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История литературы / 12. The Renaissance movement in Europe

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Renaissance (civilization time without wars) had its national features in every country of Europe. In England with the Chaucer’s death (1400) the development of English literature comes to a standstill & we cannot speak of any literature in England for a century. In the middle of 15th century war brought a conjunct between the king & the parliament. Through the century England observes the struggle of 2 rival families (war of roses-lancasters and yorks). Then there were terrible diseases, brought from far lands. The dynastic struggle seemed to have ended when Henry 8th became a king in 1509, but the nation was soon drawn into the religious & political conflicts. Only when Elizabeth 1st succeeds to the throne in 1558 England provided the climate in which national literature could flourish. The word Renaissance comes from the Latin word Rinascere, which means to be reborn. This period dates from 14th to 17th c. and is usually opposed to Middle Ages on the basis of the fact that it gave us a multiperspective vision of the human being. Features of the R in Europe:

* Realization of national identity (European nations began to realize their national identity);

* Science development; *Individualism. *Freedom to make choice *Responsibility for the choice *Central position of a human being * Church is not a dominating institution (before it was an institution that predetermined the development of culture; the church unified the nation by imposing one mode of life, people had only one responsibility-devotion to God); * 3 ‘R’s’: revival (of philosophy,sculpture, art and ancient Greece), renewal (of ideas,ideals,traditions and philosophy), rebirth (acquirement of the new sense and idea of human being – the idea of his possibilities and responsibility). Human dignity is the central idea, the sense of responsibility and self-reliance. But PARADOX: though R was free from limitations, it was the time of ruthless politicians, time of art of policy making. Few people realized that the matter was not physical strength, but spiritual. It was an epoch of paradoxes, with paradox as the main strategy. It was a period of great discoveries and achievements. A human being appeared as an individual,personality,different from others. During the R European writers tried to use the life and spirit of ancient Greek and Roman cul-re in their own lit-ry, artistic, and philosophic works. The R is different from the medieval period: in medieval times, people thought about saving their souls and during the R period they thought about society and what they could do to help it. During the Middle Ages people studied theology. The people of the R. studied humanity, looking at the great ancient civilization. The R. is thought to be the beginning of modern history. It began in Northern Italy and then spread through Europe. In England R. appeared later that in Italy, but the intensity of its development was even greater because it was based on works of European humanists Petrarca, Dante. Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) wrote poems about his love to laura, it was 1st time in lit-re when smb wrote about an ideal being a human being,people came to understand that the choice shouldn’t depend upon celestial traditions. Dante was a true Renaissance man. He lived to complete one of the world’s greatest masterpieces –The Divine Comedy. Dante included in his comedy all he knew, & this was really considerable – medieval history, science, theology, philosophy etc. Nevertheless there is another quality that dominates this great work of renaissance – the presentation of man, Dante himself. Here one can stand for all men. We get acquainted with his pain, sorrow, joy. There are not only portraits, descriptions of nature, of different places, but it’s the narrative. Besides, in the book appears the public opinion,and throughout the book he provides his own point of view in contrast to the opposing forces. Authority of the church is moved to the background. Representatives of R in England: * Thomas More (a politician, later was executed): “Utopia” – 2 parts: the 1st describes the contemporary England (criticism), the 2nd describes in detail the state organization on the Island Utopia. The 1st part is a dialogue between the author and an imaginary char-er. He expresses the idea of ideal society based on collective labour.  * Thomas Wyatt introduced the genre of a sonnet into the Engl. lit-re * Edmund Spenser: “The Fairie Queen” – a combination of the medieval and the R; * Christopher Marlowe: “The tragic history of Dr. Faustus” – admires the reason of a human being.

The 16th c. – the epoch of flourishment of drama. Drama is letting one’s character speak without any interference of the author. The characters are obviously separate from the writer; in fact, they generally seem to have lives of their own and their speech reflects their individual personalities. The writer is present, of course, in stage directions (which the audience isn't aware of during a performance), and occasionally a character acts as a mouthpiece for the writer. First Period .The development of the drama in England was in close connection with the appearance and development of the theatre. Since ancient times there existed in Europe two stages upon which dramatic art developed. The chief place of performance was the church, and second to it was the market place where clowns played their tricks. The church exhibited Bible-stories, called "Mysteries"; they also had "Miracles" which were about supernatural events in the lives of saints. Both, the miracles and mysteries were directed by the clergy and acted by boys of the choir on great holidays. It has become a tradition since then to have men-actors for heroines on the English stage. The regular drama from its very beginning was divided into comedy and tragedy. The R had diff. manifestations in diff. countries but in England it was the R of the theatre. This coincides with the time when Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne. And the theater of that time is called Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare was the most prominent playwright of that time. Sh. wrote during the age in which England grew to be a world power. As the R awoke interest to Roman and Greek cul-re, playwrights borrowed a lot of devices including ghosts, chorus, 5-act structure, but they also filled the plays with medieval morals. (Sh. drew his plots from history, mythology and other works of fiction, both classical and contemporary. He employed 5-act structure and typically interwove 2 more plots in each play, ranging freely in time and location. Sh didn’t care about the plot. For him words and actions were important. He created a sample of Eng drama-of new form and content. The man was in the centre of everyth, the man and his dignity. Sh resorted to paradox (his chief tool). It is a pivot. In any play there is an idea interpreted differently.(ex Romeo and Juliet-dignity of love against the opposing forces-paradoxical nature of love.///Othello-dignity of man, Hamlet and King Lear-highest embodiment of human dignity.)