ENGLISH 2321: STUDY GUIDE FOR EXAM TWO

I.Major Works: Major characters and events from these works: these will be explained in class. If you miss, look at 1) the BB powerpoints; 2) the summaries on my internet site; 3) other internet summaries; 4) some explanation in Study Guide.

1) Doctor Faustus

2) Measure for Measure

3) Twelfth Night

4) King Lear

II. Other Test Material

1. Literary Perspectives: Historical, Biographical, Psychological, New Critical, Ideological

2. Aristotle’s dramatic terms: hamartia, hubris, dramatic unities, tragic reversal, tragic protagonist, tragic recognition, catharsis.

3. These terms, not in Study Guide: Alliteration; Apostrophe; Archetype; Aside; Canon; Conceit; Hyperbole; Meter; Soliloquy.

4. Bold-faced terms under “III.Explanations” will appear on exam

III. Explanations

A. Christopher Marlowe (pp. 970-71)

a. Biography

i. Canterbury Shoemaker's son

ii. Awarded a scholarship (very rare then) to Cambridge

iii. Involved with Walsingham's English spy network

iv. Notorious opinions: "atheist" (expressed unconventional religious opinions, probably to shock people)

v. Killed in tavern brawl in Deptford (possibly murdered in set up by powerful spy authorities who were embarrassed by his notoriety)

b. Works

i. Hero and Leander: erotic-mythological: a poem based on an approved source for sex stories: classical myth.

ii. "Passionate Shepherd"

(1). Famous pastoral poem that elicited many replies

(2). Ralegh's reply p. 879

iii. Dramatic works: Marlovian tragedy

(1). Immensely successful

(2). First use of great blank verse (poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter) for the stage

(3). Marlovian protagonist

(i). Outsider who rises to great power

(ii). Scorns conventions of society

(iii). Characterized by superhuman energy

(iv). Ultra-individual

(v). Motivated by lust for power

(vi). "Runs over" established authorities of society

(vii). Usually killed off in final act

iv. Dr. Faustus: a tragedy, here analyzed according to Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) Poetics. Examining the successful tragedies of his own time, Aristotle found in them the following:

(i). Tragic Reversal: the protagonist goes from prosperity to ruin.

(ii). This reversal pivots on a tragic recognition: the tragic protagonist experiences a change from ignorance to knowledge, i.e. he realizes that he's made a mistake, and the horrifying consequence of that mistake.

(ii). Catharsis: Aristotle wanted to know, "Why did people enjoy seeing tragedies, in which terrible things happen?" His answer was that the audience experienced a Catharsis, or a purgation of emotions---specifically, pity and terror---that people need to release/experience, but in reality are too painful to experience. To see something horrible happen to someone in a play, and only later realize it was a play, makes the experience much more enjoyable.

(iii). Tragic protagonist: the ideal protagonist for a tragedy, according to Aristotle, was someone above average, but who is not perfect, though in many tragedies the protagonist is not merely above average but the best of his kind. The protagonist is ruined his own mistake/hamartia, which is caused by his pride/hubris.

(a). As the play begins, Faustus is an above average, even a superlative, character: he's the greatest student Wittenberg has ever had and is master of all knowledge.

(b). Because of his hamartia (Greek for "error"), he is destroyed: Faustus' hamartia is caused by his hubris (pride); he seeks power in knowledge and refuses to accept limits imposed by his society.

(iv). Other Aspects of Aristotle's Analysis

(1) Emphasized plot over character

(2) Plot was based not on creation but imitation

(3) Stateliness of language

(4) The Classical Unities

(a) One place for the location, for the entire play

(b) One 24-hr. period for time span of the play

(d) Elizabethan tragedy, such as Shakespeare's and Marlowe's, did not follow these unities. They have been successfully used, perhaps, only by the Greeks and the French dramatists during the reign of Louis XIV.

(v). Theme and Conflict:

(1) Faustus represents western/European man selling his soul for technology; Faustus' turn from religion-centeredness and limited arts and sciences to unlimited power through necromancy parallels Europe's turn from the medieval to the modern way of thinking. This world and life, exploited to its fullest potential through knowledge and the "magic" of technology, is the primary, if not only, goal of living. The medieval German legend of Faustus, in fact, has become a central western myth: man has traded away his soul for power and knowledge. This is why Faustus is to many a sympathetic character, despite doing something that on the surface appears incredibly stupid.

(2). Faustus as a materialist/rationalist: Faustus "sells" his soul because he does not believe in souls and he does not believe in an afterlife. Faustus then does what anyone does who does not believe in God: he devotes himself to life in this world.

(3). Faustus as man according to the Calvinists. Faustus, despite assurances from the devil, can't repent. According to the Calvinists ("hard-core Swiss puritans" who profoundly influenced English puritans), the vast majority of people, despite assurances from the Bible, don't repent because they can't repent. Despite the grace afforded by Jesus, Man's will was vitiated by the Fall/original sin; consequently people lack the power to choose salvation.

(v) Other Aspects of Faustus

(1). From noble quest for knowledge, he's reduced to showman/ court buffoon.

(2). Famous lines on Helen of Troy (p. 1020; lines 81-87).

(3). Fearful damnation scene contrasts with German Romantic writer Goethe (ca 1800) ) allowing Faustus to be redeemed the devil becomes his friend and patron in a quest to live life to its fullest.

(4). Official moral (p. 801).

B. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

a. Biography (not a lot known)

i. From minor gentry in Stratford-on-Avon

ii. Went to London to earn a living (1585)

iii. Surfaces as a minor character in London theatre scene (1592)

iv. Mid-1590s: becomes active as playwright, actor, and poet

v. Principally associated with Lord Chamberlain's Men (after 1603, the King's Men): actor, playwright, stockholder

vi. The Globe Theatre is built, the major public theatre for Shakespeare's acting company (1598)

vii. A wealthy man, he semi-retires to Stratford-on-Avon in 1610/11: bought stately New Place as his residence.

b. Works

i. Non-dramatic poetry (often addressed to his patron, Earl of Southampton)

(1). Venus and Adonis (1593): mythological-erotic poem

(2). Rape of Lucrece (1594): mythological-erotic poem

(3). Sonnets (1609)

(a). They had been circulated in manuscript before this date; it's unknown when they were written.

(b). 154 sonnets

(i). 1-126: addressed to a man, perhaps the Earl of Southampton

(ii). 127-154: addressed to a woman, usually called the Dark Lady, because she was a brunette and, the poet implies, had a

slightly sinister character.

(iii). Some scholars argue that there are many sonnets missing and bogus sonnets included.

(4). "A Lover's Complaint": "complaint" genre: a woman bemoans her seduction.

(5). "The Phoenix and the Turtle": an allegorical elegy.

ii. Dramatic works: 36 complete plays, which can be divided into these 4 convenient categories.

(1). History plays, based on events in the following:

(a). English History (especially the Wars of the Roses, on which Shakespeare wrote eight plays)

(b). Classical History, such as Coriolanus and Timon of Athens.

(2). Comedies, often romantic comedies, e.g. Twelfth Night, A Midsummer's Night Dream, and Two Gentleman of Verona

(3). Tragedies, such as Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra.

(4). Tragi-Comedies ("Romances"): such as The Tempest, Measure for Measure, and A Winter's Tale.

iii. Plays First collected edition was the First Folio of 1623. Before the folio, the plays had been published individually as quarto editions ("quarto" and "folio" refer to the how the pages were folded during the printing process).

c. Twelfth Night (ca. 1600)

1. See handouts for summaries and themes

2. Highlights (ignore page numbers)

i. Play's opening lines, page 1045.

ii. Sir Andrew:"Renaissance nobleman" p. 1050

iii. Sir Andrew: the dancer, p. 1051 (dancing had enormous implications in Renaissance, sociological, political, cultural, and sexual).

iv. Good example of Shakespeare's ribaldry, p. 1053

v. Famous description of Malvolio, p. 1055.

vi. Malvolio's confrontation with "lighter people" p. 1064

vii. Interesting view of women: is it Orsino's or Shakespeare's? p. 1067. Compare this passage with top of 1069.

viii. Viola's well-known lines (2.4.110-118), p. 1069.

ix. Malvolio the Puritan hypocrite (page 1071).

x. "Some are born great" (top of 1073).

xi. 3.1.: entire scene an excellent example of verbal humor (p. 1074)

xii. Fabian's macho advice, p. 1079.

