Ambition [sem'bijbn]л честолюбие attitude ['aetitju:d] n отношение background ['bskgraund] n фон clash [klaef] л столкновение 2 страница

The Third Period ^

(1608-1612)

During the third period of his literary career Shakespeare wrote the following plays:

Cymberline [ 'simbili:n] (1610), The Winter's Tale (1610), The Tempest (1611), Henry VIII (1613).

These plays are called romantic dramas. There are no great problems and strong conflicts in them. Shakespeare has entered into the beautiful world of fantasy and allegory. Still, all the plays are masterly written, and they express his belief in the future hap­piness of mankind.

Nature occupies an important place in Shakespeare's works. His own attitude to it changes as the author himself changes. In the early comedies his heroes find happiness and peace of mind in nature, in the tragedies nature turns against them, and in the ro­mantic dramas one feels that man can conquer nature.

Questions and Tasks

1. What plays was written by Shakespeare in the second period?

2. What problems does he present in the tragedies?

3. Compare the plays written in the second period with those written in the first. Comment on the change of mood in the second period.

4. What is the plot of Hamlet?

5. What makes Hamlet one of the greatest of Shakespeare's masterpieces?

6. What accounts for Hamlet's melancholy and irresolution?

7. What does Hamlet feel he was born for?

8. How does Hamlet want to set the world aright?

i 9. What does Hamlet meditate over and where are his meditations reflected?

10. Read the soliloquy and be ready to translate and paraphrase any part of it.

11. What is the central idea of the soliloquy?

12. Pick out the lines whose idea reminds you of sonnet 66.

13. In what plays does Shakespeare deal with social problems?

14. What was the tragedy of Lear?

15. Does Shakespeare, by describing the family tragedy of King Lear, show the relations of man to man in society?

I 16. Comment on the development of Lear's character. 17. Describe the third period of Shakespeare's work.

Shakespeare's Contribution to the World Literature

To sum up we can say that during his life-time Shakespeare creat­ed a variety of plays and characters. The ideas set out by the Renais­sance, the struggle for happiness and freedom, are expressed by him I in the most realistic forms. Shakespeare's plays have become so pop-£ ular in the world because of his great humanist ideas and his realistic characters. Shakespeare did not idealize the people he portrayed. I He painted them as they were in his time. He created characters of J,' great depth and unusual intellects. We see a philosopher in Hamlet, a! learned man in Horatio, a cunning diplomat in Claudius.

Many scholars have studied Shakespeare. These are the cen-; tral themes Shakespeare dealt with in his plays:

1. The idea of freedom for peoples. This is felt in his tragedies

(

and historical plays. 2. Humanism. The love for mankind is seen in every play. 3. Freedom for the individual. 4. The idea of patriotism. 5. National unity under one strong king. The last two themes are stressed in King Lear. 6. Social relations between people. 7. The masses as a political force.

8. The themes of love and friendship which are developed in his sonnets as well as in his plays.

9.The struggle against cruel medieval blood-feuds (in Romeo and Juliet).

Shakespeare achieved great skill in speech individualization of his characters through the choice of words, and the use of folk­lore — popular songs, ballads and sayings. That is why the plays are written in the living language of the epoch.

There are some phrases that have become part of the every­day language of Englishmen. They have become sayings:

♦ All's well that ends well.

♦ All that glisters is not gold.

♦ A sea of troubles.

♦ Brevity is the soul of wit.

♦ To be or not to be, that is the question.

♦ Conscience doth¹ make cowards of us all.

♦ Love's labour's (is) lost.

♦ Much ado about nothing.

♦ There is no darkness but ignorance.

♦...best men are moulded out of faults.

Shakespeare's ideas of love, freedom, humanism and national unity are still very popular. Shakespeare is far from us only in time. When he speaks in his plays, we feel that he speaks for us and to us. His plays are staged by all the world's theatres and in Russia as well. Fourteen operas were composed on the theme of Romeo and Juliet. Verdi, Rossini, Berlioz wrote-operas on Othello and Macbeth. There are many symphonic works — Tchaikovsky's Tempest, Liszt's Ham­let. The whole world knows Prokofiev's beautiful ballet music to Romeo and Juliet. Shastokovich composed beautiful music to the sonnets. Almost all Shakespeare's comedies and tragedies have ap­peared in the cinema. One of the best productions is Hamlet.

