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(iv) 1608 -12. Period of the later comedies or Dramatic Romances. Again we note a sudden and singular change in the temper of Shakespeare's work. It is as if the heavy clouds which had long hung over the fictitious world of his imagination now roll away (рассеиваться), and the sky grows clear towards sunset. In these llast plays the grondwork is still furnished (cнабжать, представлять) by tragic passion, but the evil is no longer permitted to have its way, but is controlled and conquered by good. A very tender and gracious tone prevails in them throughout. At the same time they show very fully the decline of Shakespeare's dramatic powers. They are often careless in consruction and unsatisfactory in characterisation, while in style and versification (cтихосложение) they will not bear comparison with work of the preceding ten years. Three plays entirely Shakespeare's belong to this period - Cymbeline, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale. To these we have to add two which are only partly his - Pericles and Henry VIII. The latter was completed by his younger contemporary and friend, Fletcher.

To the much debated question how far Shakespeare's work is a revelation of his life it is impossible to give in brief a complete answer. We cannot accept the judgment of those who maintain that he was so entirely the dramatist that no trace of his own thoughts and feelings is to be found in it. On the contrary, it does tell us much about the man himself. But whether or not the changes which we mark in its successive stages were in any way the result of his own expariences - whether, for example, he wrote tragedies because his life was tragic and turned again to comedy when his spirit was once more restored to peace - we do no know.

Characteristics of Shakespeare's Works.

Taken as a whole, Shakespeare's plays constitute the greatest single body of work which any writer has contributed to English literature. Perhaps their most salient feature is their astonishing variety. Other men have surpassed (превосходить) him at this point or that; but no one has ever rivalled him in the range and versatility (многогранность) of his powers. He was (though not equally) at home in tragedy and comedy, and his genius took in innumerable aspects of both; he wast supreme, not only as a dramatist, but also as a poet to whome the worlds of high imagination and delicate fancy were alike open; and while not himself a very profound or very original thinker, he possessed in superlative degree the faculty of digesting thought into phraseology so memorable and so final that, as we know, he is the most often quoted of all English writers. He was almost entirely free from dogmatism of any kind, and his tolerance was as comprehensive as his outlook. In the vitality of his characterisation in particular (в частности, в особенности) he is unparalleled; no one else has created so many men and women whome we accept and treat not as figments(вымысел, плод воображения) of a poet's brain, but as absolutely and completely alive. His unique command over the resources of the language must also be noted; his vocabulary is computed (подсчитать) to run to some 15, 000 words, while that of Milton contains scarcely more than half that number.

The greatness of Shakespeare's work is apt to blind (легко делать слепым) critics to his limitations and defects, but these must, of course, be recognised. Broad as he was, he was essentially a man of his time, and while his plays are remarkable for their general truth to what is permanent in human nature, still his interpritation of human nature is that of an age in many respects very different from our own. He wrote hurriedly, and sighs of hasty and ill-considered production are often apparent. Designing (задумывая) his plays expressly for stage, and anxious(желая обеспечить) to secure their success under the actual conditions of stage representation, he was willing at times to sаcrifice consistency of character and the finer demands of art to the achievement of a telling (выразительный) theatrical effect. In his occasional coarseness he reflects the low taste of the 'groundlings' (невзыскательный зритель, зритель галерки) to whome he had to appeal. At places his psychology is hopelessly crude and unconvincing; his styly vicious (дефектный); his wit forced and poor; his tragic language bombastic. These and other faults will be conspicuous (заметный) to any one who reads him in the least critically. But they are small things after all in comparison with those paramount(первостепенной важности) qualities which have given him the first place among the world's dramatists.

Лекция 14. SHAKESPEAR’s TRAGEDIES.

HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK.

Hamlet is considered to be the summit of Shakespeare's art. It was written in 1601 - 1602 and first published in 1603. Shakespeare took a certain story of Prince Amleth from old sources which can be traced to the 12th century (Danish Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus). He, however, was not the first to dramatize Hamlet's history. In the eighties, a play that bore the same name gained popularity among the English public. Thomas Kyd is supposed to have been the author of this play. The text of Kyd's Hamlet is lost.

Under Shakespeare's pen the medieval story assumed new meaning and significance. Danish names could not hide from the spectators and readers the fact that it was England which the great writer described in his play. The whole tragedy permeated with the spirit of Shakespeare's own time. Hamlet is the profoundest expression of Shakespeare's humanism and his criticism of contemporary life.

The action of the tragedy is laid in medieval Denmark, in the castle of Elsinore. Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, widowed by sudden death of the King, whithin two months marries the new king, Claudius, brother of her husband.

The son of the late king, prince Hamlet, returnes home from the Unoversity of Wittenberg where he has received his education. The prince is an enlightened man, well versed (сведущий, хорошо осведомлен) in arts.

Hamlet is tormented by a secret suspicion abou the mysterious death of his father. One day Hamlet's friend Horatio and an officer Macellus tell the prince that the ghost of the deceased King appeared to them at midnight. Next night Hamlet himself talks to the ghost of his father who discloses to him that he has been treacherously murdered by his brother Claudius. Hamlet swears revenge on Claudius.

Since this moment and to the end of the tragedy the action is a ceaseless and ever increasing struggle between Hamlet and Claudius. Tu dull (притупить) Claudius's vigilance and to penetrate into his plots, Hamlet pretends to have gone mad. The King is suspicious and resorts to various ruses to find out Hamlet's intentions. He summons Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, Hamlet's university mates, and oders them to spy on Hamlet. But Hamlet immediately exposes his false friends. The King also lends an attentive ear (выслушать) to Polonius, an old courtier, who tries to assure him that Hamlet's distraction results from his love for Ophelia, Polonius's beautiful daughter. Indeed, Hamlet entertains (питать) a deep affection for Ophelia, but he considers her too frail (хрупкий, морально неустойчивый)to be taken into confidence. Therefore, while talking to her, he stimulates rudeness, consistent (согласующуюся) with feigned (притворный) insanity (безумие).

To expose Claudius Hamlet thinks of a plan: a group of actors are engaged to perform a play which recalls his father's murder. Hamlet becomes convinced of the King's guilty conscience when Claudius appears проявлять deeply affected задетый, тронутый by the performance and leaves the hall before the play is ended. To get rid of Hamlet the King sends him off to England accompanied by Guildestern and Rosencrantz. Before depature Hamlet's visits his mother and in a sharp tone expresses his indignation at her attitude towards his father's memory. In the midst of the conversation Hamlet suddenly becomes aware that he is being overheard from behind the arras (гобелены) of the Queen's closet. Thinking it to be the King, he stabs at and kills the eavesdropper who turns out to be Polonius.

While at sea, Hamlet grows suspicious of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. He secretly visits their cabin and discovers a letter in which King Claudius commissions (поручать) his English vassals to put the Prince to death. The treacherous friends are hoisted with their own petard ( ФЕ попасть в собственную ловушку) when Hamlet writes and seals with his own royal seal another order commanding to execute Guildenstern and Rosencrantz.

Ophelia, thinking herself deserted (покинутый) by the Prince, now learns that her father has died by the hand of her beloved. The news is too much fot her: she goes mad and, then, is accidentally drowned in a stream.

Hamlet meanwhile escapes from the ship and returns to Denmark just at the time of Ophelia's funeral. Hamlet deeply shocked by the tragic news.

Ophelia's brother Laertes vows to avenge(отомстить) the death of his sister and father. Сlaudius conspires with Laertes to do away with (разделаться, уничтожить) Hamlet. Laertes is to challenge Hamlet to a friendly duel and kill him with a poisoned rapier. All the Court was present at this match. At first Laertes only plays with Hamlet and allowed him to gain some advantage. But soon Laertes, growing angry, made a deadly stroke at Hamlet with his poisoned weapon. In anger, not knowing the truth of treachery, Hamlet exchanges in the fight his own weapon for Laertes' poisoned one. So Laertes was justly caught in his own treachery. At this moment the Queen cried out that she was poisoned. She had accidently drunk out of a bowl which the King had prepared for Hamlet. He had forgotten to warn the Queen about this bowl. She immediately died. Laerters, feeling his life going away with the wound, confessed of all he had done. Then, begging Hamlet's forgiveness he died.

When Hamlet felt that his life was going away, he turnes on his uncle and puches the point of the sword to his heart. Thus the promise to his father's spirit was fulfilled. Hamlet's friend Horatio wanted to kill himself, but Hamlet begged him to live and tell the true story to the world. Horatio promised.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is probably the greatest of all plays ever written in English language. Books devited to the study of Hamlet could fill a whole library Among the greatest writers and thinkers of the past there are hardly any who who have not expressed their admiration for this work of a rare genius. And no wonder, for Hamlet contains the most important message of all art - the message of love for mankind, the call to an active struggle for a better future, for the happiness of all people, for the total annihilation of all tyrants and opressors.

Another great tragedy of Shakespeare is Othello, the Moor of Venice (1604).

Certain elements of the plot were borrowed by Shakespeare from an Italian source, where the Moor of Venice is depicted as a rather primitive soldier whose dominating passion was jealousy. Shakespeare's Othello is quite different. Othello is a great man and a great warrior, and, as many of the really great man, he is too noble-minded to mistrust those whom he loves. As our great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin said: "Othelo is not jealous by nature, on the contrary, he is trustful". He values integrity(чистота), sincerity and loftiness (возвышенность ума)of mind above all other human qualities, and he loves and cherishes Desdemona so dearly just(именно) because he finds her to be the very(истинный, настоящий) embodimentof these high qualities. All these together with her youth and beauty, make her his ideal of a woman, and her love - the greatest reward for the toils(тяжелый труд) and hardships of his long and lonesome life. And though his skin is dark and his visage (лицо) covered with ugly scars, he is the bearer of a great moral beauty, and his heart is as true as steel and as pure as gold. Jago, Othello's lieutenant, who makes Othello believe that Desdemona is untrue to him, this "honest" Jago, "good" Jago, as Othello calls him, is the impersonation of the dark powers that hate everything that is true great and noble. Jago also a great artistic generalization of envy, selfishness and utter (крайний, абсолютный)depravity(порочность), concealed by good manners and a show of "noble intentions". If anybody in tragedy is really jealous, it is Jago. He is jealous of Othelo's greatness, of Desdemona's purity and beauty, and, at last, he is jealous of his own wife, Emilia, for he nourishes certain black suspicions concerning her and Othello. When Othello kills Desdemona, he does it not out of jealosy, but - of defiling (осквернять) the noblest ideals of life. But when Jago kills Emily, he does it out of sheer spite(злоба) and jealousy.

The tragedy of Othello shows that the best and loftiest human qualities may turn into a sourse of weakness if they are not quarded by a keen and vigilant(бдительный) mind, capable of discriminating between real and false virtues.

King Lear (1605), Shakespeare's next work, stands side by side with Hamlet as one of the world's greatest tragedies. Here Shakespeare draws upon(черпать, брать) a legend referring to the history of ancient Britain, but he transplants the characters into his own times and sets and solves the burning problems of his days. And though the tragedy upholds the idea of national unity under one king, still it shows the drawbacks(отрицательные стороны) of absolute monarchy, for it is at the time when King Lear held unchallenged (неоспоримый) power in the whole of the country, that he developed such a profound faith in his own greatness and superiority that he became blindfolded as to the real state of affairs in the kingdom and even in his own family. The result of this "absolute" belief in the infallibility of an absolute monarch is the impoverishments(обнищание) of the whole country, the misery of the poor wretches", i. e. toiling people (труженики). Here, as elsewhere in his plays, Shakespeare maintains the idea that king, however great he might be, is amenable(ответственный) to his people. If, in one way or another, he betrays the people's trust, history will condemn him.

Lear, King of Britain, has three daughters - Goneril and Regan, the wives of noblemen, and Cordelia, a young maid courted by the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy. Lear feeling the weight of years and the burdens of state too much for him, decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, retaining himself only the title of King and a hundred knights for his attendance. When Regan and Goneril are asked by their father how much they love him, the two sisters assure him with fine words and flattery that he is dearer to them than anything or anybody in the world.

Then he puts the question to Cordelia, who answers that she loves her father according to her duty, neither more nor less, and if she marries she will give her future e husband half of her affection and care. Lear enraged with Cordelia sincere answer, disinherits her her and divides his kingdom between the two elder daughters empowering their their husbands to rule over the country. The Earl of Kent, Lear's most faithful vassal, dares to raise his voice in behalf of Cordelia, and tells the king he was wrong in his interpritation of Cordelia's wods. This intercession further angers Lear who banishes the Earl from Britain forever. The Duke of Burgundy, learning of Cordelia's loss of heritage withdraws his suit. The King of France marries her and they both live for that country. Lear with his hundred knights goes to stay at Gineril's castle. Included in his retinue (свита) are his new servant Caius (who is really the Earl of Kent in disguise) and his favourite jester.Goneril's true character now comes to to the surface. Her attitude towards her aged parent becomes so intolerable that after high words with his daughter, Lear with his jester and one remaining knight starts out for Regan's castle. There they meet with no better reception. Regan, actuated (возбуждать, приводить в действие) by her sister's wicked letters, orders Caius to be put in the stocks, and shut the door on her father. At this juncture Gonerial arrives at Regan's castle. She takes the side of Regan, and the two sisters make the poor old man a target for their venom. Their jeers and insults nearly break Lear's heart and he immediately leaves the castle. Lear's faithful knight is despatched as a messenger to inform Cordelia of her sister's infamous behaviour and to ask her to come with an army to his assistence. Banished by his daughters, Lear wanders all night amidst storm and driving rain over a lonely heath, accompanied by his jester and Caius. The scene of a stormy night on the moors is the culmination of Lear's tragedy, a moment when great changes are wrought in the soul and mind of the former king, when he becomes "man" and not "king". His words addressed to the poor and wretched are full of profoundest sympathy for them and at the same time protest against the the inequality that reigns in the country:

"... Poor naked wretched, wheresoe'er you are,

That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,

How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,

Your loop'd and widow'd raggedness, defend you

From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en

Too little care of this! Take physic pomp;

Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel;

That thou mayst the superflux to them,

And show the heavens more just."

When Cordelia arrives with her army, she finds her father mad. Cordelia nurses Lear tenderly and becomes almost himself again. His happiness, however, is short-lived. There is a great battle and the French Army is put to rout [ au](разгромить). Cordelia and Lear are made prisoners.

A sharp dispute arises in the victorious camp between two sisters. One of the causes of the quarrel is Edmund, the natural son of Earl of Gloster. This ruthless and artfull adventurer bears a great likeness to Jago. He has won the love of both sisters and set them against each other hoping that thus he could rid himself of one of them, and after that kill the husband of the remaining sister, marry her, and become king of England.

But Edmund is mortally wounded in a combat, anf in a moment of frenzy Goneril murders Regan by poising her, and then seized with remorse, commits suicide.

Cordelia and Lear's jester go to the scaffold(эшафот) by order of Edmund. King Lear finally finally succumbs(не выдержать, быть побежденным) under the succession of horrors (непрерывная цепь ужасов)which have befallen (приключаться)him and dies mourned by his faithful Kent who is ready to follow his master to the grave.

In King Lear Shakespeare raises his voice against the unjust the corrupting influence of gold, against social abuses and mismanagement that reigned in England.

LECTURE 36 Shakespar’s HISTORIES

It is in his Histories that Shakespeare comes totally within the sphere of real of life. Shakespear's interest in the history of his country was one of the manifistations of the patriotic feelings of the common people of England and of the rise of their national consciousness in the latter half of the 16 th century.

Kyd, Green and Marlowe had written historical plays before Shakespeare, but no one before him had expressed the national feelings of the people with such a force and vividness as he did. Like his predecessors, Shakespeare drew abundant material for his historical plays from the then popular Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland compiled by Raphael Holinshed and published in 1578. Holinshed's Chronicles are an extensive collections f myths, traditions, chronicles and historical essays of earlier authors, Thomas Moor included. Though Holinshed's own contributions were very meagre (ограниченный, бедный содержанием), the comprehensivness of his work made it valuable source of information. In many passages of his Histories Shakespeare quotes Holinshed word for word. But in all ather respects Shakespeare's Histories greatly differ both from Holinshed's Chronicles and from the Histories of Shakespeare's predecessors.

In his Histories Shakespeare gives a broad panorama of English life. Scenes of private and domestic life alternate with stirring and heroic episodes of war and political intrigues. The principal idea of his historical plays is the necessity of the consolidation of the country under one king. Shakespeare's Histories are political plays and the author's predilections stands out(проявлять, выступать) in strong relief (рельеф).

Like the majority of humanists of his time Shakespeare believed in a wise and humane king who would live to serve his country. But with the only exception of Henry V, Shakespeare's treatment of real English kings is extremely critical.

Thus he condemns Richard II for his vanity, political blindness and inability to subdue the feudal lords (King Richard II, 1595). He created an ominous (зловещий) image of Richard III who, though he was an able and strong- willed monarch, unlike Rochard II, came to power through a series of horrible crimes and turned his country into a dungeon(темница) (King Richard III, 1592).

More complicated is the image of Henry IV. One the one hand, he is glorified by Shakespeare, for he suppresses the rebellion of feudal lords and establishes peace in the country. On the other hand, Henry IV is the inderect cause of Richard II's death and the treacherous arrest of the rebels after the truce(перемирие).

In Shakespeare's Histories there is only one ideal king - Henry V, though his real prototype little differed from other kings. Nevertheless for English patriots of that time his name was assosiated with the military victories of England in the Hundred Year's War and became a symbol of England 's glory.

Shakespeare shows Henry not only as a king, but also as a man. In his youth prince Henry sow his wild oats(овес) and makes marry in the company of the great life- lover Falstaff. At this perio of time Henry came into contact with all sorts and cinditions of men. Henry studies life, studies the people of his country, and this proves to be a very good school for the future king.

A gallery of characters pass before us in Shakespeare's Histories: rich and poor, great and humble, good and evel. We leran not only of kings and lords, but also of common people, artisans, ostlers, servants, beggars. In many cases it is common men that are the mouthpieces of Shakespeare' s own views, the bearers of wisdom, criticism and censure. Such a bearer of the people's wisdom is the gardener from King Richard II. He teaches a great leasson of statesmanship(искусство управлять государством) when he says to his assistant:

... Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays,

They look too lofty in our common wealth;

All must be even in our government.

You thus employed, I will go root away

The noisme (нездоровый) weeds that without profit suck

The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.

and his assistant adds:

... our sea-walled garden, the whole land,

Is full of weeds; her fairest flowers chok'd up(засорять),

Her fruit - trees all unprun'd (неподрезаны), her - hedges ruin'd,

Her knots disorder'd, and her whole some herbs

Swarming with caterpillars...

Thus simple toiling men raise their voice against privileged classes, parasitism and feudal anarchy.

Lecture 16. SHAKESPEAR’s LATER COMEDIES

First of all, there is one common feature in the last three comedies of Shakespeare, i.e. in Cymbeline (1609), The Winter's Tale (1610), and The Tempest (1612). In the beggining, the forces of evil take upper hand (ФЕ господствовать, иметь превосходство) and establish themselves in power. Then, much later the "Great healer" - Time - restores to honour or power those who had been unjustly deprived of their rights and position. This takes place without any obvious struggle, by means of peaceful reconcilition and owing to(быть обязанным) miraculous changes wrought in the souls of the former (бывший) tyrants and usurpers.

The best play of this period is The Tempest.

Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, who was deposed (cвергнут) by his brother Antonio, put aboard a ship together with his baby-daughter Miranda, and then left to drift over the waves without sail or rudder (руль), resorted to (обращаться за помощью) magic arts which he had been studying all his life, and brought the ship safely to alonely island. The island was inhabited by an ugly monster Caliban who symbolizes the wild elements of nature. Caliban's mother, the witch Sycorax, who had died not long before Prospero's arrival, had imprisoned the kind spirits of island in the trunks of trees. Prospero freed them and they, together with Caliban, who was made to do all kind of rude work, served the new lord of the island. Prospero's chief assistant was Ariel, the spirit of the air.

The play begins when Antonio, together with Alonso, the king of Naples and young Ferdinando, the latter's son, passes near the island on board a ship. With the help of Ariel, Prospero raises a tempest on the sea, and crew and passengers, fearing a shipwreck, jump overboard and are cast ashore. Ferdinando sees Mirando and they fall in love with each other. Antonio is awestricken (охваченный благоговейным страхом) by miraculous visions, created by Prospero for the purpose of awakening and transforming his concience, and repents his cruel deeds. On meeting Prospero, he gives up his claims to the dukedome, while Alonso consents (позволять)to his son's marrying Miranda, and they all return to Italy to llive there happily.

The Tempest glorifies the eventual (возможный, могущий случиться) triumph of good over evil, the great discoveries, made at that time by scientists, and aspecially, by travellers. There are many elements of allegory and fairy-tale in The Tempest, but, like other works od Shakespeare, it is an artistic expression of Shakespeare's belief in the future happiness of mankind. Its optimistic spirit is best perceived in Miranda's words: O, wonder!

How many beautiful creatures are there here.

How beautiful mankind is! O brave new world,

That has such people in't.

Сharacteristics of Shakespeare's Works

Shakespeare's non-dramatic poetry consists of two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, in both of which the classicism of the age is very marked, and a sequence of of 154 sonnets, the first 126 addressed to a man, the remainder addressed or referred to a woman. Theses sonnets have given rise [z](вызывать ч-л, давать начало)to endless discussion, and everything about them remains obscure. They purport to record a passionate history of disastrous love and broken friendship, but we cannot even be sure whether they deal with real or with imaginary things. The only certainty is that they contain

Lecture 17 THE 17TH CENTURY

ENGLISH LITERATURE OF REVOLUTION AND RESTORATION

PURITANISM

John Milton, John Dryden, John Bunyan

The 17th century was one of the most tempestuous periods in English history. The English bourgeois revolution was the most significant social event in England of the 17th century.

The antagonism between the monarchy of Charles I, who ascended the throne in 1625, and the majority in Parliament reached a breaking point.

Hoping to crush the opposition of the bourgeoisie, Charles dissolved Parliament but was again compelled to call it in 1640. This new Parliament lasted up to 1653 and is known in history as the Long Parliament.

In 1642, the king left the capital and began mustering troops to contend in arms against the unruly parliament. The civil war lasted from 1642 till 1649 when the monarchists were defeated by the revolutionary army headed by Oliver Cromwell (1599 -1658). King Charles I was taken prisoner and put to death by order of the High Court of Justice, a Parliamentary body. England had been proclaimed a republic (the Commonwealth). It is a significant fact that the revolution was headed by the bourgeois class, the greater part of which were adherents of the religious doctrine of Puritanism. Puritans - a name which appears to have originated about the year of Shakespeare's birth or shortly after and was at first used in derision [di'riZen] (насмешка), though it was soon accepted as a mere descriptive term. The fast-growing flippancy (легкомысленность) and profligacy of the upper classes greatly increased its moral and social influence. Puritan's keen sense of the supremacy of God as the ruler of rulers, and of the prerogatives of the individual conscience, made the Puritans intolerant of earthly tyranny in any form. After a stormy period of civil war, it triumphed with the triumph of Oliver Cromwell, and during the few years of the Commonwealth it was supreme. The influence of Puritanism upon the tone and temper of English life and thought was profound. The spirit which it introduced was fine and noble, but it was hard and stern. We admire the Puritan's integrity and uprightness; but we deplore(порицать) his fanatism, moroseness, and the narrowness of his outlook and sympathies. He was an intense and God - fearing, but illiberal and unreasonable man. To the extent of its power, Puritanism destroyed humane culture, and sought to confine literature within the circumscribed field of its own particular interests. While fatal to art it was thus almost fatal to literature. It was only here and there that a writer arose who was able to absorb all its strength while transcending its limitations. This was emphatically the case with Milton, the greatest product of Puritanism in English literature, in whose genius and work, however, the moral and religious influences of Puritanism are combined with the great culture of the Renaissance.