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ELIZABETHAN THEATRE. Development of the Elizabethan Theatre. Medieval Stagecraft Protestant Reformation Tudor Pageantry Renaissance Learning and Ideas. Influence of Medieval Theatre. Eager audience Established tradition of theatre and actors MYSTERY AND MORALITY PLAYS:
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Development of the Elizabethan Theatre • Medieval Stagecraft • Protestant Reformation • Tudor Pageantry • Renaissance Learning and Ideas
Influence of Medieval Theatre • Eager audience • Established tradition of theatre and actors • MYSTERY AND MORALITY PLAYS: • Mixing of high seriousness and low comedy • FOLK PLAYS: • Pagan remnants: fairies and sprites • Feast of Fools • INTERLUDES: • Humanistic debates
The Tudors Victorious in the Wars of the Roses, Henry Tudor defeated Richard III, married Anne of York, and became Henry VII HENRY VII ---- Anne of York Arthur -- Catherine -- HENRY VIII Margaret -- James IV Mary-- of Aragon of Scotland Louis XII of France
Henry VII 1485-1509 Henry VIII 1509-1547 Edward VI 1547-1553 Lady Jane Grey 1553-1553 Mary I 1553-1558 Elizabeth I 1558-1603
The Protestant Reformation • Henry VIII wanted a male heir. • In order to marry Anne Boleyn, Henry requested an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon from the Pope – he was refused. • 1531 Parliament recognized Henry VIII as head of the English Church.
The Catholic Restoration • Queen Mary (ruled 1553-58) reimposed Catholicism on the English Church • Protestant persecution • Bloody Mary
The Protestant Reformation • Elizabeth (ruled 1558-1603) worked out a compromise church that retained as much as possible from the Catholic church while putting into place most of the foundational ideas of Protestantism. • Mystery and Morality plays were outlawed as they taught Roman Catholic doctrine
1588: Defeat of the Spanish Armada • The disgrace to Spain greatly damaged its prestige • England's star was on the rise. • Elizabeth took the defeat of the Armada as a sign of divine blessing • English patriotism and devotion to the Queen soared to its greatest heights, shown in part by a profusion of literature that included Shakespeare's first plays--patriotic histories of the English monarchy.
Tudor Pageantry • A hybrid dramatic form of literature, ritual, and politics, • Royal entries and aristocratic entertainments -- fashionable literary forms were turned to the service of national propaganda • Pageants • Parades • Masques • Composed by the bright young men who haunted the court in hopes of securing political office. Full of spectacle: music, dance, elaborate staging, fireworks
Renaissance • Rebirth of Classical knowledge and ideals • Roman theatre as model • Humanistic Ideas • Universities • Oxford • Cambridge • Inns of Court
Influence of Roman Theatre • 5 act structure • Comedy: Plautus and Terence • Plots • Stock characters • Tragedy: Seneca • Revenge motif • Irony • Use of ghosts • Violent spectacle
Humanism:from Morality to Chronicle • It was the aim of the humanists to educate those who ruled in wise and virtuous government. • How do you teach a king? Very tactfully . . . • The effectiveness of the morality play was attractive to humanists, who changed the nature of the moral from religion to political virtue without changing the techniques of the drama. • Theatre was a natural medium for the humanists to use in educating the king, for plays were frequently performed at Court.