Questions and Tasks

1. Why have Shakespeare's plays become so popular in the world?

2. What characters did Shakespeare create?

3. What central themes did he deal with in his plays?

4. How did Shakespeare achieve great skill in speech individualization of his characters?

5. Talk about the language of Shakespeare's plays.

6. Name the most important phrases which have become part of the every­day language of Englishmen.

7. Prove that Shakespeare's plays are very popular.

8. Comment on Shakespeare's contribution to world literature.

Vocabulary

brevity ['breviti] n краткость glister ['glista] v блестеть

conscience ['krjnjans] n совесть ignorance ['ignarens] n невежество

coward ['kauad] n трус mould [msuld] v создавать

depth ['depG] n глубина phrase [freiz] л фраза

fault [fo:lt] n вина variety [va'rawti] n разнообразие

¹ doth [d\9] — doe;

r^\

r'll/-^'^|,|n[l»'irfiiT'^,Wltf''-Wlu:u^'"'-r"'»'Mi'aWil^"j'*i'^ №Jjif«;/\,

не о l о а /

км, щ$щ\ pffw- iwffww

____ LITERATURES

шштш^шшт

_______ PHILOS OPHI

тжтшттшшшт щ

English Literature in the 1/th—18th Centuries

ENLIGHTENMENT

The 17th century was one, of the most stormy periods of English history. The political situation in the country was complicated. The growing contradictions between the new class, the bourgeoisie, and the old forces of feudalism brought about the English Bour­geois Revolution in the 1640s. As a result of the revolution, the king was dethroned and beheaded and England was proclaimed a re­public. Though very soon monarchy was restored, the position of the bourgeoisie had changed.

The 18th century saw Great Britain rapidly growing into a capi­talist country. It was an age of intensive industrial development. New machinery was invented that turned Britain into the first capitalist power of the¹ world. The 18th century was also remarkable for the development of science and culture. It was in this period that Eng­lish painting began to develop too.

In spite of the progress of industry and culture in England the majority of:he English people were still very ignorant. That is

Enlightenment

why one of the most important problems that faced the country was the problem of education.

The 17th and 18th centuries are known in the history of Europe­an culture as the period of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment de­fended the interest of the common people — craftsmen, tradesmen, peasants. The central problem of the Enlightenment ideology was that of man and his nature.

The Enlighteners believed in reason as well as in man's inborn goodness. Vice in people, they thought, was due to the miserable living conditions which could be changed by force of reason. They considered it their duty to enlighten people, to help them see the roots of evil. The Enlighteners also believed in the power­ful educational value of art.

The English Enlighteners were not unanimous in their views. Some of them spoke in defence of the existing order, considering

that a few reforms were enough to improve it. These were: Daniel Defoe ['deenjal da'fau], Alexander Pope [,aelig'zamda рэир] and Samuel Richardson¹ ['ssemjusl ' rrtjadsn]. The other group included the writers who openly protested against the social order. They defended the interests of the ex­ploited masses. They were: Jonathan Swift ['йуопэвэп swift], Henry Fielding² ['henn Ti:ldin]_r Oliver Goldsmith³ ['nlrva 'gsuldsmiG], Richard Sheridan⁴ [ 'ntjbd 'Jendn], Robert Burns [ 'robat 'Ьэ:пг].

1. Talk about the political situation in England in the 17th century. 2. Describe the situation in Great Britain in the 18th century. 3. Talk about the Enlightenment and its main problem. 4. Who were the two groups among the English Enlighteners? 5. Mention the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment.

¹ Samuel Richardson(1689- 1761) — Самюэл Ричардсон, англ. писатель. ² Henry Fielding(1707 - 1754) — Генри Филдинг, англ. писатель, драматург. ³Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774) — Оливер Голдсмит, англ. писатель, драма­ тург. ⁴ Richard Sheridan(1751 - 1816) — Ричард Шеридан, англ. драматург

Vocabulary

complicated ['komphkeitid] a сложный contradiction [,krmtra'dikf3n] n проти­воречие craftsman fkraftsman] n ремесленник dethrone [df Oram] v свергать с престола enlighten [m'laitn] v просвещать enlightener [m'laitns] n просветитель enlightenment [m'laitnmsnt]n просве­щение ideology [,aidi'rjl3d3i] n идеология, ми­ровоззрение

Questions and Tasks

inborn ['m'bo:n] а врожденный intensive [m'tensiv] а интенсивный majority [тэ'фопи] п большинство miserable ['mizsrablja несчастный proclaim [ргэ'Ыеип] v провозглашать restore [ns'ta] v восстанавливать stormy fsto:mi] а бурный unanimous [ju:'nsenimas] а единодуш­ный

Alexander Po (1688-1744)

Alexander Pope [.aelig'zcmda'paup] was born in London in 1688. His father, a prosperous linen-draper, was a ca­tholic, and because of his religion Pope was expelled from the public schools and universities. He picked up most of his knowledge from books, and though he read much he never be­came an accurate scholar.

