Term
| The Passionate Shepherd to His Love |
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Definition
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (before 1593)
Genre & Form: Pastoral love poem, iambic tetrameter, rhyming couplets
Characters: narrator/shepherd, speaking to "love" of undetermined gender
Summary: Narrator offers natural and expensive material things in exchange for love
Themes: Odd juxtaposition of pastoral and wealth |
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Dr. Faustus (1604) Christopher Marlowe
Genre & Form: Tragedy, ~Renaissance Morality Play, blank verse
Characters: Faustus, Mephistophilis, Helen of Troy
Summary: Faustus very well read, bored, wants to do real magic, signs his soul to Satan for 24 years of power; plays tricks, impresses people, sees Helen's beauty; Has many chances at redemption but damned in the end; M always warns him throughout
Themes: Importance of soul over physical world (F's shallowness, doesn't see what's really important); It's not worth it to have frivolous fun in this world
Relevance: No church influence: free will, personal responsibility in salvation; moralistic; Carry over from morality plays (ex. 7 sins personified) |
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John Donne (1572-1631)
Death's Duel (1630)
Genre & Form: sermon before the king (Donne = Anglican preacher)
Summary: "Unto this God the Lord belong the issues of death" (deliverance from death reserved only to God); 3 deaths: womb, the world (a grave "absent from God"), rotting when dead (graphic details), Christ's life, death, and Passion
Themes: We must pass from death to death but God will deliver us, goodness in life more important than the day of death
Relevance: Donne's "own funeral sermon"
Connections: Shakespeare's evil mothers and women, corrupted wombs |
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Ben Johnson (1573-1637)
Volpone (1605)
Genre & Form: moralistic narrative, satire; blank verse
Characters: Volpone, Mosca, Voltore, Corbaccio, *Bonario (son of Corbaccio), Corvino, *Celia (wife of Corvino), Sir Politic Would-be and Lady Would-be
Summary: Volpone pretends to be dying and uses henchman Mosca to trick V, C, and C out of their money, take inheritance from Bonario and sex/rape Celia; Mosca turns on Volpone; All conniving is made public; All evil is punished
Themes: Cynical commentary on greed, vanity, lust for sex and power in society; Evil will be punished; Symbolic names (ex. Mosca = fly)
Connections: Carry over from medieval morality plays, bridge to 18th C comedy of manners |
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John Milton (1608-1674)
Paradise Lost (1667) Ren/EM
Genre & Form: Epic poem, blank verse
Characters: Adam, Eve, God, Lucifer, angels and demons
Summary: I: Invocation to the muse (spirit of God), overview of God's plan; III: Invocation to "holy light", God and Jesus chat about man's fall and redemption, Jesus volunteers; IV: A and E happy in paradise, beautiful, innocent and sexual, Satan tries to whisper to E's in her sleep, caught by angels but released; VII: invocation to Urania (muse of astronomy); IX: Eating the fruit, A and E accuse one another; XII: Angels teach Adam about Jesus, Eve asleep, They are kicked out
Themes: God has a plan; Women are weak and it's all their fault; Worse sin is pride
Relevance: Linking epic tradition; Satan as tragic hero; Calvinism |
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John Webster (ca. 1578-ca. 1634)
The Duchess of Malfi (performed 1612 at Globe) Ren
Genre & Form: Elizabethan tragedy (during James I reign), blank verse
Characters: Duchess, Cariola (waiting woman), Antonio, Delio (friend of A), Cardinal (bro), Ferdinand (Duke, bro), Bosola
Summary: Duchess recently widowed; Duchess and Antonio secret marriage w/ 3 kids; Bros are mad, want to marry her off for money and gain; They employ Bosola to spy and kill; Bosola works for them but then changes and wants to avenge Duchess; All murdered but oldest son who inherits and continues in the court life
Themes: Greed; class differences; women as commodities; forbidden love; friendship; corruption in church and nobility
Relevance: Lovely relationship between D and A with respect and equality |
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