English Literature 1 -

Lessons 5 and 6
Prof. Joane Leôncio
joanes@prof.fafire.br
INTRODUCTION

o Renaissance (1500-1600) - Shakespeare

LESSON GUIDE
● Context
● Playwrights
● Christopher Marlowe
● William Shakespeare
● Plays
● Ben Jonson
● John Webster
● Round-up time
CONTEXT
● After the end of the Middle Ages, marked by church repression such as
the Crusades and the Holy Inquisition, there was great cultural freedom.
● Period of the Great Navigations and the discovery of the New World.
● Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli.
● The event of the press: diffusion of knowledge.
● At that time, England was experiencing a moment of national
affirmation. Elizabeth Tudor assumed the throne in 1558. In 1588, the
country became the greatest power on the seas. This feeling of
nationalism contributed to the growth of the arts.
CONTEXT

● “Apesar do advento da imprensa, o teatro era a principal forma de

levar a arte da literatura às pessoas - mesmo que livros de poesia e
outras formas literárias impressas no papel já estivessem ganhando
popularidade, levou ainda um bom tempo para que a leitura se
difundisse maciçamente” (FERRO, 2015, p. 28).
CONTEXT
● Theater in church to catechize to believers.

● Theater takes to the streets and becomes professional.

● University wits.

● English drama was not concerned with following the formulas of classical
theater. The plays of the university wits were usually staged in five acts
written in white verse (without rhyme).
Playwrights
● Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) - The author of “The Spanish Tragedy” (1587), and
one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.
● George Peele (1558-1597) - “The Old Wife's Tale” (ca. 1594) - Each of his plays
is different from the others, so he is not readily identifiable as a writer
primarily of comedies or tragedies or historical drama; he also practiced
hybrid dramatic forms.
● Robert Greene (1558-1592) - “Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay” (ca. 1590) - He
published in many genres including romances, plays and autobiographies.
Christopher Marlowe
(1564-1593)
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

● He was an English playwright, poet and

translator of the Elizabethan era.
● Many believe that Marlowe was a secret
service agent for the monarchy.

Watch: https://youtu.be/5CbWeIkgF-g
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Plays https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/410

● Dido, Queen of Carthage (ca. 1585)

● Tamburlaine; Part I (ca. 1587), Part II (c. 1588)
● The Jew of Malta (ca. 1590)
● Doctor Faustus (ca. 1588–1592)
● Edward II (ca. 1592)
● The Massacre at Paris (ca. 1593)
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
TASK:

● Watch: https://youtu.be/2cjFunrVbys
● Read the text:
http://www.pgletras.uerj.br/matraga/matraga17/matraga17a06.pdf
William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

● Born in Stratford-upon-Avon.
● An actor, poet and playwright.
● The part-owner of a theater company, the Lord
Chamberlain's.
● The plays were a way to make money.

Watch: https://youtu.be/HUHEPo_g0AQ
Tip: https://youtu.be/ocrgDc6W7Es
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
● He wrote the plays to the audience.
● At that time, the value of a playwright was determined by the amount of
laughter and tears each performance could provoke in the audience.
● The theater was quite different from what we have nowadays. There was
practically no scenery, no lighting, and no sound effects. The greatest tool
the actors had were words, and the audience had to be convinced up close,
eye to eye.
● Women were not permitted to act.
Watch: https://youtu.be/NCL21G4aHcU
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
● The themes of the plays were often stories in the public domain. There
was no idea of authorship as we know it today.
● It was common for many playwrights to collaborate with each other to
write the plays.
● This is why Shakespeare's genius stood out from other playwrights: the
construction of complex characters, verses that express feelings,
existential questions, plots that hold, touch, and shock the audience.
The Globe Theatre (1599-1613)

●
 Plays

Procession of Characters from Shakespeare's Plays (ca.1840)

William Shakespeare - Plays
● Tragedy: The tragedy of this period is influenced by Seneca (Greek
tragedy), but Elizabethan tragedy brings in the freewill of the hero.
● Comedy: A story that begins with a problem, an uncomfortable
situation, and finishes off with a happy ending: heroes and
antagonists; parallel stories (Shakespeare's multifaceted plots).
● Historical: This type of play presents the monarch protagonist as
evil and tyrannical (thirst for power).
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy

Cordelia by Alexander
Johnston (1894)
King Lear

Romeo and Juliet by

Ford Madox Brown
depicting the play's
balcony scene (1870)
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy
● Romeo and Juliet (ca.1592): the author's most famous tragedy tells the
story of two young people from enemy families who fall in love, Juliet
Capulet and Romeo Montague. It is one of the most adapted works of all
time and has a tragic ending (the lovers commit suicide).