xiii. Toby the leech, p. 1079-80.

xiv. What is the significance of 3.4.120-27. Specifically, do these lines justify the joke on Malvolio?

xv. Pages 1089-90: Is the mistaken situation actually truer than the real situation? (see study questions for more on this theme).

xvi. Elizabethan law: 4.1.33-35.

xvii. Humor of cruelty, p. 1093.

xviii. Page 1094-95: confusion of illusion/reality/madness/sanity: more than carnivalesque, it points to the disintegration of society.

xiv. Elizabethan friendship, 5.1.203-5, 213-15. Friendship at this time was multifaceted, complex, a cultural pillar. The term "love'' was often used to express friendship and loyalty. If this concept failed (and it did), then the society would unravel, as it did, and apparently was doing in 1600, according to Shakespeare.

xv. Bleak conclusion: Malvolio's threats of revenge linger in the concluding song (pp. 1105-06) and in the ensuing civil war (1640-1660).

d. King Lear (1604-05)

(1). Shakespeare's statement on importance of authority and the dangers of individualism: also, perhaps most significantly, it is a bleak comment on how the Renaissance was "turning out."

(2). The play has many significant themes. One of them is the theme of Nature vs Society.

(a). Edmund's "Thou, Nature, art my goddess; to thy law / My services are bound" (p. 1117; 1.2.1-22): Edmund, the most talented according to Nature, is barred by society from using that talent because 1) he's illegitimate and 2) he's a younger son. Edmund then wants to be evaluated according to Nature.

(b). King Lear also wants to be valued according to Nature rather according to society: all his life he has been assessed according to his place in society. In direct opposition to Edmund's situation, society has exalted him. Now, past 80, he wants to be taken for himself---loved---as Lear rather than as King Lear: “Every inch a king.”

(c). Goneril and Regan also want to act according to Nature, i.e. replace a cantankerous old man (p. 1117; 1.1.296-308) with unruly followers (p. 1121, 1.3.1-10; 1126-27, 1.4.194-207) who "being weak, seem so" (p. 1145; 2.4.199).

(d). Lear, who gives away his power but not his authority, is, according to law, maltreated by daughters who ignore his royalty and "authority."

(e). Lear, recognizing that society that operates according to Nature's laws is more depraved than Nature itself, seeks refuge in the natural wilderness/heath.

(f). As society and nature merge, the storm in nature echoes the "storm" in society. Lear on storm (p. 1149-50, 3.2.14-24, 49-59; 1152, 3.4.24-37 ), and Gloucester's "'Tis the times plague, when madmen lead the blind" (p. 1164; 4.1.48);

(g). As power switches from right to might, society becomes a blood-bath: a servant kills Cornwall, Edmund assists the blinding of his father, sister (Goneril) kills sister (Regan), brother (Edgar) kills brother (Edmund), the innocent are slaughtered (Cordelia), the guilty (Goneril) and innocent (the Fool) kill themselves, the old die from grief (Gloucester and Lear) and the survivors look towards death (Kent). In Hamlet, the title character suggests that if we all got what we deserved, we'd all be whipped. In King Lear, Shakespeare suggests we'd all be killed. The "go-getters" of the play want to be evaluated according to Nature, forgetting that they will be judged according to their weaknesses/evil as well as their strengths/goodness. The significance, then, of Lear's "I'm a man more sinned against than sinning" (3.2.59).

(3). Service for self-gain vs. service for duty

(a). Oswald serves for gain (pp. 1135, 2.2.11-19)

(b). Rugged, honest Kent serves "authority" (p. 1123; 1.4.27-37)

(c). "Fool" characterizes the Oswald type, who apparently were becoming dominant at this time in Elizabethan society (p. 1141, 2.4.60-84)

(4). What is man?

(a). Shakespeare's view of man as an individual reenforces his view of man in society.

(b). Lear discovers that he was treated royally not because he was "a dragon and his wrath" (p. 1112, 1.1.118), but because "a dog's obeyed in office": Lear here also realizes the corruption of the society over which he ruled (pp. 1173-74.)

