The Renaissance

1. The Renaissance 1485-1649

2. Important Features • Renaissance means rebirth • It started in Italy in Arts and literature but became worldwide later on. • What aspects of life did the rebirth cover?

3. Important changes Imperialism and colonialism • Discovery of America by Columbus in 1492 • Queen Elizabeth took over power in 1558. She controlled the seas of the world and this led to commercial prosperity. Progress and advances Discoveries about stars and planets by Copernicus and Galileo

4. Important changes Humanism • Erasmus (man as the center of the world) Marriage between religion and politics • Split between the Catholic Church of Rome and the Church of England • King Henry VIII made himself the head of the English Church 1529-1539 bringing church and politics together. How did he justify this to people? • The king or queen is the head of the Great Chain of Beings.

5. Important changes Literary upsurge Literary production witnessed an upsurge in terms of literary production due to • The invention of the printing press • The Queen’s appreciation of literature • Drama was the predominant form of literature

6. William Shakespeare 1564-1616 • He is regarded as the best dramatist worldwide. • He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. • Shakespeare is the one who defined what English literature is, as he laid or developed the early foundations for playwriting and composing poetry. • “Was Shakespeare Shakespeare?” is a big question among critics and literature readers.

7. Hamlet • Upon returning to Denmark, Hamlet finds out that his father is murdered and his mother is married to his uncle Claudius. • Hamlet speculates that his uncle is the killer, but he is in a moral conflict to fight against his stepfather and the king, who are one now. • He declares that he will set the circumstances of his life right again. (loss of harmony)

8. Hamlet • The external conflict fuels many internal ones and ignites his reluctance before taking any new action. • Hamlet is hesitant throughout the play, but decides to take revenge at the end. • “To be or not to be this is the question” • The tragedy ends up with all main characters dead or being killed.

9. TO BE OR NOT TO BE THIS IS THE QUESTION • The quote is the most famous line in the history of English literature. Why? • It was delivered in a form of a soliloquy. • Soliloquy is a technique used in drama when an actor reveals inner feelings or thoughts while speaking to him/herself without being heard by other characters who are offstage. Although soliloquy is NOT directly addressed to the audience, it gives off illusions about unspoken reflections. • What is aside?

10. Discussion • How does the study book eliminate or manipulate one side of reality about the history of Britain?

11. Shakespearian Drama • Shakespeare plays were written to be performed not to be published. • The first edition of Shakespeare’s complete plays was published in 1623 in the First Folio. • All Shakespeare’s plays are divided into five sections called acts and smaller sections called scenes. • Shakespeare asks, “What is a man?” in all of his plays. • Shakespeare’s plays describe the shared humanity of all human beings.

12. Types of plays • History and roman plays • Tragedy • Comedy • Tragic-comedies

13. History and Roman plays • History and Roman plays describe historical stories about English kings like Henry V and Henry IV or about Roman Kings like Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. • History plays study what is to be a king. Kings are not godlike characters but real men who have worries and concerns like other humans. • Shakespeare examines kings as human beings. • In history plays, Shakespeare shows concern for the human individual (the King) and for the English nation. • Some of the history plays are tragedies.

14. History and Roman plays • Roman plays describe stories from the classical history of ancient Rome. • Shakespeare is interested in showing how history rhymes itself. • The political questions in Shakespeare’s Roman plays have clear links with the political situation in England at the time of Shakespeare, but he was very careful not to offend the monarch. Why? • Shakespeare received financial support for his theater from the monarch.

15. Examples from history plays Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead. (Henry V) • How is the king presented in this quotation? Is he weak or strong?

16. Examples from history plays For God's sake, let us sit upon the groundAnd tell sad stories of the death of kings;…For you have but mistook me all this while:I live with bread like you, feel want,Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,How can you say to me, I am a king? (Richard II) • How is the king presented in this quotation? Is he weak or strong? • Does Shakespeare use bank verse in these lines?

17. The tragedies • Most of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written between 1598 and 1607 after his son Hamlet died at the age of 10 in 1596 (the back period). • Every tragedy has a hero who (1) is a natural human being, (2) is a noble man, (3) has a flaw/problem which leads to a major miscalculation, (4) dies at the end of the play (catastrophe). • The flaw of Hamlet isrevenge. • The flaw of Othello is jealousy. • The flaw of Macbeth is ambition.

18. The tragedies • In all of Shakespearian tragedies, harmony is lost but restored after or short time before the death of the tragic hero. • Lost harmony is what prompts a tragic hero to act. • The tragic hero dies trying to achieve harmony or perfection.

19. Examples from tragedies Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time,… ...It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (Macbeth) • This is the moment when Macbeth discovers her flaw (anagnorisis)

20. Examples from tragedies No, no, no life! Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never! (King Lear) • This quotation is delivered after King Lear discovers his miscalculation. He gave his insincere daughters Goneril and Regan his kingdom and deprived the honest one Cordeliaof her share. • In the end, his misunderstood daughter lies dead in his armsand he laments.

21. - The Comedies • Like tragedies, the harmony of the universe is lost in Shakespearian comedies—the world is threatened and shaken. • But the comedies end happily after the harmony is restored. • A comedy is characterized by a sense of humor generated by mistaken identities and funny jokes. • Shakespearian comedies are sometimes referred to as serious comedies or tragic comedies because they describe serious actions and communicate serious themes.

22. Examples from the Comedies “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.” (The Merchant of Venice) • Speaking to a Christian society that maltreats Jews, the Jewish Character Shylock speaks out in this quotation criticizing the prejudice and discrimination of the Venetian society.

23. Assignment As a Palestinian, you endure the same conditions that Shylock undergoes in the Merchant of Venice. How could you retell this quotation assuming that you are a Palestinian speaker? You should speak to the whole world and highlight your suffering in a world that alienates and shows prejudice against the Palestinian people and their issue.

24. Final plays • Shakespeare’s final plays are difficult to define. Some of them are considered serious comedies or problem comedies. • Some call Shakespeare’s final plays pastoral comedies because their setting involves escape to the countryside. • Some call them fables because some of the characters are animals.

25. Example: The Tempest • The Tempest can be read as an allegory of Imperialism & Colonialism. How? • Prospero’s daughter and Ferdinand get married and they are the hope for the future. • At the end of the play, Prospero reminds the audience the play is unreal. “We are such as dreams are made on”

26. Example: The Tempest • The question of dream and reality is seen to be a metaphor for all theatrical images. • Prospero’s final speech, giving up his magic powers, is read as Shakespeare’s farewell to his art: “Now my charms are all overthrown.”