A Fun Collection of Information on Topics Relating to Hamlet
Because of the timing of our exciting field trip, we are going to be using Hamlet as a central text during poetry boot camp (yeah, I know, it’s a play, but it’s got some dynamite poetry…). Before we begin reading, though, we need to accumulate some knowledge to apply to the text. So your job this weekend is to look into one of the following topics and prepare a blog entry of information about the topic. I strongly encourage you to choose something you know very little about but that sounds interesting to you. Your hand out can be a bulleted list, a descriptive page – whatever you want – but you have to write it (no cutting and pasting) and it has to be based on more than one source. If you use Wikipedia, be sure to cross-check the information. I prefer university sites myself. In your entry, please include links to interesting sites. We can only have two entries on any given topic, so get this done early if your topic really matters to you!
Grading criteria:
· Must be about a page long.
· Must include links to at least two sites and some information about what we might find on the site.
· Cannot repeat another entry; no more than two entries per topic
This grade goes into class participation, so it can help those of you who haven’t talked much. Please post your entry as a comment to this post!
How to post a link: Highlight a word that you would like to serve as the link. Then, click the link button on the toolbar (it's in the middle, to the left of the alignment options, and it's green) and type/paste the url you are linking.
Click here for information about our field trip.
posted by Ms. Clapp @ 8:09 AM
42 comments
42 Comments:
I CLAIM ARISTOTLE'S DEFINITION OF A TRAGEDY IN THE NAME OF MICHELLE.
i claim aristotle's definition of a tragedy !
CLAIM: SOURCE MATERIAL OF HAMLET!
I CALL QUEEN ELIZABETH!
I claim overview of the English Renaissance!
OH I ALSO CALL THE ELIZABETHEN THEATER!!!
This is Nina on Janna's screen name (I can't remember my password...!) I claim the overview of the English Renaissance!!!!
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i claim Queen Elizabeth I!!
I claim King James 1!!!
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I claim the five act structure of Shakespeare's plays.
I suppose I shall research Iambic pentameter and blank verse. Yay?
I claim Shakespeare's Biography too with Jillian!
All of Shakespeare’s plays share a similar five act structure. His plays consist of an exposition, a rising action, a climax, falling action, and finally the denouement. Each act is correspondent with one of the elements and it determines what occurs within that act. This structure presents a very predictable plot of the play. The reader or the audience is aware of when the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement of the play will be according to the acts.
Act one -In an exposition the basic information of the play is introduced. The characters, the setting, and the mood are presented.
Act two- In the rising action the complication of the play is presented and develops throughout the act. In the second act there is an added suspense and a foreshadowing of some events.
Act three- The climax is crisis of the play and it contains the turning point. This is most suspenseful point of the play where all the tension has been built up. The moment the play has been leading up to where decisions are made.
Act four- The falling action is the resolution. This is where the result of the character’s actions and decisions are shown.
Act five- Finally, in the final act contains the outcome or the tragedy, typically, when the main character meets their downfall.
My hyperlinks would not show up in my blog and I am rather computer illiterate so i guess i'll just give you the links to the two sites.
http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/hamlet/climax.htm
This shows the structural breakdown of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/hamlet/hamlet_summary.htm
This shows a plot summary of Hamlet which shows the five act structure of the play.
