WAR and INVASONS
nouns
weapons
struggle (fight)
campaign (fight to conquer)
verbs
settlement (invasion)
settlers (invaders)
invaders
conqueror
to settle (to invade and stay in a place)
defeat (failure in war)
to defeat
to retire (to come away from a land)
to invade
to conquer
epidemic (plague)
RELIGION
nouns
faith (religion)
monk
priest
monastery
Church and Clergy
holistic philosophy
polytheistic religion
SOCIETY and CULTURE
nouns
civilisation
culture
customs
habits
traditions
Verbs
to worship
verbs
to civilise
knowledge
scholar (well educated person)
adjective : illiterate (not educated)
uncivilised (savage)
to know
FEUDAL SYSTEM
Feudal System = pyramidal system, social hierarchy
(king, barons, knights, peasants, divided into freemen and servants, bound to the ground ; servitude)
“vassal” and “overlord”
THE BIRTH OF PARLIAMENT
nouns
signature
to sign
nomination
to appoint (to nominate)
wealth (richness)
Council of advisors
Parliament
Model Parliament
to enrich
verbs
CHIVARLY and COURTLY LOVE
Set of values : loyalty, bravery (courage), honesty, glory
LANGUAGE and POETRY
POETRY = the literary genre
POEM = a singol composition
To speak about (for persons ONLY!) ; to be about / to deal with (Not for persons)
“figurative” language = language based on metaphors and symbols
Other words regardibg language :
alliteration, assonance, kenning, caesura, endings, vowels consonants, inflected words and adjectives;
tenses (not “time”!!) ; nouns (not “names”!!!)
variations, omissions, additions, embellishments
“scop” (minstrel)
Pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, gender of nouns
Types of poetry
adjective
elegiac
heroic
epic
mythical
legendary
historical
Ballad
Stanza, rhyme, refrain
Line (not “verse”!! “Verse” is the poetic way of speaking!)
Border ballads, outlaw ballad, ballad of magic, town ballad
Satire (adjective = satirical)
ORAL - Printing Press
nouns
elegy
hero
epic
myth
legend
history
CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE
ANGLO-SAXON POETRY
 It was oral (“scops”)
 The vocabulary was very limited, with a lot of Latin and Latinate
words (words in Latin and words “taken” from Latin)
 Verbs, nouns, pronouns and adjectives
were
“declined”
(“inflected”, that is, with different word endings), with prefixes
and suffixes disappeared today
 The poetry was not based on rhyme (the repetition of the same
endings), but on alliterations (repetition of the same consonant
sound) and assonances (repetition of the same vowel sound) in the
middle, not at the end, of the lines
 The use of “kenning”, that is, methaphorical phrases to describe
unmentionable things. Ex : the whale’s road = the sea ; the
battle light = the sword ; the warrior’s sweat = blood ; the
house of bones = the body
 The line was sometimes divided into two parts by a caesura, a
visual pause in the middle of the line
 The tone was elegiac and sad
 The main values of poetry were loyalty to one’s Lord,
courage and a high sense of “wyrd” (=Destiny, Fate)
hospitality,
 Nature was seen as stormy and dark, often sharing the mood of
the warriors
The opening lines of
The Canterbury Tales
(from the General Prologue)
In the opening lines of the General Prologue, Chaucer describes the time of the year (spring)
of the pilgrimage, the task of the journey, that is, purification, and a correspondence between
the spring (awakening of Nature) and the pilgrims’ task (awakening of their souls).
After, Chaucer introduces himself as one of the pilgrims, where they met, how many they were,
and especially how he described them, their character, job, social status and clothes.
When in April the sweet showers (1) fall
And pierce(2) the drought(3) of March to the root,
(…) When also Zephirus, with his sweet breath
Exhales an air in every grove (4) and heath (5)
Upon the tender shoots (6), and the young sun
His half course in the sign of the Ram (7) has run,
And the small fowls (8) are making melody
(…) (So Nature pricks (9) them and their heart engages (10) ),
Then people long (11) to go on pilgrimages
(….)And especially, from every shire’s end (12)
of England, down to Canterbury they wend (13),
to seek (14)the holy blissful martyr , quick
to give his help to them when they were sick.
It happened in that season that one day
In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay (15)
Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
For Canterbury, most devout at heart (16),
At night there came into that hostelry (17)
Some nine and twenty in a company
Of soundry folk (18) , happening then to fall
In fellowship (19) , and they were pilgrims all
That to Canterbury meant to ride.
(….) I’d spoken to them all, upon the trip
and was one with them in fellowship (20).
(…..) It seems a reasonable thing to say
What their condition was, the full array (21)
Of each of them, as it appeared to me,
According to profession and degree (22),
And what apparel (23) they were riding in ;
And at a Knight I therefore will begin.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
What elements of SPRING does Chaucer mention ?
What is the effect that Nature in Spring has on men?
What is thetask of the trip?
Where did the pilgrim meet?
How many pilgrims are they ? and what about their state of mind ?
What does Chaucer want to describe about the pilgrims ?
W
hat does Chaucer mean when he says “……….as it appeared to me” ?
1) rains
2)penetrate 3)dry weather
4)wood
5)uncultivated land
6)buds
7) Aries
8) little birds
9)stimulates 10)captures
11) desire
12)county’s border
13) went
14) to look for
15) was staying
16) enthusiastic
17) tavern, inn
18) happy people
19) become friends
20) friendship
21) how they were dressed
22) social status
23) dress
Chaucer’s opinion about the SOCIAL CLASSES of his time :
DANTE strongly believed in the theory of “due soli”, the State and the Church, with their different
and specific roles ; that’s why Dante is particularly angry with some popes or monarchs that didn’t
respect their temporal or spiritual positions, thus he put them in his Inferno, like Pope Bonifacio
VIII, his worst enemy.
CHAUCER
lived a little after Dante, when the two great ideals of STATE and CHURCH were
declining, substituted by the rise of the MIDDLE CLASS.
CHAUCER was very angry against the CHURCH, considered as corrupted (every member of the
Church in The Canterbury Tales is described with a strong satire) ; ARISTOCRACY was considered
by Chaucer as pathetic and anachronistic (every member of the old aristocracy is described with a
sense of nostalgic humour).
CHAUCER had also something in common with BOCCACCIO.
They had in common :
 The frame of the story : a group of people meet, even if for different reasons, and tell
stories: Chaucer’s pilgrims are going to Canterbury, the young boys and girls of Boccaccio’s
Decameron meet in a villa to escape a plague.
The differences are :
 Chaucer’s pilgrims met by chance, Boccaccio’s young people meet to escape the plague
 Chaucer’s pilgrims come from all social classes,that’s why The Canterbury Tales are a real
gallery of very different people, and in this aspect Chaucer maybe is nearer Dante in his
Divina Commedia. The protagonists of Decameron, on the contrary, are all members of
aristocracy, they are rich boys and girls.
 As a consequence, Chaucer, unlike Boccaccio, gives more importance to the social classes, and
so, the characters are differently speaking according to their social status
 Boccaccio, in his Decameron, gives more importance to the stories ; Chaucer gives more
importance to the storytellers : that’s why we remember famous Boccaccio’s stories, from
Decameron, but we don’t remember the storytellers ; on the contrary, the stories told by
Chaucer’s pilgrims are not so interesting and original, but we can easily remember the
characterization of each storyteller.
The opening lines of “The Canterbury Tales”
(MIDDLE ENGLISH test)
Whan that April with hise shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendered is the flour.
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethe,
Inspired hath in every holt and heethe,
The tender croppes, and the younge sonne
Hath in the Ram is half cours yronne :
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open eye,
So spriketh hem nature in hir corages :
Thane longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmerers for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes cowthe in sundry londes.
And specially from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Canterbury they wende,
The hooly blissful martyr for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan they were seeke.
SONNET LXXV :
One day I wrote her name
(EDMUND SPENSER)
This sonnet is taken from SPENSER’s
“Amoretti” , a collection of love poems that, differently from all other
Renaissance sonnets, celebrates the poet’s love for a real woman, his wife Elizabeth Boyle.
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,(1)
But came the waves, and washed it away:
Again, I wrote it with a second hand (2);
But came the tide, and made my pains (3) his prey.
Vain man, said she, that dost (4) in vain assay (5)
A mortal thing so to immortalize ;
For I myself shall like to this (6) decay,
And eke (7) my name be wiped out likewise (8).
(1) beach
(2)again,another time
(3) efforts
(4)do
(6)like to this=in the same way
(7) also
Not so, quoth I (9) ; let baser (10) things devise (11)
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame :
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
(9) I said
Where, whenas (12) death shall all the world subdue (13),
Our love shall live, and later life renew.
(12) when
SONNET
XVII : Shall I compare thee
(5) try
(8) equally
(10) mortal things
(11) exist
(13) conquer
(W. SHAKESPEARE)
Shakespeare wrote a cycle of 154 sonnets, early in his career. They excited great controversy, because of the
mysterious figure of an attactive man and a dark lady who appear in them. There is no real evidence about the
identity of the “lover” of his sonnets. Lots of them are probably addressed to his patron The Earl of Southampton, as
this famous sonnet.
Shall I compare thee (1) to a summer day ?
Thou art (2) more lovely and more temperate :
Rough (3) winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease (4) hath (5) all too short date :
Sometimes too hot the eye of Heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d (6)
And every fair (7) from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d. (8)
But thy eternal summer shall not fade (9)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st ; (10)
Nor shall Death brag (11) thou wander’st (12) in his shade (13)
When in eternal lines (14) to time (15) thou gow’st (16)
So long as men can breath, or eyes can see,
So long lives this (17), and this (18) gives life to thee.
(1) you (object)
(2) you (subj) are
(3) strong
(4) period, duration
(5) has
(6) made less luminous
(7) beauty
(8) removed of decorations
(9) gradually die
(10) you possess, you have
(11)say with pride (12) walk (13)shadow
(14) poetry (15) eternity (16) go
(17) love for you
(18)this poem and
Poetry in general
SONNET LXXV
(SPENSER)
Verse
1) What about the rhyme scheme of the sonnet ? Do the structure follow the usual pattern of the Elizabethan
sonnet ?
Content
2) Try to summarise the content of the sonnet taking as starting points the major themes of each stanza
1st quatrain
(the pretext of meditation)
nd
2
quatrain
I
Her name
The waves
She
To immortalize
mortal things
To etrnize rare
virtues
love
Decay
(the woman’s words)
3rd quatrain
I
(the poet’s reply)
Couplet
Death
My verse
Live
(the final message)
SONNET LXXV
(W. SHAKESPEARE)
Verse
1) What about the rhyme scheme of the sonnet ? Do the stucture follow the usual pattern of the Elizabethan
sonnet ?
Content
2) Try to summarise the content of the sonnet by answering these questions :
1st quatrain : a) what comparison is made ?
b)Describe the two terms of this comprison and say who wins the comparison
2nd quatrain : c) the comparison of the 1st quatrain is enlarged to his idea of all beautiful
things in life. What does ShaKespeare think about the decline of beautiful
thongs in life ?
3rd quatrain : d) from the decay of beautiful things to “thy eternal summer”.
What does he mean by “eternal summer”?
e) can the poet’s lover be afraid of Death ? Why yes / no ?
Final couplet : f) what is the role and the importance of poetry ?
(explain the last 2 lines)
Compare the two sonnets as regards :




The
The
The
The
verse
role of the poet – author
role of the woman – lover
role of poetry and the final message of the two sonnets
MEDIEVAL
DRAMA
Medieval drama doesn’t descend directly from the classical drama (Greek and Roman
dramatists). Its origin lies in church ceremonies, especially on the Mass, in Latin, by the
priest and from behind the altar. They were called TROPES, and they were part of the
liturgy.
The English Medieval plays evolved directly from the liturgy : they were biblical events,
from Genesis to the Day of Judgment, the creation of man and the world, the killing of Abel
by Cain, Christ’s passion and so on. These were all great events susceptible of being
dramatised.
Because of their content, they were called LITURGICAL DRAMAS or
SACRED DRAMAS. These plays also gave exemples of dialogues between the priest and
the audience, and they were still in Latin.
Liturgical plays evolved both in language and in space.
As regards language, English gradually substituted Latin.
As regards space, these plays moved from the altar to the church door, then to the
market place. But even if drama moved to the streets, the subject was still religious.
These plays evolved in organization and in space.
As for organization, the first innovation of drama was the Guilds’ take-over : dramatic
performances of biblical events were now in “lay” hands, in the hands of the Guilds
(=corporations of tradesmen or merchants).
As for space the second innovation of drama was that performances were not fixed any
more, but they were held on movable scaffoldings, called “pageants”, moving from town to
town on carts on which there was a two-level stage : in the lower room the actors
prepared themselves, in the upper room, open in 4 sides, they played.
These performances were called MIRACLE PLAYS
or
MYSTERY PLAYS. They were
called “participatory dramas”, because the spectators already knew the story and the actors
were simple citizens who assumed the role of biblical characters, just for 1 day.
The evolution of MIRACLE and MYSTERY PLAYS were called
MORALITY PLAYS.
They distinguish from the others because :
 The subject was NOT religious ad biblical, but the conflict between good and evil,
between vice and virtue
 They began to be performed on fixed stages (the first rudimental theatres)
According to their subject, MORALITIES were based on allegory, in the form of a struggle
between personofications of vices and virtues.
At the end of the 15th century, the INTERLUDES were introduced. They were completely
secular plays, performed in the houses of noblemen, with rich costumes and masks. They
were sometimes satirical. When music and dance were introduced, the INTERLUDE was
called MASQUE or MASQUERADE.
THE RENAISSANCE THEATRE
The great age of Elizabethan theatre begins with CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, the author
of “Doctor Faustus”, and it ends with the closing of the theatres on 1642, under Puritan
pressure and religious controversies.
The Elizabethan drama was a combination of Medieval popular heritage
and classical
influence.
MEDIEVAL POPULAR HERITAGE
 Morality Plays and their struggle between vice and virtue greatly influenced Elizabethan
drama
 The influence of the Italian “Commedia dell’Arte”, and its travelling companies
 A great development of Interludes
CLASSICAL INFLUENCE
The classical authors who had the greatest influence on Elizabethan drama were TERENCE
and
PLAUTUS
for comedies, and SENECA for tragedies, thanks to Humanistic
translations.
SENECA’s influence was very strong and it ca be summed up as follows :
 The idea of tragedy involving horrific and bloody incidents
 The idea of “revenge” among members of great families
 The importance of the supernatural (ghosts, demon, premonitory dream)
 The figure of the “villain”, a cruel tyrant
 The monologue (or soliloquy), in which a character comments on his own situation
 A high rethorical style
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA
Apart from popular and classic influences mixed together, these were the characteristics of
the Elizabethan drama :
 It didn’t follow the 3 Aristotelic theatrical unities of TIME, SPACE and ACTION.
According to these, the action had to follow only one subject, without digressions, in 24
hours, and in a single place

It refused the classical idea of “decorum”, according to which a tragic ubject had to be
treated tragically only : the Elizabethan drama a a combination of tragic and comic.

It was written in blank verse
into several scenes

A fundamental ingredient was revenge (see Seneca), with stories full of blood and
violence, often settled in an exotic setting (“exotic” = not English), Spain and often
Italy
(free vere), and divided into acts,
each
subdivided
DRAMA AS A “SOCIAL” PHENOMENON
At first, public performances were considered as a disturbance, and highly immoral ; thus,
they were prohibited by the City Government.
In 1576, James Burbage built the first permanent theatre, called “The Theatre”, outside
the walls of London City. In a few years, many new public playhouses were built : “The
Curtain”, “The Rose”, “The Globe” (the playhouse of Shakespeare’s company).
This new theatre was a real “social” phenomenon, because it was very different from the
Medieval theatre, because :
 It was a fixed building, where plays could be regularly perforned
 Audiences paid a fixed price at the entrance
 Actors (players) were more and more professional, not simply common people. At first,
players were considered as “vagabonds” and they were often forbidden to perform in
public. Then, they put themselves under the protection of some noblemen or even of the
Queen or King
 Playwrights (authors of the plays) made their own living by writing for the theatre, it
was their job now, and there was not a real distinction between the playwrights and the
players.
There were three different types of theatres :
 Public OUTDOOR theatres, the most popular with a mixed audience, from nobles to
common people. The actors were in close contact with the audience. Plays were
performed during the day, with natural light
 Private INDOOR theatres, with a more refined audience and higher prices. Plays were
performed with artificial lights and more eleborated stage properties
 Plays performed at Court or at a nobleman’s house, the old “Interludes” and “Masques”
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ELIZABETHAN PUBLIC THEATRE
Permanent theatres were circular or octagonal
The Audience stayed on galleries, looking down on the stage, or in the yard (or “arena”)
where the poorer spectators stood surrounding the stage on 3 sides. Spectators standing
here were called “groundlings”, and they paid just 1 penny.
The Stage was divided into front stage, the stage used by the actors and for additional
seatings at a higher price ; inner or back stage, used for indoor scenes (rooms, tombs) and
for “revelation scenes” ; upper stage or balcony, used by actors when there were scenes to
be played on a higher level, otherwise, this stage was occupied by musicians or spectators.
Over the stage , the so called shadow , or stage roof, protected the actors from rain and
it was also called “Heaven”, because it was often painted blue with the sun, the moon and the
planets or the whole zodiac.
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA AND MODERN DRAMA
These are the main differences between Elizabethan theatre and moern drama :

In the Elizabethan theatre there was no curtain, thus more contact between actors
and audience (spectators were often even on the stage!)

Soliloquy
audience

The acting techniques were dfferent from today : there was no necessity of raising the
voice, for the proximity of the audience. However there was a greater use of gestures

In the Elizabethan theatre there was a scarce scenery, with no changes, because there
was no curtain and the action was continuous
(nearly disappeared today) was a form of communication between actors and
SHAKESPEARE’S
“HERO”
Shakespearean tragedies are the study of complex characters, faced by extremely
difficult choices. There is a contrast between the high position of these characters
(rank,social status..)and their emotional weakness.
Brutus is torn between his love for Caesar and his love for freedom.
Othello is troubled by his love for Desdemona and his friendship to Jago
King Lear is in contrast between his love for Cirdelia, his daugter, and his extreme
pride amd ambition
Mark Antony loves Cleopatra but he also has a great senseof duty for his state
Hamlet is the living symbol of indecision
That’s why Shakespeare’s tragedies are defined “one-man-plays”, because they are
centered on the doubts of a single character. This character , being a Renaissance
man, is totally responsible of his own actions, differently from the Classic hero,
whose gestures and actions depends on Fate, Destiny or Gods.
SHAKESPEARE’s
“heroines”
In Shakespeare’s theatre, women are just as important as men. Differently from the
Classic heroines, they are less dependent on men, and driven by fate, and their
psychology is more openly investigated. In many cases, they show great courage and
mental force.
They can be young lovers, like Juliet, that opposes her family to love Romeo; women
in love, like Cleopatra, older than Juliet, more passionate, sensual and cunning ; women
in power, like Lady Macbeth, that is not a complement to her husband, but rather
the driving force of his/her reign; daughters. The contrast between father and
daughter was a favourite theme for Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s daughters are
never submissive creatures, despite social conditions in which women were legally
subject to their fathers or husbands those times. Juliet is a daughter who must
suffer her father’s verbal violence and an imposed marriage. To escape, she
eventually has to die. In King Lear, instead, the daughter (Cordelia) openly defies
her father’s authority, even if she deeply loves him.
(Brutus’s and Antony’s speeches ; The Tempest, edi “2 Liceo”
H A M L E T
Act III, Scene
(Enter HAMLET)
HAMLET
To be or not to be - that is the question; (1)
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (2)
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them? (3) To die, to sleep (…) (4)
And by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to (…)
But in that sleep of death what dreams may come ?
(…) He himself might his quietus make (5)
with a bare bodkin ?
But the dread of something after death (6)
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of. (7)
(1) “To continue to live or to commit suicide” ?
yield to destiny or to fight against it.
But these lines also mean : “to act or not to act”, to
(2) to yield to an adverse destiny
(3) to fight against destiny
(4) it’s the sleep of death. Can the long sleep of death be a solution ? no, even if it seems to stop the
pains of life
(5) thus, a person could commit suicide with a simple dagger. Why not ?
(6) here is the real problem. Why isn’t the sleep of death a solution ? because man is still afraid even
after death , he’s afraid of the unknown world after death.
(7) What is the conclusion ? man prefers suffering concrete pains, that is, pains he can touch, than
flying to other possible pains hedoesn’t know, so he will be always unable to act.
OTHELLO’S LAST SPEECH
At the end of the play, Othello defends himself, to justify his terrible actions, before committing suicide :
this is typical of Shakespeare’s tragedies : the dying hero, in a dramatic monologue, wants to leave a n
ideal picture of himself to the world, a sort of epitaph.
Othello is speaking to the Venetian officers, who are taking Iago away Othello, deceived by Iago, has
already killed Desdemona, and Iago’s machination have been finally discovered. Othello himself is going to
be taken to Venice and there, judged by the Senate.
Othello speaks about all the good things he made for Venice, when he suddenly stabs himself.
OTHELLO : Soft you (1) ; a word or two before you go.
(1)wait a moment
I have done the state (2) some service, and they know’t (3).
(2)Venice (3)know it
No more of that(a). I pray you (b), in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds (4) relate (5),
(4)actions,events
(5) tell
Speak of me as I am ; (…..) then must you (b) speak
Of one (c) that loved not wisely but too well (d);
Of one not easily jelous but, being wrought (6),
(6)mad
Perplexed in the extreme (e) ; of one (….) whose subdued (7) eyes (7)gentle
Albeit unused to the melting mood (8) ,
(8)even if not used to cry
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
(9)myrrh, used to make medicines
Their medicinable gum (9) (f) – set you down (10) this ;
(10)write
And say besides, that in Aleppo once
Where a malignant and turbaned (11) Turk
(11) wearing a turban
Beat a Venetian and traduced (12) the state,
(12)betrayed
I took by th’throat the circumcised dog (g)
And smote (13) him - thus……..
(13) hit
[he stabs himself]
LODOVICO : O bloody period! (h)
(………..)
OTHELLO : I kisses thee (14) ere (15) I killed thee : no way but (16) this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss (i)
[falls on the bed and dies]
(14)you, Desdemona (15)before
(16) except
(a) Othello tells the Venitians to remember him for his good actions, but he says he doesn’t want to talk
about it any more (“No more of that”). He is using a rethorical figure called “praeteritio”, when the
speaker says he doesn’t want to say something that he has actually just said or, as in this case, he is going
to say.
(b) There is a contrast between “I pray you” (a humble request) and “must you speak” (a strong imperative).
Othello is more and more passionate in his speech, especially when he speaks about LOVE.
(c) “Of one….” is another rethorical figure, “anaphora”, the repetition of some words at the beginning of a
sentence. Othello uses this repetition to make his defence stronger
(d) one that loved so much that he had no rational control of his actions
(e) one that was too jelous, but external facts made him mad
(f) one that was able to cry, even he seemed too strong for this
(g) one that had the courage to kill the enemies with no esitation
(h) in grammar, “period” means a long pause at the end of a sentence. Here, it means not only the end of his
speech, but also a much longer pause, the end of his life
(i) Othello’s last words are based on two words: “kill” and “kiss”. These two words together say that his life
was based on a great love for Desdemona, but also that his love was destructive.
THE TEMPEST
This is Shakespeare’s last play. It begins with a shipwreck on an enchanted island. On the ship there are the king
of Naples, his son Ferdinand , Antonio, duke of Milan , and his court.