(c). Lear's identity crisis leads to madness then to self-knowledge of who he is: "a very foolish fond old man" (pp. 1179, 4.7.61). Lear discovers that only himself, but all people, are contemptible in a state of nature. Man in nature, without society, is a "poor, bare, forked animal" (p. 1154, 3.4.103)

(5). Other important aspects of the play

(a). Edgar also discovers what he is in relation to nature, undergoing a dissolution similar to Lear's (p. 918)

(b). Gloucester is a good man who makes a mistake in turning against his son Edgar.

(c). Edmund's speech on the foolishness of astrology (p. 1120, 1.2.117-31) raised questions about fate and free will.

(d). Breakdown of families reinforces the breakdown of society.

(e). Lear's "Reason not the need speech" is an early statement of the play's "what is man?" theme (p. 1146, 2.4.263-84).

(f). The cosmic upheaval of storm and Lear's subsequent madness on the heath (pp. 1157-59, 3.6; pp. 1170-78, 4.6) is one the most famous scenes in Shakespeare's plays.

(g). The blinding of Gloucester is incredibly brutal (p. 1159, 3.7).

(h). Conclusion: The play is set for happy ending at the end of Act 4: why doesn't Shakespeare develop this possibility? (Nahum Tate, ca. 1700, gave it a happy ending: this was the standard acting 's version in the 18th-century).

(i). Defeated Lear's speech is one of the most well-known in Shakespeare's works (p. 1183, 5.3.8-26).

(j). Death of Cordelia and Lear (p. 1190, 5.3.257-263)

(6). Thematic questions:

(a). How are we to interpret the play's conclusion?

(b) Is the play nihilistic? (life is pointless and random and the universe is without divinity)

(c) Or is it only pessimistic? (we must treat the law as sacred, since the law protects frail, sinful man from extinction).

(d) How does the play comment on Christianity?: What is the purpose of the play's pre-Christian setting? Is Lear redeemed?

(e) What does the play say about love?

e. Measure for Measure

(1) Summary: Vienna is out of control, especially in regards to sex, because Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, has been Mr. Nice Guy, not enforcing the strict sex laws. He puts Puritan go-getter Lord Angelo (and an old associate, Escalus) in charge of city while he pretends leave, knowing that Lord Angelo will crack-down on violators. Lord Angelo quickly sentences Claudio to death for getting his girlfriend pregnant, even though Claudio wants to marry her. Claudio’s friend Lucio gets Claudio’s sister Isabella, who is training to become a nun, to plead for her brother’s life. Lord Angelo agrees to let Claudio off---if Isabella will have sex with him. She won’t---until a friar [the disguise of Duke Vincentio] convinces her to agree because he can arrange for another lady, Angelo’s old girlfriend Marianna, to have sex with him, ensuring he won’t know the difference. Angelo has sex with Marianna, thinking it’s Isabella, and then orders Claudio executed anyway so people won’t suspect why he would free Claudio. When the Duke returns, an enraged Isabella publicly denounces Angelo. The Duke says he doesn’t believe her, orders her arrested, thanks Angelo and leaves. Can anything be done to save Isabella? Send for the friar, she pleads, he can back-up her story. When the friar arrives, the crowd is ready to tear him apart. When Lucio (a “fantastic” who had slandered the Duke) actually attacks him, the friar turns out to be the Duke, who knows the truth. He had prevented Claudio’s execution. Angelo, narrowly escaping execution himself, is forced to marry Marianna. The Duke and Isabella also will marry.

a. Conflict (Measure for Measure)

i. Man vs. Man (Duke Vincentio [ruler of Vienna] vs Lord Angelo [his replacement].

ii. Man vs Nature (?).

iii. Man vs. Society (Duke vs. Vienna).

iv. Man vs. Himself (Angelo vs "the beast within," his sexuality).

v. Man vs. the Supernatural (Angelo vs. the Church)

b. Climax

i. Man vs. Man: Duke Vincentio exposes Angelo’s corruption: theme.

ii. Man vs. Nature: ?

iii. Man vs. Society---Vincentio is restored to authority.

iv. Man vs. Himself: Lord Angelo demands Isabella have sex with him or he will execute her brother.

v. Man vs. Supernatural: Friar Lodowick is revealed to be the Duke.

c. Themes will vary.

3.A tragedy, according to Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) Poetics. Examining the successful tragedies of his own time, Aristotle found in them the following: