英国文学教案Lectrue4

1、英国文学史及作品选读 课程教案（第4讲）授课时间2017-2018学年第二学期03.04-03.010授课对象15-17级各专业选修生授课主题Chapter 3 The Golden Age of English Drama教学目的 与要求1 Help the students know some information about Renaissance.2 Help the students know some information about origins of English drama3 Help the students have a good understanding of

2、 Shakespeare.4 Make sure the students have a better understanding of Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 55-86)教学重、难 点1 Renaissance2 Shakespeare3 Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 55-86)主要教学方 法Lecture; Discussion; Multi-media教学内容 的组织与 设计Detailed Teaching Points & Procedure1 Renaissance1.1 Definition of Renais

3、sance Renaissancerefers to the period between the 14th and mid-17th centuries. It makes a transition from the medieval to the modern world. It started in Italy with the flowering of painting, sculpture and literature, and then spread to the rest of Europe. The term Renaissance means rebirth or reviv

4、al. The Renaissance period was marked by a reawakening of interest in learning, in the individual and in the world of nature. The revival of learning led scholars back to the culture of Greece and Rome. The rebirth of interest in the individual gave rise to a new appreciation of beauty, to a desire

5、for self-expression in varied activities and to the creation of art. The renewal of curiosity about the nature word ultimately drew men to discover new lands and new scientific truths. In this period, the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to abolish old feudalist ideas in medieva

6、l Europe, to introduce new ideas of the rising bourgeoisie, and to carry out religious reformation. It had the most far-reaching influence and paved the way for Religious Reformation and the Bourgeois Revolution.1.2 Humanism Broadly, this term suggestsany attitude which tends to exalt the human elem

7、ent or stress the importance of human interests, as opposed to the supernatural, divine elements or as opposed to the grosser, animal elements. In a more specific sense, humanism suggests a devotion to those studies supposed topromote human culture most effectively in particular, those dealing with

8、the life, thought, language, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. According to humanis man should mould the world according to his own desires, and attain happiness by removing all external checks by the exercises of the human intellect. Humanism was one of the most important factors giving ri

9、se to the renaissance.1.3 Main traits of the Renaissance literature It emphasizes the dignity of man, affirms and eulogizes the value of man, which often implies a lessening in the power of God. It describes the intellectual and physical“virtues “ of the human being, and of its place in the creation

10、. It advocates the full expression of indivi dualism and the fulf川ment of ones,abilitiesagainst the despotic rule of feudalism. It declares that the purpose of life is theunrestrained and selfsufficient practice of ones virtues ” , the compelent andexercises of one s skill. It affirms the delight of

11、 earthly achievement, as well as mans desire forhappinpleasure. Its preoccupation is with this life and it exposes the hypocrisy and debauchery of the clergy. Nevertheless, at the same time, there is also the so-called RenaissanceMelancholy.Existing side by side with the exaltation of mans potential

12、ities are the puzzliiand a profound mistrust of mans own powers. Man s moral nature is seen as n(much lower than the angles, but also scarcely above the beasts. Of course, the renaissancespirit is best expressedthrough the works of its greatest master, William Shakespeare.2 Origins of English drama2

13、.1 Three plays Miracle playsThe miracle play had as its subject either a story from the bible, or else the life and martyrdom of a saint. In the usage of some historians, however,“ miracle “ mystery play ”only dramas based on saints lives, and term Morality plays Morality plays were dramatized alleg

14、ories of a representative Christian life in the plot form of a quest for salvation, in which the crucial events are temptations, sinning, and the climactic confrontation with death. The usual protagonist represents Mankind, or Everyman; among the other characters are personifications of virtues, vic

15、es and Death, as well as angels and demons who contest for the prize of the soul of Mankind. A character known as thVice often played the role of the tempter in a fashion both sinister and comic; he is regarded as a precursor both of the cynical, ironic villain and of some of the comic figures in El

16、izabethan drama, ncluding Shakespeare s Falstaff. InterludeInterlude is a term applied to a variety of short stage entertainments, such as secular farces and witty dialogues with a religious or political point. In the late fifteen and early sixteenth centuries, these little dramas were performed by

17、bands of professional actors; it believed that they were often put on between the courses of a feast or between the acts of a long play.2.2 The Elizabethan dramatists who influenced Shakespeare University WIs The mystery plays, the morality plays and the interludes paved the way for the coming of th

18、e golden age of English drama- the Elizabethan Age. At the beginning of this period, a group of Oxford and Cambridge graduates came to London with the ambition to become professional writers. They were eager to put what they had learned at universities before the public. They worked as poets, prose-

19、writers and playwrights. This group, later known as the University Wit consists of a group of talented young writers, such as Robert Greene, John Lyly, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge, Thomas Kyd, George Peele, and Christopher Marlowe. They helped to free English tragedy from artificial restrictions impo

20、sed by classical authority and they developed a comedy tradition that is more close to life. Their plays paved the way for the creation of many of Shakespeare influence on Shakespeareis certain: Kyd and Marlowe influenced his great tragedies; Greene, Peel, Lodge and Lyly influenced his comedies and

21、romances.university wits.Howev Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Christopher Marlowe died the youngest among theis widely acknowledged as the greatest tragedy writer before William Shakespeare Marlowe s talent as a skillful playwright was first shown at Cambridge, where he composed Tamburlaine (c.1587

22、), a drama in blank verse. In the following six years, he wrote five more plays: Tamburlaine, Part II, The Massacre at Paris, Edward II (1594), which served as a model for Shakespeare Rschard II and Richard III; The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (performed in 1594; published in 1604); and the t

23、ragedy The Jew of Malta (performed about 1592; Published in 1633). Marlowe is one of the first playwrights to use blank verse in English drama. His influence on Shakespeareis certain and he could even have a hand in the composition of some of Shakespeare plays. Marlowe sragedies demonstrate a passio

24、n and grandeur that only Shakespeare plays can match. But he was often s( much carried away by emotion that he neglected the structural smoothness demanded of a first playwright. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is a play based on the German legend of a magical aspiring for knowledge and final

25、ly meeting his tragic end as a result of selling his soul to the devil. The play dominant moral is human rather than religious. It celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness; it also reveals man frustration in realizing the high aspirations in a hostile morals condiorder. And th

26、e confinement to time is the cruelest fact of man Blank verse Blank verse is unrhymed poetry, typically in iambic pentameter, and, as such, the ttt t 1thdominant verse form of English dramatic and narrative poetry since the mid-16 century.a classical Blank verse was adopted by Italian Renaissance wr

27、iters from classical sources; it became the standard form of dramatists. Christopher Marlow used blank verse for dramatic verse; and English playwright William Shakespearetransformed blank verse into a supple instrument, uniquely capable of conveying speech rhythms an emotional overtones. According

28、to the English poet John Milton, only unrhymed verse could3 W川iam Shakespeare3.1 Shakespeare s life Shakespeare was born in April 1564, on April 23, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He was a very talented person and studied in a local grammar school for six years. H learned not only writing and

29、 reading, but also Latin and Greek. According to the legend, he had poached upon the lands of a certain Sir Thomas Luc a rich landlord and country magistrate andwas caught by Lucy s keepers and se、punished. Shakespeare avenged himself by composing a satirical ballad; very soon it became so popular t

30、hroughout the countryside that wherever Sir Thomas Lucyappeared he was met with the strains of the ballads. Sir Thomas was enraged andredoubled his persecution to such a degree that Shakespeare was compelled toStratford and seek refuge in London.While at home he often went to watch the traveling com

31、paniesplays suci as milplays in the neighboring town of Coventry. In 1582 he married a farmer s daughter Anne Hathaway, who was eights/eldrsr. He arrived in London in 1586 or 1587. From then on he began his career as a playwright. Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, and was buried in H

32、oly Trinity Church, Stratford.3.2 Three major periods of Shakespeare s literary lifeAs the greatest English poet and dramatist, Shakespeare left us a great wealth of 154sonnets, 37 plays, including 14 comedies, 12 tragedies, and 11 historical plays, as we as two long poems. The first period: 1590 to

33、 1600, in which he wrote altogether 22 plays: 11 comedies, three tragedies and eight historical plays. Generally speaking, this is a period marked by youthfulness, optimism and rich imagination. Shakespeare looked upon the world as a just one in which good can always overcome evil in the long run, a

34、nd justice would eventually win its cause in the end. In this period he created his best history plays: Henry IV , Richard n , and Henry V , and the best comedies he wrote in this period are A Midsummer Night s Dream, The Merchant of Venice Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It; and Twelfth Night;

35、as well as his first masterpieces in tragedy, Romeo and Julietand Julius CaesarThe second period: 1601 to 1608, the period of tragedies. This period is marked by gloom and depression combined with masterly workmanship. During these years, the mind and the heart of the poet were concerned with deepes

36、t matters of human life an this period reflected his growth in experience, in vision, and in sympathy. In thishe produced his four great tragedies:Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, which represent the climax of his dramatic power. In each of those plays there is an intensemoral struggle, a le

37、ss joyous view of life, and a profound view of philosophy. He touches all the depth of human passion and human tragedy, treachery, lust,jealousy, ingratitude, madness of man, etc. During this period Shakespeare smankind had been shattered. The world no longer seemed a just one, but a world fille wit

38、h hopeless pessimism, gloom and depresson.“The time is ouo f joint: O cursedspite, that ever I was born to set it right!”The third period: 1609 to 1612, the period of dramatic romances. The plays in thisllbelief dperiod are full of unrealistic compromises and fantasy. It is a period of restored sere

39、nity and tolerant resignation. He no longer hated the world but accepted it with acomedies filled with.However, he finds life once more worthandsmile of resignation. He writes no more historical plays full of bloody horrors; no more tragedies in which the whole world goes crashing down with the hero

40、; and no morethe world beautiful, enchanting, and fantastically attractive.3.3 Chief achievements and characteristics of Shakespeare s dramaShakespeare s success as a great playw chiefly rest on the following five aspects:1) The progressive significance of his themes; 2) His successful character por

41、trayal; 3) His master-hand in constructing plays; 4) The ingenuity of his poetry; 5) His mastery of English language. Shakespeare s themesNo other writer in English history has dealt with such a variety of themes as William Shakespeare.Through his plays, he touched almost every aspects of human life

42、, of human pleasures and human tragedies Shakespearepaints in his dramas a faithful panorama of the decline of old feudal nobility and the rise of the Tudor monarchy, which represented the interests of the English bourgeoisie. Moreover, he is perhapse perfect expression of Renaissance humanism. He d

43、istilled into his drama the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance, and his drama becomes an expression, a monument of the English Renaissance. Shakespeare character portrayalIn his 37 dramas, Shakespeare created large group of lifelike characters who live and struggle, suffer and rejoice representing

44、 all the complexities and implications of real life. His keen insight into the workings of human spirit enabled him to pierce to the very core of his characters and made his men and women unforgettable creatures of flesh and blood. Though his characters are often clothed in foreign dresses, the thou

45、ghts and feelings of the characters belong to the age of Shakespeare.He wrote about his own people and for his own people Shakespeare play constructionShakespeare is a master-hand for every form of drama comedy, tragedy, and historical plays. Moreover, his tragedies may have comic elements, and his

46、comedies include sardonic commentaries on human frailty He is skillful at recreations that under his pen every old story puts on a new look, shines with a new beauty of its own , and becomes a dramatic art with a new significance. The plots of Shakespeare well-arranged according to the requirement o

47、f the theme and content. The action is developed freely, without being hindered by the rules of the classical unities (action, place and time). Shakespeare s PoetryIn his creation of dramas, he succeeded in combing the two sides of his talent Shakespeare the poetand Shakespeare the dramatist into on

48、e and produced the most remarkable poetic dramas in England or perhaps in the whole world. The lines in his plays are not mere decorationsbut all have their own values. They serve as a vehicle of utterance to all the possible sentiments of his characters. Shakespeare not only produced wonderful poet

49、ry in different forms, like songs sonnets rhymed couplets, and especially dramaticblank verse he was also a master oforose of various styles, both effective and powerful. Shakespeare s LanguageShakespeare command of vocabulary was the largest among the Elizabethan dramatists. He used more than 16000

50、 different words and enriched the English language with his own coinage. Under his hand, words glow with life , which vitalize the printed pages with beauty, melody, humor, pathos, tenderness, force or whatevereffect he choose to produce. He uses the English language the greatest freedom and ease so

51、 that all the speeches fit all the characters that use them.3.4 Shakespeare s works and the comments Major comments on some of Shakespeare s worRefer to Textbook A New Concise History of English Literature (P79-89) The Merchant of V enice A double plot: (1) the story between Bassanio and Portia: (2)

52、 the story between Antonio and Shylock The theme: on eulogy of the triumph of justice and love over insatiable greed and brutality. The image of Portia: Portia is a woman of the Renaissance-beautiful, prudent, cultured, courteous, resourceful, decisive, independent and capable of rising to an emerge

53、ncy. She is one of Shakespeares ideal women Hamlet The story of Hamlet(Ask the student to retell the story) Hamlet was published in 1603.and was considered to be the summit of Shakespeare ars . Shakespearetook the source from an old story of Prince Amleth of Denmark. But the content of the play is i

54、n fact the reflection of hishumanitime. So the play is the profound expression of Shakespeare criticism of contemporary life. The play is set in Elsinore. Hamlet, King of Denmark, is dead and has been succeeded, not by his son, Hamlet, but by his brother, Claudius. Soon after thefuneral, Claudius ma

55、rries his brothers widow, Queen Gertrude. The old kinghost appears to an already distraught Hamlet to tell him that he was murdered by Claudius. The Ghost asks his son to revenge his death. Hamlet feigns madness. Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain, forbids his daughter, Ophelia, to see Hamlet; in part b

56、elieving that that Hamlet unbalanced state of mind is the result of repressedlove. Spied on by Polonius and Claudius, Ophelia returns Hamlet love letters and is violently rejected by him. A company of travelling players arrives at the Danish Court. Hamlet asks them to perform a play, The Murder of G

57、onzago, hoping that its plot, which closely echoes what the Ghost has told him of his own murder, will force Claudius to betray his guilt. Hamlet suspicions are confirmed. After the play, Hamlet issummoned to his mother s chamber, where he reviles her for her hasty marriage and accidentally kills Po

58、lonius, whom he supposed was Claudius, hiding behind a curtain. Claudius sends Hamlet to England, planning to have him murdered. Laertes, Polonius son, returns to Denmark from France demanding revenge forurn uneral.his father s death. Ophelia, maddened by grief, drowns herself. Hamlet retfrom England and confronts Laertes and Claudius at Opheliaplots with Laertes to kill Hamlet in a fencing match in which Laertes will have a poisoned sword. The p