In the tutorial we covered these three topics which we covered with the Professor in 2 lectures. The same content was covered only in one tutorial.

1. The Spanish Tragedy

2. Dr. Faustus

3. The Faerie Queene

We are in the middle of Renaissance literature very briefly before Shakespeare appears.

There is a genre which is called revenge tragedy. It comes from late Roman literature. Revenge tragedy is the sub-genre of the tragedy and there are typical plot elements in the revenge tragedy:

a. crime: Murder or it can also be rape.

b. appears as ghost: All revenge tragedies have a ghost. This is invented by Romans.

c. There is some kind of delay. Delay in the action. You want to take revenge, but you delay it. Only then you begin to take your revenge.

d. play in the play : The character who wants to take his revenge creates his own play within the play. He starts to write his own play. The end of the revenge is usually killing. Killing of the innocent, close relatives of innocent. All dies. Some of them also kill themselves.

Hamlet draws on the genre of Revenge Tragedy, but develops it.

1. The Spanish Tragedy: Don Horatio is in love with Bel Imperia. This love is mutual. Bel Imperia has a brother whose name is Lorenzo. Lorenzo has a friend who is Baltazar. Baltazar is in love with Bel Imperia, but this is not a mutual love. Lorenzo and Baltazar want Bel Imperia to be with Baltazar for political reasons. So Baltazar and Lorenzo have to get rid of Don Horatio. They hang him and stab him against the tree. But before all these things happened, Bel Imperia had been in love with another man whose name was Don Andrea. However, Baltazar and Lorenza already killed him.  Hieronimo -father of Don Hortio- is an old soldier. He has to find out who the murderers are. Bel Imperia and Hieronimo work together to get revenge. They invent a play within the play. Don Horatio`s ghost appear to Hieronimo and Bel Imperia, and tells them to take revenge.

Play within the play: Bel Imperia and Hieronimo writes a play to take revenge. At first they use false daggers to practice how to kill them. But later on they use real daggers and kill the murderers.When the play within the play starts, the character who wants to take revenge becomes the director, examiner and judge of the play.

Ghost of Andrea also appears and the fictional level becomes allegorical. Don Andrea`s ghost appears at the beginning and at the end of the play. There is partly Greek, partly Roman mytology in this play. Whole genre comes from Roman literature. That is why there are imageries of Roman literature. There is also notion of endless and eternal punishment which goes on and on and never stops. The whole thing is very unchristian. Revenge and eternal punishment do not fit into christian belief. If you want to write about revenge, then you use antique settings. It comes from Roman literature and it doesn`t fit into the christianity. Shakespeare started to write with revenge tragedy.

Titus Andronicus was Shakespeare`s first drama. He developed the revenge tragedy. He took the traditions and transformed them. This made him William Shakespeare. In Titus Andronicus, the young girl was raped, the rapist cut her tongue so that she cannot tell who the rapist was. The rapist also cut her hands from her wrists so that she could not write his name. Finally she writes his name on to the sand and the bloody revenge scenes take place.

If we have to speak about the Paradigm Shift:

1) They take fate into their own hands. In the old morality plays everything was predestined by the God. Hieronimo is the author of his own destiny. He writes his own fate. He is a self-determined man. He doesn`t wait for the God for divine justice. He himself takes his revenge.

2) Individual emotions become important. In the morality plays, what the characters felt was not important. But suddenly grief and the great hate such as Hieronimo`s hate become important.  Individual emotions become important.

Seneca was a Roman author. The first revenge tragedy was written by him at around 0. That is why revenge tragedy is also called the Senecan revenge tragedy.

Here in the Spanish tragedy both the ghost of Andrea and ghost of Don Horatio appears. However, the ghost of Andrea appears before the ghost of Don Horatio appears. They were both killed by the same people who are Lorenzo and Baltazar.

                                               DR. FAUSTUS

Dr. Faustus was written by Christopher Marlowe. For an internet comment please click here.

Dr. Faustus is a scientist. He is a scholar working at the university. He is not satisfied with the knowledge of his time. He doesn`t believe in the old knowledge and the authority of Bible. He wants to know deeper. He sells his soul to the devil to get knowledge. He makes an agreement with the demon Mephistopheles  for 24 years. According to this agreement, the demon should be his servant and he should give his soul to the demon.

How does this twenty-four-year service look like? There is a constant struggle. The allegorical figures of good angel and bad angel appear and they whisper him what to do. Should he leave the God or repent to the God of what he did?

This is taken from the online reader on page 41:

two different voices inside Faustus’ mind (in the morality play called ‚psychomachia‘)
allegorical representation is strongly psychological
The real tragedy: Faustus has pawned his soul for cheap jugglers’ tricks and hollow values;
his regrets come too late – at the end, the old authoritycentred
world picture is restored:

Quotation 20
Faustus is gone. Regard his hellish fall,
Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise             MOURNING: KEY POINT   Told by the chorus.

Only to wonder at unlawful things:                          They say, if you want more than enough, then
Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits,        your end will be hell like Faustus.     
to practice more than heavenly power permits.
(Christopher Marlowe. D. Faustus, p. 68)

confirms conservative attitude against which Faustus rebelled; different world pictures clash:
absolute
striving for selfrealisation
and criticism of traditional concepts of knowledge
vs.
straying from the right path (analogous to Mankind etc. in the morality play);
still: tragedy takes the individual’s attempt to establish himself as subject of reality seriously
In psychological terms: Devil/hell as symbolic projections of feelings of guilt, caused by Faustus’
rebellion against the divine law
older dominant interpretative model of reality remains valid far into C18

The end of the reader.

He is a typical Renaissance man. Someone who wants to know more. There is reaffirmation of world image in this play. Theocratic, authority related world image.

Old world image: Theocratic, authority related world image.

New world image: You experience yourself. You gain knowledge yourself.

At the beginning it starts with a new world image. However, at the end the play is conservative. You shouldn`t know that much or you have to go to the hell.

The play starts completely progressive. There is knowledge outside, go and get it. It is revolutionary. However, the ending is counter-revolutionary.

According to the old image, everything is in the bible. The knowledge is in the bible. Dr.Faustus is originally a German book. Marlowe translated it into English. He read the German public book and used it while writing this drama.

From the internet: 

Doctor Faustus is based on an older tale; it is believed to be the first dramatization of the Faust legend.

Some scholars believe that Marlowe developed the story from a popular 1592 translation, commonly called The English Faust Book,of an earlier, unpreserved, German edition of 1587, which itself may have been influenced by even earlier, equally unpreserved pamphlets in Latin, such as those that likely inspired Jacob Bidermanns treatment of the damnation of the doctor of Paris, Cenodoxus (1602). Whatever the inspiration, the development of Marlowe's play is very faithful to the Faust Book of especially in the way it mixes comedy with tragedy. You can find the same information in wikipedia if you click on the caption Dr.Faustus, it will direct you to the wikipedia link.

In the play, a greedy horse dealer buys powerful horses from Faustus. He mocks the horse dealer by making little magical tricks. He wants to achieve the deeper knowledge of the world or universe. But at the end what he gets is death. What Faustus gets in exchange of his soul is cheap tricks. It is the real drama. What he gets from the demon Mephistopheles is not the real knowledge. These are only cheap tricks. This is the tragedy. In the play there are also comical episodes where he play his little tricks etc.

At the beginning he was interested in the God, heaven and theology. He wanted to achieve the deeper knowledge of these things. But what he gets is tricks, namely cheap tricks. This is the real drama. This is the tragedy in the play. What devil gives cannot be the truth.

The old authority-centered world image and the new world image are displayed in  Dr. Faustus.

In the end he goes to the hell.

                                             THE FAERIE QUEENE

It is a verse epic. It has a quest structure. Medieval Parsifal has this quest structure as well. King Arthur send out his best and most valiant knights Lancelot, Gavian to find the holy grail.