Alexander Pope

Pope's poetic career began with Four Pastorals published in 1709. These were short poems on spring, summer, autumn and winter, closely fashioned on Virgil¹. His Essay on Criti­cism contained Pope's aesthetic views.

A mock-heroic poem The Rape of the Lock which appeared in 1712 enjoyed instant success. It was founded on an incident which occurred at that time. A certain Lord Petre cut a lock of hair from the head of young beauty named Arabella Fermor (the Belinda of the poem). This practical joke led to a quarrel between the two families. Pope seized on the occasion and wrote a long poem in which the society is pictured in detail and satirized with great wit.

Pope's next work was the translation of the Illiad, which brought his fame and established financial positions. Pope trans­lated Homer² in the elegant artificial language of his own age jand gave the reading public what it wanted — a readable ver­sion of the Greek poem in accordance with the taste of time.

After the Illiad Pope translated the Odyssey ['odisi]. After the publication of his Homer, as the two poems are together popularly called, Pope wrote satiric poetry. In 1728 he published a long

¹ Virgil [ 'V3:d3il] (70- 19 до н. э.) — Вергилий, рим. поэт

² Homer [ 'пэитэ] (9 в. до н. э.) — Гомер, греч. поэт.

satire on the "dunces" — the bad poets — called The Dunciad. In The Dunciad Pope ridiculed his literary opponents. The theme of the poem is the most important theme of the Enlightenment — the fight of the reason against ignorance and barbarity. It is the fiercest and the finest of Pope's satires.

One of the best known and most quoted of his works is The Essay on Man. The purpose of the essay is to justify the existing state of things.

In his Moral Essays and Essays on Criticism Pope expressed simi­lar views. Yet he was not blind to the vices of bourgeois society, which

he often criticized.

Pope expressed his ideas in wonderfully quotable verse. After Shakespeare he is the most quoted of English poets.

These and many other quotations from Pope have found their way into common speech:

♦ "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

♦ "And fools rush in, where angels fear to tread."

♦ "The proper study of mankind is man."

♦ "To err is human, to forgive divine."

In his lifetime Pope was immensely popular. Many foreign writers as well as the majority of English poets, looked to him as their model. But later at the end of the 18th century young ro­mantic poets, especially Wordsworth¹ and Coleridge² criticized Pope's poetry for its rationalism and lack of imagination.

Vocabulary

aesthetic [i:s'0etik] о эстетический fashion ['fsejbn] п придавать вид

angel ['emcfeal] n ангел *. instant ['instant] а немедленный

artificial [^oiti'fifol] а искусственный justify [' tfeAstrfai] v оправдывать

barbarity [bcu'bsenti] n жестокость lack [laek] n отсутствие

divine [di'vam] а божественный lock [Ink] n локон

dunce [cUns] n тупица mock-heroic ['токгн'гтдк] а героикоми-

err [з:] v ошибаться ческий

expel [iks'pel] v исключать occasion [э'кегзэп] л случай

²Wordsworth [ 'W3:dzw3:9], William (1770— 1850) —Уильям Вордсворт, англ. поэт-романтик «озерной школы».

³ Coleridge [ 'кэгЛпаз], Samuel Taylor (1772-1834) — Сэмюэл Тэйлор Кол-ридж, англ. поэт-романтик «озерной школы».

quotation [kwsu'taijan] л цитата quote [kwsut] v цитировать similar ['simita] о похожий

occur [э'кз:] v происходить proper ['ргорэ] о надлежащий, должный quotable ['kwoutabl] о пригодный для цитирования

Questions and Tasks

! 1. Where was Alexander Pope born?

2. Why was he expelled from the public schools and universities?

3. How did he pick up most of his knowledge?

4. What work did his poetic career begin with?

5. Characterize Pope's main works.

6. What quotations from Pope do you know?

Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)

Daniel Defoe [ 'daenjd da'fau] is re­garded as the founder of realistic novel in English and European literature.

Daniel Defoe's life was complicated and adventurous. He was the son of a wealthy London butcher and received a good education. His father, being a puritan, wanted his son to become a priest. He preferred, however, the life of a merchant. He travelled in Spain, Germany, France and Italy on busi­ness. He spoke half a dozen languages

! and was a man of wide learning. From

Daniel Defoe

. 1694 Defoe took an active part in pub­lic affairs. His energy enabled him to combine the life of a man of action with that of a writer. He was the earliest literary journalist in England. He wrote political pamphlets

[on any subject and every event. He was a man of an active and original mind, an independent and courageous thinker who dealt

i with social questions.

persecute ['p3:sikju:t] v преследовать pillory ['pibn] n позорный столб protestant ['protistsnt] n протестант puritan ['pjuantmi] n пуританин regard [n'ga:d] v рассматривать savings-bank ['servirjz'baenk) n сбере гательный банк sentence ['sentsnsj n приговор series ['sisri'.z] n ряд sphere ['sfis] n сфера support [ss'pol] n поддержка thinker 1'6ц)кэ] п мыслитель

In his interesting Essay on Projects (1698) Daniel Defoe sug­gested all kinds of reforms in different spheres of social life: to establish savings-banks, to construct railways, to give higher ed­ucation to women, to protect seamen etc.

In 1702 Defoe published a satirical pamphlet written in support of the protestants, or dissenters persecuted by the government and the Church. In the pamphlet The Shortest Way Mrith the Dissenters he defended the freedom of religious belief. He was punished for this and had to stand for three days in the pillory. The pillory sen­tence turned to his triumph. People brought him flowers and sang his Hymn to the Pillory (1703) in which he criticized the law.

After producing political pamphlets Defoe turned to writing novels. He came to it when he was nearly sixty. His first book of fiction was Robinson Crusoe [ 'robmsn 'km:sau] (1719). Its success encouraged Defoe. There followed a series of other novels: Captain Singleton [ 'kaeptin'sinltan] (1720), Moll Flanders ['nrol 'flcundaz] (1722),Coione7Jacqrue['k3:nl 'd3eik] (1722) andRoxana [rok'saem) (1724). Daniel Defoe died in London in 1731 in poverty.

He left behind him more than three hundred published works, and the reputation of being the "First English Journalist".

Also, with his imaginative account of the adventures of Robin­son Crusoe, he has become regarded as the forerunner of the great English novelists.

Vocabulary

account [a'kaunt] n рассказ butcher ['butjb] n торговец мясом combine [ksm'bam] v сочетать courageous [ks'reidjas] n смелый dissenter [di'senta] n сектант enable [1'neibl] v давать возможность essay ['esei] n очерк forerunner [fb.'r/Ana] n предшественник imaginative [f maecfemgtrv] а яркий independent [,mdi'pendant] а незави­симый pamphlet ['paemflit] n памфлет

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is the story of an Englishman who travels abroad. He is trying to increase his wealth by trade. He is born in a well-to-do family and receives a good education. His father wants him to be­come a lawyer, but Robinson "would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea". He runs away from home, and his adventures begin: he is shipwrecked several times, escapes out of slavery, works with great success on his plantation in Brazil until on his way to Guinea [' gmi] for Negro slaves he is shipwrecked and finds himself on a desert island.

Robinson settles there and carries money and a lot of various goods from the wreck to the island. He learns to tame wild goats, grow corn and make bread. One day he saves a man from cannibals and calls him Friday. Friday turns out to be a clever man. He learns English and becomes a devoted servant and companion to his master. After many years Robinson and Friday help the captain of an English ship to defeat the crew who wants to leave their captain on the desert island. The ship takes Robinson to England.

The novel was suggested to Defoe by the story of Alexander Sel­kirk [' selk3:k], a Scotch sailor. He had left England for a voyage to the Southern Seas in 1704. The ship was not seaworthy, and Selkirk who had quarrelled with his captain insisted on going ashore. He was put ashore on a desert island where he lived quite alone for 5 years.

In 1709 he was picked up by a passing vessel.

Defoe's hero, Robinson Crusoe, spends 28 years on a desert island, and the most famous part of the book concerns this time in his life. Robinson is both an individual outside society and a typical businessman. He makes use of the equipment which he takes from the ship: tools, pistols, money and other things. His behaviour is practical. He builds a house and fortifies it, he cul­tivates the ground, he tames animals. His religion is also busi­ness like: God helps those who help themselves.

Alone and defenceless Crusoe tried to be reasonable in order to master his despondency (loss of hope and courage).

He knew that he must not give way to self-pity or fear, or to lose himself in mourning for his lost companions.

Robinson Crusoe's most characteristic trait is his optimism. His guiding principle in life became "never say die". Sometimes of

course, especially during earthquakes or when he was ill, panic and anxiety overtook him, but never for long. He had confidence in himself and in man and believed it was within the power of man to overcome all difficulties and hardships.

Another of Crusoe's good qualities which saved him from de­spair was his ability to put his whole heart¹ into everything he did. He was an enthusiastic worker and always hoped for the best.

The other central character of the book is Friday. Defoe makes the reader sympathize with Friday. Friday is intelligent, brave, generous, and skilful. He performs all tasks well.

It is to Defoe's credit that he portrays the Negro as an able, pleas­ant human being at a time when coloured people were treated very

badly.

The second part of the book shows Robinson Crusoe as an old man who is still fond of the sea. He sets on a new series of adven­tures. He visits his island, China, Siberia and other places and returns home at the age of 72.

The novel glorifies energy and practicalness. It is a praise to human labour and the triumph of man over nature. The book is still considered one of the masterpieces of English prose. It is read by both children and grown-ups throughout the world.

Vocabulary

shipwreck ['Jiprek] v потерпеть корабле­крушение solitaire [^scli'tea] n отшельник state [steit] n состояние; v определять sympathize fsimpaBaiz] v одобрительно относиться tame [teim] v приручать trait [trei] n черта, особенность violence ['vaisbns] n ярость within [wi'6m] n в пределах wreck [rek] n обломки корабля

master ['maists] v справляться

mourn [тэ:п] v оплакивать

praise [preiz] n хвала

quality ['kwohti] n качество

reasonable ['itzsnsbl] а благоразумный

reduce [n'dju:s] v доводить

seaworthy fsi:w3:di] а годный для пла­вания

self-pity fself'piti] n жалость к самому себе

separate ['separeit] v отделять

Questions and Tasks

1. Relate briefly the story of Defoe's life.

2. Speak on Defoe's pamphlets. What themes did he touch upon in his articles and pamphlets?

3. What novels did Defoe write?

4. Discuss Robinson Crusoe according to the following plan:

a) the origin of the plot;

b) Crusoe — the main character of the book;

c) the educational value of the novel.

5. What characterizes Defoe as an Enlightener?

■' 7. Say something about Friday, the other central character of the book.

8. What do you know about the second part of the book?

9. What does the novel glorify?

able ['eibl] a способный afford [3'fo:d] v предоставлять anxiety [aerjg'zaiati] n тревога, беспо­койство banish ['bsenifj v изгонять cannibal ['ksembsl] n людоед cast [ka:st] v выбрасывать confidence ['krjnfidsns] n доверие credit J'kredit] n заслуга creditor ['kredits] n кредитор crew [kra:] n команда cultivate ['kvltiveit] v обрабатывать debtor ['deta] n должник

deliver [ds'liva] v избавить desolate ['desaht] а необитаемый despair [dis'pea] n отчаяние despondency [dis'ptmdsnsi] л упадок

духа earthquake ['a:0kweik] n землетрясение enable [i'neibl] а возможность equipment [f kwipmsnt] n принадлеж­ности fortify ['fo:tifai] v укреплять glorify ['glonfai] v прославлять guiding ['gaidin] о руководящий Guinea ['gmi] n Гвинея

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

The greatest of the pros e satirists of the age of the Enlightenment was Jonathan Swift ['изгтэбэп 'swift]. His bitte r satire. was aimed at the policy of the English bourgeoisie towards Ireland. That's why Irish people considered Swift their champion in the struggle for the welfare and freedom of their country.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, but he came from an Eng­lish family. His father died before he was born. The boy saw little of his mother's care: she had to go back to her native town.

to put his whole heart — полностью отдаваться

He was supported by his uncle and from his very boyhood he learned how miserable it was to be depended on the charity of relatives. He was edu­cated at Kilkenny school and Dublin University, Trinity College, to become a clergyman. At school he was fond of history, literature and languages.

After graduating from the college he went to London and became pri­vate secretary to Sir William Tem­ple who was a retired statesman and writer. Jonathan Swift improved his education at Sir William's library and in 1692 he took his Master of Arts degree¹ at Oxford. He got a place o f vicar in Ireland and worked there for a year and a half. He wrote much and burned most of what he wrote. Soon he grew tired of the lonely life in Ireland and was glad to accept Sir William Temple's proposal for his return to him. Swift lived and worked there until Temple's death in 1699.

The satire The Battle of the Books (1697) marked the begin­ning of Swift's literary career. It depicts a war between books of modern and ancient authors. The book is an allegory and reflects the literary discussion of the time.

Swift's first success was A Tale of a Tub (1704), a biting satire on religion. In th e introduction to A Tale of a Tub the author tells of a curious custom of seamen. When a ship is attacked by a whale the seamen throw an empt y tub into the sea to distract the whale's at­tention. The meaning of the allegory was quite clear to the readers of that time. The tub was religion which the state (for a ship has always been the emblem of a state) threw to its people to distract them from any struggle.

The satire is written in the form of a story about three brothers symbolizing the three main religions in England: Peter (the Catholic

Дата добавления: 2015-06-27