《英国文学经典讲义》ppt课件

1、英英 国国 文文 学学 English LiteratureChapter 2The Medieval Period (1066-1485) I. Historical Background 1. The Norman Conquest The battle at Hastings (1066) William the Conqueror 2. The Consequence of the Conquest Politically, a feudalist system was established Religiously, the Rome-backed Catholic Church h

2、ad a much stronger control over the country Three languages co-existed in England The conquest opened up England to the whole European continent II. Cultural Background 1. The fall of the Roman Empire 2. CatholicismGod-centered universe 3. The Great Chain of Being All the created things are ordered

3、into a hierarchy ascending from stones through plants, animals, men, angels to God. III. Medieval Romance 1. Special features of romance a. To sing knightly adventures or other heroic deeds in verse or prose. b. Motifs of the quest, challenge, test, and meeting with the evil giant. c. The hero is th

4、e knight, setting out on a journey to accomplish some goal -to protect the church and the poor, to attack infidelity, to rescue a maiden, to meet a challenge, or to obey a knightly command. d. Mysteries and fantasies (improbable, supernatural)e. Romantic lovef. Standardized characterizationg. Loose

5、and episodic structureh. The language and style are simple and straightforward.i. The romance reflects a chivalric age. 2. The three major subjects: A. The Matter of France (about Chalemagne and his peers) B. The Matter of Rome (stories about the ancient Romans, and the Greeks) C. The Matter of Brit

6、ain (about King Arthur and his round-table knights)IV. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1. Arthurian legend There are various threads of the legend: Stories about Arthurs birth about Merlin about Arthurs queen Guinevere about the round-table knights About the quest for the Holy Grail And about Arthur

7、s deathRound-table KnightsHoly GrailGreen Knight 2. Chivalry A system of ethical ideals arose from feudalism. The chief chivalric virtues were piety, honor, valor, courtesy, chastity, and loyalty. Love, in the chivalrous sense, was largely platonic 3. An alliterative verse in Northern dialect 4. Con

8、tain 4 fits (sections), 101 stanzas 5. Structure A. The prologue (1-2) B. The challenge (3-21) A bridge (22-23) C. The temptation (24-79) First day: deer hunting Second day: boar hunting Third day: fox hunting D. Explanation (80-99) Gawain meets the Green Knight E. Epilogue (100-101) 6. Tow motifs A

9、. The test of faith, courage, purity B. The test of human weakness for self-preservation 7. Major themes Nature vs. human society The futility of human constructions The viability of chivalric values The fall of man and loss of innocence 8. Mythical pattern The motif of the Green Knights head-cuttin

10、g might originate in ancient vegetation myth in which the beheading would have been a ritual death to ensure a rebirth in the following spring. Anothr mythic interpretation of the poem would have the Green Knight as an Otherworldly lord and Gawains journey from Camelot into a terrifying, strange lan

11、d as the heros archetypical descent into the Otherworld or Underworld. 9. Character analysis Gawain The Green Knight The Green Knight as fertility god The Green Knight is portrayed with the symbols of fertility. First, he is green, the color of the land in the spring and summer. Second, his clothes

12、are embroidered in gold, the color of the sun, without whose warmth and light no life on earth could endure. Third, he wears holly which is an ideal plant specimen for a creature that represents the eternality of life. Fourth, his beard is like a bush. The Green Knight, hardy and vibrantly green rep

13、resents the life force in nature and in human beings. V. Piers the Plowman by W. Langland 1. A vivid picture of the life in feudal England 2. Exposing the corruption of wealth, the inadequacies of the government, scoundrels and hypocrites of the clerical profession and lay authorities 3. Depicting t

14、he miseries and sufferings of the needy.VI. Popular Ballads 1. Definition A narrative song, or an oral form of verse Composed by common people during a long period of time An important stream of the Medieval folk literature 2. Stylistic Features of the Ballads Simple, plain language or dialect of th

15、e common people with colloquial, vivid and, sometimes, idiomatic expressions Composed in couplets or in quatrains known as the ballad stanza, rhyming abab, with the first and third lines carrying 4 accented syllables and the second and fourth carrying 3. Telling a good story with a vivid presentatio

16、n around the central plot. Using a high proportion of dialogue with a romantic or tragic dimension to achieve dramatic effect. A dominant mood or tone, either tragic or comic. Making full use of hyperbole with actions and events much exaggerated. Using refrains and other kinds of repetitions. 3. Sub

17、jects of the Ballads Border Ballads Ballads about Robin Hood Ballads with a love theme Sea ballads Ballads about domestic life 1. a final summing-up of the Arthurian legend 2. The book tells not only of his death, but of his birth and life, and of the wonderful deeds of many of his knights, which ar

18、e based mainly on earlier Arthurian materials in French and English. 3. By presenting a familiar cycle of birth, triumph and destruction, Malory reveals the theme of the whole universe of chivalric life, and he develops this interest through his genius for interlacing stories of individuals, their n

19、obility, follies and tragedies. 4. The dominant theme is the need to sacrifice individual desire for the sake of national unity and religious salvation 5. Malorys myth explores the forces which bring kingdoms into being and the forces, internal and external, which destroy them. VIII. Some familiar m

20、edieval ideas(1) fire (hot and dry)(2) air ( may be hot or wet)(3) water (wet and cold)(4) earth (may be cold or hot)3. The four humors (体液体液) (1) Blood, (air, spring, south wind, hot-moist, Jupiter, bird, sky) (2) Choler (胆汁) (fire, summer, east wind, hot-dry, Mars. Salamander, sun) (3) Melancholia

21、 (忧郁症) (earth, autumn, north wind, cold-dry, Saturn, beast, soil) (4) Phlegm (粘液) (water, winter, west wind, cold-moist, Moon, fish, sea)The four humors (1) Sanguine man (sweet, free, open-hearted, balanced, lusty, etc.) (2) Choleric man (bitter, angry, full of rage, easily becoming angry) (3) Melan

22、cholic man (full of grief, bad tempered, unhappy, groom) (4) Phlegmatic man (thick, cold, moist, slow)Four temperaments(1) Humility(2) Courtesy(3) Adultery(4) Religious adoration6. Fortunes wheel In Greek mythology, there are three women known as the Fates. They are responsible for spinning the destiny of each person at his or her birth. It is not surprising that the Fates are spinners because the wheel of fortune is an apt image for the elusive turns of a mans fate. The Wheel of Fortune turns; while one declines Another is upraised, but she assigns The