Appunti di Letteratura inglese 2

English literature: course overview

Reading list and texts

Bazzani Laura, Professor Petrina A.S. 2022-2023

• Stephen Greenblatt, The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Sixteenth Century / The Early Seventeenth Century. New York: Norton, 2018. I shall upload a full list of authors and texts to be studied on my Moodle platform.

• Jones, Ernest, Hamlet and Oedipus. New York: Norton, 1976.

• Shakespeare, William, Hamlet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

• Stoppard, Tom, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. London: Faber and Faber, 1999.

• David Bevington, Murder Most Foul: Hamlet through the Ages. Oxford University Press, 2014.

ProQuest Search engine.

Hamlet's afterlife in the 20th and 21st century

We will focus on rewriting. Key concepts include:

• Quotation
• Adaptation
• Rewriting
• Pastiche: imitating the style of a work
• (Parody): transform something into a funny version

Sir Walter Raleigh and his poetry

Sir Walter Raleigh, author sent to death by Elizabeth’s successor. He wrote many texts. Before dying, he wrote the following one:

"What is our life? A play of passion. Our mirth? The music of division: Our mothers' wombs the tiring-houses be, Where we are dressed for this short comedy. Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is, That sits and marks still who doth act amiss. Our graves that hide us from the searching sun are like drawn curtains when the play is done. Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest, only we die in earnest – there’s no jest."

Analysis of Raleigh's poem

First line: The concept of "play"

The term "play" has a double meaning: acting on a stage and having a game. It also refers to interplay, how we approach intelligence. Our life is a play of passion: our emotions engage in a game with one another.

Playhouse: a building specifically made for acting. Theatres were built in England during this period, whereas, in the past, they were in rich people’s houses. For the first time in London, someone builds specific structures for plays called playhouses. If I think my life is a play, I can use all its parts to describe my life.

Second line: "Our mirth"

Music is based on harmony. Melody is how different notes follow one another. A good musician works on harmony to create good musical effects. Our laughter sometimes signals a lack of harmony.

Line 3: "Our mothers' wombs"

Tiring-houses: rooms where the actors dressed up and prepared for the play. For the fundamentalist part of the Christian community, dressing as a woman or a young boy was considered blasphemy. But wherever we are, we put on masks (// Pirandello). I change based on the people I interact with.

Line 5: "Heaven the judicious sharp spectator is"

God looks down on this comedy like a spectator. Modern theatres consist of a platea + stalls. The higher stalls are called "Gods" in England. "Doth act": in modern writings, the third person is represented by the ending "th". Second person singular: -st (e.g., "dost"); third person singular: -th. Thou = you (singular); plural = you.

Last lines: The curtain analogy

Curtains separate the audience from the public. We march: we go as if we were soldiers; we go together. The last two lines convey that as we go while we are acting to our last rest (death), we die in actuality (it’s not a joke). The poem ends with death: the author did this on purpose, even if it’s a comedy. Medieval principles: a tragedy ends badly; a comedy ends well. The Divine Comedy also doesn’t end happily, and we don’t laugh while reading it. Chaucer wrote "Troilus and Criseyde": his soul went to Heaven, and from there, he looks down; he starts laughing. Shakespeare knew it. That’s a metaphor we always find in literature. In Hamlet, we also have the metaphor of life as a theatre.

The Renaissance in England (XVI-XVII)

It’s really different from the Italian one. It’s a cultural period which started in Italy and then moved to Northern Europe, like in England. It’s a period in which people moved from old principles. It’s a moment of rebirth. Middle Ages: period of darkness; Renaissance: period of rebirth. This distinction is gone because it’s not like that. Not believing in God was unthinkable. There is a new attention to pre-Christian authors who lived before Christ. Conventionally, the Middle Ages starts when the Empire ended (476). It ends with the discovery of America (1492). It’s a millennium, so it’s difficult to classify it perfectly.

It’s true that we developed a greater attention to classical writers and began to think about the importance of human life in all its aspects. But some of these ideas (destiny, human life) were also analysed by Petrarch (medieval). We don’t talk about precise periods, but they influenced one another. It’s a flow. In many schools, rather than talking about the Renaissance, people prefer to talk about the Early Modern Age.

The plague and its impact

Plague: a pandemic that was very long and devastating. It caused the death of 1/10 of the population. It spread through viruses. When we don’t know the origin of something, we blame someone else (it must be someone’s fault). The blame was given to sins, different communities. But the plague spread where there were many people gathered. To solve this problem, people went to Church. Artisans, bakers, tailors, and people who worked with metal were no longer available in the community. It was a social problem. After the plague, you start rebuilding the community. Each of them needed somebody who built houses/cooked, and so on, emergence of the idea of the profession. It’s useful and necessary for society.

