English Literature A2 Level
F663 Revision Pack
Monday 30th March 2015
Exam: Thursday 11th June 2015
Name: ________________________
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Contents
Section 1: Assessment Objectives
Section 2: Examiner Tips
Section 3: King Lear Revision
Historical Context:
 Primogeniture
 Censorship and the English Stage: A Brief Overview
Literary Context
 Shakespeare’s Tragedies
 Classical and Aristotelian tragedy
 Renaissance tragedy
 Violence –performed off stage See appendix: “The Blinding”.
 Two versions of Lear
 Sources
 Performance History
 Guardian review of Sam Mendes’ 2014 production
 King Lear Criticism
King Lear Major Themes
Task 1
King Lear – Settings
Task 2
King Lear – Major Characters
Task 3
King Lear – Dramatic Effects
Task 4
King Lear – Literary Techniques
Task 5
King Lear – Model Answer
Task 6
King Lear – Practice Questions
Task 7
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Section 4: Marvell and Jonson Revision
Marvell and Jonson - Context
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17th Century Philosophy
The Soul
Dualism
The Great Chain of Being
The Enlightenment
Beast Fable
Sir Francis Bacon – use for AO3 and forming your argument
T.S. Eliot criticism of Marvell and Johnson
Marvell and Jonson - Literary Context
Classical Influences
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Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Catullus
Lucan
Task 8
Marvell and Jonson – Key Themes
 Task 9
Model Answer
 Task 10
Past Questions
 Task 11
Revision Links
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Section 1: Assessment Objectives
AO1
AO2
The Mark Scheme says:
 excellent and consistently detailed understanding of texts and
question;
 consistently fluent, precise writing in appropriate register;
 critical terminology used accurately and consistently;
 well-structured, coherent and detailed argument consistently
developed.
The Mark Scheme says:
 well-developed and consistently detailed discussion of effects
(including dramatic effects) of language, form and structure;
 excellent and consistently effective use of analytical methods;
 consistently effective use of quotations and references to text,
critically addressed, blended into discussion.
The Mark Scheme says:
For King Lear:
 well-informed and effectively detailed exploration of different
readings of text.
AO3
AO4
For Marvell and Jonson:
 excellent and consistently detailed comparative analysis of
relationships between texts;
 well-informed and effective exploration of different readings of text.
 explore connections and comparisons between different literary
texts, informed by interpretations of other readers;
The Mark Scheme says:
 consistently well-developed and consistently detailed understanding
of the significance and influence of contexts in which literary texts
are written and understood, as appropriate to the question.
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Section 2: Top Tips from the examiner:
The shape of the question
In the exam, you will be presented with six questions and you must decide which of the six tasks to
respond to. You should consider which task is likely to lead to the most relevant and interesting
discussion of your texts.
All the questions on the paper begin with a proposition, in quotation marks. This quotation is
designed to help you to focus and sharpen your thoughts. If you ignore it, your answer is likely to
be very vague, and therefore weaker than if you set out to respond to the quotation in your
argument.
It is important to read the entire question before you begin your answer. The best answers
respond to the whole quotation, rather than just the first part of it. Often the final words in these
quotations offer the most specific, and therefore most intriguing, angles for exploration.
Writing your answer
Examiners expect, in this paper, to see answers forming themselves as they are written: this is to be
expected, given the unseen nature of the questions and the time constraints within which you are
working. When you begin your answer, however, you should show the examiner where you are
going. Even when you do not know where, in the larger scheme, your argument may be heading, it
helps to set out a sense of your initial ideas (with mention of both texts) in your opening
paragraphs.
This does not mean writing a long introduction, commencing: ‘in this essay I am going to write
about…’ You should begin your argument right away. However, it is beneficial to show the
examiner that you have a direction in mind. Of course, you won’t know what your conclusion is
going to be as you are making up your mind as you write; what you offer in your opening paragraph
will be a sorting-out, in general terms, of the essay’s ingredients, like assembling the ingredients of a
recipe before you cook.
Keeping both texts in play
Do not get stuck on one text! The most successful answers show frequent movement between
two texts – sometimes detailed examination of the two together, but often thoughtful asides (as
shown obviously by the mower’s exaggeration; unlike Jonson’s more outspoken character)
However, you do not need to mention both texts in every paragraph.
