Intro shakespeare theatre

-LATE 16^TH CENTURY: MOST OF POPULATION STILL ILLITERATE

-THEREFORE THEATRE POPULAR

-ACTORS TRAVEL TO AUDIENCES

->TROUPES= SPONSORED

-PERMANENT THEATRES DEPENDENT ON POPULATION BASE

-AUTHORITIES DISTRUSTFUL

-THEREFORE BUILD OUTSIDE CITY

-OR ON UNREGULATED LAND

-1567 RED LION BUILT EAST OF LONDON

-THE THEATRE (1576), THE CURTAIN (1577)

-1587, THE ROSE, IN SOUTHWARK

-FOLLOWED BY THE SWAN, 1595

-1598-9, THE THEATRE DISMANTLED, REBUILT IN SOUTHWARK AS THE GLOBE

-OPEN-AIR AMPHITHEATRES B CLASSICAL MODEL

-NATURAL LIGHT

-THRUST STAGE

-THEREFORE NO BIG SETS

-BALCONY, TRAP DOOR, ADISCOVERY SPACE,@ WINCH

-CONVENTIONS EVOLVE TO COMPENSATE FOR LACK OF SCENERY

-HUGE WARDROBES

-SOUND EFFECTS

-GORE EFFECTS

-DISGUISE CONVENTIONS

-AUDIENCE:

-IN THE GLOBE, @ 2,000

-PAY SCALE TIED TO SEATING

-THEREFORE, HETEROGENOUS, BUT STRATIFIED

-BACKGROUND...

-DRAMATIC INFLUENCES

-SENECA: 5-act structure

revenge

ghosts

messenger scenes

rhetorical speeches/sententia

-NATIVE TRADITION

morality plays: allegory

mystery plays: violence

eclecticism

music

-EARLY PUBLIC THEATRE SUCCESSES:

-Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)

The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587)

-Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

Tamburlaine (c. 1587) to

-CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-93)

-b. CANTERBURY (father = shoemaker)

-CAMBRIDGE, B.A., M.A.

-SPYING IN RHEIMS? COUNTERFEITING? SOLDIER IN LOW LANDS?

-LONDON, 1580s, WITH THOMAS KYD

-TAMBURLAINE 1587(?)

-SERIES OF SUCCESSFUL PLAYS, POEMS

-MURDERED IN A TAVERN, 1593

-ASSASSINATION?

-PLAYS EMPHASIZE LANGUAGE:

-removes end stops

-uses exotic diction

-big speeches not didactic, but celebratory

-uses hyperbole

-CAREFUL USE OF STAGE EFFECT

-actors= body

-props and spectacle

-MARLOWE=S REPUTATION:

-TAMBURLAINE, T2

-JEW OF MALTA

-NEW TYPE OF DRAMA:

-SPECTACLE

-EXOTICISM

-ATHEISM

-SEE INTRO CHORUS - NOT DOING T3

-WITTENBERG B HOME OF PROTESTANTISM

-ICARUS THEME

-END PREDICTED

-DR. FAUSTUS RETURNS TO MEDIEVAL MORALITY PLAY & CHRISTIANITY

-REWORKED

-THE STORY: THE FAUSTBUCH, OTHER PLACES:

-combine Georg Faust, 16^th century fraud

-and Simon Magus, early Christian

-FAUSTUS= OPENING SOLILOQUY

-runs through great academic disciplines

-1) philosophy

-2) medicine

-3) law

-4) theology

-SELECTIVE QUOTATIONS OF BIBLE:

-1) >the reward of sin is death...=

-2) >if we say we have no sin...=

-therefore death B so live it up

-1) completed: >but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ= (Rom. 6.23)

-2) completed: >if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness= (1 John 1.8)

-PURPOSEFUL? DIRECTED BY DEVIL?

-TURNS TO MAGIC

-GOOD & BAD ANGELS: PSYCHOMACHIA

-SERIES OF FEATS PREDICTED: 79ff

-MAGIC DEPENDENT ON BOOKS

-DOODLES

-TECHNIQUE, NOT WISDOM

-SC. 3: CONJURING

-SERIOUS, FRIGHTENING

-DRESSED AS FRIAR

-hypocrisy

-MEPH=S ANSWERS UNDERCUT DR. F

-UBIQUITY OF HELL:

-POENA SENSUS

-POENA DAMNI

-SC. 5: SPIRITUAL DESPAIR

-FAILURE TO ACCEPT GOD=S MERCY

-CONTRACT: BLOOD CONGEALS

->HOMO FUGE=

-QUESTIONS RECEIVE SCANT ANSWERS

-NO WIFE

-THREATS OF VIOLENCE; LUCIFER

-PARADE OF DEADLY SINS

-DR. F BEING GIVEN VERY LITTLE

-CHORUS 2 & SC. 7

-GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

-EXOTICISM OF TRAVEL

-ATTACK ON POPE

-THEN: EMPEROR, KNIGHT, HORSE-COURSER, DUKE, SCHOLARS

-DIMINUTION OF FEATS

-HELEN VS. OLD MAN

= SENSUALITY VS. FAITH

-FINAL MONOLOGUE: DESPAIR

-COMIC SUBPLOTS REDUCE THEMES

-SC. 2: LOGIC CHOPPING

-SC. 4: CONTRACT, FEAR, SENSUALITY

-SC 8: SEX

-SC. 9: PARALLELS POPE SCENE

-CONFINEMENT

-THE MARLOVIAN >OVER-REACHER=

-DR. F CONFINED BY STUDIES

-NB. IN STUDY

-dreams of reshaping world

-REALITY:

-PRIMUM MOBILE

-EUROPE

-PALACE

-COURT

-ESTATE

-STUDY

-CONFINEMENT OF THE BODY

-body = soul=s prison

-Dr. F a sensualist, enjoys body

-confuses bodily suffering with spiritual

-unlike Old Man

-body dismembered, still survives

-24 years is a prison sentence for the soul

-last speech: confinement in body revealed

-STAGING:

DRAGON

HELEN

-DR. FAUSTUS AS EXISTENTIAL HERO?

-EXISTENTIALISM: EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE

-THEREFORE DEFINE SELF THROUGH ACTION

-DR. F ATTEMPTS, BUT FAILS

-MAKES HIMSELF INTO A MONSTER

-RENAISSANCE INTELLECTUAL & SOCIAL FREEDOM:

-AMBITION

-BUT HIGH PRICE OF FAILURE

-ESPECIALLY RE. SOUL

-DR. FAUSTUS CLIMBS HIGHER

-FALLS FARTHER (ICARUS)

-EPITOME OF CULTURAL ANXIETY

-NEMESIS: MEPHISTOPHILIS

-FALLEN ANGEL = SYMBOL OF AMBITION/PRIDE

-ALSO INTELLECTUAL

-MIRRORS DR. FAUSTUS

-ARTICULATES OLD FEARS IN NEW WAYS:

-OLD: DEVIL ACTIVELY TEMPTS US

-NEW: WE ARE TEMPTED BY DEMONIC MODEL

-OLD: BLUSTER, NOISE, SLAPSTICK

-NEW: SOLEMN ENCOURAGEMENT

-OLD: TRANSFORM THROUGH FAITH

-NEW: TRANSFORM THROUGH TECHNIQUE (bible vs. magic books)

-OLD: SOCIAL BONDS

-NEW: CONTRACTS

-MEPHISTOPHILIS AS MONSTER:

1. ALTERITY

-non-corporeal

-magic powers

-2. TRANSGRESSION

-inverts categories of value

-incomprehensible to Dr. F

-3. LIMINALITY

-talks like a human; feigns friendship

-dressed as friar

-4. MARGINALITY

-frees hidden desires

-lives in hell(!)