courage to enhance his personal glory. - 2. That night, however, when all the men are sleeping, Grendel’s mother comes to take revenge, this time taking the king’s friend and counsel. Once again, Beowulf fights and manages to kill her, is further rewarded and returns home. - 3. He later becomes king, ruling successfully for fifty years, until a vicious dragon comes to bring death and destruction throughout the land. He fought his last battle against the dragon with the help of his companion Wiglaf, only because there is no other way to save his own people, but this time Beowulf is mortally wounded and dies. A great funeral is organized and his body is burnt on a pyre. • The poem opens and closes with a description of a funeral and is filled with cries for the dead, and for the death of the hero. At first, Beowulf is an ambitious young hero and at the end, he becomes an old king, facing the dragon and death. His people mourn him and praise him for his nobility, generosity, courage and kindness to his people, an uncommon quality in Germanic heroes. • Beowulf is an epic poem composed in Old English consisting of 3,182 lines. The verse style is alliterative, formal and narrative, where the narrator is 3rd person omniscient, meaning he knows the thoughts and feelings of the characters while keeping a distance. • Some of the reoccurring themes are: - 1. The heroic code and kinship; - 2. Loyalty, generosity, bravery; - 3. Good vs evil; - 4. Pagan and Christian references (for example: “Cain” is mentioned, which is the son of Adam and Eve”). Sir Thomas Mallory, Le Morte d’Arthur (1485) • Folklore and literature provide examples of a recurrent myth about a leader or hero who has not really died but is asleep somewhere or in some state of suspended life and will return to save his people. King Arthur was a legendary king of Britain around the late 5th and early 6th century and a central figure in medieval literature. 5 - Sir Thomas Malory (1415-1471) • Not much is known about Sir Thomas Malory, but it is believed that he was an English knight during the War of the Roses. After being imprisoned, he began translating and shortening a series of Arthurian Romances. His works gave the definitive form in English to the legend of King Arthur and his knights. Whoever he was, his work was a bestseller when it was published and since then, the Arthurian Legends and Malory's version, in particular, have had a significant influence in worldwide art and culture. - Le Morte d’Arthur (1485) • Malory’s collection of Arthurian tales were divided into the chapters and books of a single long work and given the name Morte D’arthur (1485) by William Caxton, the first English printer. The tale begins with Arthur’s birth, education, and rise to the throne. King Uther falls in love with the wife of one of his barons. Merlin's magic transforms Uther into the likeness of her husband, and Arthur is born of this union. The story narrates the adventures of the knights of the round table and the tragic love story of Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot, Arthur’s best knight. The volume ends with the destruction of the Round Table and the deaths of Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. • Fighting consists mainly of combats in tournaments, chance encounters, and battles, described by Malory in detail. The Round Table served to provide Arthur’s knights with a collective persona. Merlin is a shadowy and untamable figure whose origins remain mysterious. King Arthur's return is a mythological motif that claims that he will one day return in the role of a messiah to save his people. • A person's’s identity is so important within the world of Le Morte d’Arthur. Each character is defined not only by his familiar relations, but also by his abilities, whether on the battlefield, as a lover, or as a leader. A person is also defined by his loyalties to his country or lord. Malory presents an aristocratic male code of honor with his favorite word is "worship”, which men can win or lose through their actions in war and love. The most "worshipful" of Arthur's knights is Sir Lancelot. Lancelot, who is compromised by his fatal connection with Arthur's queen. Malory loves his character Lancelot even to the point of giving in to the theory that their encounters in the queen’s chambers might have been innocent, "for love that time was not as love is nowadays", but when the jealousy and malice of two knights forces the affair into the open, nothing can avoid the breaking up of the fellowship of the Round Table and the death of Arthur himself, which Malory considers the passing of a great era. • The twelve virtues of the knightly code of honor are: Faith, Loyalty, Justice, Charity, Prudence, Wisdom, Temperance, Resolve, Honesty, Benevolence, Bravery, and Valor. • Le Morte d’Arthur is an Arthurian romance written in Middle English prose. It is narrated by a 3rd person limited omniscient narrator, who only has access to Arthur’s thoughts. The structure is episodic, a story that contains lots of smaller episodes – with beginnings, middles, and ends – as part of one larger story. The larger story here is, of course, the tale of the rise and fall of Arthur and the Round Table. 6 • Some of the reoccurring themes are: - Honor and Chivalry: Every year, at the Christian feast of Pentecost, the Knights of the Round Table renew their oaths to follow the code of chivalry as proclaimed to assure the king of their honor. Chivalry includes showing mercy, fighting for good, and protecting ladies whenever they may be in harm. Each knight in his own way is an example of these virtues. However, they all seem to surrender to temptation in one way or another, proving the code to be a difficult thing to honor. - Journeys and Quests: The most obvious journey in the book is the quest for the Holy Grail, a holy cup with powers to grant eternal food, youth, and happiness. - Jealousy, Competition, and Revenge: The book largely supports and defends the ideals of honor and chivalry, but these ideals are then often contrasted with the actions of many knights who fail to live up to them. - Women, Weakness, and Power: Women are largely excluded from action in the story. They are objects of desire and embody the feminine courtly virtues. However, many of the women in the story are able to manipulate events by using the desires of men. Guenever is a central figure and Launcelot’s love for her sets much of his actions in motion. - Love: The story of romantic love and chivalry that most often comes to mind is the story of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere, a love that is clearly adulterous. After his introduction, it is clear that many of Launcelot's heroic actions are designed to please the queen. He is clearly her favorite, and justifiably so, since in all of his adventures, Launcelot fights to please and honor Guinevere, and not God, because of this, he is excluded from the quest for the Holy Grail. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (c.1387-1400) - Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400) • Geoffrey Chaucer, the embellisher of the English tongue and the father of English poetry, was born around the year 1343 from a reasonably wealthy family in London. Chaucer eventually became a page, he waited the Duke of Lancaster and his duties included making beds and running errands, which allowed him to acquire education and good manners. In 1359 Chaucer was sent abroad as a soldier to France to take part in the Hundred Years War, where he was taken as a prisoner and ransomed. The king himself contributed towards his ransom, and Chaucer was later promoted as a royal court attendant (courtier), and was even referred to as “our dearly beloved valet” (“dilectus valettus noster”). He married a lady in attendance on the Queen, named Philippa de Roet, but as far as we know he dedicated no poems to her as it wasn’t in style to write poems to one’s wife. Chaucer only once alludes to Philippa, or seems to do so, when in The House of Fame he compares the timbre of her voice awaking him, to that of an eagle. • Chaucer took two business trips to Italy, where he supposedly first came in contact with the Renaissance. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio became a source of inspiration for many 7 The Renaissance (1485-1625) - The Renaissance 1485-1625: The years of reformation • At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the English language had almost no prestige abroad, and people doubted that it could serve as a suitable medium for serious, elevated, or elegant literature (Latin was still the language of literature), but the century's end there was a great increase in linguistic self-confidence. The development of the language is linked to the consolidation of the English state. In the previous period, the social and economic health of the nation had been severely damaged by the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long struggle for royal power between the noble houses of York and Lancaster. The struggle was resolved by the establishment of the Tudor dynasty and the unity of the two rival factions through the marriage between King Henry VII (Lancastrian) and Elizabeth I (Yorkist). - The Breach with Rome (1534) • Henry VIII’s contributed to England’s history with the Breach with Rome and the beginning of English Reformation. Henry VIII caused a turning point when the Pope refused to grant him a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, so he stopped taking orders from the Pope, breaking with Rome once and for all and turning to the English clergy and Parliament to declare his marriage void. He established the Church of England, also known as the Anglican Church, in 1534, with the Act of Supremacy. From this moment on, the King and all later monarchs became the formal head of the Church of England, and the Anglican church became Protestant (still Christian, but non-Catholic Christian). - The English Reformation • The new Anglicanism and other Protestant movements of the time had a few important rules or principles in common that are still valid today. Firstly, the Bible was regarded as the only source of revealed truth. This meant that the Bible and not the Pope became the real word of authority. Secondly, it was believed that people could obtain salvation only through the will of God. Good works would not necessarily guarantee salvation, which depended exclusively on God’s choice. Priests were no longer the mediators between God and the people but simply had to read the Bible, spread God's word and look after the church. There was no hierarchical system and priests could marry and have children. • All three of Henry VIll's legitimate children - Mary, Elizabeth and Edward - became queens or kings of England. They ruled consecutively after Henry's death as Edward VI (1547-53), Mary I (1553-58) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Each played an important role in both British history and the history of the royal palaces: - Edward VI: was only ten years old when he came to the throne and ruled for just six years (1547-53) before dying prematurely of tuberculosis. His sister Mary succeeded him. - Mary I: (1553-58) officially reintroduced the Catholic religion in England and was known as 'Bloody Mary' because of the way she persecuted so many Protestants; she had approximately 300 Protestants burned at the stake. At the age of 37, she married Philip II of Spain, going against the wishes of Parliament and her subjects who saw Spain as one of England's enemies. She never had the son she wanted and left the throne to her half-sister Elizabeth when she died. 10 - Elizabeth I: (1558-1603) was the last of the tudors, and became one of the most famous queens in English history. Her long reign of 45 years was