 British literature

 Elizabethan Age
William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, The
sonnets.
 Neoclassical age
Johnathan Swift- Gulliver’s travel
Daniel Defoe- Robinson Crusoe
 Romanticism
John Keats- Poems
 Victorian Age-Realism
Charles Dickens -Great Expectations
Lewis Carroll- Alice in Wonderland
 Edwardian Age- Modernism
Joseph Conrad- Heart of Darkness
Virginia Wolf- To the lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway
G.B. Shaw: Cezar and Cleopatra, Pygmalion,
James Joyce- Ulysses
 Postmodernism
William Goulding- Lord of Flies

Chapter One Elizabethan Age

 Renaissance

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
MACBETH

 1. Historical and cultural point of view. 12 points 15 r

Elizabethan age represented one of the important and cruel periods of the British

literature, because of the vanity and cruelty of the queen. In all the country were tensions and

conflict for power, fortune and fame, and people would do anything to achieve their goals.

Most of these conflicts happened at the highest classes of the society, near the queen.

So, the authors of that period in their operas critiqued and satirize these cruelty relationships,

just to create panic and dark humor for the public area.

Because of that, main operas written in that period was the types of dramatic genre

like tragedies, dramas, comedies just to create panic and pity to the public. Also, the main

characters of that operas, were inspired from the persons, who create that tyranny and cruel

atmosphere, especially the high classes, here the examples are: the king, queen, lady,

gentleman, lord etc.

Another point of inspiration for Shakespeare was the belief in supernatural forces like

karma or witchcraft. Let’s talk about the karma, firstly, karma represents a force of universe,

the arrangement of planets, and the main idea that what you do good or bad, this will soon

return the favors.

Here in this opera is the prediction of the main character regarding his death, because

was so cruel with his people. Secondly another belief was the witchcraft, many women were

killed because of that. Shakespeare used these kinds of beliefs just to create pity, terror and

dark atmosphere.
2. William Shakespeare represents one of the most important and known author of

playwrights during the Elizabethan age. His fame was around the world because of his

allegory and satire. He satirized that cruel period of the history of England, in his operas. His

main operas are form the dramatic genre especially: the tragedies, the dramas or the comedies.

Especially his tragedies are the most known piece of art, here is Macbeth, Hamlet or Romeo

and Juliet.

The tragedy represents one of the main types of opera in the dramatic genre, its origin

was from Antique Greek literature, known for strong and serious stories, with a cruel story,

ending tragically for the main characters. Especially this opera was played in generally by

men with masks, not addressed to all kind of people just to high classes.

This opera is a tragedy because has two main themes : the irony of a noble commander

named Macbeth, due to his thirsty of power and renown, killed the real king Duncan and took

his throne and transformed into a tyrant king, the irony is the nicknames of twos, Macbeth

was called the Tyrant and Duncan was called the King.

The second theme aborded by the author was the relationship between cruelty and

masculinity. While the male characters are known to be able of cruel deeds and violence, the

cruelty of female characters are striking. Here are the witches from this tragedy who prompt

Macbeth to kill the king and to binds believing his own mortality.

Here they are the symbol of mythological fates but with use their powers to see the

future and to destroy the human beings. They speak in a catalectic trochaic tetrameter as

opposed to the noble characters who speak in blank verse, composed in iambic pentameter.

Macbeth is also spurred to action of his ambitious and mysterious wife who is thirsty

of power and position, and in certain times she seems to be stronger and more ruthless than
her husband. She encourages Macbeth to look like an innocent flower but act like a serpent, as

a suggestion in front of the king with noble actions but not revealing their true intentions.

In each scene of the opera appeared a scene of bloody killing turning into a carnage,

just to tremble and pity the audience. Also, the main characters are covered in blood, to the

endless references to the blood stained of Macbeth and his wife, to the dagger covered in

blood, and floating of the main characters.

These hallucinations and blood come to symbolize guilt that sits like a permanent stain

conscience of the main characters. From the thunder and storm that accompany the witch’s

appearance to the terrible storm on the night of Duncan’s murder- they all reflect corruption in

the moral and political order.

HAMLET

1 Elizabethan age represented one of the important and cruel periods of the British

literature, because of the vanity and cruelty of the queen. In all the country were tensions and

conflict for power, fortune and fame, and people would do anything to achieve their goals.

Most of these conflicts happened at the highest classes of the society, near the queen.

So, the authors of that period in their operas critiqued and satirize these cruelty relationships,

just to create panic and dark humor for the public area.

Because of that, main operas written in that period was the types of dramatic genre

like tragedies, dramas, comedies just to create panic and pity to the public. Also, the main

characters of that operas, were inspired from the persons, who create that tyranny and cruel
atmosphere, especially the high classes, here the examples are: the king, queen, lady,

gentleman, lord etc.

Another point of inspiration for Shakespeare was the belief in supernatural forces like

karma or ghosts

2. William Shakespeare represents one of the most important and known author of

playwrights during the Elizabethan age. His fame was around the world because of his

allegory and satire. He satirized that cruel period of the history of England, in his operas.

His main operas are form the dramatic genre especially: the tragedies, the dramas or

the comedies. Especially his tragedies are the most known piece of art, here is Macbeth,

Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet.

The majority of Shakespeare tragedies are based on historical figures, here focuses on

the reverse of fortune of the central characters which lead to their ruin and death. His

tragedies work on five structures corresponding to their acts: exposition, which introduce us

the main characters and the situation, the intrigue, the development, the climax, consisting of

a change of direction, further development and the final.

The death is a constant presence in all of Shakespeare tragedies, in this play, the plot

starts with the murder of Hamlets dad through poisoning and the appearance of his ghost in

the intrigue. What separates hamlet from his revenge is his trying to obtain more certain

knowledge regarding father’s death and the used poison. Poisson, symbolize the moral

corruption of a friend of royal family, Claudius and his desire to take over the kingdom, also a

symbol of his cowardice and his afraid to fight directly.

 A first theme which links Hamlet to an old tragedy Ofelia, is the suicide as they both

think deeply of it. In his famous soliloquy, to be or not to be, based on an antithesis as Hamlet

speaks to Yorick’s skull, he concludes that no one would choose to endure the pain of life if

one weren’t afraid of what comes after death, as in Christian religion suicide leads to eternal

damnation in hell. This famous quote centers on the arguments for the resignation of the main

character. A second theme inspired from the antique opera Ofelia, was the revenge, this is

represented by the thirsty of the main character to revenge the father’s death.

Another characteristic for this opera is the irony, firstly the main character Hamlet

predicted his end, from the beginning with his presumption from first acts, another irony is

how Claudius the evil character arranged another murder, the death of Hamlet in the last

episode, but felt himself.

THE SONNETS

B The sonnet is originary from Italy during 14 th century, written by an important

author named Petrarch who wrote for his beloved woman and was lately adopted by

Shakespeare in the 16th century. These are 154 sonnets and author introduced with them, two

main factors in England like verbal immediacy and the molding of stress.

Also used many new and different words from other languages -this phenomenon was

also called neologism. He used a standard type of writing, blank verse written in an iambic

style. He used this different style to accentuate the loneliness and the sadness of the lyrical

ego.

The Shakespearean sonnets are compound from 14 lines divided into 4 parts. The first

three parts have each of them, four lines long and are written in quatrains with a rhymed
paired, whereas the fourth part contains only 2 lines also called couplet. In the quatrain we

can see the main theme and, in the couplet, we can see the resume of quatrain or retake the

main idea. The main themes used are love, purity, beauty, death and immortality.

The first 126 sonnets seemed to be addressed to a young and beautiful noble man,

whom the author loves very much, referring him as a Fair Youth. This type of address was

unique in the Elizabethan England. He praises his beauty and has a secret desire for this man.

The first 17 sonnets are traditionally so-called procreation sonnets, urge him to marry

and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to next generations.

John Keats

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

John Keats represent one of the most important writers during Romanticism period of

British literature during 18th century. Romanticism period appeared as a contrast against

Industrial Revolution and the age of Enlightenment, which wanted to underline with its operas

that the reader should contemplate at the awful changings of this event, and should not forget

their origins and the nature.

What was an industrial revolution? It represented an important event during the end of

17th century all around the world. Just the start with it we can see difference in England, like:

the industrialization of the cities, starting the new factories and inventions. A lot of people

moved from countryside to towns, so the towns became so crowded and polluted, and

appeared a lot of disease and problems.

 Also, in contrary the differences between the social classes, like example poor versus

riches, remained the same. For example, many of the children which were poor, they couldn’t

afford the education system, so they have to works in fabrics with low cost and bad

environment.

In conclusion, the romantic poets wanted to aware that the changing of the Age of

enlighten, also the hellish life from big cities and the purity and tranquility of the nature and

simplicity of other eras they wanted to return back.

2. Because of his disease, the cancer, the poet Keats had a short life and wrote the

most beautiful and thoughtful poems of English literature. Among these, there are some

lyrical odes. The ode represents a chant or a song. They don’t tell a normal story, like with a

story or some characters but explore the same themes as a Romantic poem like: the

contemplation of beauty, the inevitability of death or the nature.

Because of his disease, Keats focused at the end of life, more at death theme,

inevitability appears also in his works, here he made a comparation between death and the

symbol of water. The symbol of water, by most of romantic poems, was compared with death

because

The author had also interest in Antiquity and the ancient world. He used different

symbols from Greek mythology, to populate his poems. For Keats, the Grecian urn, represent

here in this poem a symbol for solidity and has a strong contrast with fleeting, temporary

nature of life. Here could be a consolidation in time of his poems or other arts to remain for

the future readers after his death. Or could be a contrast against the enlightenment, that the

author wanted to return back into meditation or the old nature, and with this type of urn could

maintain in time.
 Ode on a Grecian Urn is composed of five stains, each of them has 10 lines long, with

a iambic pentameter. The imagery is based upon the urn, here could be a personification for

the readers, because it represents the only character in the poem. The urn could be also a

metaphor for mystery and meditation. Other symbols presented in this opera are: the stars, the

books, the birds. These symbols are specifically for romantics. Also, the author used

rhetorical questions in the first and second stanza.

The second stanza started with a paradox. Hu used different artistical images, like the

sound of the pipes or the other sights to symbolize that the readers can also delay the

inevitability of death through the infinite time of various types of art like music and poetry.

He used these images to help the readers to leave the real world, and teleport into a mythical

imaginary realm. And the end of the poem, the speaker returns back to his normal life.

LA BELLE DAMME SANS MERCI

1. John Keats represent one of the most important writers during Romanticism period

of British literature during 18th century. Romanticism period appeared as a contrast against

Industrial Revolution and the age of Enlightenment, which wanted to underline with its operas

that the reader should contemplate at the awful changings of this event, and should not forget

their origins and the nature.

What was an industrial revolution? It represented an important event during the end of

17th century all around the world. Just the start with it we can see difference in England, like:

the industrialization of the cities, starting the new factories and inventions. A lot of people

moved from countryside to towns, so the towns became so crowded and polluted, and

appeared a lot of disease and problems.

 Also, in contrary the differences between the social classes, like example poor versus

riches, remained the same. For example, many of the children which were poor, they couldn’t

afford the education system, so they have to works in fabrics with low cost and bad

environment.

In conclusion, the romantic poets wanted to aware that the changing of the Age of

enlighten, also the hellish life from big cities and the purity and tranquility of the nature and

simplicity of other eras they wanted to return back.

2. La belle sans merci is a romantic ballad, medieval genre reinterpreted by romantic

poets, which imitates a folk ballade-one of the oldest poetics forms in English literature.

The folk ballade-one of the oldest poetics forms in English literature and are usually

narrative or storytelling. It uses a sample language addressed to common people of a

particular culture or place. Ballads primarily themes were love and courage and were used in

an oral form.

Keats took this title from a French poem of 14 th century. he divided this poem into 12

stanzas known as quatrains because each has four long line and are written in an iambic

pentameter with a paired rhyme. Like the old poem, this one deals with supernatural. An

unidentified speaker asks a pale dying knight what affects him and the knight tells a story

about a beautiful woman, who has no pity, who pretended to love him, but abandoned him.

B)
 Realism

Charles Dickens-

Great Expectations

A Charles lived and worked during Victorian Age of the English literature Under queen

Victoria regime, Great Britain transformed into one of the most powerful and expanded

empires in the world, extending its border in America, Africa and Asia therefore becoming

the first economic and politic world power.

A significant event that happened during the middle of 19th century was the expansion

of literacy and culture in England. Almost everyone could read a novel, and the novel became

the most important type of literature.

The industrial revolution had transformed the social landscape, enabling the capitalists

to a huge fortune. The biggest example of industrialization in Great Britain was the railway

stations and the Great Exhibition.

New factories were built and various mechanical means of producing goods more

quickly and cheaply than those made by hand. It increased the social mobility, the gab

between rich and the poor remained wide A lot of people moved from countryside to towns,

so the towns became so crowded and polluted, and appeared a lot of disease and problems.

For example, many of the children which were poor, they couldn’t afford the education

system, so they have to works in fabrics with low cost and bad environment.
B) in this novel Dickens explores and critiques all the social classes during the Victorian

Age from the poorest to the criminals. He especially wanted to underline the society point of

view and the classes, as the measures of a person’s value.

This we can see in the character of Bentley Drummie who is wealthy, powerful and

noble member of the upper-class to show that these traits are more likely to corrupt than

improve a personality. Miss Havisham a wealthy woman but mad and vengeful, adopts

Estrella and raises her as a weapon to achieve a revenge against a man. But the authors

conclusion wasn’t the idea that all rich and noble person are evil just with good values.

From the early 1850, Dickens gave public reading of his novels. His novel is written to

be read aloud, to all kind of persons with different personalities values, in a comically mode,

or heartbreakingly sentimental. Many of his characters has an animal as a symbol for their

values: for example, Drummie is compared with a spider, Mrs. Joe to an eagle, Pip to a lamb,

and Estrella to a statue, in a metaphorical mode

The title of the novel represents the achievement of the main character, Pip who has a

believing that exist some possibilities to advance in life, regarding his future. He is very

ambitions and his self- improvement has 3 forms: social, moral and educational which

motives Pip his best and worst behavior from the novel. One of the most important aspect of

the Dickens novel is the symmetry and balance, like most of a character have foils, characters

to contract with.