Humanism

Interest in humans. It was invented in Germany; it’s a kind of philosophical period. It was born with the idea of “giurista”. If I really know many things, I can manipulate and convince people. Humanist: a professional who goes at the service of a pope/king/someone to manage interactions for them or to work for the community, but also to inspire someone. Petrarch invented the idea of the “degree” and “laurean crown”.

Sir Walter Raleigh's "The history of the world"

Death makes you think about what you did in your life and who you are. You can realise things about yourself. It also makes people cry, complain. It tells people they are nothing. At the end, money is just stones. So, the person has the mouth full of stones. Death is seen and described as physical.

"It is therefore Death alone that can suddenly make man to know himself. He tells the proud and insolent, that they are but abjects, and humbles them at the instant; makes them cry, complain, and repent; yea, even to hate their fore-passed happiness. He takes the account of the rich, and proves him a beggar, a naked beggar, which hath interest in nothing, but in the gravel that fills his mouth. He holds a glass before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see therein their deformity and rottenness; and they acknowledge it. O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised: thou hast drawn together all the farstretched".

The Ambassadors (1533)

Two rich men with jewels and rich clothes. The colour black was really expensive at that time. On the table, there is a globe, instruments, and also a sort of diary (or documents). They play music, they have a globe so they know about travelling. For these reasons, they are classified as ambassadors.

It gives the idea of self-fashioning: you construct your own person. You propose yourself through clothes. If you self-fashion yourself, you also model your mind. The two men wanted to show themselves in this precise way. In the left corner, high up, we notice a small crucifix. In 1534, there was the act of supremacy through which the English monarch became the head of the Church. Astrolabe: to count the distance between the stars. It’s put in a position in which it can’t function. So, the music is not harmonious, but it’s broken. One of the books is opened at the page of division.

On the floor, there’s a skull: it’s not in proportion. To see it, we have to look at it from the side. In this painting, we have many hidden messages: it also shows what’s not working in their social class. You have to change your viewpoint to analyse it. You have to change perspectives.

The Age of Doubt

For these reasons, we can also talk about the Age of Doubt. Knowledge creates doubts. The traditional view of the Renaissance was formulated in the 19th century by Jacob Burckhardt. He couldn’t have a perfect vision of himself and the world because of superstition. Italy began to look at things objectively, and the subjective side (man looking at himself) started to appear. Our idea of the Renaissance is based on German theories.

"In the Middle Ages both sides of human consciousness- that which was turned within as that which was turned without lay dreaming or half-awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession, through which the world and history were seen clad in strange hues. Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation - only through some general category. In Italy, this veil first melted into air, and the object of the treatment and consideration of the state and of all the things of this world became possible. The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding emphasis; man became a spiritual individual and recognized himself as such". Jacob Burckhardt

"What Burckhardt offers us in this hugely influential passage, first published in 1860, is a fairy story. The princess slept for more than a thousand years (the 'Middle Ages"), but eventually she woke up, shook her head free of childish dreams, and assumed her responsibilities. The veil melted away; illusions of communal identity gave way to the truth of individuality, 'spiritual individuality of a lofty, noble, adult kind". Jason Scott-Warren

Poets of the Age of Doubt

The poets of the Age of Doubt are John Donne and William Shakespeare. New philology means new science: age of Galileo, age of the observation of the sky, realization we are not the centre of the universe, there could be other planets. The Earth is lost. This idea is fundamental.

Hamlet's letter to Ophelia

"Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers. I have not art to reckon my groans, but that I love thee best, oh, most best, believe it. Adieu. Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, Hamlet."

Machine: body.

John Donne's "An Anatomy of the world"

And new philosophy calls all in doubt, The element of fire is quite put out, The sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit Can well direct him where to look for it. And freely men confess that this world's spent, When in the planets and the firmament They seek so many new; they see that this Is crumbled out again to his atomies. John Donne (1572-1631)

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): we have his portrait, even if we are not sure it’s really him. Renaissance: it developed education for everybody (only men) thanks to Henry VII. In Italy, Giovanni Gentile (fascist) organized education based on Hegel’s ideas. The interesting thing is that the government organized how people had to study.

Seven Literal Arts (educational curriculum)

• In the past, people started studying with Rhetoric, Grammar and Dialectics (basic subjects).
• Then Mathematics, geometry, music, astrology: subjects in which you can measure.
• Centre: philosophy. Rhetoric is everything we do, such as persuasion in politics. You understand how to speak, to know your instruments.

