1、Sixteenth-Century Drama,I. Origin of Drama,1. Definition Greek meaning of drama: “things done” Aristotle: drama “imitated human action.” Manly: Drama is a story told in action by actors who impersonate the characters of the story.,Drama is “a composition in prose or verse, adapted to be acted upon a
2、 stage, in which a story is related by means of dialogue and action, and is represented with accompanying gesture, costume, and scenery, as in real life.”,2. Drama arose from ancient rituals.(1) Primitive rituals Celebrating the death and rebirth of vegetarian (or fertility) god Crops like rice and
3、wheat were regarded as gods sacrificing their lives for the survival of man (2) Egyptian rituals Celebrating the death and rebirth of Osiris （丰饶之神） Performed at Abydos, Egypt, between 2500 BC and about 550 BC,(3) Greek rituals Celebrating the death and rebirth of Dionysus 3. Greek drama Greek drama
4、arose from those phases of the Dionysian rites, dealing with life and death One character and the chorus (more characters added later),Dionysus,Dionysus (or Bacchus, as the Romans called him) was the god of wine and fertility. Every year the Greeks held a number of festivals in his honor. On these o
5、ccasions, the worship of Dionysus took the form of a combination of dance and song, accompanied by music and wine.,Chorus,Aeschylus,In the fifth century BC, the Greek playwright Aeschylus added a second actor, and drama as we know it was born.,Arena Stages,In classical times, dramas were performed i
6、n open-air amphitheatres, or arena stages.,4. The rise of Christian drama Medieval drama arose out of rites celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Miracles and Mysteries (plays about the stories from the Genesis and the birth of Jesus Christ),II. The Development of Drama,1. Religious
7、 Period (1) Mystery plays presented stories from the Old and New Testament of the Bible. Creation of the World, the Fall, the Great Flood, Redemption, Final Judgment, etc. The birth of the Christchild symbolized hope in the darkness of winter; Christs resurrection accorded with the earths renewal in
8、 spring, and the promise of harvest at midsummer.,The Birth of Jesus Christ,Noahs Ark,The Death of Jesus Christ,(2) Miracle plays Dramatizing the lives and miracles of saints, or divine intervention in human affairs, that is, stories from the lives of saints. Often focused on blessed virgin Mary,Abr
9、ahams sacrifice,Moses,(3) Morality plays Presenting stories containing abstract virtues and vices as characters. They were plays which had a moral message: Good and Evil fight for domination of the human soul. Everyman, the best example, is the story of a character representing mankind.,2. Artistic
10、Period The first Comedy, Ralph Roister Doister written by the schoolmaster, Nicholas Udall between 1550 and 1553 The first English tragedy, Gorboduc written in 1561 by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton,III. Elements of drama,1. Plot The structure of a plays action, the order of the incidents, their
11、 arrangement and form 2. Character The vital center of a play How they look, what they say and in what manners they say; what they do and how their actions reveal who they are and what they represent The human qualities are the most engaging feature.,3. Dialogue Drama is described as “persons moving
12、 about on stage using words.” Major functions of Dialogue: to advance the plot, to establish setting, and to reveal character.,4. Staging Things like positions of actors, nonverbal gestures and movements, scenic background, props and costumes, lighting and sound effects 5. Theme It is the central id
13、ea of the play.,Early Theater,Global Theater,6. Some Key Dramatic Terms Script A script is the written work from which a drama is produced. It contains stage directions and dialogue. Stage Directions Notes provided by the playwright to describe how something should be presented or performed on stage
14、.,Spectacle Stage directions often describe elements of the spectacle: lighting, music, sound effects, costumes, properties, and set designs. Monologue A monologue is a long speech given by an actor. Soliloquy A soliloquy is a speech given by a character who is alone (or thinks he is alone) on stage
15、.,Aside A statement intended to be heard by the audience or by a single other character but not by all the other characters on stage is an aside. Act An act is a major division of a drama.,Scene A scene is a division of an act. A scene typically begins with the entrance of one or more characters and
16、 ends with the exit of one or more characters. Set The set is everything placed upon the stage to give the impression of a particular setting.,Three Unities Time: One day24 hours Place: One setting Action: One plot: no comic relief or sub-plot Dramatic Irony Playwrights use dramatic irony when they
17、allow the audience to know more than the characters do about a specific situation or incident.,IV. Shakespeares Predecessors,1. The University Wits Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge, John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, and Christopher Marlowe 2. The Spanish Tragedy (ca. 1588) by Thomas Kyd,
18、V. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593),1. Life and career,2. Major Works Tamburlaine the Great , Parts I & II (1587-1588) The Jew of Malta (1590?) Edward the Second (1592-93) The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus,3. Points of view An atheist rebel, a fiery soul An unorthodox in re
19、ligious views, leading an adventurous and dissolute life Borrowed from classical models to improve popular drama The first important Elizabethan dramatist before Shakespeare,4. Special features Famous for the expression of boundless energy and ambition Strive upward to absolute power: power of rule
20、power of money power of knowledge Strong humanistic ideal Marlowes mighty lines,VI. Dr. Faustus,1. Story: a German legend A wonder-making magician faces the temptation and fall. To make a deal with Devil to live 24 more years and enjoy knowledge, pleasure, and power. His death and damnation as a neg
21、ative example of gaining the whole world by losing ones soul.,2. Major themes Sin, Redemption, and Damnation (a negative example for the Christian) What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul? The Conflict Between Medieval and Renaissance Value,The medieval worl
22、d placed God at the center of existence and shunted aside man and the natural world. The Renaissance carried with it a new emphasis on the individual, on classical learning, and on scientific inquiry into the nature of the world. A romantic rebellion against Christianity,Exploring the divided nature
23、 of man Human desire for power and knowledge, but also for ever-lasting happiness in Heaven. Aspires to be more than a mana demigod Struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, Heaven and Hell,Conflict between cultural self and natural self (good angel, bad angel) Conflict between aspiring mi
24、nd and confinement to earth and time Power as a Corrupting Influence,THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE Christopher Marlowe,Come live with me, and be my love，And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields.,And we will sit upon the rocks,
25、 Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;,A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lamb
26、s we pull; Fair-lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold; A belt of straw and ivy-buds, With coral clasps and amber-studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me, and be my love.,The shepherds swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning: If these
27、 delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.,The Passionate Shepherd to His Love To idealize country life To sing the beauty of nature To show love of the young people,THE NYMPHS REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD Walter Raleigh (1552-1618),IF all the world and love were young, And truth in eve
28、ry shepherds tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy love. Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold; And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complains of cares to come.,The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward winter reck
29、oning yields: A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancys spring, but sorrows fall. The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten.,Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
30、All these in me no means can move To come to thee and be thy love. But could youth last and love still breed, Had joys no date nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move To live with thee and be thy love.,THE BAIT John Donne,Come live with me, and be my love,And we will some new pleasur
31、es proveOf golden sands, and crystal brooks,With silken lines, and silver hooks.,Song (1935) C.D. Lewis,Come live with me and be my love,And we will all the pleasures proveOf peace and plenty, bed and boardThat chance employment may afford.,I. Ben Jonson (1572-1637),1. Life and career Actor, playwri
32、ght, poet, critic The first poet laureate in 1616 Four times into prison A sharp contrast of Shakespeare: the poet of art vs. the poet of nature Sons of Ben (Cavalier poets) Epitaph: “O rare Ben Jonson”,2. Major Works Every Man in His Humour (1598) (人各随其癖) Volpone (1606) Alchemist (1610): And satire
33、 which focus on gulling. The comedy of humors “癖性喜剧” Choler (胆汁) Blood Melancholia (忧郁症)Phlegm (粘液),3. Dramatic Features He had a boisterous & even cruel sense of humor. He showed enormous vigor & impressive originality even when working within classical models. The world of his dramas is mostly mad
34、e up of knaves, scoundrels, hypocrites, fools, and dupes. He had a delicate artfulness in the handling of word & image in lyrical verse which enabled him to produce such well-remembered examples of perfect verbal patterning as “Drink to me only with thine eyes.“,the story of a cunning rich man who f
35、eigns a mortal illness so that his wealthy neighbors would court his favor in hopes of becoming his heir,Major characters (Italy) Volpone (Fox) Mosca (Fly) Voltore (Vulture ): lawyer Corbaccio (Raven ) Corvino (Crow ),The characters are deliberately restricted in scope in the interests of the satiri
36、c purpose. They are pretty shallow and rarely show genuine emotions. Even Bonario & Celia cant fully gain the sympathies of the audience because they are essentially one-dimensional.,Volpone Can Be Read as A moral exemplum A beast fable (Jonsons characters are people, but they have the characteristi
37、cs of animals, as their names reveal.) A satire (on English life in general) A humor play,Major themes Greed A principal theme is the way that greed can make people gullible. In playing their trick, which focuses on exposing the greed of others, Volpone and Mosca also expose their own selfishness an
38、d greed,The Power of Stagecraft There is a tension between the play itself (a play which, Jonson hopes, will be of moral value to those who see it) and what goes on in the play, in which the devices of stagecraft that are involved in the plays actual production are a source of deceit.,Parasitism “Ev
39、eryones a parasite” to paraphrase Mosca (III.i), and over the course of the play he is proved right, in the sense that everyone tries to live off of the wealth or livelihood of others, without doing any “honest toil” of their own. Corvino, Corbaccio and Voltore all try to inherit a fortune from a dy
40、ing man; and Volpone himself has built his fortune on cons such as the one he is playing now.,The setting It is Renaissance Italy, accepted by the English imagination of the time as the proper home of vice, but the satire is deeply misanthropic. In the extravagance of imagery with which Volpone & Mo
41、sca express their ambitions and designs, Jonson suggests both: the obsessive nature of their drive for wealth & power a criticism of such attitudes,To Celia,Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And Ill not look for wine. The thirst that from
42、the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Joves nectar sup, I would not change for thine.,I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honouring thee As giving it a hope, that there It could not withered be. But thou thereon didst only breathe, And sendst it back to me; Since when it
43、 grows, and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee.,Philostraus: Epistles,(33) So set the cups down and leave them alone, especially for fear of their fragility; and drink to me only with your eyes, t was such a draught that Zeus too drankand took to himself a lovely boy to bear his cup. And, if i
44、t please you, do not squander the wine, but pour in water only, and, bringing it to your lips, fill the cup with kisses and so pass it to the thirsty. Surely nobody is so ignorant of love as to yearn for the gift of Dionysus any longer after the vines of Aphrodite.,(32) I first and foremost, when I
45、see you, feel thirst, and against my will stand still, and hold the cup back; and I do not bring it to my lips, but I know that i am drinking of you. (60) And if ever you sip from the cup all that is left becomes warmer with your breath and sweeter than nectar. At all events it slips by a clear pass
46、age down to the throat, as if it were mingled with wine but with kisses.,(2) I have sent you a garland of roses, not to honour you (though I would fain do that as well), but to do a favour to the roses themselves, so that they may not wither. (46) if you wish to do a favour for a lover, send back what is left of my roses, since they now breathe a fragrance, not of roses only, but also of you.,