Referring to context
Context is vital. You need to show how the world of ideas and historical events influenced the
creation of each text. In particular, you need to be aware that your authors had a philosophy of
writing, and may well have formally written down their ideas. If your text reflects the big ideas of
the period – heroism, epic, comedy, tragedy, hubris – you need to be sure you know what they
mean. Similarly, if you are studying a text that deals with religion, you need to understand the
background. You should try to immerse yourself in the mental and cultural world of your two
texts, and consider how they reflect issues and attitudes of their times.
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Final points
Make sure you know your texts really well. Read them often and read around them (including other
works by the Jonson, or Marvell’s other poems or prose works.) Do not wait for your teacher to
find things – look online and check the links on websites.
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Section 3: King Lear Revision
Historical Context
Primogeniture
Russ McDonald writes in the Bedford Companion to Shakespeare “Primogeniture (first-born)
refers to the right of the eldest son to inherit the family property. . .Taking hold as it did in the
feudal practices of England in the Middle Ages, primogeniture was calculated to protect the
property of large families, to keep estates from being dismantled or divided into a number of small
and therefore weaker units.”
Censorship and the English Stage: A Brief Overview
Official regulating agencies, such as the Office of the Master of Revels, ensured that theater
companies and playwrights generally knew what they could and could not get away with.
While censorship represented one of the many social pressures that helped forge the professional
stage in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, actual punishments were infrequent.
A handful of plays did result in the author's arrest or a playhouse closure, including Ben Jonson's
now lost play, The Isle of the Dogs (1597). In this case, punitive actions responded to specific
passages that deliberately and personally mocked the monarch. Ironically, while Jonson repeatedly
provoked official censure—he was found guilty of sedition following The Isle of the Dogs—he
nevertheless maintained a good relationship with the court and even with King James himself.
By contrast with such regulatory action, it is worth noting the Crown's capacity for restraint
towards, if not indifference to, potentially offensive material. In 1599, for instance, a group of
disaffected gentlemen (associates of Robert Devereaux, Second Earl of Essex) sponsored William
Shakespeare's company to stage a revival performance of a play depicting the fall of Richard II. If this
performance was of Shakespeare's Richard II, as many scholars today suppose, the conspirators'
interest probably lay in the scene that represented the king's abdication from the throne, as they
themselves tried to force Queen Elizabeth from power the following day. The queen was furious
about the Essex uprising, and the members of the faction were arrested. Some were tried and
executed. As for the players, though, a different fate awaited: after a brief arrest and interrogation,
they were performing again in a matter of days—including a special performance, before the queen,
of none other than Richard II.
In the early decades of the seventeenth century, playwrights and audiences alike went about their
business with little direct interference from government regulators. Plays did not seem to be
regarded as significant instruments or threats in contemporary political affairs.
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Literary Context
Shakespeare’s Tragedies
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Titus Andronicus (1593-1594)
A sordid tale of revenge and political turmoil, overflowing with bloodshed and unthinkable
brutality. The play was not printed with Shakespeare credited as author during his lifetime, and
critics are divided between whether it is the product of another dramatist or simply
Shakespeare's first attempt at the genre. Earliest known text: Quarto (1594).
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Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Celebrated for the radiance of its lyric poetry, Romeo and Juliet was tremendously popular from
its first performance. The sweet whispers shared by young Tudor lovers throughout the realm
were often referred to as "naught but pure Romeo and Juliet." Earliest known text: Quarto
(1597).
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Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Although there were earlier Elizabethan plays on the subject of Julius Caesar and his turbulent
rule, Shakespeare's penetrating study of political life in ancient Rome is the only version to
recount the demise of Brutus and the other conspirators. Earliest known text: First Folio
(1623).
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Hamlet (1600-1601)
Since its first recorded production, Hamlet has engrossed playgoers, thrilled readers, and
challenged actors more so than any other play in the Western canon. No other single work of
fiction has produced more commonly used expressions. Earliest known text: Quarto (1603).
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Othello (1604-1605)
Othello, a valiant Moorish general in the service of Venice, falls prey to the devious schemes of
his false friend, Iago. Earliest known text: Quarto (1622).
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Macbeth (1605-1606)
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most stimulating and popular dramas. Renaissance records of
Shakespeare's plays in performance are scarce, but a detailed account of an original production
of Macbeth has survived, thanks to Dr. Simon Forman. Earliest known text: First Folio (1623).

Antony and Cleopatra (1607-1608)
The story of Mark Antony, Roman military leader and triumvir, who is madly in love with
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Earliest known text: First Folio (1623).