The tempest was raised by Prospero, a magician who lives on the island with his daughter Miranda Prosper was the
real duke of Milan, but he was sent away because of his interests in magic and philosophy more than in social
affairs. So, Antonio was an usurper. prospero has a friend, Ariel, a gentle and good spirit of theair that a witch
had imprisoned in a trunk of a tree. It was Prospero that gave Ariel freedom from this spell.
One day, Ferdinand, wandering on theisland, meets Miranda and falls in love with her, even if there are lots of
dificuilties and suspects from Prospero.
The play ends in an atmosphere of general reconciliation : Miranda and Ferdinand marry, Prospero forgives Antonio
and returns to Milan, to take possession of his lost power, and Ariel gets his complete freedom from the witches
of the island.
THE TEMPEST is Shakespeare’s farewell to the theatre and to life.
All the action of the play may be seen as a metaphor of the THEATRE, where the dramatist, in some sense, uses
his magic to bring the characters to life, as Prospero does.
The following speech may be read on two levels : the THEATRE and LIFE.
Act IV, scene 1
PROSPERO : Our revels (1) now are ended. These our actors
As I foretold (2) you, were spirits, and
Are melted (3) into air, into thin air ;
And like the baseless fabric (4) of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d (5) towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself
Yea, all which it inherits , shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant (6)faded (7),
Leave not a rack (8) behind. We are such stuff (9)
As dreams are made on ; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
(1)plays
(2)predicted
(3)disappeared
(4)concrete material
(5)covered
(6)without substance (7)show,stage
(8)little cloud
(9) material
First level of reading : THEATRE
The plays are finished ; the actors are only puppets, spirits ; the castles, palaces, temples (the setting
on the stage) will dissolve, even the great Globe (Shakespeare’s theatre), and everything will leave
nothing behind. (Shakespeare seems to predict that the future of drama after him will be terrible :
theatre will be definitely closed in 1642 by Puritans!).
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on” : The actors are only the production of something
unreal, a dream of the dramatist, and they are going to vanish at the end of the play.
Second level : LIFE
The events of our life are finished ; the human beings now are only spirits ; the castles, palaces,
temples (our concrete world) will dissolve, even the great globe (our planet, the earth), and everything
will leave nothing behind (Shakespeare was atheist, and he feels he near his death).
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on” : all human beings were born, live, and die as on a
stage, but our life has a sleep at both ends, at birth and death.
ROMEO AND JULIET
The story is set in Verona. Juliet is the only child of the head of the House of Capulet. Her father
plans to marry her to Count Paris.
The House of the Montague is a bitter enemy of the Capulets, and Romeo is the son of old Lord
Montague. Romeo goes to a feast given by Lord Caoulet, disguised in a mask. At the feast, Tomeo and
Juliet met and fell in love. They are soon married by a friendly priest, the same day, Romeo gets
involved in astreet quarrel in which his friend Mercutio is killed by Tybalt, a Capulet. In revenge,
Romeo kills Tybalt and he is banished.
Meanwhile, Juliet’s father, unaware of the secret marriage, orders her to prepare immediately to
marry Paris. To escape, she takes a drug given to her by Feiar Laurence, to put her I a deathlike
trance, But Romeo is mistakenly informed of Juliet's death.
He soon comes back to Verona, he
meets Count Paris outside Juliet’s tomb, they fight and Paris is killed. Then Romeo breaks into the
tomb a takes a fatal poison. Waking from her trance, Juliet takes Romeo’ s dagger and kills herself.
When the Capulets and the Montagues learn the tragedy, they become recomciled.
HAMLET
The King of Denmark is dead. The queen, Gertrude, has immediately married the dead king’s brother,
Claudius. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, meets his father’s ghost on the Elsinore Castle, who tells him
that Claudius and Gertrude are guilty of murder and ask hamlet for revenge.
Hamlet pretends insanity, and watches the guilty king and queen, but he can’t act, he’s so terribly
upset that he tins about suicide.
He asks some actors playing at Court to insert a scene like that of his father’s murder into their
tragedy, then he observes the king’s reaction. The king’s confusion confirms the ghost’s revelation.
By mistake, Hamlet kills Lord Polonius, father of Ophelia, in love with Hamlet. She gets crazy and
drowns herself. Polonius’ son, Laertes swears revenge, and the king uses him to carry out his plan to
murder Hamlet.
A fencing match is arranged ; Laertes, on the king’s advice, uses a poisoned foil. In this tragic duel,
Hamlet is killed as planned, but not before he has mortally wounded Laertes, and stabbed the king.
The queen, by mistake, drinks a poisoned cup intended for Hamlet.
A VALEDICTION : FORBIDDING MOURNING
It is a poem about the separation of two lovers. It was probably written by Donne for his wife on the occasion
of one of his trips to the continent. “Valediction” means , from Latin, “farewell”. So, this poem is a farewell
poem in which forbids his woman to mourn, that is, to cry, for him.
He refuses to accept the idea of being separated from his lover, by means of logical argument, he cannot deny
that there will be a physical separation, but he believes that is a problem for those who are only united by
sensual love. the poet and his lady, instead, share a love that is also non-physical, the union of two souls, that
cannot be broken but it is expanded just as gold may be beaten very thin without breaking.
The simile is very unusual, but Donne, in true “metaphysical style”, introduces another , more complex, simile,
surely his most famous. The two lovers are compared to the connected legs of a compass : they can be pulled
apart but never totally separated, as the two lovers may be physically far from each other, but they will
always be spiritually united. Moreover, the two legs of the compass, will always draw a circle, the symbol of
perfect unity.
As virtuous men pass mildly away,(1)
And whisper to their souls, to go
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now (2) , and some say, no:
So let us melt (3) , and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,(4)
‘twere profanation of our joys
to tell the laity(5) our love.
(1) die peacefully
(2)now he is having his last breath
(3) separate
(4) no storms of sights
(5)his love is a sort of religion : those who don’t
share it, are laymen.
moving of th’ earth (6) brings harms and fears,
men reckon what it did and meant, (*)
but trepidation (7) of the spheres,
though greater far, is innocent. (8)
(6) earthquakes
Dull sublunary (9) lovers love
(whose soul is sense) cannot admit
absence, because it (10) doth remove
those things which elemented it.(11)
(9) material lovers, whose love is corruptible
But we by a love, so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,(12)
Careless, eyes, lips, and hands to miss
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure (13) not yet
A breach (14), but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.(15)
If they be (16) two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two,
thy soul the fixed root, makes no show(17)
To move, but doth, if th’ other do,
(7) irregular movement of the planets’ orbits
(8) though much greater, does no harm
(10) the absence
(11) compose their love
(12) both of us sure of our spiritual love
(13) suffer
(14)fracture, separation
(15)beaten into a very thin,impalpable layer
(16) are
(17) doesn’t seem
And though it (18)in the centre sit,
Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens (19)after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.(20)
Such wilt thou be to me, who must
Like the other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just (21)
And makes me end, where I begun.(22)
(18) the fixed foot
(19)follow in search
(20) becomes vertical again when the other leg comes
nearer
(21) accurate, perfect
(22) come back again to where I started.
The compass draws a circle, symbol of perfection
(*) In the Elizabethan Age, as in the Middle Ages, disasters and natural calamities were considered to be divine punishments for
wrongs committed by the community or its leaders. Shakespeare’s plays contain many exemples of this.
Answer these questions :
1) Consider Stanza 1. The poem begins with a note of sadness.
a) what words indicate this peaceful separation ?
b) Are the same tone and images continued in stanza 2?
2) Sums up the idea of movement contained in stanza 3
3) Stanza 4 and 5 are contrastino. In what sense?
1) The idea of unity of the lovers’souls is a recurring theme in Donne’s poetry. There are two similes expressing this
Idea. Describe them. (stanzas 6 and 7).
Are these images usual in love poetry?
2) The last two stanzas : the poet describes more precisely the phases of the compass. Use your own words
To describe these phases.
3) Divide the poem into :
a) stanzas where the poet says things directly
b) stanzas where the poet says things metaphorically