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William Shakespeare’s Biography:
• Baptized April 26, 1564, but his birthday is claimed to have been April 23, 1564; died April 23, 1616, exactly 52 years later
• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in south Warwickshire, England
• The son of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker and chief from Snitterfield, and of Mary Arden, a daughter of the gentry
• Most likely attended King Edward VI Grammar School, but there is no proof because the school records have not survived
• Married Anne Hathaway November 28, 1582 when she was 26 years old and he was only 18; she was pregnant with his child during the marriage
• His first daughter Susanna was baptized on May 26, 1583
• His twins, Hamnet and Judith, were baptized on February 2, 1585; Hamnet died at the age of 11 (his death is suspected to have lead to the writing of the play Hamlet)
• Left Stratford-upon-Avon for London soon after his children were born; the 1580s are known as the “Lost Years” because there is no record of what he did in these years nor why he left his family
• Became a playwright in London by 1952 (proof of his prominence is evident in Robert Green’s criticism of the plagiarized beauty in his work)
• Became an actor, writer, and part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a playing company, later known as the King’s Men
• Wrote many of his greatest plays from 1594-1608; he became rich from his works and from his investments in estates
• Returned to his family around 1613 when he died 3 years later due to some illness
• Buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon not because of his fame as a playwright but because he purchased a share of the tithe of the church for £440, which was a large sum of money; there is a bust of him near his grave and a new quill pen is placed in the writing hand of the bust each year on his claimed birthday
The Complete Works of Shakespeare!
Shakespeare’s Grave
A Shakespeare Biography Quiz
A Shakespeare Genealogy
First of all, let me quote Aristotle’s definition of tragedy: “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions." This definition is part of his book, The Poetics, which is comprised of lectures that use literary criticism to discuss, interpret, and analyze poetry. It is said that Plato, Aristotle’s teacher, may have had an influence in the way Aristotle views tragedy. This is because Plato believed that tragedy was a “mere influence of life” which corresponds with Aristotle’s definition of tragedy being an imitation in which the audience can enjoy through “images of experience.”
Aristotle believes that every Tragedy must have six parts, which determine its quality. These are Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, Song. Plot simply is the arrangement of the incidents which portray the imitations of the actions. Aristotle regards it as “the soul of the tragedy” because without action there cannot be a tragedy. The plot shows a cause and effect chain which arouses “fear or pity” to the audience. The plot must be “whole” meaning it must have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is called the incentive moment which begins the cause and effect chain. The middle is called the climax which is caused by earlier events and must then cause another event to occur. The end or resolution is caused by earlier events and usually resolves a problem presented in the incentive moment. Aristotle calls the cause and effect from the incentive to the climax the “tying up” or complication. Also he calls the cause and effect from the climax to the resolution the “unraveling” or denouement. He also believes that plot should be “complete, have unity, and be of certain magnitude.” In this, he means that the plot should lead to one event to another and not be brief because “the more incidents and themes…the greater the artistic value and richness of the play.”
Character is the virtue in which the author gives certain aspects to the individual in which their actions can prevent or create a fall or success. Character also reveals moral purpose and indicates what a man wants or avoids. Aristotle believes the character should undergo a change which is prompted by “some great error or frailty in a character” or in other words called a tragic flaw. Tragedies involve characters who are self-destructive and do things that result in something that was not intended or in other words called tragic irony. Characters have these qualities: good or fine, fitness to character, true to life, consistency, necessary or probable, and true to life yet more beautiful. This means the character should have a moral purpose and the qualities described should fit the character and be realistic. The character should also be consistent with his characteristics throughout the play and are usually painted with more idealistic values than the normal man or woman.
Character goes with thought and thought is regarded as “the faculty of saying what is possible and pertinent in given circumstances.” It is to think rationally and objectively to evaluate or deal with a problem. Diction is the expression of the meaning of words. Song is the musical element that contributes to the unity of the play. And spectacular events are those that arouse fear and pity.
An example of this is Oedipus the King, who directly causes his own downfall because he does not know how he is. Oedipus, trying to get to the bottom of Thebes problems, asks Tiresias, a blind prophet, to prophesize what will happen. Tiresias reveals that Oedipus is the “bad blood” in Thebes and that he killed his father and slept with his mother. Oedipus believes that Tiresias is lying so that Creon can take over and be ruler of Thebes. To protect himself from this prediction, he leaves Thebes but at a cross road is attacked by men and kills all of them but one. In these events, he caused his own destruction because in trying to avoid the oracle, he left Thebes, killed an aristocrat, and married an older queen. His ignorance is self destructive and is why Oedipus the King is usually seen as a tragedy.