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Coriolanus (1607-1608)
The last of Shakespeare's great political tragedies, chronicling the life of the mighty warrior
Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Earliest known text: First Folio (1623).
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Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Written late in Shakespeare's career, Timon of Athens is criticized as an underdeveloped tragedy,
likely co-written by George Wilkins or Cyril Tourneur. Read the play and see if you
agree. Earliest known text: First Folio (1623).
Classical and Aristotelian tragedy
Definition of Tragedy: “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and
of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several
kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents
arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy,
therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Diction,
Thought, Spectacle, Melody.” (translation by S. H. Butcher; click on the context links to consult the
full online text)
The treatise we call the Poetics was composed at least 50 years after the death of Sophocles.
Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, considering it the perfect tragedy, and
not surprisingly, his analysis fits that play most perfectly. I shall therefore use this play to illustrate
the following major parts of Aristotle's analysis of tragedy as a literary genre.
Tragedy is the “imitation of an action” (mimesis) according to “the law of probability
or necessity.” Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy
“shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than
history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes
what may happen, “what is possibile according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus
deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to
accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear
cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted
in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals
what mayhappen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy
therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within
this cause-and-effect chain (context).
Plot is the “first principle,” the most important feature of tragedy. Aristotle defines plot
as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are
presented to the audience, the structure of the play. According to Aristotle, tragedies where the
outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions are superior to those
that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. Plots that meet this
criterion will have the following qualities (context). See Freytag's Triangle for a diagram that
illustrates Aristotle's ideal plot structure, and Plot of Oedipus the King for an application of this
diagram to Sophocles’ play.
1. The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning, called by
modern critics the incentive moment, must start the cause-and-effect chain but not be
dependent on anything outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are downplayed but
its effects are stressed). The middle, or climax, must be caused by earlier incidents and
itself cause the incidents that follow it (i.e., its causes and effects are stressed). The end,
or resolution, must be caused by the preceding events but not lead to other incidents
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outside the compass of the play (i.e., its causes are stressed but its effects downplayed); the
end should therefore solve or resolve the problem created during the incentive moment
(context). Aristotle calls the cause-and-effect chain leading from the incentive moment to
the climax the “tying up” (desis), in modern terminology the complication. He therefore
terms the more rapid cause-and-effect chain from the climax to the resolution the
“unravelling” (lusis), in modern terminology the dénouement (context).
2. The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action.” By this Aristotle means that the plot
must be structurally self-contained, with the incidents bound together by internal necessity,
each action leading inevitably to the next with no outside intervention, no deus ex
machina (context). According to Aristotle, the worst kinds of plots are “‘episodic,’ in which
the episodes or acts succeed one another without probable or necessary sequence”; the
only thing that ties together the events in such a plot is the fact that they happen to the
same person. Playwrights should exclude coincidences from their plots; if some coincidence
is required, it should “have an air of design,” i.e., seem to have a fated connection to the
events of the play (context). Similarly, the poet should exclude the irrational or at least keep
it “outside the scope of the tragedy,” i.e., reported rather than dramatized (context). While
the poet cannot change the myths that are the basis of his plots, he “ought to show
invention of his own and skillfully handle the traditional materials” to create unity of action
in his plot (context). Application to Oedipus the King.
3. The plot must be “of a certain magnitude,” both quantitatively (length, complexity) and
qualitatively (“seriousness” and universal significance). Aristotle argues that plots should not
be too brief; the more incidents and themes that the playwright can bring together in an
organic unity, the greater the artistic value and richness of the play. Also, the more universal
and significant the meaning of the play, the more the playwright can catch and hold the
emotions of the audience, the better the play will be (context).
4. The plot may be either simple or complex, although complex is better. Simple plots have
only a “change of fortune” (catastrophe). Complex plots have both “reversal of intention”
(peripeteia) and “recognition” (anagnorisis) connected with the catastrophe.
Both peripeteia and anagnorisis turn upon surprise. Aristotle explains that a peripeteia occurs
when a character produces an effect opposite to that which he intended to produce, while
an anagnorisis “is a change from ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between
the persons destined for good or bad fortune.” He argues that the best plots combine these
two as part of their cause-and-effect chain (i.e., the peripeteia leads directly to
the anagnorisis); this in turns creates the catastrophe, leading to the final “scene of suffering”
(context). Application to Oedipus the King.
