Shakespeare e il teatro elisabettiano, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Shakespeare e il teatro elisabettiano e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare was born in 1564. He was the genius of English drama and the Elizabethan era. The Elizabethan theatre was the golden age of English theatre from 1558 to 1608. Shakespeare used 2 genres: 1. Poetry: it was formed by sonnets and represented the beginning of his career. He was inspired by Petrarca, but he didn’t copy him. He took some elements from his poetry and created special English sonnets. 2. Drama: it represents theatre in general with subgenres:  Tragedies: they have a serious topic with a dramatic ending and it is usually the death of the protagonist, the hero;  Comedies: they have a light topic and a happy ending. It is usually the marriage of the principal couple;  Historical plays: they are similar to tragedies because they have a disastrous ending and the plot is taken from the history of a country and others invented. They took inspiration from country of England, in particular “chronicles of England, Scotland and Wales” by Holinshed In the comedies the topic is generally love where 2 lovers have problems on their love and the main element is the misunderstanding and it also created comic moments, called interludes In the tragedies at the beginning there is order but an event destroy it and the hero restores the initial order and, in the end, there is the death of hero. The structure of tragedies is similar to a parable and it is symmetric: 5 acts with a variable number of scenes. 1. Level 0: there is an order that seems to be safe, everyone has a specific role 2. Actions and events are rising very quickly 3. CLIMAX this is the most intense part of the drama. It is the turning point 4. There is the down-fall of the hero, the situation calms down 5. There is the death of the hero and of other characters, but this event finally restores the order There is a break with Greek culture and tradition because in the Greek culture humans and heroes haven’t got responsibilities, the destiny is already chosen, usually gods fix everything. Instead, Shakespeare thinks the hero is a human and responsible, humans are makers of their own future, and destiny. The hero has a FATAL FLAW : he acts in a way that will bring him down in fact heroes aren’t perfect, they are a mix of black and white, good and sin. The death is a consequence of an action of the hero. Example: Hamlet’s indecision; Macbeth’s ambition; Romeo and Juliet’s impatience; Othello’s jealousy. They aren’t perfect, they are humans. Shakespeare also broke the 3 Aristotelian laws:  Time: the duration is one day, to love a bigger PHATOS  Place: everything happened in the same place to increase the effect of PHATOS  Action: there is only one plot without subplots Instead, the Shakespeare’s laws are: pag. 1  Time: the duration is variable, the tragedy lasts days, weeks, months or also years. There were also time jumps  Place: there were different locations  Actions: there is a principal plot with many subplots, that are important for a character’s psychological analysis. Changing place often was very difficult because in the theatre you need to change the scenery. The historical period is the Renaissance= Rinascimento and the artistic period is humanism and anthropocentrism: humans were at the centre of their existence for better or worse. THEATRE In the 15thcentury there were religious celebrations in the central area of the church, that represent the scene of the Bible and the actors were monks and priests. There were celebrations because a lot of people didn’t read and they want to learn the message of Bible. These celebrations there were on Sundays and other religious days. These celebrations were so successful that they went out of the church: it is a symbolic transformation from religious to lay. The topic and the actors changed; they were lay people. The place where these celebrations took place took the name of play houses and the people loved this type of theatres. These celebrations were for entertainment and reinforced the identity of community; they didn’t stay lonely but all together. Also, it was reinforced by the anticipation, because they weren’t frequent and it made people more enthusiastic. Before spreading to every corner of England, at the beginning they were just in London but after decades in other big cities. Eventually permanent theatres began to be established. It became a business, each member had shares. It was a group of cooperative people. Each one made an investment and they earned their salary through tickets. And each member was an owner of a part of the theatres, they didn’t own everything. The first theatre was born in 1576 and it was called “the theatre”. This is the origin of the name “theatre” because all later theatres copied this name. In 1599 the GLOBE was born, Shakespeare’s theatre; Shakespeare’s company was Lord Chamberlain’s men. It breaks with the past. In fact, directors, actors and dramatists weren’t a hobby but they became a real profession. STRUCTURE The theatres had a circular or an octagonal plan and they were 10 to 15 metres high and they had a diameter of 25 metres;  they didn’t have the curtain and the roof;  there was a bigger stage, called stage or apron  Pillars create an inner rectangular area: shadow, it was in the shade, in fact it was used for concealments. It was the smaller stage  They used the trap door for apparition or disappearances, also they used props, things for scenes  The main stage is a part of the stage used for the most important scenes, with a more direct connection to the audience. pag. 2 RICHARD III This play was dedicated to the king of England, quoted in many plays, but this is the most important. We have a historical play (Richard is an historical character) and tragedy (structure go up, down and again up). Richard is the hero and antihero. He has a relationship of empathy with the audience. He is the member of one of the two houses that the entire the war of the roses. It started on the second half of 15thcentury and terminated on 1485 in the battle of Bosworth. Cycle of fights of the crown between 2 dynasties:  York: emblem of white rose (Richard)  Lancaster: emblem of red rose At the beginning of the play York won the last fight of that moment. He is the brother of Edward IV, the king of England. Richard is blind of power, but he isn’t the following of the dynasty. DYNASTY Before Edward IV. There was a Lancaster king Henry VI In the 1485 Henry VII married a York woman and it’s started the Tudor dynasty pag. 5 Henry VI (Lancaster) period of his reign from Edward IV (York) 1461-1470 + 1471-1485 (year of his death) After son Edward V governates for 78 days because Richard III killed him and his brother and imprisoned them in the tower of London. And in 1483 he became the king and died in 1485. The brother George never reigned because when he was in prison, someone killed him. He was refund in the tower of London. In 1485 Henry VII married a woman that belong to the York – the Tudor dynasty Henry VIII had 6 wives trying to have one son, he had one but he died as a child. For this reason, he changed the dynastic laws and allows is daughter to come a queen. SUMMARY After a long civil war England enjoys a period of peace under king Edward IV and the victorious York. But the king’s younger brother Richard, duke of Gloucester, resent Edward IV’s power and the happiness of those around him. Malicious, power-hungry and bitter about his physical deformity, Richard plots to seize the throne by removing any and all impediments between him and the crown. What follows is the beginning of the play, the famous monologue in which Richard plots against his enemies to gain the power of the crown. pag. 6