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/language/f/tragedynotdrama.htm
http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/digital/2000/c_n_c/c_03_classic/aristotle.htm
http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm
http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html (not only does this link describe Aristotle’s view on tragedy but it also has links to sections of the Poetics, which were translated by S.H. Butcher)
http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/oedipusplot.html#complex (story of Oedipus and the connections to a tragedy)
http://www.bookrags.com/notes/oed/SUM.html
and sorry i could not find a button for the links!
Overview of the English Renaissance
Introduction: The English Renaissance lasted from the 16th-17th centuries and has also been dubbed the “Age of Shakespeare” as well as the “Elizabethan Era” (although Shakespeare’s full impact was not fully felt during this time period and Elizabeth I was not the first monarch to rule during this epoch). Many aspects characterize the Renaissance in England, including a flourishing of the arts, changes in religion, and several political, social, and economic alterations, which are explained in further detail below. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/English_Renaissance)
Differences between Italian and English Renaissances: A particular difference between the English and Italian Renaissances is that the latter took place from approximately 1350-1550, whereas the former began in the early 1500s and ended in the early 1600s. Furthermore, the Italian Renaissance focused more on the visual arts, such as painting and sculpture, while the English Renaissance tended to place more emphasis on literature and the written word. There is also controversy over whether this period in England should actually be deemed a “Renaissance,” because English literature had already begun to bloom some 200 years earlier with Chaucer and others like William Langland, who initiated the use of the English vernacular in literature. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/English_Renaissance)
Literature, theater, and important people: Some of most influential writers and playwrights of the English Renaissance include John Milton, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Sir Thomas More. Milton’s most well known work is Paradise Lost (1667), in which he delineates the fall from grace of Adam and Eve and thus of humanity as a whole. Shakespeare, arguably the most important playwright of this time period, wrote histories, comedies, and tragedies that expressed universal ideas of humanity such as love, loss, and betrayal. His historical plays often questioned the legitimacy of the English monarchs, which, in turn, led the people to question their government and history. He composed 37 plays before his death as well as 154 sonnets and 2 epic poems. Christopher Marlowe, whose most significant plays include Tamberlaine the Great (c. 1587) and Edward II (c. 1592) are characterized by violence and passion and also oftentimes the presence of a tragic hero, whose hubris or grand ambition brings about his own downfall. His influence is seen in some of Shakespeare’s works.A philosopher, writer, and a politician, Sir Thomas More’s most famous work is Utopia (1516), that details his concerns about the social, economic, and political problems of the age. In the book, More outlined the plan for a more ideal or “Utopian” society, based on a system of cooperation that ended private property, greed, and competition, and worked for the good of the general population. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/English_Renaissance ; www.online-literature.com/milton/paradiselost (Milton); www.bardweb.net/works.html (Shakespeare); http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html (Shakespeare); http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/marlowe.htm (Marlowe); Western Civilization by Jackson J. Spielvogel (338-39; More)).
Politics and monarchs: During the time of the English Renaissance, England expanded into a nation-state under the rule of King Henry VII (1485-1509), whose victory over the House of York ended the decades-long conflict among feudal lords entitled the War of Roses. Thus commenced the Tudor Dynasty (1485-1603). Henry VII emulated the French style of governing under Louis XI; i.e. the creation of unified nation-state, the amassing of great amounts of monarchical power (often at the expense of that of the nobles and lords), and a striving to accomplish acts for the good of the general welfare. Another important monarch of the time was Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), hence the referral to the English Renaissance as the “Elizabethan Era.” Under her reign, England mostly flourished: there occurred a great expansion of industries, such as coal, iron, and shipbuilding; the arts proliferated; explorers like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh headed voyages to the Americas, and the former’s famous defeat of the Spanish Armada gave the English a significant boost in naval power. James I was also a noteworthy ruler from the English Renaissance, reigning from 1603-1625. The proliferation of the arts and sciences that had occurred under Elizabeth I continued with James I; however, much of his monarchical rule was also characterized by religious conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants. In addition, he and Parliament were constantly at odds with each other because King James often refused to consult Parliament, extravagantly squandered money, and ignored its grievances. (Sources: http://tudorhistory.org/monarchs; http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html (Queen Elizabeth and King Henry VII); www.royal.gov.uk/output/page46.asp (Queen Elizabeth) http://britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon46.html (King James I) http://experts.about.com/e/j/ja/James_I_of_England.htm (James I)).
Religion and the Reformation: The established religion under the Church of England during the English Renaissance was initially Catholicism. However, when Pope Clement VII would not grant King Henry VIII a divorce from his wife Catherine of Aragon, who had failed to produce a male heir, the king broke off the relationship between the Church of England and Rome—thus ending papal authority in England—and made the monarch the supreme ruler of the church in 1534 with the Act of Supremacy. After his rule, the Church of England began a movement toward adopting more Protestant doctrines. (Sources: http://elizabethan.org/compendium/index.html; Western Civilization (350)).
Expansion of education: During King Henry VII’s reign, his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was a patron of many colleges, including Jesus College (1497) and St. John’s College (1516). The main reason for the spread of education in England during this epoch, however, was due to the work of the “Erasmus Circle”: Desidierus Erasmus, Thomas More, and John Colet. (Although Erasmus was not born in England, in 1499 he traveled to the country and began to spread his ideas there). All three of them believed in the importance of education and its ability to transform people, and thus dedicated themselves to reintroducing Platonic education and establishing schools based on their ideas, such as that set up by More in 1510. Thanks to their efforts, by 1615 England’s literacy rate was 33 percent, one of the highest in the world. (Source: http://east_west_dialogue.tripod.com/europe/id5.html).
Culture/entertainment: The English found pleasure in different forms of music, especially the madrigal, which was a new form of secular music that developed in Italy and spread to England in 1588. Dancing was also important as a pastime but differed according to social class: the upper class performed dances like the Volte and the Pavane at the courts of nobles while the lower classes would do “country” dances for diversion. Theater flourished during the English Renaissance due to the works of such playwrights as Marlowe and Shakespeare; the first public theater was opened in 1576 and became an activity that all social classes enjoyed. In addition, the English enjoyed activities such as hunting, fencing, dueling, tennis, and cricket. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/Wiki/English_Renaissance; http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/amusements.html)
Social classes: During the English Renaissance, a shift away from feudalism and the three estates of clergy, nobles, and peasants occurred as the Black Death killed many potential workers, thus giving the lower classes the chance to demand wages for their work and freeing them from feudal obligations. A new middle class of merchants and tradesmen formed as a result, which led to the creation of guilds and unions. (Source: http://www.ehistling-pub.meotod.de/01_lec04.php#11)
-Side note: Sorry I didnt post the websites as links; I did the post on Microsoft Word and then forgot to create the links.
Ok, so I definitely forgot to claim a topic becase I am terrible at life, but I claim the role of Hamlet in Western Literature with Vinhybob.
asdkjhasd because*
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ELIZABETHEN THEATER
The Playhouse
By the late 1500s, plays were being performed in two types of theatre buildings: the private theatre and the public theatre. The private theatres were small, roofed buildings in which wealthier audiences gathered to view plays. Public theaters were ones such as Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. In 1576, the first public theatre was built in London, and by the time that Shakespeare was writing his plays, there were more playhouses in London than in any other European city.
Appearance
The public theatre was usually a round, square, or octagonal wooden structure. Its basic structure with an unroofed courtyard surrounded by three levels of roofed balconies containing seating. The platform stage projected into the courtyard so that was surrounded by the courtyard and balconies on three sides. The building was able to accommodate roughly 3,000 people. This open-air structure depended on natural lighting therefore; all plays took place in the afternoon at three o’clock in the summer. When a play was to be held, a flag was raised on the top of the playhouse as a signal to Londoners of the event. A trumpeter would also announce the impending play in song.
Seating
Seating in the Elizabethan theatre was determined by wealth and social status. Each person paid a penny for admission; however, for an additional fee, one could sit in one of the galleries, protected from the elements. The wealthier patrons of the theatre were the most likely to be able to pay this fee and usually filled those seats. The poorer members of the audience, or “groundlings,” were left to stand in the courtyard surrounding the stage. Occasionally, honored guests of the theatre were given seats of honor on the edge of the stage as well.
Elements of the Theatre
If you were to travel back in time and attend a play in Elizabethan theatre, you would immediately notice many aspects of the theatre’s interior that would seem strange to you. One of the first differences you might have noticed upon entering the theatre was the structure of the stage, a large platform surrounded by the audience on three sides. This close proximity of the audience to the stage created a more interactive relationship between the actors and the audience. Unlike most of today’s audiences, the people attending Elizabethan theatre were involved in the play, shouting suggestions, encouragement, or curses to the actors. When the audience did not like a character, they would even throw rotten fruit at the actors to demonstrate their displeasure! Another aspect of the Elizabethan theatre that might have seemed strange to you was the tiring-house, an area behind the stage that corresponds to the backstage area of a theatre today. The actors used the tiring-house as dressing rooms. Entrances and exits were also made of the doors leading to the tiring-house. Actors could also enter the action from the curtained discovery space at the rear of the stage. By opening the curtains, the actors could reveal characters that were eavesdropping on the conversations of the characters on stage.
The Elizabethan stage also included a small roof projecting over a portion of the back part of the main stage, which was topped by a hut. This structure was known as the heavens and contained the machinery needed to produce sound effects or to lower “angels” and “gods” down to the stage. Gods, angels, and other characters could also appear in the gallery that hung over the back of the main stage. This gallery was often used as a castle wall or a balcony. Of course, “ghosts” and “demons” must also be provided for, and so the stage was equipped with a trapdoor leading to a “Hell” beneath the stage. The trapdoor was also used as a grave in theatrical funerals.
Actors
In a typical Elizabethan acting company, there were roughly ten shareholders, several salaried actors, and apprentices. All the actors in the company were male because, due to the often crude and disorderly atmosphere of the theatre, women were not allowed to participate in the plays. Young boys, who were the apprentices of the senior actors, acted the female characters. Each actor in a company was assigned a particular type of character to portray in the company’s plays, such as a fool, a hero, a clown, etc. In addition, the actors often played more than one character within the same play. Besides being able to act, Elizabethan actors also had to be able to sing, clown, fence, perform acrobatic feats, and dance.
http://archive.1september.ru/eng/1999/eng16-1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_theatre
I hope you folks are super pumped to learn about iambic pentameter and blank verse!
"Iambic Pentameter" contains all the clues necessary to figure out what it is.
First of all, it contains iambs. An iamb is a basic unit of rythym which consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word "hello" is an example of an iamb. The "hel" is unstressed while the "lo" is stressed, if you do not understand this, say the word out loud a few times. Notice that the "lo" is more stressed than the "hel"? If you still do not get it, think of it as helLO.
The "pentameter" part is pretty straightfoward. "Penta" means five, and the "meter" refers to the rythmic meter in poetry.
ALAS! Iambic pentameter just means there are five iambs per line. Intense, huh?
Incase you did not know, Shakespeare was an iambic-pentameter fanatic.
You're probably wondering "What about blank verse?" but fear not!
Blank verse is a form of poetry that only follows a specific meter; it is not dependent on rhyme. Simple, yes?
Put the two together and you have metered poetry that is controlled by five iambs per line; keep in mind it does not have to rhyme.
Shakepeare (and other writers) heavily used the two techniques throughout the end of the 16th century through the 17th century.
Iambic pentameter on wikipedia
Iambic pentameter
Blank Verse
A little background on Aristotle
All about typical Greek tragedies
Tragedies in Ancient Greece and Rome, as well as France and England
Aristotle's definition of a tragedy.
Aristotle's Definition of a Tragedy
Aristotle wrote Poetics outlining all of his ideas about tragedies.
"Showing" instead of "telling"
- Aristotle took the time to differentiate between two major genres of Greek drama: histories and tragedies.
- He believed that both offered lessons to be learned, but a history was obviously fact-based. Aristotle philosophized that histories should be taken in because people need to know them. It is important to know where humanity has come from to understand where it is headed.
- Tragedies portray universal truths. Histories are not as general, and there lessons cannot always be applied to every day life.
- Tragedies are fictional. This is important, and one of its biggest diversions from histories.
The sole purpose of a tragedy is to portray a situation that the reader is meant to learn from.
- A tragedy will contain a great deal of dramatic irony
The Elements of A Great Tragedy
- Character: The tragic hero is an affluent, high-ranking member of society, however, due to some glaring character flaw, he has brought upon himself his downfall. This is not the result of a choice the hero has made. By making his downfall beyond the hero's control, the play's author gives the audience a reason to pity and relate to the hero.
- Plot: Aristotle does not define plot in the same way as modern writers. To him, plot was the manner in which the author presents the events occuring within the story -- not the events themselves. Plots may be complicated or simple, but they must carry weight and importance. There are 5 specific segments of a tragedy: inciting moment, complication, climax, denouement, and resolution.
- Thought: The motive of the tragic hero.
Diction: How the words relate to each other and the tragedy. Metaphors, similies, synechdoche, and others all fall into this category.
- Chorus and spectacle: Both must be integrated naturally into the tragedy and never take away from it. Aristotle noted that if both were overdone, it was a clear mark of a novice playwright.
- Katharsis: This refers to the audience, not the tragic hero, who may or may not be dead or otherwise disposed. The audience is "purged" of their feelings of pity or guilt towards the hero.
Examples of a Tragedy
- Sophocles's Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus Rex . . . Oedipus the King. Aristotle regarded this as the archetype for tragedies.
- Sophocles's Antigone. Sophocles took an existing form of playwriting and refined it into some of the most famous examples of Greek tragedy.
- French playwrights, such as Pierre Cornielle in Le Cid and Jean Baptiste Racine's Berenice, took Aristotle's writings to heart.
Queen Elizabeth I
- Born in 1533 to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
- Never married or had children; she died when she was 70 years old
- Last of the Tudors: 5 Welsh monarchs that ruled England and Ireland from 1485-1603
Way to the Throne:
- After King Henry’s death, Henry’s son Edward VI took over.
- Jane Grey, descendent of Henry’s sister Mary and Elizabeth’s distant cousin, took over the throne after Edward VI for nine days.
- Mary, stepmother to Elizabeth, claimed the throne and supposedly imprisoned Elizabeth to protect her power.
- After Mary’s death, Elizabeth finally took the throne in 1558
Tasks:
- When Elizabeth took the throne, there was a large amount of religious unrest that she needed to quell between the Catholics and Protestants.
- Mary Queen of Scots made a claim to the throne, threatening Elizabeth’s power. After attempts of the queen’s assassination, Elizabeth learned that Mary was at the source of these plans and had Mary executed in 1587.
- The king of Spain sent an armada to attack England, but England’s navy prevailed, allowing England to become the strongest military power. This would prepare England for its imperialistic motives in later years.
Important Tidbits
-Through Elizabeth’s example, England was pushed into an expansion of literacy and fashion, prompting the growth of literature and art.
-She was able to manipulate factions to fight with one another until all parties became exhausted and she would easily make the final decision.
-During Elizabeth’s reign, England was going through some economic hardships. The wars that Elizabeth entangled England in cost the country more than the country it could produce.
http://britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon45.html
http://tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/
King James I was born in Scotland in 1566 to Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Steward, Lord Darnley. He was already destined for the throne by his mother. At an early age, he acquired a thirst for learning and theological debate. In 1582, James was seized by Protestant adherents. He escaped in 1583, beginning his personal rule. In 1586, after considering an alliance with his mother’s French relatives, he decided to ally himself with Elizabeth I in order to improve his succession of the English throne. After causing the break in his mother’s party, he even accepted her execution in 1587! In 1589, James married Anne of Denmark, against Elizabeth’s wishes, and in 1603 he took the English crown due to his descent from Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry VII. With Anne of Denmark, he had three daughters and four sons: Henry, Elizabeth, Margaret, Charles, Robert, Mary and Sophia.