● https://youtu.be/0nYG_wQMheg
● https://youtu.be/zqRccjKub2A
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy

● King Lear (ca.1605): inspired by British legends, it tells the story of King
Lear of Great Britain, who goes insane after being betrayed by two of his
three daughters in order to share the kingdom between them.

https://youtu.be/CO-ld5sUANo
 TASK
Describe the main characters in King Lear.
1) Lear
2) Cordelia
3) Regan
4) Goneril
5) Edgar
6) Edmund

https://youtu.be/T4t8Hmf48AU (00:03:00 - 00:06:45)

 Main characters
King Lear Goneril + Duke of Albany
Cordelia Regan + Duke of Cornwall

Count of Kent

Count of Gloucester
Edgar Edmund
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”
● Act 1: King Lear, in his old age and hesitation, wishes to give his throne to
his daughters so that he can retire with 100 knights to an entourage. He
demands that each daughter tells him how much she loves him, so that he
can divide his inheritance between them.
● Conflict - King Lear chooses two older daughters, Goneril and Regan,
because they flatter him, while Cordelia believes in acts over speech. The
king banishes her and Cordelia leaves to marry the king of France. Lear
banishes the Earl of Kent for defending Cordelia. Meanwhile, Edmund, the
illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester, is planning to turn his father
against his legitimate son Edgar so that he can inherit the Earl's estates.
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”

● Act 2: Rising action

Goneril and Regan mistreat their father. Kent returns in costume,
loyally serving the king to keep an eye on things. Edmund stages a
fake fight with Edgar and convinces his father that Edgar wants to kill
him. Goneril arrives, and she and Regan solidify their alliance by
demanding that the king gets rid of all his knights. The king, almost
crying and losing consciousness with grief, flees into the stormy night.
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”
● Act 3: Climax
The king of France intends war against England. Gloucester goes after
King Lear to help him, telling Edmund of his plans, who quickly betrays
his father to his sisters. On the stormy night, King Lear, Kent, and Edgar,
disguised as homeless, take refuge in a cabin. Gloucester finds them and
takes the king to Dover, because there are plots against him. Gloucester is
arrested by the Cornish men and Cornwall rips his eyes out. One of
Cornwall's servants intervenes and mortally hurts Cornwall.
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”
● Act 4: Falling Action
Gloucester is desperate, but Edgar, still in disguise, saves him from suicide
and takes him to Dover. Meanwhile, Goneril and Edmund have begun a
romance. Cornwall dies, and she worries that the Regan widow will steal
Edmund away. Goneril's servant Oswald finds and tries to kill Gloucester,
but Edgar kills him. He recovers a letter from Oswald from Goneril
showing his plans to kill Albany and marry Edmund. At the same time,
King Lear has been taken to Cordelia, who is nursing him back to sanity.
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”
● Act 5: Conclusion -
Edgar delivers the letter to Albany before the battle. Goneril and Regan
fight over Edmund, who has compromised with the two sisters. Edmund
captures Lear and Cordelia in battle and orders Cordelia to kill her.
Albany reveals his wife and Edmund's betrayal. Albany challenges
Edmund to fight, and Edgar arrives and fights Edmund and defeats him.
Lear kills the man hanging Cordelia, but not in time, and he dies of
sadness. Albany hands over the power to Kent and Edgar.
WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”- Symbols
● Blindness - both King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester experience a
metaphorical blindness that causes them to lose the obvious devotion and love
of their honest children in favor of the flattery and lies of their other children.
● This blindness eventually leads to their ruin and then to their death.
Gloucester also suffers from physical blindness at the hands of Cornwall, who
at the same time reveals Gloucester's mistake in trusting Edmund. Gloucester
is left to wander without physical sight, but truly seeing, for the first time, the
error of his decision.

● “Tis the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind”.

WIlliam Shakespeare - “King Lear”- Symbols

● The Storm - at the very moment King Lear realizes the true character
of his daughters Goneril and Regan, along with his mistake of
disinheriting Cordelia, a great storm begins to rage.
 TASK
At the beginning of King Lear, find Cornelia's speech in which she
explains her answer to the king.

Read:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1532/1532-h/1532-h.htm
or
https://profjean.com.br/textos/Pecas/Shakespeare/William%20Shakesp
eare%20-%20Rei%20Lear%20-%20traducao%20Millor%20Fernandes.pdf
 TASK

1) Watch: https://youtu.be/fwWsrI3QYlw
2) What are the main themes addressed in King Lear?
3) Why is this play timeless?
 Video tip
https://youtu.be/vQkRBvMkb9s
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy

Hamlet -
Movie (1948)

Macbeth
Acting (1884)
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy
● Macbeth (ca.1606): story about the baron and baroness Macbeth, who
plan to murder the king and rise to power, but the consequences of the
crime are brutal for the new king, who cannot live with his greed.
● https://youtu.be/nZm_k5WUKj4
● https://youtu.be/8Sz_P-Zl-KU (Until 00:22:00 and 01:42:00 - the end)

● Hamlet (ca.1600): the longest tragedy tells the story of Prince Hamlet's
revenge for the death of his father, executed by his uncle. The play
explores themes of revenge, betrayal, corruption, and the morality of
Hamlet's actions.
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy

Titus Andronicus
by
Jean-Michel
Moreau (1785)

