Summary Abstract literature renaissance and middle ages English
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Course
Engels
Level
VWO / Gymnasium
This literature summarizes the following topics in detail, so you can learn them well before your test:
Renaissance
Middle Ages
Shakespeare
Marlowe
Macbeth
Hamlet
Poems like yours will I be and sun rising
Holy sonnet
Summary literature 3rd period 4V
Marja van der Wind & Hilde Bos | 21-06-16 | Frn
Note: soms staat er I en II. Dan staat er in beide gedeeltes ongeveer hetzelfde, of is het aanvullend en
dan kun je kiezen.
The Renaissance (Page 32)
I
Many of the features that we now call typical of the Renaissance period had their roots in the later
Middle Ages. The word ‘Renaissance’ means ‘rebirth’:
The renewed interest in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. (had been looked upon
primarily as the products of a civilization that was pagan in character)
The Renaissance scholars (called humanists) studied with an open mind, casting off the
prejudices of medieval Christianity.
The Greek and Roman culture became an ideal example to be applied to their own times.
The Dutchman Erasmus wrote about an ideal society: Utopia.
Three things which changed in the Renaissance:
1. From a collective to an individual attitude. In the Middle Ages people belonged to groups and
in the Renaissance man came to view himself as an individual being.
2. From a theocentric to an anthropocentric outlook. In the Middle Ages the role of the church
was important and in the Renaissance religion had by no means disappeared.
3. Form dogmatic belief to critical investigation. In the Middle Ages people believed what was
learned by the church and what was discovered by scholars. In the Renaissance scholars and
scientists were no longer prepared to accept the explanations offered by the church
uncritically.
II
-renewed interest in the cultures of the ancient Greece and Rome
-classical works became important and interesting instead of pagan works
-influences can be seen in many forms of Renaissance art and thought
Middle Ages Renaissance
1. collective attitude 1. individual attitude
-people belong to families, a religious -feelings and thoughts of the individual are
community or a nation important. Growing self-awareness
Reformation emphasizes the individual relation
between man and God
-art is anonymous -(art) works are personal achievements. People
are proud of it.
-homo universalis
2. theocentric outlook 2. antropocentric outlook
-role of church is important -church becomes less important (see next point
(3))
-memento mori -carpe diem*
3. dogmatic belief 3. critical investigation
-great truths are held by the church; -people start investigating themselves. They
Church provides religious explanations for most don’t believe things the church says. They want
things to prove things and do experiments
, *carpe diem is not the opposite of memento mori. It is the consequence of memento mori. People
know that they will die, so they try to make the most of it.
Important invention: printing press. Ideas could be spread very fast
As they liked it: Shakespeare and Marlowe (Page 34)
The changes in the Renaissance came very fast, in comparison with other ages: If a man lived to be a
hundred in the sixteenth century, he could have witnessed in his lifetime more drastic changes than
perhaps in any other period of English History. In his youth England was one of the minor kingdoms
in Europe, a remote island that had no great role to play in the politics of the continent. In old age he
would have been a proud inhabitant of one of the leading political, economic and military powers of
Europe.
In the Renaissance also the art develops by the interest of artist in the Greek and Roman culture and
art.
Also theatres sprung up all over London, and there was fierce rivalry between the various theatrical
companies, and between the authors who supplied the plays. There was Christopher Marlowe, who
died at an age of twenty-nine, which prevented him from becoming the equal of William
Shakespeare.
Christopher Marlow: Faustus
Introduction
I
At the beginning of the play Faustus has acquired as much learning as a human being possible can.
But he is not satisfied with wat logic, medicine and the law can offer him. (So he knows everything
but is not satisfied.)
He calls up Mephistopheles, ‘servant to great Lucifer’. He is promised to twenty-four years of
unlimited power and pleasure in return to God, but the Bad Angle that follows encourages him to go
on, since no return is possible. Together they create the psychological struggle in Faustus: there are
times when Faustus, realizing he has given up the joys of heaven, eagerly wishes to repent, but each
time his darker side is ultimately victorious. At the end of the play the term of twenty-four years is
drawing to a close. As Faustus is torn between hope and depairthe play ends with a dramatic climax.
II
At the beginning of the play Faustus has acquired as much learning as a human being possibly can.
However, he is not satisfied. He longs for greater subjects to occupy his mind. He calls up
Mephistopheles, ‘servant to great Lucifer’. He is promised 24 years of unlimited power and pleasure
in return for his soul. Faustus agrees and a contract is made and signed with his own blood. A Good
Angels appears, urging him to return to God, but the Bad Angels that follows encourages him to go
on, since no return is possible. They create a constant physical struggle in Faustus that will last the
whole play. Faustus sometimes realizes he has given up the joys of heaven, eagerly whishes to
repent, but every time his darker side is ultimately victorious. At the end of the play Faustus is torn
between hope and despair.
Play
The clock strikes eleven > it means he has only an hour to live. The writer of the play asks for
stopping the time, but he realizes that’s not possible and Faustus will be pulled down. Or he has to
repent and save his soul.
The clock strikes halve > half the hour is past! Faustus is praying: Don’t You, God, have mercy for my
soul?! He is cursing his parents who engendered him. But no, he has to curse the devil Lucifer, he has
to curse himself.
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