THE RENAISSANCE MOVEMENT IN EUROPE. THE RECULIARITIES OF ENGLISH RENAISSANCE. DRAMA AS THE MAIN MANIFESTATION OF THE RENAISSANCE SPIRIT.

The word Renaissancecomes from the Latin word Rinascere, which means to be reborn. This period dates from 14^th to 17^th c. and is usually opposed to Middle Ages on the basis of the fact that it gave us a multiperspective vision of the human being.

Features of the R in Europe:

· Realization of national identity (European nations began to realize their national identity);

· Science development;

· Church is not a dominating institution (before it was an institution that predetermined the development of culture; the church unified the nation by imposing one mode of life.);

· 3 ‘R’s’: revival (of philosophy and art and ancient Greece), renewal (of old traditions and philosophy), rebirth (acquirement of the new sense and idea of human being – the idea of his possibilities).

During the R European writers tried to use the life and spirit of ancient Greek and Roman cul-re in their own lit-ry, artistic, and philosophic works. The R is different from the medieval period: in medieval times, people thought about saving their souls and during the R period they thought about society and what they could do to help it. During the Middle Ages people studied theology (the study of God). The people of the R. studied humanity, looking at the great ancient civilization. The R. is thought to be the beginning of modern history. It began in Northern Italy and then spread through Europe. The R influenced painting, sculpture, lit-re and architecture.

In England R. appeared later that in Italy, but the intensity of its development was even greater because it was based on works of European humanists Petrarche, Dante, Pico della Mirandolla. Petrark expressed the hopes of his time; he was inspired by the ancient cul-re, it gave birth to new classicism.

Representatives of R in England:

· Thomas More (a politician, later was executed): “Utopia” – 2 parts: the 1^st describes the contemporary England (criticism), the 2^nd describes in detail the state organization on the Island Utopia. The 1^st part is a dialogue between the author and an imaginary char-er. He expresses the idea of ideal society based on collective labour. Poetry has the leading position – the highest point of poetical development.

· Thomas Wyatt introduced the genre of a sonnet into the Engl. lit-re

· Edmund Spenser: “The Fairie Queen” – a combination of the medieval and the R;

· Christopher Marlowe: “The tragic history of Dr. Faustus” – admires the reason of a human being, his char-r are not personifications of virtues and vices but are enriched by human passions and limitations.

The 16^th c. – the epoch of flourishment of drama. The religious and moral themes of medieval drama under the influence of R humanism began to give way to to closer attention to ordinary human char-s.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DRAMA

First Period .The development of the drama in England was in close connection with the appearance and development of the theatre. Since ancient times there existed in Europe two stages upon which dramatic art developed. The chief place of performance was the church, and second to it was the market place where clowns played their tricks. The church exhibited Bible-stories, called "Mysteries"; they also had "Miracles" which were about supernatural events in the lives of saints. Both, the miracles and mysteries were directed by the clergy and acted by boys of the choir on great holidays. It has become a tradition since then to have men-actors for heroines on the English stage. Second Period .Early in the 15th century characters represented human qualities, such as Mercy, Sin, Justice and Truth, began to be introduced into the miracle plays. The plays were called "Moral plays" or "Moralities". They were concerned with man's behaviour in this life. The devil figured in every ply and he was the character always able to make the audience laugh. Moralities were acted in town halls too. Third Period It was about the time of King Henry VIII, when the Protestants drove theatricals out of the church, that acting became a distinct profession in England. Now the actors performed in inncourt yards, which were admirably suited to dramatic performances consisting as they did of a large open court surrounded by two galleries. A platform projected into the middle of the yard with dressing rooms at the back, There was planty of standing room around the stage, and people came running in crowds as soon as they heard the trumpets announcing the beginning of a play. To make the audience pay for its entertainment, the actors took advantage of the most thrilling moment of the plot: this was the proper time to send the hat round for a collection. The plays gradually changed; moralities now gave way to plays where historical and actual characters appeared. The popular clowns from the market-place never disappeared from the stage. They would shove in between the parts of a play and talk the crowds into anything. The regular drama from its very beginning was divided into comedy and tragedy. Many companies of players had their own dramatists who were actors too. As plays became more complicated, special playhouses came into existence. The first regular playhouse in London was built in what had been the Blackfriars Monastery where miracle plays had been performed before the Reformation. It was built by James Burbage and was called "The Theatre" (a Greek word never used in England before). Later, "The Rose", "The Curtain", "The Swan" and many other playhouses appeared. These playhouses did not belong to any company of players. Actors travelled from one place to another and hired a building for their performances. The actors and their station in life.

The R had diff. manifestations in diff. countries but in England it was the R of the theatre. This coincides with the time when Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne. And the theater of that time is called Elizabethan theatre. Shakespeare was the most prominent playwright of that time. Sh. wrote during the age in which England grew to be a world power.

As the R awoke interest to Roman and Greek cul-re, playwrights borrowed a lot of devices including ghosts, chorus, 5-act structure, but they also filled the plays with medieval morals. (Sh. drew his plots from history, mythology and other works of fiction, both classical and contemporary. He employed 5-act structure and typically interwove 2 more plots in each play, ranging freely in time and location. His characters, drawn from all classes, speak in verse or prose according to their rank.)

Date: 2016-01-05; view: 2009