In the quest structure there is at least one knight or possibly more, and they go on a quest, searching for something , like searching for a holy grail. There can be adventures during the search. Adevntures with dragons, enemy soldiers etc. Here what we have in hand instead of King Arthur is Faerie Queen. She sends out her knights and knights have to go out and fight with the enemies and they have adventures. So what we can say about the Faerie Queen is :

- It has a medieval form:very stongly imitates the medieval literature, imitates the quest structure.

- Allegorical: now let`s see how allogorical it is. In the online reader on page 43, Una is not just a character, but he also stands for christianity. This is allegorical. You take the structure of the morality play and put it into the verse epic. If you remember allegory was used in the morality plays. Humanity stands for the human being, etc.

The contents of Edmund Spencer`s Faerie Queene is to some extent medieval. It was influenced by the religion very strongly. Form and contents strongly reflect the medieval literature. For that reason it reflects the old world image.

Imagery is sensual. On the one hand you have a religious contrast, but on the other hand there is sensual imagery in the epic. This creates a contrast. The Faerie Queene consists of 6 different books. In each book Queen Gloriana who symbolically represents Queen Elizabeth I, sends out a knight for a quest. She appears in each of the book at the beginning and at the end.At the end of each book, the knight goes home and reports to Queen Gloriana.

Form the online reader page 43:

Each book consists of twelve Italianstyle
cantos made up by (a new form of) nineline
stanzas –
breaks off after six monumental books and a fragment (i.e. more than 3,800 stanzas):
each book organised around the quest of a protagonist sent out by the fairy queen Gloriana
(cf. quest motif in medieval epics)
Original purpose subverted: glorification of queen and court turns into disillusion and criticism;
didactic aim: to educate the ruling class in public service –
ideology of chivalric revival, militant feudalist autonomy against absolutist claims of the Crown
Romantic epic: for Spenser a vehicle on which he builds his “continued allegory, or dark conceit”
->allegorical: representation of internal/mental experience, and of political/historical strategies:

End of the reader`s explanation.

On page 47 online reader

liv

478 Much wondred Guyon at the faire aspect
479 Of that sweet place, yet suffred no delight
480 To sincke into his sence, nor mind affect,
481 But passed forth, and lookt still forward right,
482 Bridling his will, and maistering his might:
483 Till that he came unto another gate,
484 No gate, but like one, being goodly dight
485 With boughes and braunches, which did broad dilate
486 Their clasping armes, in wanton wreathings intricate.

even trees seem to be sexual in this stanza. The knight is trying not to be distracted by any sexuality. He is a good medieval knight.

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lvii
505 In her left hand a Cup of gold she held,
506 And with her right the riper fruit did reach,
507 Whose sappy liquor, that with fulnesse sweld,

508 . Into her cup she scruzd, with daintie breach
509 . Of her fine fingers, without fowle empeach,
510 That so faire winepresse
made the wine more sweet:
511 Thereof she usd to give to drinke to each,
512 Whom passing by she happened to meet:
513 It was her guise, all Straungers goodly so to greet.

A woman like a witch or a demon. Everything is extremely sensual. On line 508 and 509 the woman squeezes the grapes. This is extremely sensual.

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Page 48

lxi

541 And in the midst of all, a fountaine stood,
542 Of richest substaunce, that on earth might bee,
543 So pure and shiny, that the silver flood
544 Through every channell running one might see;
545 Most goodly it with curious imageree
546 Was overwrought,
and shapes of naked boyes,
547 Of which some seemd with lively jollitee,

548 To fly about, playing their wanton toyes,
549 Whilest others did them selves embay in liquid joyes.

Fountain, sweet liqueur and naked boys are the proofs of sensuality.

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Page 52 

lxxix
703 Her snowy brest was bare to readie spoyle,
704 Of hungry eies, which n'ote therewith be fild,
705 And yet through languour of her late sweet toyle,
706 Few drops, more cleare then Nectar, forth distild,
707 That like pure Orient perles adowne it trild,
708 And her faire eyes sweet smyling in delight,
709 Moystened their fierie beames, with which she thrild

710 Fraile harts, yet quenched not; like starry light
711 Which sparckling on the silent waves, does seeme more bright.

She is extremely beautiful. Strong attraction is going out of her.

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Page 54

lxxxiv
748 But all those pleasant bowres and Pallace brave,
749 Guyon broke downe, with rigour pittilesse;
750 Ne ought their goodly workmanship might save
751 Them from the tempest of his wrathfulnesse,
752 But that their blisse he turn'd to balefulnesse:
753 Their groves he feld, their gardins did deface,
754 Their arbers spoyle, their Cabinets suppresse,
755 Their banket houses burne, their buildings race,
756 And of the fairest late, now made the fowlest place.

He destroys the bower of place. He is not attracted.    I am talking about our knight who is Sir Guyon.

Guyon is also allegorical. It stands for modesty. He is not distracted by an evil like sexuality. He destroys it.

As we already mentioned above, there is a contrast between medieval contents and sensual imagery. It is attractive to the contemporary readers because of the sensual imagery.

Faery Queene could be reminscent of Queen Elizabet. As the whole theme proceeds, Queen becomes bad. It is a criticsm of Queen Elizabeth. I quoted from the reader above. I repeat it again:

Original purpose subverted: glorification of queen and court turns into disillusion and criticism;
didactic aim: to educate the ruling class in public service –
ideology of chivalric revival, militant feudalist autonomy against absolutist claims of the Crown

Its main purpose which is glorification was subverted in the time. This work was written in 6 years between 1590 and 1596. At first, Spenser began to write it to glorify the Quuen, later on his ideas might change and it turned into the criticism of the era. However, Spenser was granted a pension for life on account of it (50 pounds a year). I suggest you to read the wikipedia explanation. If you click on the very first caption at the top above, it will direct you to the wikipedia.

Taken from Wikipedia:

The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor lineage can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive: many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves--or one another--partially represented by one or more of Spenser's figures. Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example: she appears most prominently in her guise as Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself; but also in Books III and IV as the virgin Belphoebe, daughter of Chrysogonee and twin to Amoret, the embodiment of womanly married love; and perhaps also, more critically, in Book I as Lucifera, the "maiden queen" whose brightly-lit Court of Pride masks a dungeon full of prisoners.

Guyon, the Knight of Temperance, the hero of Book Two. According to the Golden Legend, St. George's name shares etymology with Guyon, which specificially means "the holy wrestler."

End of Wikipedia.

Queen Elizabeth was a totalitarian. She tried to reeactablish the absolutist fashion of the reign and blocked the influence of aristocracy. She ruled over the whole country.

The Faerie Queene is an allegorical epic with an allegorical quest structure. It is strongly religious.

Wikipedia:

Acrasia, Seductress of knights. Guyon destroys her Bower of Bliss at the end of Book 2. Similar characters in other epics: Circe (Homer's Odyssey), Alcina (Ariosto), Armida (Tasso). Also the fairy woman from Keats' poem 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'.

End of Wikipedia.

Acrasia tries to temptate Guyon in her Bower of Bliss. She represents gluttony of never being satisfied. She wants more and more.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE MAIN POINTS:

* the spanish tragedie: originally roman genre, taken over by thomas kyd in english; spectacularly gruesome; reflects a word view interested in individual grief and individual responsibility; still: highly stylised and rhetorical; clad in classical mythology with its notions of revenge and eternal suffering.

* d. faustus: still influenced by medieval literature (allegorical characters); almost progressive beginning: renaissance's thirst for knowledge; conservative affirmation in the ending - readers are warned against following faustus' example --> illustrates rival cultural tendencies between authority-related theocratic world image and experience-related anthropocentric world image (= paradigm shift); real tragedy: soul sold in exchange for cheap tricks (such as mocking the horse-courser), not for real knowledge.

* faerie queene: medieval contents (religious allegory, quest structure) and medieval form (verse epic) clad in extremely sensual imagery; possible reading: criticism of queen (contemporary conflict: feudalist-aristocratic knight(ly)hood versus absolutist reign.

THE END