Dacii si romanii
Unit 9
William Shakespeare: comedies, historical plays, tragedies
The Metaphysical Poets
I. Types of plays with Shakespeare
A. Comedies: they start with a conflict (agon) in a world/space perceived as imperfect, the comic brings about chaos that has a potential tragic quality which is sorted out with a marriage ( a return to harmony and togetherness) that suggests the beginning of a better world.
Types of humour/comic: language, situation, character, manner, gags
The mechanism of laughter
Mise-en- abyme (abime)
Examples: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors
Problem/Dark comedies: Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing
The theme of love:
Love covers three stages (Plato) ((A Midsumemr Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, As You Liker It):
1st stage: blind love, love at 1st sight: this sort of love brings confusion, the senses are not to be trusted
2nd stage: a stage where confusion reaches a climax of intensity which triggers a crisis of identity: the lovers are no longer aware of their identity, whom to trust, where the truth is. the conventional identity of the characters is broken by the interval of the test. The characters are faced with an inner storm, they realise they do not know who they really are anymore. The forest= a labyrinthian space in which they get emotionally, mentally and physically lost
3rd stage: the rebirth of identity: the obstacle/test lovers are put in represents a metaphorical death: they change for the better; they become aware:
-- that the human individual is potentially infinite, universal
-- that love is an instrument by the help of which one gets in touch with perfection
-- that love is a sort of an epiphany (a sudden illumination of truth), a revelation of the beauty of the world and of the immortality of the ephemeral. Love shows us what is permanent in a world of change
The lovers’ marriage in comedies equals the crowning of the ideal king:
William Shakespeare: comedies, historical plays, tragedies
The Metaphysical Poets
I. Types of plays with Shakespeare
A. Comedies: they start with a conflict (agon) in a world/space perceived as imperfect, the comic brings about chaos that has a potential tragic quality which is sorted out with a marriage ( a return to harmony and togetherness) that suggests the beginning of a better world.
Types of humour/comic: language, situation, character, manner, gags
The mechanism of laughter
Mise-en- abyme (abime)
Examples: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors
Problem/Dark comedies: Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing
The theme of love:
Love covers three stages (Plato) ((A Midsumemr Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, As You Liker It):
1st stage: blind love, love at 1st sight: this sort of love brings confusion, the senses are not to be trusted
2nd stage: a stage where confusion reaches a climax of intensity which triggers a crisis of identity: the lovers are no longer aware of their identity, whom to trust, where the truth is. the conventional identity of the characters is broken by the interval of the test. The characters are faced with an inner storm, they realise they do not know who they really are anymore. The forest= a labyrinthian space in which they get emotionally, mentally and physically lost
3rd stage: the rebirth of identity: the obstacle/test lovers are put in represents a metaphorical death: they change for the better; they become aware:
-- that the human individual is potentially infinite, universal
-- that love is an instrument by the help of which one gets in touch with perfection
-- that love is a sort of an epiphany (a sudden illumination of truth), a revelation of the beauty of the world and of the immortality of the ephemeral. Love shows us what is permanent in a world of change
The lovers’ marriage in comedies equals the crowning of the ideal king: