The Tudors and Shakespeare: A Historical and Literary Overview
The Tudors 1485 Start
The middle ages closed in England with the war between York and Lancaster. The Wars of the Roses was so called from the white and red roses found on the flags of the two families. The war was won by Henry Tudor in 1485, and his dynasty begins: Henry VII loved music and dance, he was also a poet and athlete. Henry married Catherine of Aragon and she gave him a daughter, Mary. But he wanted a son heir. He wanted to divorce Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn, a lady he loved. Pope Clement VII refused the divorce, so Henry became head of the church and made an act of supremacy in 1534. The king broke with Rome, the Church of England was declared to be independent, the supremacy of the state over the Church was established; so Henry VII got married to Anne. The policy had many opponents, for example Thomas More so he was killed in 1535. Anne Boleyn gave the king Elizabeth, so he wanted to divorce and she was accused of adultery and executed. He fell in love with Jane Seymour, and she finally gave Henry a son, Edward.
Catherine of Aragon (divorced) – Mary I – Anne Boleyn (beheaded) – Elizabeth I – Jane Seymour (died) – Edward VI
Edward VI (1547-1553) He was Protestant introduced many reforms, the worship became simpler.
Mary I (1553-1558) She was Catholic and married Philip of Spain, the Protestants were persecuted. The nickname was Bloody Mary.
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) She managed to reach a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism, she gave England stability and developed trade on the sea and gave her protection to pirates who attacked Spanish ships. She was a political genius. Introduced the second act of supremacy (1559) which gave the independence of the church but proclaimed the Queen SUPREME GOVERNOR. (Walter Raleigh founded Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen (she didn’t get married because she didn’t lose her independence).
The Invincible Armada (1588) – the rivalry with Spain increased and King Philip II invaded England, but the English ships were faster and better armed. Mary Stuart was queen of Scotland but her Protestant enemies forced her to leave the country. Elizabeth gave her protection to her but she plotted against the queen. She was condemned to death.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, possibly on 23rd April, which is also said to be the date of his death. His father was a yeoman. He was the eldest son and attended the local grammar school. He married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 26. They had three children, Susanna, Judith and Hamnet. He was a dramatist, and started writing plays from 1590 to 1609. In 1593 the theatres were closed because of the plague, so Shakespeare began composing for a patron (the Earl of Southampton). He spent his last years at Stratford, and he died in 1616 at 52 years old.
Sonnets
The sonnets were written in the 1590s, but were published in 1609. He wrote 154 sonnets and he introduced some novelties. He was inspired by Petrarch, but the form of sonnets was different: he wrote three quatrains and a final couplet, for a total of 14 lines. Shakespearean sonnets are dedicated to: a young man called the fair youth and a dark lady. There are two sections: section 1 goes from sonnet 1 to sonnet 18, dedicated to fair youth, and he said “if you don’t want to lose your beauty, get married and have children and pass your beauty to them.” Section 2 goes from sonnet 19 to sonnet 126, dedicated to the destructive power of time. Section 2 goes from sonnet 127 to sonnet 154, dedicated to the dark lady, a woman who was ugly but irresistible. The rhyme scheme was ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and the sonnets were in decasyllables. At his time there were some different things: thou art, (you are), thy (your), thee (you), and thou goest and he speaketh (for example). The sonnets had not traditional themes: the woman wasn’t beautiful but ugly, and talked about death, love, beauty and art.
Sonnet 18
Dovrei paragonarti a un giorno d’estate? Tu sei più amabile e più tranquillo. Impetuosi venti scuotono le tenere gemme di Maggio, e il corso dell’estate ha fin troppo presto una fine. Talvolta troppo caldo splende l’occhio del cielo, E spesso la sua pelle dorata s’oscura; Ed ogni cosa bella la bellezza talora perde, spogliata per caso o per il mutevole corso della natura. Ma la tua eterna estate non dovrà svanire, Né perder la bellezza che possiedi, Né dovrà la morte farsi vanto che tu vaghi nella sua ombra, Quando in eterni versi nel tempo tu crescerai: Finché uomini respireranno o occhi potran vedere, Queste parole vivranno, e daranno vita a te.
There is a question in line 1 and the answer in line 2 and the justification from the line 3 to 8, a promise in line 9-12 and the result of the promise in line 13-14. The turning point is in line 9, the words in the couple have one syllable and line 5 contains alliteration(the repetition of a consonant sound) of S-T-H. Shakespeare says that through poetry and words the beauty of the young man will be eternal, his beauty wins against the summer. The power of poetry gives him immortality.
Sonnet 130
Gli occhi della mia donna non sono per niente come il sole; Il corallo è molto più rosso del rosso delle sue labbra; Se la neve è bianca, allora i suoi seni sono grigi; Se i capelli sono fili, neri fili crescono sul suo capo. Ho visto rose damascate, rosse e bianche, Ma non vedo nessuna di queste rose sulle sue guance; E in certi profumi c’è più delizia Che nel fiato che dalla mia donna esala. Amo sentirla parlare, eppure so bene Che la musica ha un suono molto più piacevole. Ammetto di non aver mai visto camminare una dea: la mia donna, quando cammina, calpesta il terreno. Eppure, per il cielo, ritengo che la mia amata sia straordinaria Come ogni altra “lei” falsamente descritta con falsi confronti.
The lines have 11 syllables and there are a lot of repetitions: there is an example of repetition in lines 3-4 (if.., if..), in lines 5-6 (roses.., roses), in line 4 (wires.., wires..); There are assonances (the repetition of a vowel sound) in line 6 (see-cheek), in line 8 (breath, that). In this sonnet Shakespeare described a different standard of beauty: she isn’t an angel woman, but a real person. He is describing a lady that is not like the idealized woman and his love is real and without false comparisons.
Romeo and Juliet
The Montague and Capulet families, who live in the city of Verona, are rivals; In Act One Romeo tells his cousin that he loves Rosaline. She doesn’t love Romeo who tries to win her over at a party. That evening he meets Juliet and they fall in love, but they discover that their families hate each other. In the second act Romeo hears Juliet expressing her love for him, they see each other and decide to get married in secret from Don Lorenzo. In the third act Mercutio, a friend of Romeo, is killed by Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Romeo takes revenge and kills Tybalt, but is banished from Verona to Mantua. There is the wedding night. In the fourth act Juliets takes a medicine from her father that makes her look dead, so that she doesn’t marry. Romeo knows about death and returns to Verona. In the fifth act Romeo takes poison and dies. She wakes up and seeing him dead gasped her. Romeo and Juliet will never know the truth about their death.
Setting
Shakespeare chose Verona, because Italians were considered violent and passionate. The two families fought the political control of the city. Most of the actions were out of doors.
Characters
Romeo and Juliet are the most important characters in the opera, the were two adolescents, Romeo may be 15 years old and Juliet may be 13 years old. Romeo is a man belonging to the “courtly love convention”, because he respects and loves a lady who is impossible to get. He compares her to the brilliant light, the light that frees him from melancholy, sunlight, light of angels. He is dynamic and courageous and expresses his love for Juliet committing suicide. Juliet is beautiful, kind and rebellious, because for love she dares to challenge her family and society. At the beginning she appears as an obedient child, but she shows determination and strength. She is a real woman and not idealized, and compares her love to light. She kills herself because she has a strong love for Romeo.
Themes
The themes are the power of love, the passion and violence, individual against society, the power of fate, love versus hate and the contrast between the individual and society.
Style
The rhythms are regular, rhymes are common and there are the oximora: hate and love, young and old, dark and light. There are some elements of COMEDY and TRAGEDY, for example: comedy because there are the love at 1st sight, the masked balls, the power of fate; it is a tragedy because have an unhappy ending and external forces.
Balcony Scene
Romeo is overhearing what Juliet says, while he is in the garden. From the line 1 to line 12 there is Juliet’s monologue( a speech made by an actor when other actors are on the stage but they pretend not to listen), the theme are appearance against essence, substance and reality. She has philosophical idea and she wants to separate the essence of somethings from its appearance: Juliets reflects on Romeo’s name, and says that even without the name Romeo it would still be him.
The Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre is the most famous of London’s Elizabethan playhouses. Globe because the world is compared to a stage, man to an actor and life to a play. At the entrance there was a picture of Hercules with the world on his shoulders. The problems at theatre were many because it was outside(in fact the performances were only there in the summer because it was outside): fights(the theater was destroyed by a fire), spread of diseases, prostitution, theft, drug dealing. The globe has a rounded structure and had this elements: a flag was put out when there was a performance( white comedies, black tragedies, red history plays), stage roof called Heavens, room for storing props(oggetti di scena), upper stage or balcony, inner stage used for indoor scenes, front stage or apron stage used by actors, it jutted out into the arena. The Stage Roof was painted blue whit sun, moon and planets. The theatre is composed of 3 levels and the access cost 2 pence. Spectators stayed in the “groundlings”: they paid one penny; plays lasted 4-6 hours. The audience was very diverse and there were all social categories: peasants, merchants, lords, ladies, prostitutes. The actors had many distractions for example weather, noisy and the audience thrown fruit and vegetables if the show was bad. Women could not act, female roles were taken by young boys, the white make-up was poisonous and some boys died.