Transcript Document

William Shakespeare
1564-1616
I.Brief Introduction
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1.Origin of English Drama
Miracle(mystery) play
Morality play
Interludes
• 2.Shakespeare’s predecessors
• 1)Latin influence: Seneca’s fate
• 2)University Wits
• Thomas Kyd: Spanish Tragedy
• Christopher Marlower:Tamburlain the Great(supreme
desire of Renaissance men and powerful blank verse)
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• Renaissance and humanism
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II.Shakespeare and His Works
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1.His life
April 23, 1564—April 23, 1616
Stratfor-on-Avon, Warwickshire
2.His works(37/38 plays, 154
sonnets, 2 long poems)
general comment
• 3. 4 periods of his writings
• 1)apprenticeship period
• 2)comedies + histories (period of
maturity)
• 3)period of tragedies: 4 great
tragedies
• 4)period of dramatic romances
• 4. translation of some titles:
• As You Like It 《皆大欢喜》、
《如愿》
• All’s Well That Ends Well《终成眷
属》
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5.New findings about his play
1)The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613)
Co-author with John Fletcher
2)a play about Edward III has
been recognized by scholars as
39th play by Shakespeare
III. Shakespeare’s language and
grammar
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1.Archaic words
thou, thee, thy (thine), ye=you
（pl）,hath, hast thou: have you; wilt: will;
doeth: does; art:are; Dost thou: do you;
didst thou: did you
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2.Grammar:
1) est(-st) (didst, wouldst… anst)
2)know not=do not know
Bassanio:
Do all men kill the things they do not love?
3) Shylock:
Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
(different formation of questions)
4)Antonio:
You may as well forbid the mountain pines/ To wag
their high tops, and to make no noise(double
negation=positiveness)
IV.Reading of His Excerpts
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1. To be or not to be(a soliloquy by
Hamlet)
Attention to some words
respect, regard, conscience,
thought=consideration/reflection
resolution, action, will
(Hamlet: more thought than action;his
hesitation )
• 2. Sonnet 18
• Motifs:
• Friendship, youth, beauty,time, death,
eternity, immortality of poety
V.General Comment
• 1.Shakespeare’s poetry
• He has 154 sonnets as well as his
beautiful and powerful verse lines in his
plays. His sonnets are true treasures
owned belonging to humanity.
• 2.Shakespeare’s tragedies
• Each of his four great tragedies: Hamlet, King
Lear, Othello and Macbeth portrays some
noble figure caught in a difficult situation, when
some weakness, or bias of his nature is exposed.
Upon his action depends not only his own fate,
but that of an entire nation.
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• 3.Shakespeare’s comedies
• a mood of youth, love, and ideals of
happiness in his comedies
• heroes and heroines usually young men
and women fighting against destiny itself
and mould their own fate
• general spirit of optimism in accordance
with the humanist spirit of Renaissance
period and the writer’s youthful mind
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4.Shakespeare’s achievements
Social significance of his plays
Art of his plays
1. unforgettable characterization
2. masterful plot construction
3. masterly use of language