a great success as she restored the country's religious and political power and stability. Much loved by her people, she was referred to as 'Gloriana', and because she never married she was also given the title of 'The Virgin Queen'. - James I: (1603-25) was the son of Mary Stuart of Scotland and her second husband Lord Darnley. Under his rule, he united the crowns of England and Scotland proclaiming himself king of both countries. Convinced that the country was to be ruled by divine right alone he excluded Parliament from government and, with the support of the Anglican Church, became a fierce enemy of the Catholics. The result was a retaliation on the part of the Catholics and many attempts on the king's life. - Humanism and Renaissance • The Renaissance is a cultural movement, which started in Italy (inspired by Petrarch and Boccaccio) and spread throughout Europe, aimed at rediscovering the Latin and Greek classics by recovering classic Latin and Greek texts and creating new aesthetic practices,which helped witness a "rebirth" of European culture after the so-called "dark centuries" of the Middle Ages. The cultural movement of Humanism placed the figure of man at the centre of everything and the measure of all things. - The English and Italian Renaissance • Although the principles of the Renaissance were very similar in both countries, that mankind could improve through knowledge that could be acquired place through the 'rediscovery of classical texts', there were some differences between the Italian and the English Renaissance: - Firstly, when the Renaissance was blooming in England in the second half of the 16th century, it was beginning to decline in Italy. - Secondly, while in the Italian Renaissance the visual arts, paintings, and sculpture were extremely significant, in the English Renaissance the most relevant form of art was literature (poetry and theatre, in particular). Both in Italy and England there was a great interest in music, which artists linked to poetry. - Thirdly, the English Renaissance was not as strongly influenced by classical models. • Renaissance literature is the product of a rhetorical culture, patterns of words known as “figures” of speech, such as hyperbole and irony, were shaped and repeated to attribute beauty or heighten expressive power. Syntax was more flexible to enable writers to follow the twists and turns of thought or perception. Poetry was more interested in drawing readers into fabricated worlds rather than a faithful depiction of reality through representational accuracy. - Writers and patrons • The career of professional writers was almost impossible, there was no such thing as copyright and writers sold their manuscripts to booksellers for ridiculously low prices. Writers would offer their work to patrons, in hopes of protection, career advancement, and financial rewards. With wealthy and Elizabethan patrons though, patronage extended beyond financial support to the creation of intellectual literary circles. 11 • In addition to the patronage, the universities also had a substantial impact on the period's literature. London was the centre of the book trade and the home of the public theaters. - The age of the Theater • The English Renaissance was, above all else, the age of the theatre. Performers acted in town halls, halls of guilds (unions), aristocratic mansions, on scaffolds in town squares and marketplaces, and pageant wagons (movable stage) in streets and yards. • By the fifteenth century, and probably earlier, there were organized companies of players traveling under noble patronage, which earned a precarious living providing amusement, while enhancing the prestige of the patron, whose uniform they wore and whose protection they enjoyed (actors without another trade could be classified as vagabonds and whipped or branded). • The players formed what would now be called repertory companies—that is, they filled the roles of each play from members of their own group, not employing outsiders. Boys were apprenticed to actors and took the women's parts in plays until their voices changed. Women attended the plays but were not allowed to perform. The plays were bought for the company from freelance writers, or, as in Shakespeare's company, the group had an actor-playwright who could supply it with some (not all) of its plays. • Before the construction of the public theatres, the playing companies often performed short plays called "interludes", staged dialogues on religious, moral, and political themes that promote the practice of examining both sides in difficult circumstances. • The Elizabethan Renaissance is known as the 'golden age' of English literature and drama, which went through a real revolution thanks to the 'university wits' John Lyly (1554-1606), Thomas Lodge (1557-1525), Thomas Kyd (1558-94), and Christopher Marlowe (1564-93), who developed a new type of drama, mixing Latin texts with popular plays, charged with tension and action. • The Elizabethan period, gave rise to the genre of revenge tragedy, in which a wronged protagonist plots and executes revenge, destroying himself (or herself) in the process (i.e. Hamlet). A related but distinct kind is the villain tragedy, in which the protagonist is blatantly evil (i.e. Richard III and Macbeth). Certain tragedies in the period intersect with another Elizabethan genre, the history play, in which the great events, most often conspiracies, rebellions, and wars, of the nation are staged (i.e. Richard III). - Public and private theaters • Originally, temporary stages were erected in the yards of inns until the first, permanent theatre (The Theatre) was built in 1576. When the first public theaters were opened, plays became a common form of entertainment. The majority of plays were written for commercial theaters where the groundlings—those who had the cheapest tickets and stood in front of the stage (on the 'ground')—often outnumbered the wealthier audience. Consequently, the language and themes of these plays had to be adapted to suit popular thought and taste. The playwrights, therefore, borrowed freely from popular and classical sources and proposed new themes. 12 • Shakespeare can’t be easily given a specific religious or political label, he seems to have been able to view society simultaneously as an insider and as an outsider. His plays can be interpreted and performed in contradictory ways. - Romeo and Juliet (1595) • Romeo and Juliet was written in 1595 and stands out from other works of this period because it is a tragedy related to two lovers instead of famous historical figures. The Prologue is written in the form of a sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines, typically having ten syllables per line called iambic pentameter. • The story of Romeo and Juliet can actually be traced back to a poet named Arthur Brooke who wrote The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet which is the version mainly used by Shakespeare. • Fun Fact! Precisely why the families are in a feud with one another is never revealed in Shakespeare’s play. Dante makes reference to two feuding Italian families in The Divine Comedy. - Vieni a veder Montecchi e Cappelletti, Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom sanza cura: color già tristi, e questi con sospetti! - Come and see, you who are negligent, Montagues and Capulets, Monaldi and Filippeschi One lot already grieving, the other in fear. - Romeo and Juliet: the plot • Set in Verona, Romeo, a Montague, is infatuated by a girl called Rosaline, a Capulet. He goes to a fancy- dress party to see her, there, however, he sees and instantly falls in love with Juliet, also a Capulet, completely forgetting Rosaline. Although the young couple realize everything is against them, because the Montagues and Capulets are bitter enemies, they declare their love for each other and their desire to get married. • The following afternoon, they are married secretly by Friar Laurence. However, before their wedding night, the feud between the two families becomes violent again. In the morning, Romeo is forced to leave. Friar Laurence tells Romeo to wait in Mantua until things calm down. If he ever returns to Verona, he will be put to death. • Juliet is then told she must marry Paris, a suitor chosen by her parents, who do not know she is already married to Romeo. She agrees because her plan is, in any case, to fake her death and escape to be with Romeo. • With the help of Friar Lawrence, she takes a sleeping potion which makes her appear to be dead. The Friar writes to Romeo to tell him of the plan but the letter never arrives. Instead, Romeo hears the official but incorrect news that Juliet is dead, so he rushes back to Verona (to the Capulet vault), where her body lies, and kills himself. Juliet finally wakes up, finds Romeo dead, and kills herself as well. The tragic story is then revealed to the two families by Friar Laurence and they begin to understand how their hatred has ruined many lives. They finally agree to bring their feud to 'a glooming peace’. - How did the world of Renaissance influence the play? 15 • Romeo and Juliet was performed during a movement centered on the concept of humanism, which aimed to use education to empower citizens. Shakespeare's audiences lived within a strong patriarchal, or male-controlled community, in which the father was the lord of his household with legal authority over everyone in it. Children were considered property and were often given in marriage as part of a transaction. Indeed, Lord Capulet's arrangement with Paris is partially a business deal in which the marriage will enhance both men's prestige. Women, were powerless outside of their household roles. The roles of female characters in Romeo and Juliet reflect the powerlessness of women in this society. - The themes: love and hate • Through the different characters, Shakespeare explores many forms of love: 1. infatuation - which Romeo has at the beginning of the play for Rosaline; 2. paternal love - Juliet's father has only good intentions by wanting her to marry Paris; 3. love in friendship - Mercutio's love for his friend Romeo, for which he will pay with his life; 4. pure love - Romeo and Juliet's love, which in the end triumphs over hate. • All these different forms of love, however, exist against a background of feudal hate which will have tragic consequences. It is this hate which ultimately kills the couple. The play, however, does not end with their deaths but with the consequences their deaths have on those around them. - The themes: identity • Romeo and Juliet meet at a masquerade ball, where everyone’s identity is hidden behind masks. At the end of the play, Romeo finds Juliet wearing “the mask of death”, that is, she disguises her being alive by pretending to be dead. • Before Juliet meets Romeo, she is comfortable meeting the expectations required for being a Capulet, but after meeting Romeo she easily sheds her old identity. Romeo, as opposed to Mercutio and his enemy Tybalt, does not engage in the hatred between the Montagues and Capulets. Romeo strikes out for the Capulet party, not to enforce his role as a Montague but as a way of shedding his old identity and stepping into a new one. • Once they fall in love, Romeo and Juliet are ready to leave their old identities, symbolized by their family names, for new ones. When Romeo asks Juliet to call him ‘love’, that is the new identity he wishes to take on, but they actually unexpectedly acquire yet another identity, death. - Hamlet (1600) • Hamlet was written in 1600 and tells the story of Prince Hamlet, the son of King Hamlet of Denmark, who died two months before the beginning of the story. Denmark is now ruled by Hamlet's uncle, Claudius, who has married Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude… 16