Unit Four Renaissance Drama and Shakespeare.doc

Unit Four Renaissance Drama and ShakespeareWarming-up 常识预习1. What English period is known as the age of Shakespeare?2. Can you name some of the comedies written by Shakespeare?3. What are the most popular tragedies by Shakespeare?4. Shakespeare uses a lot of old English in his works. What do these words mean in modern English? Thou, thee, thine, thy.5. The 154 sonnets by Shakespeare attract more attention than anything else he wrote except Hamlet. Do you know any of them?6. Ben Jonson said that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time!” Whats your opinion?Lecturette专题讲座Renaissance Drama and ShakespeareThe 45-year long reign of Elizabeth I of England is the English Renaissance. The greatest achievement of the Elizabethans was in the development of their drama, and the greatest figure of Elizabethan drama was William Shakespeare (1564-1616). This era in English cultural history is often referred to as the age of Shakespeare.However, the development of professional drama would have been impossible without the protection of Queen and Court. And Shakespeare was one of the owners of the Globe theatre built in 1599. All roles at Shakespeares time were interpreted by men and boys no women were allowed to act. As a rule noble characters speak verse, especially when they are in the grip of great emotions, but servants speak prose.Shakespeare is the most widely known poet and playwright of the English language, whose language has been said to be the richest employed by any single man.His early comedies and tragedies reflect the influence of popular contemporary style and, above all, inspiration from his reading of stories from the classics. In his later works he developed a style of his own and a depth of character analysis which makes his plays uniquely alive and still popular 400 years later.Shakespeare was born in Stratford-o-Avon where his family house, his old grammar school and his grave can still be seen today.The Merchant of Venice (c 1595) is one of Shakespeares most popular comedies.Antonio, the rich merchant, wants to lend his friend Bassanio money enough to win the hand of Portia. But Antonio has no ready money, his fortune is bound up in his ships at sea, he therefore borrows money from Shylock the Jew. Shylock makes him sign a bond stipulating that if the sum is not repaid in three months, Shylock may cut a pound of flesh from Antonios body. Shylock calls this a merry sport, and Antonio is not afraid to sign as he expects his ships to come home and bring him a lot of money soon:Come on: in this there can be no dismay;My ships come home a month before the day.However, soon there are rumors that all Antonios ships have been lost, and the question arises whether the Jew will demand his pound of flesh.From The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene 1.The Jews MonologueSALARI NO1: Why, I am sure, if the forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh? Whats that good for?SHYLOCK: To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and whats his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If A Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villain you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.Since Antonio cannot pay his debt, the Jew Shylock has the right to take a pound of Antonios flesh near his heart.Portia, heroine of the play, has dressed herself up as a learned doctor of law and come to judge the case.From The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, scene 1Portias SpeechPORTIA: Then must the Jew be merciful.SHYLOCK: On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strained.It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; it is twice blest;It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomesThe throned monarch better than his crown;His scepter shows the force of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majesty.Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;But mercy is above this sceptred sway;It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;It is an attribute to God himself;And earthly power doth then show likest GodsWhen mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,Though justice by thy plea, consider this,That, in the course of justice, none of usShould see salvation: we do pray for mercy:And that same prayer doth teach us all to renderThe deeds of mercy.MacbethDUNCAN, king of Scotland.MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, his sons.MACBETH, BANQUO, generals of the kings army.MACDUFF, LENNOX, ROSS, MENTEITH, ANGUS, CAITHNESS, problems of Scotland.FLEANCE, son to Banquo.SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces.Young SIWARD, his son.SEYTON, an officer attending on Macbeth.Boy, son to Macduff.An English Doctor.A Scotch Doctor.A Soldier.A Porter.An Old Man.LADY MACBETH.LADY MACDUFF.HECATE.Three Witches.Apparitions.Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers.SCENE: Scotland: England.The action of this play is taken from Scottish history in the 11th century, a period of great blood feuds between the families of Duncan and Macbeth. But the play is far from historically accurate: Shakespeares version of the story shows the downfall and wretchedness of those who usurp power with the help of violence. He may also have wanted to flatter King James I by presenting the Kings ancestor Banquo and his descendants in a very favourable light. The emphasis on the supernatural in this play, the witches play an important part, may also be a tribute to King James, who was very interested in this subject.ACT I, SCENE 1A desert place.Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.FIRST WITCH: When shall we three meet againIn thunder, lightning, or in rain?SECOND WITCH: When the hurlyburlys done,When the battles lost and won.THIRD WITCH: That will be ere the set of sun.FIRST WITCH: Where the place?SECOND WITCH: Upon the heath,THIRD WITCH: There to meet with Macbeth.FIRST WITCH: I come, Graymalkin!SECOND WITCH: Paddock calls.THIRD WITCH: Anon.ALL: Fair is foul, and foul is fair.Hover through the fog and filthy air.The witches accost the victorious generals, Macbeth and Banquo, on their way home after having defeated the Vikings.ACT I, SCENE 3ENTER: Macbeth and Banquo.MACBETH: So foul and fair a day I have not seen.BANQUO: How far ist called to Forres? What are these.So witherd and so wild in their attire,That look not like the inhabitants o the earth,And yet are on t? Live you? Or are you aughtThat man may question? You seem to understand me,By each at once her choppy finger layingUpon her skinny lips: you should be women,And yet your beards forbid me to interpretThat you are so.MACBETH: Speak, if you can: what are you?FIRST WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!SECOND WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!THIRD WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!BANQUO: Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fearThings that do sound so fair? I the name of truth,Are ye fantastical, or that indeedWhich outwardly ye show? My noble partnerYou greet with present grace and great predictionOf noble having and of royal hope,That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.If you can look into the seeds of time,And say which grain will grow and which will not,Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fearYour favours nor your hate.FIRST WITCH: Hail!SECOND WITCH: Hail!THIRD WITCH: Hail!FIRST WITCH: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.SECOND WITCH: Not so happy, yet much happier.THIRD WITCH: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!FIRST WITCH: Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!MACBETH: Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:By Sinels death, I know, I am thane of Glamis;But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,A prosperous gentleman; and to be kingStands not within the prospect of belief,No more than to be Cawdor, Say from whenceYou own this strange intelligence? or whyUpon this blasted heath you stop our wayWith such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.Witches vanish.BANQUO: The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?MACBETH: Into the air; and what seemed corporal, meltedAs breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!BANQUO: Were such things here as we do speak about?Or have we eaten on the insane rootThat takes the reason prisoner?MACBETH: Your children shall be kings.BANQUO: You shall be king.MACBETH: And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so?Two Texts on Love, Death and ImmortalitySonnet 71 is the story of love stronger than death: the lover would rather be forgotten by his loved one than risk making this person unhappy.SONNET LXXINo longer mourn for me when I am deadThan you shall hear the surly sullen bellGive warning to the world that I am fledFrom this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:Nay, if you read this line, remember notThe hand that writ it; for I love you so,That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,If thinking on me then should make you woe.O, if, I say, you look upon this verseWhen I perhaps compounded am with clay,Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,But let your love even with my life decay;Lest the wise world should look into your moan,And mock you with me after I am gone.This is one of the most popular of Shakespeares 154 sonnets and the theme is a recurrent one in all contemporary and earlier sonnets: the person to whom it is written is immortalized through the poets lines.SONNET XVIIIShall I compare thee to a summers day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summers lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometimes declines,By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growst;So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee._thou wilt: you willbut I will better: things must be very difficult indeed if I do not take a better revenge than my Christian teachers have taught meblest: blessedscepter: symbol of royalty 权杖awe: respect combined with fearwherein: in the scepterlikest: i.e. shows itself most like Godsdoth: doesPaddock: (pad in old English) a toad, witches were believed to keep evil spirits inont: on itaught: (old use) anythingthane: in Scottish history, person of high rankwrit: (old use) wroteforgot: (old use) forgottenrehearse: (old use) mentioneye of heaven: the sunowst: owest (old use), possessGoing-over复习反馈Multiple-choice Questions1. The theatrical representations of the English take on life, death, and history began to be composed in the _ century.A. 14th B. 15th C. 16th2. “The age of Shakespeare” is largely correspondent with _.A. the English Renaissance B. the reign of Henry VIII C. the development of prose3. Which of the following statements about Shakespeare is NOT true?A. Shakespeare excelled in the literary field cha