Othelo
Paul Robeson e
Uta Hagen (1943)
WIlliam Shakespeare - Tragedy
● Othello, the Moor of Venice (ca.1603): it is one of Shakespeare's most widely
performed plays, and tells the drama of 4 characters: General Othello, his
wife Desdemona, Lieutenant Cassio and officer Iago. In addition, the story
tells of their rivalry, which leads to betrayal, jealousy, and murder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8cELiKZigo

● Titus Andronicus (ca.1593): it was probably created in collaboration with

George Peele. The plot involves Titus (Roman general), Tamora (Queen of
the Goths - later the Empress of Rome) and Saturninus (Emperor of Rome).
Violent staging: mutilation, murder, burning people alive, and cannibalism.
 WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy
● A Midsummer Night's Dream
(ca.1594): a comedy about four young
lovers who meet and miss each other
during a night in the woods. The story
is funny and full of passion, marriage,
fights and reconciliations (Oberon,
Titania, Puck, Hermia, Helena,
Lysander, Demetrius…).
● https://youtu.be/xCI6o-kbqrs

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing (1786) by

William Blake.
WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy
The Taming of the Shrew - Much Ado About
Catherine and Petruchio by Nothing -
Charles Robert Leslie (1832) Beatrice overhears
Hero and Ursula by
John Sutcliffe
WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy
● The Taming of the Shrew (ca.1596): one of Shakespeare's earliest
comedies, it also focuses on themes of marriage, the war of the sexes and
amorous affairs. Unlike the author's other comedies, the marriage of
Catherine and Petruchio is not the final action, but the starting point for
the story.
● Much Ado About Nothing (ca.1599): a comedy about the intrigues
between two romantic pairs: Claudio and Hero; Benedik and Beatrice.
WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy

The Tempest The Merchant of

by William Hogarth Venice -
Shylock
and Jessica
by Maurycy
Gottlieb (1876)
WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy
● The Tempest (1611) – a tragicomedy about a ship
that sinks and the crew members are taken to an
island. The plot works on elements such as magic,
betrayal and revenge. Prospero (Duke of Milan), his
daughter Miranda, his servant Caliban and the spirit
Ariel.
● The Merchant of Venice (ca.1598): this is a
tragicomedy about the merchant Antonio and the
Jewish moneylender Shylock
https://youtu.be/hLIDsPMvb1Q
● .
WIlliam Shakespeare - Comedy

Video tip: The Tempest (2010) trailer

https://youtu.be/4ge2Jtbt8Go

Movie tip: The Merchant of Venice

https://youtu.be/bKKuPYcaDt4
WIlliam Shakespeare - History plays
● Julius Caesar (ca. 1599): the author recounts the conspiracy against Julius Caesar,
emperor of Rome. Despite the title, Julius Caesar is not the main character, but a
friend of the emperor, Brutus, who narrates his friendship with him. There is the
famous sentence that refers to one of Caesar's assassins, "Even you, Brutus?"
● Brutus is motivated by his ethics, and he joins the assassination plot because he
believes Rome is in the hands of a likely tyrant. However, he also has tragic
qualities that blind and mislead him, such as his inability to see that others are
not honorable. Despite his good reputation and virtuous motivations, Brutus is
tempted to make a bad choice. Brutus' choice to kill Caesar leads to destruction in
the world around him, and thus to his own destruction.
WIlliam Shakespeare - History plays

● Richard III (1592): a tragedy about King Richard III of England, based
on true events. It tells the story of how he came to the throne and his
short reign.
● Richard II (1595), Henry V (1599), Anthony and Cleopatra (1607),
Coriolanus (1608).

● This type of play presents the monarch protagonist as evil and

tyrannical.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
● He led the satire of the Elizabethan and Jacobean
eras, being one of the first to acknowledge Marlowe
for the power of his dramatic verse.
● He introduced the “comedy of humours’’, which
portrays the individual as dominated by one
marked characteristic. Works: “Every Man in his
Humour” (1598), “Every Man out of his Humour”
(1599), “Volpone or the Fox” (1605), and “The
Alchemist” (1614).
John Webster (ca.1580-1632) and others

● John Webster - “The White Devil” and “The

Duchess of Malfi” (1612) are important
Elizabethan dramas (tragedies).

● Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Thomas

Heywood, Beaumont and Fletcher are other
noted Elizabethan playwrights.
ROUND-UP TIME

o Context
o Playwrights
o Christopher Marlowe
o William Shakespeare
o Plays
o Ben Jonson
o John Webster
Thank you!
REFERENCES
o ABRAMS, M. H.;GREENBLATT, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature.
8th Edition. Vol. 1. USA: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.
o BURROW, J. A. Medieval Writers and Their Work: Middle English Literature 1100-1500.
Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
o BURGESS, A. A Literatura Inglesa. São Paulo: Ática, 2001.
o FERRO, J. Introdução à literatura de língua Inglesa. Curitiba: Intersaberes, 2015.
o HUDSON, W. H. An outline history of English Literature. London-UK: G Bell and Sons,
1913.
o SNYDER, S. The genres of Shakespeare’s plays. In: DAVIS, A; JENKINS, L. M. (Eds.).
The Cambridge companion to Modernist Poetry. London-UK: Cambridge University Press,
2007. p. 83-97.