Chronicle or History Plays • Explore the workings and legitimacy of kingship • What is a good King? • Historical exemplars (Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar) • Often turn into tragedies
University Wits • University-educated playwrights, noted for their learning and clever language • George Peele(1556-96) • Thomas Lodge (1558-1625) • Thomas Nashe ( 1567-1601) • Robert Greene(1560-92): best known as first Shakespearian critic • John Lyly (1554-1606)
Christopher Marlowe1564-93 • MA from Cambridge • Established blank verse as dramatic medium: “Marlowe’s mighty line” • Overreacher • Tragedies: • Tamburlaine • Dido Queen of Carthage • Dr. Faustus • Edward II • Massacre at Paris • Jew of Malta • Killed in a brawl
Ben Jonson1572-1637 • Educated at Westminster School -- no university but the most learned of playwrights • Important comedies of humor include: Every Man in His Humor, Volpone, The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair • Wrote and staged court masques with Inigo Jones • Celebrated poet and conversationalist: “Sons of Ben”
Acting Companies • 1590 -- 1642: approximately 20 companies of actors in London (although only 4 or 5 played in town at one time) • More than a hundred provincial troupes. • Companies usually played in London in the winter and spring and to travel in the summer when plague ravaged the city • Members: • Shareholders • Apprentices • Hired men
Censorship • Largely Puritan leaders of the City of London disapproved of the theatres. • The Privy Council was wary of the political comment often present in topical plays. • Censorship under the direction of the Master of Revels was strict. • In 1596 the City Corporation ordered the expulsion of players from London and the closing of the inn-theatres. • Theatres moved across the River
Chronicle or History Plays Comedies Romantic Pastoral Feast of Fools Social Humors Tragedies Senecan Revenge De casibus -- turn of Fortune Fatal flaw Romances far-away adventures Any combination of the above Types of Plays “The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral,pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical historical, scene individable or poem unlimited.” -- Hamlet
Elizabethan Stock Characters • Senex: old man in authority • Miles gloriosus: braggart soldier • Shrew: sharp-tongued woman • Clever servant • Machiavel: political schemer • “Calumniator believed” : a liar who is believed • Idiotes: a malcontent • Parasite: a “moocher” • Pedant: in love with the sound of his own didactic voice • Young Lovers • Fools and clowns
William ShakespeareApril 23, 1564-April 23, 1616 • Born in Stratford-upon-Avon • Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 at age of 18 • 3 children: Susanna (1583) and Hamnet and Judith (1585) • 1585-92: “the lost years” • 1595 record of membership in Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Early Works: prior to 1594 • History Plays: • Henry VI: 1,2,and 3 • Richard III • Poetry: Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, sonnets • Plautine Comedy: • A Comedy of Errors • Courtly Comedy: • Two Gentlemen of Verona • Farcical/problem Comedy: • The Taming of the Shrew • Senecan Revenge Tragedy: • Titus Andronicus • Romantic Tragedy: • Romeo and Juliet
Lord Chamberlain’s Men • Originally formed under the patronage of Lord Strange, but when he died in 1594, the players found a patron in Henry Carey, the Lord Chamberlain. • Performed at the Theatre and the Curtain • 1599 moved to the newly built Globe. By 1600 they had emerged as the leading theatrical company in London • 1603 became the King's Men under a royal patent from James I. The company continued successfully until the Puritans closed the theatres in 1642.
The Globe • Built by the Burbages in 1598 for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men • Burned down in 1613 during production of Henry VIII • Rebuilt 1614
Comedies: Love’s Labour’s Lost A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing As You Like It Twelfth Night The Merchant of Venice Merry Wives of Windsor Histories: King John Richard II Henry IV: 1,2 Henry V Tragedies: Julius Caesar Hamlet Popular Success: 1595-1600
A Darker Vision: 1601-1607 • Problem Plays: • All’s Well That Ends Well • Measure for Measure • Troilus and Cressida • Tragedies: • Othello • King Lear • Macbeth • Antony and Cleopatra • Coriolanus
Final Works: 1608-1612 • Tragedy: Timon of Athens • Romances: • Cymbeline • Pericles • The Winter’s Tale • The Tempest • Collaborations with John Fletcher: • Henry VIII • Two Noble Kinsmen
Shakespeare was buried on April 25, 1616 in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, where he had been baptised just over 52 years earlier • Good friend for Jesus sake forbearTo dig the dust enclosed here!Blest be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones
First Folio: 1623 • The first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. • Included thirty-six plays, eighteen of which had never been published before • The editors of the volume, Shakespeare's fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell, arranged the plays in three genres: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies.