SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Renaissance emerged in England after the end of the War of the Roses and the coming to
the throne of Henry VII Tudor (1485)
England was a rather marginal European kingdom; under the Tudors and the early
Stuarts
Lectures will focus, nonetheless, on Renaissance culture in England in the sixteenth
century
The first half of the century revived lyrical poetry through the introduction of the sonnet
(Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard), the rise of the secular drama (the early comedies
and tragedies) and the emergence of refined prose (Sir Thomas Morus)
Renaissance in England

Renaissance (re-birth in French, originally derived from the Latin renascentia)

Rebirth of classical literature and art forms

Occurred between 1400-1600 A.D.

During this time period, it was nearly impossible to rise above your birth
Family name and nobility were very important
Began with Henry VIII (made himself the head of the Church of England, bringing church and
state together (1529-39) and ended with King James
High time in literature: Sidney, Spencer, Marlow, Shakespeare
In France, Francois Rabelais wrote a series of stories called Gargantua and Pantagruel
Humanism, characterised by interest in man. The study of man and regarded as the way
to elevate human culture
Humanists were interested in human values, and they revived the study of classical Greek
and Roman art, literature, history, and philosophy.
Desiderius Erasmus, lived in England for a number of years and wrote his famous work
Moriae Encomium (Praise of Folly) in 1510
Utopia (1515-1516), the first great humanistic work by an Englishman. Written in Latin
in dialogue form0, Moruss work focused on creating an ideal no place
Medieval philosophers systems of thought was mainly centered around God and
questions of religions.
Renaissance in England happened much later than in Italy
Due to:
Hundred Years War
Ended 1453
England vs. France
War of the Roses (ended 1485)
Lancaster family vs. York family
Tudor family is accepted as ruler by both
King Henry VII
Built up trade
Brought peace

King Henry VIII

From the Tudor line
Encouraged art, literature, music, leisure
Broke away from Catholic Church, started Anglican Church
Had SIX wives: Catherine of Aragon(divorced), Anne Boleyn(beheaded), Jane
Seymore (died), Ann of Cleves(divorced), Kathryn Howard (beheaded),
Katherine Parr (survived)
Elizabeth

Well-traveled and well-educated

English Renaissance peaked during her reign

SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH POETRY

Sixteenth-century English (lyrical and epic) poems revealed a growing interest in court
culture, in general, and in the relationship between European cultural values and
artistic models and the products of the emergent national cultures, in particular.
The themes:
relationships between humanism, and court culture, with particular stress on courtly and
platonic love;
the relationships between humanism, chivalric values and court culture
the role of women in court culture, both women as ornaments of the court and women as
rulers. (Griffiths, 1998)
LYRICAL POETRY
John Skelton (c. 1460-1529). Highly regarded in his day as poet and a laureate of both
Oxford and Cambridge universities, he was praised by Caxton and Erasmus as a leading
luminary of the English literary scene.
Translations and adaptations played a very important part in making the humanistic
literature of Italy widely known
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
Life:

was a 16th-century English ambassador and lyrical poet.

He is credited with introducing the sonnet into English literature.

he was also held in high regard as a diplomat, both by his own King and by Emperor
Charles V
He lived a short, life among the aristocrats of Henry VIIIs court, getting often involved
in dangerous political relationships or love affairs.
he was imprisoned under the suspicion of being Anne Boleyns lover, after she became
queen
he became an ambassador to Spain (c. 1537-1540), but he was imprisoned again under
the charge of treason

Work:

None of Wyatts poems had been published in his lifetime, with the exception of a few
poems The Court of Venus.
His first published work was Certain Psalmsv

A significant amount of his literary consists of translations and imitations of sonnets by the
Italian poet Petrarch

He is the first English poet since Chaucer to make use of Italian models, combining the
humanist and the vernacular modes of expression
Thomas Wyatts poems were the first to introduce into the language a new style of
verse in subjectmatter, imagery, and metrical form. They left their mark on English
poetry for the following century

SIXTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH POETRY

2.1. LYRICAL POETRY
2.1.2. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547)
Life:

was an English aristocrat, and one of the founders of EnglishRenaissance poetry. He was a
first cousin of both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the second and fifth wives of King
Henry VIII

Born in a family of the highest aristocracy, he spent his childhood and early youth in
close connection with the royal families of England and France
he remained essentially a reckless young man, often embarking, together with his friends
(here including Thomas Wyatts son)
he was beheaded, at the age of 30, just one week before the monarchs death.

Work:

was encouraged to study and to translate from the classics and the French poets

he showed technical skill and produced fluent, musical, attractive verse of genuine lyric
quality
Surrey was at his best when exalting male friendship and masculine virtues rather than
the love of women.
was the first English poet to publish blank verse (unrhymediambic pentameter)

Lyrical Poetry from the 1550s to the 1590s

the literary interest in Italy and its court poetry went in hibernation
english poets remained mainly imitators of the Petrarchan sonnet.
George Gascoigne was the most important man of letters in England.
His contribution to the development of Renaissance literature might be:
remarkable translations from Italian drama (Ariosto);
- the first English novel, The Adventures of Master F. J. (1573);
- the first English satire in blank verse, The Steele Glass (1576), exposing the moral
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

was an English poet, scholar, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent
figures of the Elizabethan age.
His works include Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Poesy (also known as The Defence
of Poetry or An Apology for Poetry), and The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia.

Devoted himself to the Queens service

During a 1577 diplomatic visit to Prague, Sidney secretly visited the exiled priest Edmund
Campion.

he experienced disappointment in love when Penelope Devereux chose to marry Lord

Rich
The young poet Edmund Spenser, dedicated The Shepheardes Calender to him
The manner of his death made him a figure of myth
His fame rests upon three major works:
- the first English romance tale (novel, pastoral romance) Arcadia;
-the sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella;
- the essay An Apology for Poetry.

Arcadia:
Made of five books

The omance focuses on the love and fortune in which the main characters Duke
Basilius, ruler of Arcadia and his wife Gynecia, their daughters Pamela and Philoclea,
and two royal suitors, Pyrocles and Musidorus get entangled
The royal couples attempt to prevent a gloomy prophecy from becoming true by retiring
in a remote village, triggers a series of that several major themes of classical novels.
Sidney originally wrote Arcadia for the amusement of his sister, the Countess of
Pembroke
Astrophel and Stella
The first of the famous English sonnet sequences
reveals to be one of the greatest sonneteers in England, development of a love affair

Astrophel ends the sonnet alone and isolated, empty without Stella's presence

An Apology for Poetry

this essay defends imaginative literature in all its forms including drama

Sidney integrates a number of classical and Italian precepts on fiction

The work also offers important comments on Edmund Spenser and the Elizabethan stage.

LECTURE 3
DEVELOPMENTS IN LATE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY LYRICAL AND
EPIC POETRY: EDMUND SPENSER AND WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Has been

introduced as novelties on the English scene

Th veneration for continental literature was at the same time a source of chagrin

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)

Life:

His name

is usually associated with Wyatt, Surrey and Sidney

Heenjoyed the first rank education in the greatest Renaissance tradition at Merchant
Taylors School and at Cambridge where he received his BA and MA
Work:
he composed the Shepheards Calender and dedicated the poem to Sir Philip Sidney
he had been accepted into the employment of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and was
living in Leicester House in the Strand
he married Elizabeth Boyle, an event which he celebrated in the sonnet sequence
Amoretti and Epithalamium which detailed the course of love during his courtship, and
celebrated its consummation in his marriage.
The Faerie Queene consists of 6 books

is a highly artificial creation too long to be read for entertainment

The Faerie Queene purely as a poetic romance

William Shakespeare (1564-1616):

The Narrative Poems and the Sonnets
The Narrative Poems:
The closing of the theatres in 1592-1593 because of the plague epidemic interrupted
Shakespeares career
The two narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) were
the only works published under the supervision of the writer himself
Venus and Adonis
Its narrative poem in six-line stanzas, published by Richard Field
The poem was dedicated to Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of
Southampton
contains the typically language of a commoner addressing a nobleman

The Sonnets
All the 154 sonnets by Shakespeare were published only later by Thomas Thorpe,
apparently without the writers authorization
Shakespeare followed the more idiomatic rhyme scheme of sonnets that Sir Philip
Sydney used in the first great Elizabethan sonnets cycle, Astrophel and Stella
The tone of the sonnets gradually becomes more personal as the lyrical persona explores
the relationship between the poet and his Fair Friend
critics have even suggested that W.H. might have meant William Himself
sonnets 127-152 refer to a brunette, the poets beloved who brings overwhelming passion
into his mature age
one of the sonnets makes reference to his friend taking his beloved away from him
the Dark Lady of the sonnets might have been, Emilia Bassano, the daughter of the
Italian Baptist Bassano, a musician at Elizabeths court
he used both the Italian (Petrarchan) and the English structure in his sonnets
Some sonnets begin with a remembrance of things past; others are commanding in
tone; others introduce general statements to further illustrate them
INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
The Rise of Secular Drama. The First Comedies and Tragedies
Moralities: They began to incorporate more non religious material and reached a point
Interludes: a brief play between the courses of a banquet; a play performed outdoors in
summer
interlude = used indiscriminately for any play maintaining its character of secular
humour.
After 1550: Plays were performed at Court, in the halls of the noblemen, at the Inns of Court and
in colleges, generally but not exclusively by professional actors.
Influences: folk plays, moralities and interludes

E.g. Nicholas Udall (headmaster of Eaton and Westminster School) : a selection of phrases
from Terence, Flowers of Latin Speaking Selected and Gathered out of Terence, used as a text
book of style by schoolboys in Tudor times; the first English comedy Ralph Roister Doister
Ralph Roister Doister
written in in short rhymed doggerel inspired by the comedies of Plautus and Terence (the five act
division and observing the unities of time, place and action)
main characters: widow Christian Custance; her fianc, the merchant Gawin Goodluck; Ralph
Roister Doister, a well-to-do braggart; Matthew Merrygreek, his companion
Humour derives from: the social satire addressed at the avarice of the middle classes,
Gammer Gurtons Needle
the second English comedy in
classical in form (five classical acts, observing unities of time, space and action)
action laid in the English countryside
characters typical of the villages of the late feudal times
originality: present the genuine local colour of an English village in the sixteenth century.
This combination of lively, vivid native English material put into the regular form of the Latin
comedies of Plautus and Terence
The first tragedies were modelled on Seneca features of the Senecan tragedy: five acts, violent
and bloody plots, rhetorical speeches and the presence of ghosts among the characters
Gorboduc or Ferrex and Porrex is often termed the first true English tragedy. It was presented
at the Christmas feast of the Inner Temple where young men studied law
authors: two young lawyers, Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton;
inspired by a legendary tale of ancient Britain derived from Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia
Regum Britanniae;
main characters: king Gorboduc; his sons, Ferrex and Porrex; queen Videna.
The play voices the popular aspirations for unity and order
the play was perceived as a hint to Queen Elizabeth I:
it certainly recommends that the Queen settle the succession, perhaps by marriage, perhaps by
announcing her heir
Senecan elements: five acts, each ending with a chorus of five old Britons, the scenes of horror
and violence
The most important innovation: the blank verse here employed in drama for the first time.
Kynge Johan:
The first chronicle play
historical events at the heart of the play: King John as the champion of the English/ versus/ the
Roman Catholic Church;
morality play elements: the presence of allegorical characters

Introduction to Elizabethan Performance Studies

Elizabethan Playhouses When Elizabeth became Queen of England, there were no

specially designed theatre buildings
Actors (usually small, made of 5 to 8 members) performed in a wide variety of temporary
acting spaces, like churches, Town Halls, Town Squares, great halls of Royal Palaces or
other great houses
The first permanent theatres in England were old inns which had been used as temporary
acting areas when the companies had been touring(The Cross Keys, The Bull, The Bel
Savage, The Bell)
The first purpose built theatre building in England was simply called The Theatre

