Plays
Hamlet:
Characters: be sure to know the motive of each major character. Following a character's motive helps you navigate through a the play as a reader.
Themes:
- Individualism. The status of the individual during the Renaissance is central enough to have its own name: "Renaissance Individualism." This comes about for a variety of reasons. Most importantly perhaps, during the Medieval Period, the largely church-dominated society attended primarily to things of the next world. The Renaissance, though still spiritual, brought with it a new focus on seeking happiness and fulfillment in this world. Society's secularization and the invention of the printing press enhanced people's literacy, and political and economic changes made entirely new ways of life possible. The Renaissance was also an age in which people who read Machiavelli's The Prince knew that the image people created for themselves also contributed significantly to their success. In what sense does Dr. Faustus illustrate the negative side of Renaissance Individualism? For what does he use his power?
- Knowledge and Ignorance: the issue of knowledge occupied a central place during the Renaissance: what kind of knowledge should be pursued, how far, by whom, and for what purposes? Faustus seeks knowledge--something we might see as good--though that knowledge only leads him to destruction; this is not the fault of the knowledge but of the knower. Thus, do you think that Marlowe is dramatizing an opinion about the limits to human knowledge? Also, consider how Marlowe has Faustus concentrate on what he already knows--or believes he knows--rather than what he has to learn--from the Bible, from the devil, and from the Good Angels who hope to save him.
- Pride. As the world's greatest scholar, Faustus assumes that he has nothing to learn from other people, including the devil to whom he has sold his soul. How does Faustus' pride affect his actions?
- Appearance and Reality
- Choices and Consequences
Drama Terms (Style):
- Blank Verse: born in the same year as Shakespeare (1564), Marlowe wrote and produced plays before Will. He is credited to introducing blank verse into English Renaissance tragedy. Blank verse is written in poetic stanzas marked by Iambic Pentameter (each line has ten syllables with accents on every second beat); the verse is composed without rhyme.
- Elizabethan Drama: see the web page!
- Comic relief: what is humorous about the grave digger?
- Tragedy: Elizabethan drama is defined by an adherence to a specific structure--in the case of Doctor Faustus, a tragedy. Some critics see the structure of Marlowe's Dr. Faustus as flawed and not conforming to that of pure tragedy.
- Hamartia: Where does this occur in the play? What event or act causes the hero's downfall?
- Catharsis: Where does this occur in the play?
- Suspense: Where does this occur in the play?
Twelfth Night: again, let's appreciate how Stoppard's Shakespeare in Love acts as a great prequel for this comedy.
Comic situation: how can these two sets of lovers come together in the end? Understanding the obstacles is a great way to get a foot hold into the humor and appreciate the dramatic irony.
Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia;
Olivia quickly falls for the charms of Cessario (Viola);
Cessario (Viola) falls for Duke Orsino;
Malvolio falls for Maria.