This system is really different from ours. We give more importance to practical knowledge (geography) and less importance to communication.

Sandro Botticelli's "Primavera"

He worked at the court of Lorenzo il Magnifico. It’s a narration of something we couldn’t understand in a different way. A myth only belongs to the culture in which it was created. It’s not universal. Birth of spring: natural change in the mythological world. Idea of time. On the right, we have the spring which is still a virgin. She tries to escape, but she can’t. Then we have the spring covered by flowers and she’s pregnant. At the centre, we have Minus, who pointed at Cupid. On the left, there’s Mercurio.

Early modern English theatre - Elizabethan theatre

Unique phenomenon: it can’t be compared to what happened in Italy or France. Images help us to think.

The martyrdom of St Apollonia

(1452-1460) – Jean Fouquet - Musée Condé, Chantilly. Centre: somebody dressed in white. She’s a woman: someone is holding her hair. There’s a sort of priest: he’s standing with a book and pointing with a stick. Other men are helping in holding the woman. She might be condemned to execution or something else. The margin: maybe it’s an execution with an audience at the back. Public execution. It’s difficult to identify the executioner. Justiciary act. Animals or men, in front of the area where the woman is tortured. Man at the very extreme left with the blue hat: he’s touching or bearing his bottom. He’s showing us the bottom.

Medieval representation in theatre

It’s a medieval image from a book in France. It represents the Martyr of Saint Apollonia. It deals with a Catholic vision and is seen as a sort of representation on stage in medieval theatres. The man with the book is a director. Hamlet is meant to be performed and seen. But we don’t know how it really looked like originally and what Shakespeare had in mind.

Elizabethan theatre characteristics

Shareholder: azionista, someone who invests his money in the theatre; he’s an actor but also a player. Musical score: partitura, a piece of music writing. The score is a trace. Hamlet is a trace: we tried to understand how it was performed looking at the trace. Length is the 30 days before Easter. During it, you are not supposed to have fun. You can have fun during Carnival: here people dressed up. People dressed up as animals probably influenced Elizabethan theatre.

On the Elizabethan stage, the spectator has to participate with imagination and with his own mind. Medieval English theatre was not professional, and there were no theatres. Plays were generally performed in houses. People could use wagons where, on the top, there was the stage. The topics were taken from the Bible, and they were allegorical.

The castle of perseverance

Image to show us the representation. It accompanies the text The Castle of Perseverance: perseverance is an abstract quality. You can also represent ideas: the fight between the vice and the virtues. These characteristics are represented as female, but in England also by men. Water is used as an amplifier: at the bottom of the Greek theatre, there was water in order to improve the sound. There’s a dog which seems very scared. Masqueraded men fighting: white men who performed like animals. At that time, med-houses were opened to visits, having fun watching med people.

Functioning of the theatre

All these ideas show how the theatre functioned and from which Shakespeare could have taken inspiration. Theatre: empty space, one person standing and another watching. You only need an actor, a spectator, and a space. The space changed during the years. Hamlet originally lasted 5 hours: nowadays it’s never played entirely. Shakespeare couldn’t represent day/night, light/dark, so he had to use words for this reason it’s long.

The Scrovegni Chapel, Giotto 1803-5

It shows us the use of the space. Images are useful, especially in the Bible, for people who are not able to read. In the Scrovegni Chapel, you have to follow the images to understand the story, and you have to enjoy the space. In a Church, the priest is not the centre of attention; he’s only the intermediary between the person and God: attention can be pointed at music, images, and so on. This is how this Chapel is conceived.

Despair: an allegorical representation

The allegorical representation of vices and virtues. Abstract nouns describing them in Latin are feminine: Giotto represented it as a woman. Giotto wanted to show us despair like a sad person who tries to kill itself. Different relations between spectators and actors determine the way Shakespeare wrote and also the way we read his work.

In the Globe Theatre in London, people are supposed to participate, make noise, and see each other; in fact, the light was on. While in other theatres, you are not supposed to do that, and generally, the light is off; it’s dark, and people don’t see themselves.

Anatomical theatre in Palazzo Bo

At the centre, there was the professor performing surgery on dead bodies. There were many problems: opening up a person was not kind. There were also issues with the church since the body was given by God as to contain the soul, so you couldn’t open it. At that time, it was prohibited, except if the person was condemned to death. In this case, the family was generally happy to give the body away. Sometimes, professors would donate their bodies to medicine. Physical problem: it was generally done in winter and at night. People had to collect as many students as possible because it was not performed many times a year. The structure was created in order to make all people see perfectly. Students had to bring torches because it was dark.