James’s reign saw the beginnings of English colonization in North America. On November 5, 1605, five Catholic dissenters were caught attempting to blow up the House of Lords on a day in which the king was to open the session. The men were executed, initializing a wave of anti-Catholic sentiments in England. This, plus James’ disliking of the Puritans all led to the first wave of immigration to North America
As a king of England, he was welcomed warmly at first, but quickly became a thorn in the side of parliament. His extravagant spending habits and ignorance of the nobility's grievances kept him and Parliament always at odds. For example, James awarded over 200 land titles as bribes designed to win loyalty for him and his party. His kingship of England was an extremely rocky one, in which he constantly clashed with Parliament and had to deal with criticisms of his religious favoritism. With rumors of his favoritism of Catholicism, Parliament, particularly the House of Commons, mostly Puritan, became the rallying force opposing the crown. As James wanted a union with his native Scotland, the House of Commons blocked such action, as well as many other orders. In 1611, James became fed up with Parliament and dissolved them, continuing to rule without one until 1621, when one was established to raise money for German Protestants in the Thirty Years War. James was so desperate to make good relations with Spain that he even arranged a marriage between his son and the Spanish Infanta. Even the marriage arrangements ended in a complete failure, as the Spanish Infanta didn’t enjoy the company of James’ son, Charles. King James I was a king who had and played his favorites, leaving distrust amongst all other parties in England. In 1624, a marriage treaty with France was concluded and James could not stop Parliament form voting for a war against Spain. James died of a stroke in 1625 after ruling Scotland for 58 years and England for 22 years. James left his son, Charles I a foreign war against Spain and horrendous events that lead up to the English Civil War. King James I was a very controversial king amongst his people and his own government. Some could say that he was corrupt and played his favorites too much to the point that he lost control of himself and what a king should be.
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0858974.html
http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon46.html
Source Material of Hamlet!
Two most cited sources:
I. Saxo Grammaticus’s 12th century Historia Danica, Books III and IV (Danish history)
-More particularly, the translated version into French by Francois de Belleforest in Histoires Tragiques
II. Thomas Kyd’s Ur-Hamlet (original Hamlet)
-This is a lost play, it was never printed, and basically the only reference to it is in Thomas Nashe’s preface to Menaphon around 1589. Nashe quotes “Hamlet, revenge!” in the preface.
Other sources:
Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, the hero’s procrastination seems to be drawn from this play
Icelandic and Viking folklore in which feigned madness was a popular theme, and seemingly influencing Hamlet’s feigned madness
Historia Danica is Saxo the Grammarian’s recorded account of the exploits of the legendary Danish Prince Amleth
o The characters of Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern are drawn largely from characters found in Saxo’s recorded accounts in Historica Danica (well, Belleforest’s version of Saxo’s accounts)
o Plot outline: the murder of a king by his brother, plotted revenge by the murdered king’s son, Amleth and help from the queen widow, Gerutha, Amleth’s exile to England, et cetera
o Plot elements: incestuous marriage, female decoy, role of the Ghost, trip to England
Shakespeare’s mastery comes into play in the dialogue of the characters, the language, et cetera although he took the plot’s outline and elements of character and plot from other sources.
Links:
- Bulleted List Here This site provides a concise list of plot elements from Belleforest’s translation of Hamlet’s portion in Historia Danica that Shakespeare adapted into his play Hamlet. Also, at the end, it provides smaller instances of possible sources.
- Internet Shakespeare Editions-Kyd This gives a specific citation from Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare’s Hamlet to compare.
- Internet Shakespeare Edition-Saxo This site provides a brief but informative paragraph that outlines the plot parallels between Saxo’s translated account and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Yay.
- University of Pittsburgh site =O What’s this? It’s a table with characters from Saxo’s account of Amleth’s exploits and their counterparts in Shakespeare’s Hamlet!
ROLE OF HAMLET (the play itself) IN WESTERN LITERATURE!!!
-Hamlet is said to be the most influential character in literature.
-Appears in a number of pieces of Western Literature: Ulysses by James Joyce, Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike, and Ophelia's Revenge by Rebecca Reisert.
*Ulysses: Only a brief mention where a character in this book argues that Hamlet is meant to express Shakespeare's anger at being cheated on by his wife. It was published in 1922, over 300 years after Shakespeare's Hamlet.
*Gertrude and Claudius: This book serves as a prequel to Hamlet beginning with the marriage of Hamlet's father to Hamlet's mother. It was published in 1932, over 300 years after Shakespeare's Hamlet as well.
*Ophelia's Revenge: It follows the same plot as Shakespeare's Hamlet, but is told from Ophelia's point of view. Ophelia is the love interest to Hamlet in the play. This is the most recent of the publications, published in 2003.
Links:
Ulysses: Information about the book by James Joyce.
Gertrude and Claudius: Information about the book by John Updike.
Ophelia's Revenge: Information about the book by Rebecca Reisert.
Hamlet: Information about the play by William Shakespeare.
Let me try:
Actor's Shakespeare
So I figured it out:
Type <, then b, then > then a
space, then href=, then the webaddress in quotation marks, then > again then the title you want of the link then < then / then a then > then / then b then >
I can't just post it, because it turns it into html!
I'll give you a handout.
Okay, here are my links...
href="http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0858974.html">infoplease/b>
href="http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon46.html"britannia/b>
here are my links again:
Britannia
Tudor History
Excerpts from Poetics
Tragedy:The Basics
Aristotle's theory
Oedipus The King
Links:
English Renaissance
Shakespeare's Works
English Renaissance
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
The Tudor Monarchs
James I (1603-25 AD)
James I of England
Life in Elizabethan England
Elizabethan England
The Renaissance
Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603)
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This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Structural breakdown of Hamlet
Five Act structure
ELIZABETH I (r. 1558-1603)
Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, was born at Greenwich on September 7, 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
Once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537 she was then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Since for her father’s scuffle with the Roman Catholic Church with him wanting an annulment from his first wife Catherine of Aragón Elizabeth, by them, was considered an illegitimate child. She only narrowly escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554.
Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death in November 1558. She was very well educated (fluent in six languages), and had inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents. Elizabeth’s experiences as a child and young adult helped her develop keen political instincts that allowed her to skillfully balance aristocratic factions and court favorites during her long reign.
Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England was established. Most of her subjects accepted the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement probably saved England from religious wars like those, which France suffered in the second half of the 16th century.
Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgment and chose her ministers well; these included Burghley (Secretary of State), Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a Secretary of State). Overall, Elizabeth's administration consisted of some 600 officials administering the great offices of state, and a similar number dealing with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs). Social and economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the sheriffs at local level, supported by unpaid justices of the peace.
Elizabeth's reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery, including those of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert, particularly to the Americas. These expeditions prepared England for an age of colonization and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognized by establishing the East India Company in 1600.
The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point, theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis worked in Elizabeth's court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.
Investing in expensive clothes and jewelry (to look the part, like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by touring the country in regional visits known as 'progresses', often riding on horseback rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during her reign.
However, Elizabeth's reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance, and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life were discovered. One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to England in 1568 after her second husband's murder and her subsequent marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his murder.
During Elizabeth's long reign, the nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s. The war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada had been beaten and, together with other campaigns, it was very costly.
Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies.
However, the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'.
Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech' of 1601 where she said, 'There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her subjects.
Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She died at Richmond Palace on March 24, 1603, having become a legend in her lifetime. The date of her accession (or date when she took the thrown) was a national holiday for two hundred years.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page46.asp
http://www.elizabethi.org/
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