The Theatre was built at Shoreditch in the northern outskirts of London, by the Earl of
Leicesters Men who were led by James Burbage, a carpenter turned actor.
The Theatre was followed the next year by The Curtain
Structure and Design of Public/ Outdoor Theatres
Public theatres were polygonal - hexagonal outside and round inside
The rear stage was covered by a roof which they called Heavens
Immediately above the inner stage, there was the stage gallery
The Players
Elizabethan theatre, demanded that an actor be able to play numerous roles and make it
obvious to the audience by changes in his acting style
All of the actors in an Elizabethan theatre company were male
There were laws in England against women acting
One woman - Mary Frith - was arrested in the Jacobean period for singing and playing
instruments on stage during a performance of a play about her life
Costumes, Scenery and Effects
Elizabethan costuming seems to have been a strange combination of what was modern
dress, and costumes
Extensive make-up was almost certainly used, particularly for the boys playing female
parts and with dark make-up on the face and hands for actors playing blackamoors or
Turks
The Elizabethans did not use fixed scenery or painted backdrops of the sort that became
popular in the Victorian period
A number of other simple special effects were used. Real cannons and pistols
One thing that Elizabethan theatres almost completely lacked was lighting effects
Performance Techniques
Performances ran continuously without any sort of interval or act breaks
We do not even know how long Elizabethan plays usually ran
Occasionally music may have been played between Acts or certain scenes
The law expected plays to last between two and two and a half hours, but some plays such as Hamlet did not
Another aspect of Elizabethan performance was the use of clowns or fools.
Shakespeare complains in Hamlet about the fact that the fool often spoke a great deal that
was not included in his script
Specific Aspects of Elizabethan Performances:
bear-baiting: Three bears in ascending size are set upon by an English hound in a fight to
the death.
fencing: this civilized sport also took place before plays.
dumb-shows/processions: Dumb shows appeared at the end of each act to summarize the
events of the following act.
o The University Wits
were young playwrights, who moulded the medieval forms of drama into the pattern of
their classical education
the play of human passion and action was expressed for the first time with true dramatic
effect
o John Lyly

Life:
closely connected with the aristocratic circles
born in Kent, brought up in Canterbury
studies: Kings School; MA at the University of Oxford
He sought promotion at the court
Three times an MP
retired in Yorkshire at the Mexborough house of his wife Beatrice Browne
o Work:
the novel (prose romance) Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit and its sequel Euphues and
His England are the most fashionable writer for a decade
o Plays:
comedies based on the theme of courtly love, set against a classical background, with one
exception (Mother Bombie)
Gallathea (1592);
Midas (1592) ;
Mother Bombie (1594) a farcical comedy of manners set against the background of the
English countryside
Features:
most of them written in prose for childrens companies
devices introduced: girls disguised as boys; the ethereal fairies; exquisite effects of song
and music.
o George Peele
Life:
BA and MA in Oxford;
living a dissolute life in London, which is why he was turned out of his fathers
o Work:
pageants (spectacular processions/ plays presenting tableaux and including songs, dances
and dramatic scenes very close to the masque);
occasional or miscellaneous verse: The Honour of the Garter and Polyhymnia (1590);
plays: Edward I (1593); The Old Wives Tale and the first two scenes of Act II in
Shakespeares Titus Andronicus
Robert Greene
Life:
BA and MA in Oxford
travelling abroad, visiting France, Germany, Poland and Denmark;
Work:
the first professional reference to Shakespeare in A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a
Million of Repentance
passages from Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of Verona
imitating Christopher Marlowe in his dramatic productions
plays: The History of Orlando Furioso,Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, The Scottish
History of James the Fourth
o The University Wits: Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
Life.

Born in London in a prosperous middle-class family, Thomas Kyd attended the Merchant
Taylors School
After graduating, he did not attend either Cambridge or Oxford like his fellow University
Wits
But his success as a playwright would not spare him persecution by the Queens secret
agents, who searched his house
The Queens agents allegedly found a pamphlet which they deemed atheistic.
Kyd ended up in prison, being tortured, he was eventually released, but soon dies in utter
poverty.
Works. All his plays were published anonymously. Among them, the most successful
was The Spanish Tragedy: or, Hieronimo Is Mad Again
THE SPANISH TRAGEDY: OR, HIERONIMO IS MAD AGAIN
Ben Jonson alludes to The Spanish Tragedy as being "five and twenty or thirty years" old
is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd
established a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy
Its plot contains several violent murders
the play-within-a-play used to trap a murderer and a ghost intent on vengeance, appear in
Shakespeare's Hamlet.too

Lorenzo, the antagonist, is the perfect example of the Machiavellian villain

the play reveals Kyds skill at using dramatic irony
Hieronimo and Lorenzo, they could be looked upon as setting new prototypes for the
Elizabethan tragedy
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

Life. Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury

his father supported him financially to attend the Kings School in Canterbury
Marlowe wrote short plays and literary works that suggested an early interest in drama
After leaving Cambridge, Marlowe moved to London where he became a playwright and
led a turbulent life
He produced seven plays, all of which were immensely popular, in which he pioneered
the use of blank verse
he got involved in a tavern fight and was stabbed to death
Works. While still in Cambridge, Marlowe wrote his first play Dido, Queen of Carthage
Marlowe also turned out to be an excellent translator in verse of Ovids Amores and of
the first book of Lucans Pharsalia
Marlowe wrote for the stage the following plays: Tamburlaine the Great, parts 1 and 2,
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus , The Jew of Malta, Edward II, The Massacre at
Paris
Marlowes most important service to drama was the improvement of blank verse.
TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT, Parts I and 2 (c. 1587-8)
The play opens with a Prologue in which Marlowe announces his intention of shaking off
the dramas vulgar bonds
Act 1 opens with Mycetes, the king of Persia, complaining to his brother Cosroe
Tamburlaine appears for the first time in the second scene when he captures Zenocrate

Tamburlaine challenges Corsroe and wins, Corsroe dying in the process.

The play ends with the lamentations of Tamburlaines son, fearing that he will never be
as great as his father.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) (2)
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS (later published as THE
TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS)
Date of composition:
the play was based on the English translation of the German source
some have concluded that it must have been written about 1592
Others have claimed that the play could have been written three or four years earlier
Sources: The idea of an individual selling his/her soul to the devil for knowledge is an
old motif in Christian folklore
In England, the legend was first mentioned in 1572 in the English translation of Lewes
Lauateruss Of ghostes and spirites walking by nyght.
several scholars suggested that a number of other, minor sources may have determined
Marlowes presentation of Faustus
Editions: 1604 a black-lettered quarto bearing the title The Tragicall History of D.
Faustus: the earliest and most authoritative print of what is generally known as the A-text
of Doctor
1616 another black-lettered quarto bearing the title The Tragicall History of the Life
and Death of Doctor Faustus
Authorship: Inconsistencies in Faustuss evolution as a character and in the style of the
scenes have drawn attention upon the play
[The plays] characteristic subject leaves us in little doubt that it was [Marlowe] who
conceived the play
Marlowe had presumably conceived the play; and, writing its crucial scenes himself
Morality play elements: Faustus the mankind figure of his own morality play
characters grouped in pairs that either offer Faustus wise counsel or drive him to
temptation
comic scenes: the alternation of serious action with scenes of buffoonish revelling in sin
Play synopsis and analysis
The opening speech of the Chorus announces his purpose. Faustus, a man of humble
origin, has acquired great learning
His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black arts
Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustuss soul
Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul
At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell.
In the morning, the scholars find Faustuss limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.
To sum up: Characters:
Faustus: a contradictory character, capable of tremendous eloquence and possessing
awesome ambition
In the beginning, he is indeed arrogant and self-aggrandising, representing the spirit of
the Renaissance

After having appeared as a grandly tragic figure of sweeping visions and immense
ambitions at the beginning of the play, Faustus actually reveals in the middle scenes his
petty nature and is swallowed up in mediocrity.
Only in the final scene, the knowledge of his impending doom restores his earlier gift of
powerful rhetoric
He becomes once again a tragic hero, a great man
Mephostophilis: one of the first in a long tradition of literary devils, which includes
figures like John Miltons Satan in Paradise Lost and Johann von Goethes
Mephistopheles in the nineteenth-century poem Faust.
He appears as an agent of Faustuss damnation, but also an ambivalent creature
Both Faustus and Mephostophilis can be looked upon as kindred spirits, two overly proud
spirits doomed to Hell.
Major themes:
sin, redemption and damnation
divided nature of man
power as a corrupting influence
the conflict between medieval and Renaissance values
THE JEW OF MALTA
Its central character, Barabas, is a figure of unredeemed evil
The Jew of Malta foregrounds themes of racial tension, religious conflict, and political
intrigue, all of which connect, more or less explicitly, with aspects of life in sixteenthcentury England
the play reflects the reaction to Machiavellianism in Elizabethan England.
reference should be made to the fact that, by the time Marlowe was writing his play,
England was experiencing a late wakening
The play opens with a Prologue narrated by Machiavel, a caricature of Machiavelli
When Machiavel recommends Barabas to us as one whose money was not got without
my means, we are led to expect a gloating villain
Act I opens by revealing the wealthy Jewish merchant Barabas in his counting house,
waiting for news about the return of his ships from the east
Barabas finds out that, under the threat of invasion, the Maltese government must pay
tribute to the Turks
The end of Act I anticipates the subsequent emergence of a love triangle
two young Christian gentlemen are in love with Abigail, Don Mathias and Lodowick, and
the latter happens to be the governors son.
Act II. Abigail manages to find her fathers treasure
While viewing the slaves, Barabas meets Fernezes son, Lodowick, who seems to take
great interest in Abigail
Barabas is pleased to find out that his slave Ithamore hates Christians
Though aware of his daughters affection for Mathias, Barabas carries on with his
Machiavellian machinations
Act III. Having spied on Barabas and discovered that he has still got gold, the courtesan
Bellamira and her pimp Pilia-Borza plan to use Ithamore
Act IV, while Barabas and Ithamore delight in the nuns deaths, Jacomo and Barnardine
approach them with the intention of confronting Barabas

the cunning Jew pretends that he wants to convert to Christianity

At night, Barabas and Ithamore strangle Barnardine in his sleep and frame Jacomo for the
murder
Barabas is stunned by his slaves arrogance especially since he receives, by the hand of
same mediator Pilia-Borza, a second extortion letter in which he asked for five hundred
crowns
Act V. Bellamira and Pilia-Borza approach the governor and tell him about Barabass
crimes
Threatened with torture, the slave admits his and his masters guilt.
Ferneze is released. Barabas sends a messenger to invite Calymath and his men to a feast.
Barabas is an alien figure revenging against an unfeeling society
He is an outsider within the Maltese society for several reasons: he is rich, Jewish and
secretive
Barabas appears as a slippery character of profound ambiguity
he is honest about his own motives and never attempts to justify his actions by religious
doctrine
Abigail, is portrayed in an equally ambiguous manner
she is the only character whose actions are not motivated by money or thirst for power
but by love and loyalty
In Act III, though, bitter disappointment with her fathers vengeful character and grief at
the death of her beloved Mathias cause Abigail to break with her father and to become a
Christian convert.
Ferneze, the Governor of Malta, appears as Barabass opposite
the beginning of the play reveals Ferneze as a sanctimonious hypocrite, the promoter of
a discriminatory policy
Marlowes play is centred on a network of interrelated themes and motifs including
religious hypocrisy, Machiavellian strategy, deception and dissimulation, vengeance and
retribution.
The play establishes explicit contrasts partly in terms of religious or racial differences
THE TROUBLESOME REIGN AND LAMENTABLE DEATH OF EDWARD
THE SECOND
plays thus far, whether in the Middle East or Eastern Europe, in papal Rome, or in the
Mediterranean, is amoral, ruthlessly competitive, and usually corrupt
Marlowe centres on the English political scene
He selects as his protagonist one of Englands most notoriously weak kings
Edward II is infatuated with Gaveston
Spenser, defeats the barons and has their leaders beheaded
They capture Edward, make him give up the crown and put him to a miserable death
He deals with villains like Lightborn, who has learned in Naples how to poison flowers
Mortimer is killed in his turn and Edwards son
The play displays Marlowes concern with order and marks a change in his style
The brilliant generation of the University Wits paved the way for Shakespeares genius.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
Life and Work

The first documentary reference to William Shakespeare is to be found in the Parish

