西欧著名悲剧介绍【英文精品】

Origins of Story
• Johann Faust (1488) bragged he’d sold his soul to the devil for magical powers. • Wandered Germany until death in 1541 • 1587 story about him appeared in Germany:
The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus
• Translation in English 1592 • 1592 first performance of Doctor Faustus
Influences on Authorship
• Written between 1588-1592? • Perkins, don at Cambridge, preached about witchcraft because of popular interest in discovery and detection of witches; witchcraft is like “desiring to become a god, longing to win reputation, dissatisfaction with inward gifts received such as knowledge, wit, understanding, memory, and suchlike.”
Medieval Staging
• Plays performed in church then moved to courtyard • Mobile, no stage • Used wagons, move episodes from one location to another • Guilds put them on • Symbolic props
Tragedy
From Aristotle’s Poetics and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex to Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus & Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Classical Tragedy 5th c BCE
Problems with Authorship
• Faustus entered official records in 1601 but not as new work. • In 1602 at least 2 others paid for work on Faustus • First published in 1604 • 1616 another version printed • Today’s version based on work of Sir Walter Gregg
Morality Plays (15th c)
• 1 plot • About common people; characters often allegories • Dramatized allegories representing a Christian’s life and his quest for salvation • Show audience that fortune is unpredictable
• Chorus (15 men) • Tragic hero (hamartia, hubris; high station and moral worth) • Catastrophe/reversal; unities • Loses material things but has epiphany/anagnorisis • Catharsis; audiences experience pity & relief
Renaissance & Restoration Tragedy
• Hero starts good/turns evil • Hero usually important if not ruler • Fall from grace marked by reversals and discoveries • Audience experiences fear and pity; catharsis • Added comic relief and subplots
Senecan Tragedy Roman 4th c BCE-65
• • • • • Knew in Medieval 5 acts Revenge; bloody No catharsis Fortuna turns wheel to bring high low
Miracle & Mystery Plays (10th – 14th centuries)
Problems with Authorship, cont.
• Miracle plays: lives of saints • Mystery plays: stories from Old and New Testaments • Performed in church as part of holy days • Moved outside onto wagons; guilds performed
Traits from MoБайду номын сангаасality Plays in Doctor Faustus
• Good and Bad Angel • 7 Deadly Sins • Presence of Lucifer and his cohorts • Vision of Hell • Chorus (1 person) to open the play • Allegory