The Age of Shakespeare

1564 - 1616

 born in Stratford-upon-Avon (probably: April 23rd 1564 also the date of his death St. Georges day patron saint of England); son of a prosperous trader; probably educated in Latin grammar and the classics; married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, the daughter of an important yeoman = farmer (three children); c. 1587 he moved to London where he joined a theatrical company (Lord Chamberlains Men the Kings Men); as an actor he played before the Queen at Greenwich; not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing; he enjoyed royal patronage both under the reign of Elizabeth I (died 1603) and under the reign of James I (King of England between 1603 1625; House of Stuart) a few months after his death, two of his friends and colleagues in the Kings Men published his collected plays in the First Folio. But for them much of his work would have been lost.

Shakespeares writing career (37 plays): four literary periods of creation 1st period: (1589 - 1600) history plays (inspired by Roman and English
sources: Seneca, Plutarch or the Holinshed Chronicle): Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar // Henry IV (Parts I - II), Henry V, Henry VI (Parts I - III), Richard II, Richard III, King John and comedies: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Loves Labours Lost, The Merchant of Venice etc. Historical and cultural context: centralized monarchy (Henry VIII, Elizabeth I);

authority of meaning: body politic; Reformation and Anglican Church; modelling minds: Machiavelli, Castiglione vicious ruler/autocrat & pharisaic courtier
Shakespeares view of history: nostalgic view of the Late Middle Ages which

came to an end once opportunism and machiavelism infiltrated politics; the civil wars of the fifteenth century come to dramatic life in all their turbulence and suffering; seeks guidance for the present in the events of the past a humanist in the way he deals with history (history plays - not didactic though studies of kingship; instances of both political drama and political propaganda: Richard III most telling example)

Richard III (written:1592 -1593)

I am determined to prove a villain (I, 1)
The list of crimes attributed to Richard III by William Shakespeare is long: murdering King Henry VI and Edward of Lancaster: admits to having killed both father and sons spurred by the beauty of Anne Neville, Edwards wife:

I did kill King Henry, But twas thy beauty that provoked me. Nay, now dispatch; twas I that stabbd young Edward, But twas thy heavenly face that set me on. (I, 2)

contriving the death of his brother Clarence: to accomplish this he has told his brother Edward IV about a prophecy which says that someone with a name beginning with letter G will murder Edwards heirs killing William, Lord Hastings: accused of having conspired with witches and killed for treason disposing of his two child nephews in the Tower of London:
dead: And I would have it suddenly performd (IV, 2) I wish the bastards

poisoning his wife in order to marry his niece: Rumour it abroad / That Anne, my
wife, is sick and like to die: / I will take order for keeping her close. (IV, 3)

I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking glass; I, that am rudely stamped and want loves majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to see my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity. And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover To entertain these fair well-spoken days, I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

Richard is lamenting his physical attributes which are shown here to be that of a deformed monster, unattractive to women and so badly made that dogs bark at him as he walks by them (reminding one of the haunch back of Notre Dame Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer);

in contrast with Castigliones image of a perfect courtier: accomplished in sports, telling jokes, fighting, poetry, music, drawing, and even dancing; graceful and apt in conversation; in the trend of Machiavellis ruthless autocrat, amoral and rapacious, practicing treachery, dissimulation, murder etc. to meet his goals: seizure of power; however, it appears that one cannot call it virtue to kill ones citizens, betray ones friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; these modes can enable one to acquire empire, but not glory (The Prince) a man of virtue must act in such a way that he can acquire both power and glory.

(Richard III, Act I, scene ii)

Propaganda: the final advent of the Tudors is shown to have the force of a heaven-sent deliverance (= izbvire) after a long chain of disasters caused by weakness and ambition, by villainy and usurpation, by sinfulness and rebellion against Gods set-order and will.

Comedies
continues his study of human nature and the quest for knowledge is set against a romantic background of dream, love and partnership; a dramatic loss of identity (common self-sufficiency image) and a test of personality free one from dogmatic limitation; brings about confusion and insecurity but allows the rebirth of character and a new insight (a new perspective on ones personality / individuality) the forest, the city and the court spatial dimensions invested with symbolical qualities; places where the characters lose themselves = labyrinths marriage (except Romeo and Juliet which is a tragic version of a romantic comedy) crowns a relationship which has been founded on patience, endurance and courage; implies mutual recognition and celebration of beauty and wisdom

2nd period: the Sonnets: 154 the sonnet up to Shakespeare was a mere glorification of the body politic or a conventional outpouring of emotions; invented in southern Italy (c.1230); Francis Petrarch (1307-1374) one of the earliest Renaissance humanists inherited the tradition of writing sonnets models for lyrical poetry and courteous display of emotions (if the courtier spoke, it was not so much to teach and to persuade, as to please): court-painters / court-poets (a system of patronage); the sonnet responded to the courtiers need to proclaim an identity in a system of patronage in which women were extremely influential; to be heard the courtier had to show his woe (= nenorocire, suferin), his skills in pleading so that his benefactrix / benefactress might be pleased; conventional in structure and content (stereotyped imagery, conceits = an elaborate image or far-fetched comparison); not an expression of personal, genuine intimate feelings

Conclusions: The function of the sonnet in the Elizabethan Age proves to be double-folded. As with the miniature portrait, within the lines of the sonnet there manifested a different type of discourse: a political one reflecting the ideology of the age (conventional, flattering, deceiving) and a passionate self-revelatory expression of the personal body. The desire to please the other as part of the dogmatic rigour of the body politic (official discourse at court) is transformed in a timid manifestation of ones personality. The sonnet secures the narrative (the voice) of the painting in as much as the

portrait configurates the likeness (the image) of the mute sitter.

3rd period (1601 - 1607): the great tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Timon of Athens
Historical context: Queen Elizabeths death the country is on the threshold of social instability; Shakespeares plays start with a Renaissance (deeply humanistic) confidence in mans power to control the universe and end with a medieval awareness of mans essential, inborn weakness and vulnerability (counter-humanism) Fortune / Providence might give meaning and coherence to a chaotic world: Blest are those / Whose blood and judgement are so commingled / That they are not a pipe for fortunes finger / To sound what stop she please (Hamlet, III, 2)

Othello
the invisible hand of Providence intervenes to produce the most tragic effect: Othello, the noble nature whom passion could not shake is vulnerable in his love for Desdemona; Iagos villainy and the play of chance which favours it leads to the complete ruin of the main character

Seminar task:
Comment on the clash between humanism and counter-humanism (optimism and pessimism) in Shakespeares Hamlet.