Register
William was the third child of eight born to John and Mary Shakespeare
the actual date of his birth is unknown
The father, John Shakespeare, was a tanner, glove-maker and dealer in agricultural
products
The mother, Mary Shakespeare was the daughter of a landowner in a lesser branch of an
aristocratic family
the young William may have attended the Stratford Grammar School
He would have studied Ovid (Metamorphoses), who remained a great favourite all his
life, or Vergil (Eclogues
Shakespeare may have been forced to leave school early
He may have continued reading by himself the translations of the Latin and Greek
classics
Shakespeare and his wife lived together in Stratford
Unfortunately, Hamnet, Shakespeares only son, died at the age of 11
Shakespeare was certainly an important member of the Lord Chamberlains Men
From 1598, Shakespeares name began to appear upon published plays: Richard III,
Richard II, Loves Labours Lost
In 1603, the royal documents mention Shakespeare as one of the sharers of the Kings
Men and 5 years later, he becomes an owner of the Blackfriars Theatre
In 1607, Shakespeares eldest daughter Susanna married Dr. John Hall and one year later,
in February 1608, her only child Elizabeth was born.
In 1609, Shakespeares sonnets were piratically printed, apparently without their authors
knowledge or consent.
An early performance of Henry VIII, on June 29, 1613, was unintentionally the most
spectacular of Shakespeares career
He donated 10 pounds to the poor of Stratford, a generous sum in those days.
The versions of the First Folio are the only source for twenty of Shakespeares plays
The cause of his death is unknown. He was buried on April 25
Recent Shakespearean studies have included in the Shakespearean canon the plays
Edward III
Before about 1594:
Four history plays (Henry VI, Parts One, Two, and Three 1589-1591; Richard III
1592-1593)
Two narrative poems (Venus and Adonis 1592-1593; The Rape of Lucrece 15931594);
A comedy in the style of Plautus (The Comedy of Errors - 1589);
A comedy in the courtly style of John Lyly (The Two Gentlemen of Verona 15921593);
A farcical comedy which today we might call a problem comedy (The Taming of the
Shrew 1593-1594);
A tragedy of blood in the style of Kyd (Titus Andronicus - 1589);
Some of the sonnets (1592-1598).
To about 1600:

Two profoundly original comedies (Love's Labours Lost 1593-1594, A Midsummer

Nights Dream 1595-1596);
A history, not part of a group of history plays (King John 1596-1597);
A tragedy of youth, love and fate (Romeo and Juliet 1591-1595);
A comedy that seems at times more like the tragedy of its supposed villain (The
Merchant of Venice -1596-1597);
Four histories, written over several years (Richard II -1595-1596, Henry IV, Parts One
and Two 1596-1597, Henry V 1597-1599);
A tragedy set in Roman times (Julius Caesar 1599-1600);
A group of three great romantic comedies (Much Ado About Nothing 15971599, As
You Like It, Twelfth Night 1599-1600);
A comedy of the fat knight, Falstaff, originally created in the history plays (The Merry
Wives of Windsor 1597-1599).
The second period of creation (1600-1608):
One of Shakespeares finest tragedies (Hamlet - 1601-1602);
Two dark comedies (All's Well That Ends Well -1602-1603, Measure for Measure
1603-1604);
A disturbing play that defies category (Troilus and Cressida 1601-1602);
A tragedy of love and jealousy (Othello 1602-1603);
A tragedy of old age, of parents and children (King Lear - 1605);
A tragedy of power, of husband and wife (Macbeth 1605-1606);
An odd and possibly unfinished tragedy (Timon of Athens - 1605-1609);
A tragedy of Rome, Egypt, power and love (Antony and Cleopatra 1607-1608);
A tragedy of Rome and power, of mother and child (Coriolanus 1607-1608).
The third period of creation (to about 1614):
A patchwork tale of adventure, shipwreck, loss and rediscovery (Pericles, Prince of Tyre
- 1606-1608);
A romance of Britain and Rome (Cymbeline 1609-1610);
A tale of tragic jealousy and pastoral rebirth (The Winter's Tale 1610-1611);
A tale of a brave new world (The Tempest - 1611);
Two plays written in collaboration, in each case probably with a younger playwright,
John Fletcher: a history of recent time in England (Henry VIII 1612-1613) and a
romance of chivalry (The Two Noble Kinsmen 1613-1614).