Character has the second place in importance. In a perfect tragedy, character will support
plot, i.e., personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause-and-effect chain of
actions producing pity and fear in the audience. The protagonist should be renowned and
prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as
the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely
to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the
misfortune of a man like ourselves.” The term Aristotle uses here, hamartia, often translated “tragic
flaw,” has been the subject of much debate. The meaning of the Greek word is closer to “mistake”
than to “flaw,” and I believe it is best interpreted in the context of what Aristotle has to say about
plot and “the law or probability or necessity.” In the ideal tragedy, claims Aristotle, the protagonist
will mistakenly bring about his own downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because
he does not know enough. The role of the hamartia in tragedy comes not from its moral status but
from the inevitability of its consequences. Hence the peripeteia is really one or more self-destructive
actions taken in blindness, leading to results diametrically opposed to those that were intended
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(often termed tragic irony), and the anagnorisis is the gaining of the essential knowledge that was
previously lacking (context). Application to Oedipus the King.
Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities (context):
1. “good or fine.” Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class:
“Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an
inferior being, and the slave quite worthless.”
2. “fitness of character” (true to type); e.g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a
woman.
3. “true to life” (realistic)
4. “consistency” (true to themselves). Once a character's personality and motivations are
established, these should continue throughout the play.
5. “necessary or probable.” Characters must be logically constructed according to “the law of
probability or necessity” that governs the actions of the play.
6. “true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled).
Thought is third in importance, and is found “where something is proved to be or not
to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” Aristotle says little about thought, and most of
what he has to say is associated with how speeches should reveal character (context 1; context 2).
However, we may assume that this category would also include what we call the themes of a play.
Diction is fourth, and is “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper
and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy. In this category, Aristotle
discusses the stylistic elements of tragedy; he is particularly interested in metaphors: “But the
greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor; . . . it is the mark of genius, for to make
good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances” (context).Application to Oedipus the King.
Song, or melody, is fifth, and is the musical element of the chorus. Aristotle argues that
the Chorus should be fully integrated into the play like an actor; choral odes should not be “mere
interludes,” but should contribute to the unity of the plot (context).
Spectacle is last, for it is least connected with literature; “the production of
spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the
poet.” Although Aristotle recognizes the emotional attraction of spectacle, he argues that superior
poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear; those
who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous”
(context 1; context 2).
The end of the tragedy is a katharsis (purgation, cleansing) of the tragic emotions of
pity and fear. Katharsis is another Aristotelian term that has generated considerable debate. The
word means “purging,” and Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor—tragedy arouses
the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a
healthy, balanced proportion. Aristotle also talks of the “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy,
apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are
aroused through an intricately constructed work of art (context).
We might profitably compare this view of Aristotle with that expressed by Susanne Langer in our
first reading (“Expressiveness in Art,” excerpt from Problems of Art: Ten Philosophical Lectures, New
York, Scribner, 1957):
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A work of art presents feeling (in the broad sense I mentioned before, as everything that can be
felt) for our contemplation, making it visible or audible or in some way perceivable through a
symbol, not inferable from a symptom. Artistic form is congruent with the dynamic forms of our
direct sensuous, mental, and emotional life; works of art . . . are images of feeling, that formulate it
for our cognition. What is artistically good is whatever articulates and presents feeling for our
understanding. (661-62)
Renaissance tragedy
Renaissance tragedy revived the classical Greek tragedy fusing Elizabethan drama and storyline
complexities with a more morbid ending (in which the protagonist usually dies, compared to Greek
tragedy in which he lives). The Renaissance tragedy was most prominent in England where
famous playwrights such as William Shakespeare, Thomas Middleton and Christopher
Marlowe pioneered the form. Most tragedies fit a certain archetype which is explored in this article.
Tragedy styles
Tragedy of circumstance
Most plays of this type deal with monarchies, as monarchs are born into their situations, and do not
choose them. An example of this would be Hamlet; his father was murdered by his uncle who
wanted the throne of Denmark for himself. Already the basis of the play revolves around the tragic
circumstance Hamlet is already in, by no fault of his own. Hamlet combines a number of tragedy
archetypes, but its basis is in his situation, rather than his choice.
An Ancient Greek example could be Oedipus the King who was abandoned by his mother, adopted
by a king, and gets married (accidentally) to his mother, who abandoned him also.
Tragedy of miscalculation
These revolve around the protagonist's choice. An example would be Macbeth whom after taking
the witches predictions to heart, along with Lady Macbeth, murders the King of Scotland,Duncan,
and then goes on to murder Banquo who may threaten their power. This is a miscalculation
because Duncan's son comes back with an army from England to oppose Macbeth which leads to
both his and lady Macbeth's deaths. Hamlet also uses this plot for its finale, when Claudius tries to
poison Hamlet, but ends up poisoning Gertrude, which was a miscalculation.
Revenge Tragedy
This could combine the previous two. Again Hamlet contains a revenge element because he plots to
murder his uncle. An example of a true revenge play is The Revenger's Tragedy which Vindice sets
out on murdering dukes and nobles who are part of a new government responsible for murdering
his love.
Conventions of Revenge Tragedy
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The ghost of the murdered victim urges revenge (Hamlet, Spanish Tragedy),
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Metatheatricality
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Madness
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Murder
Cannibalism
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History/Development
The revenge tragedy was established on the Elizabethan stage with Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy in
1587.[1] In this play, Hieronimo's discovery of his son Horatio's dead body leads him into a brief fit
of madness, after which he discovers the identity of his son's murderers and plans his revenge
through a play-within-a-play. It is during this play that he enacts his revenge, after which he kills
himself.[6] With Hieronimo's quest for justice in the face of a seemingly powerless state, Spanish
Tragedy introduced the thematic issues of retributive justice that would be explored as the genre
gained popularity and developed on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage.[7]
Believed to have been staged shortly afterwards, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus is another early
piece of the genre in which the dangerous cycle of revenge through private justice is brought to the
fore and the typical features of the genre can be found. In this play, Titus' murder of Tamora's
eldest son in a ritual of war leads to the rape and mutilation of his daughter Lavinia. As his revenge,
Titus murders Tamora's remaining sons, bakes them into pie, and serves them to her at a feast.
One of the great contentions of the revenge tragedy is the issue of private revenge vs. divine
revenge or public (i.e. state sanctioned) revenge. In his essay, "Of Revenge," Francis Baconwrites:
"the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the Law out of
Office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his Enemy. But in passing it over, he is
Superior: For it is a princes part to Pardon."
As the genre gained popularity, playwrights explored the issue of private vs. public or state justice
through the introduction of a variety of revenge characters. In Antonio's Revenge, John
Marston creates a character named Pandulpho who embodies an idea from the Spanish Tragedy of
the Senecan stoic. The Senecan stoic is not ruled by emotions, but rather follows a balance of
cosmic determinism and human freedom to avoid misfortune. In Hamlet, Shakespeare explores the
complexities of the very human desire for revenge in the face of stoic philosophy and ethics.
Throughout the play, Hamlet struggles to avenge his father's murder (as has been demanded of him
by his father's ghost), and only does so in the end by mischance.
Other play writers of the period questioned the conventions of the genre through parody reversals
of generic expectations.[14] In Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, the revenge character
Vindice is a spiteful man whose pleasure in the act of revenge is what seems to be his true
motivation for its fulfillment. The Atheist's Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur followed an anti-revenge plot
by having Montferrer's ghost explicitly order his son Charlemont not to seek revenge in order to
avoid the villainy of violence.
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Reaction
Scholars have examined the themes of the revenge tragedy in the context of the Elizabethan and
Jacobean period as a way to understand its rapid growth in popularity. For some, the fact that plays
openly question the morality of revenge and taking justice into ones own hands is evidence that the
public was morally opposed to the concept. For others, however, the popularity of the genre is
evidence that the plays expressed the frustrations and desires for justice against oppressive
governance of the public.
Violence –performed off stage
See article “the blinding”.
Two versions of Lear
Over time the text of King Lear has changed drastically owing to the work of editors and theatre
artists. From the outset King Lear existed in two very different versions, the Quarto of 1608 and
the Folio of 1623. While there are many hypotheses about the origins of the Quarto editions all
that is certain is that they appeared in Shakespeare’s lifetime - but the playwright seems not to have
been involved in their creation. The Folio, on the other hand, created after Shakespeare’s death,
was published with the involvement of two members of his company with the expressed purpose of
keeping his memory and work alive.
Quarto - First printed 1608, reprinted 1619
Folio - New version printed 1623


Cuts scene (Kent and gentleman)
Changes presentation of Cordelia
Edgar ending the play introduces hope of a new beginning with a different set of values in place. As
Richard Eyre, who directed the play at the National Theatre in 1997, says ‘there is something
wonderful about this terribly simple advice being given to you by a man who has had to grow up in
the most violent way. Edgar, a sort of mild, bookish man, becomes a warrior, then sees this
holocaust, and the advice he gives you is, open your heart, speak what you feel’.
I suggest, then, that there is strong evidence the changes between the Quarto and the Folio were
made as a result of the audience response to the play during Shakespeare’s lifetime. The ending, in
particular, is altered to change it from a scene of absolute despair to a scene of possible
redemption and rebirth. Hope is reintroduced into the Folio ending of the play, something that
makes this tragedy more poignant but also more bearable in its Folio form.
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Sources
The story of King Lear and daughters well known – The first English account of Lear can be found
in the History of the Kings of Britain, written by Geoffrey Monmouth in 1135. Monmouth’s account
spawned several 16th-century narratives about Lear, including renderings in Holinshed's
Chronicles (first edition, 1577) and in The Mirror for Magistrates(1574). Even the great poet Edmund
Spenser recounted Lear's tragedy in Canto 10, Book II of The Faerie Queen (1590).
The True Chronicle History of King Leir, and his three daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella, the
anonymous play published in 1605, twelve years before the first recorded performance of
Shakespeare's King Lear.
Performance History
The only recorded performance during Shakespeare's lifetime was on 26th December 1606 at
court. The Stationers' Register of November 26 1607 reports that King Lear was 'played before the
King's Majesty at Whitehall upon S. Stephen's night at Christmas last.' It is generally thought that
Richard Burbage played King Lear, John Hemmings was Gloucester, and Robert Armin played the
Fool, but there is some intriguing evidence that the parts of the Fool and Cordelia may have been
doubled.
There is a possibility that King Lear was rewritten by Shakespeare for a revival at The Blackfriars in
1609 and this may go some way towards explaining the differing versions of the text from the 1608
quarto to the 1623 Folio. The opportunity to present an indoor stage performance might have
resulted in a reshaping of the play to make it more intimate, or Shakespeare might have used the
opportunity to rework elements he was not completely satisfied with. The biggest difference is with
the final speech, which in the quarto version is given to Albany.
King Lear was revived by William Davenant in 1664 and 1675, but the play fell out of favour and
was re-written by Nahum Tate in 1681 with a happy ending - Cordelia marrying Edgar and Lear
retaining his kingdom. Tate not only justified his rewrites, but even argued that Shakespeare's
original ending was weaker than Tate's resolution - '...'tis more difficult to save than 'tis to kill...' For
many years after, Tate's was the version of King Lear that was performed.
David Garrick played King Lear a number of times between 1742 and 1776, using his own version
of the text which combined Shakespeare's original and Tate's revision. He was described in
performance as 'little old white-haired man...with spindle shanks, a tottering gait and great shoes
upon little feet...'
In 1838 William Charles Macready brought back the original Shakespeare version of the text and
had the Fool played by an actress, Priscilla Horton. Macready was tormented by the part and wrote
'In reflecting on Lear I begin to apprehend I cannot make an effective character of it. I am oppressed
with the magnitude of the thoughts he has to utter...'
15
King Lear has long been considered 'a mountain whose summit has never been reached' to be
climbed by actors at the latter height of their careers - Laurence Olivier at the Old Vic in 1946,
Orson Welles at the New York Civic Center in 1958, Lee J. Cobb in 1968 on Broadway, James Earl
Jones at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1974, Michael Gambon at the Royal Shakespeare
Company in 1982 directed by Adrian Noble, Brian Cox at the National Theatre in 1990, John
Wood directed by Nicholas Hytner at the RSC in 1990, Robert Stephens at the RSC in 1993, Ian
Holm directed by Richard Eyre in 1997 at the National Theatre, Christopher Plummer in 2004 at
the Lincoln Centre, Kevin Kline at the Public Theatre in New York in 2007 and recently Ian
McKellen at the RSC, the West End and Broadway. John Gielgud played King Lear a number of
times: first at the age of 26 in 1931 at the Old Vic, a performance of 'Olympian grandeur' for Harley
Granville-Barker in 1940, in 1950 at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, his own production in
1955 with designs by Isamu Noguchi, and at 90 years old on radio in 1994.
'Shakespeare never lingers very long on the same scene, his style changes constantly...so the
process of preparing Lear...was elimination - of scenic detail, costume detail, colour detail, music
detail...' wrote Peter Brook of his landmark production in 1962. Brook's staging with Paul Scofield
as Lear at the Royal Shakespeare Company is considered one of the greatest ever performances of
Shakespeare. The design attempted to create a world 'in a constant state of decomposition.'
Influenced by Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Japanese Noh Theatre and Brecht's Berliner
Ensemble, Brook's production placed great emphasis on the existential questions in the final lines of
the play delivered by Edgar.
Trevor Nunn has directed King Lear three times for the Royal Shakespeare Company - in 1968
with Eric Porter, in 1976 with Donald Sinden and in 2007 with Ian McKellen. The 1976 production
was co-directed by John Barton and Barry Kyle and featured Judi Dench as Regan.
Ingmar Bergman had a cast of over 70 actors for his Dramatisha Teatern performances in
Stockholm, featuring Jarl Kulle and Lena Olin.
In 1985 Deborah Warner's young and dynamic production of King Lear for Kick Theatre doubled
the role of Cordelia and the Fool.
Anthony Hopkins played Lear to Bill Nighy's Edgar in David Hare's 1986 staging at the National
Theatre's Olivier auditorium.
In 1990 the Rennaissance Theatre production of King Lear featured Richard Briers as the King with
Emma Thompson as the Fool.
Tom Wilkinson was King Lear with Andy Serkis as the Fool in Max Stafford-Clark's 1993 Royal
Court staging, which focussed on the political intrigues of the court.
Ian Holm in the 1997 National Theatre production directed by Richard Eyre was humane and
naked in the storm scene. As Eyre recalled, 'he carried Cordelia's body on - and instead of putting
16
her down before he spoke, he stood with the body in his arms and howled at Kent, Albany and
Edgar. The four 'howls' emerged as an order, a command, the indictment of a father - don't be
indifferent to my suffering...'
Kevin Kline played King Lear at The New York Shakespeare Festival at the Public Theater in 2007.
Ian McKellen's 2007/2008 performances of King Lear for the Royal Shakespeare Company played to
critical acclaim at Stratford, London's West End and on Broadway. The staging was particularly
notable for the storm scene, which McKellen played in the nude.
In 2008 Pete Postlethwaite starred in King Lear for the Liverpool Everyman Theatre's contribution
to the European City of Culture festivities.
Finally, there is the unknown actor whose panned performance as Lear elicited the classic review 'He played the King as if under the temporary apprehension that someone else was about to play
the Ace...'
Guardian review of Sam Mendes’ 2014 production: by Susannah Clapp
It would be worth it for the storm scene alone. With shadows of clouds racing behind him and
thunder cracking all around, Simon Russell Beale howls as if, at the height of his eloquence, human
language is deserting him. It would be worth it for the moment Lear wakes in a hospital bed and,
through mists of confusion and crossness, makes out the daughter he has rejected. It would be
worth it for the level bleakness with which he pronounces "Never" as he looks at the dead
Cordelia. This last is a scene that is routinely cited as one of Shakespeare's most moving, yet is
often only mildly impressive.
Anyone who saw Russell Beale's humane and inward Hamlet at the National 14 years ago will have
wanted to see him as Lear. It has been worth the wait. In progressing from bristling bully to
desperate compassion – and changing from military togs to cardy, then floppy underwear,
straitjacket and hospital gown – Russell Beale does things that no other actor would do, yet makes
each innovation seem entirely natural. There is no touch of the dear old thing about him. He begins
martial and strutting: his body is bunched up in knots of anger; his usual mellow voice rasps. A flash
of premonition crosses his face when Kent first talks of madness. As he loses his mind, his gaze
becomes fixed, his breath comes in puffs. Declamations are murmured; asides become utterances.
It is as if the border between private and public is being trampled down.
Sam Mendes's production of King Lear commandeers the wide Olivier, showing the long reach of
Lear's derangement. Setting the play in a 21st-century dictatorship risks flattening its psychology and
making its savage strangeness seem merely thuggish. Yet Mendes projects both an inner and an
outer landscape, an unravelling that is political, cosmic and personal. At the beginning, Anthony
17
Ward's design is crowded with rigid, saluting soldiers. Later the king's swaggering followers jostle
around beerily, roaring their leader on. A huge statue of Lear looms up, and Kent is shackled at its
feet. As Poor Tom talks of beggars, a line of the poor, stricken by their king's neglect, rear up
through a mist. As Lear's wits fail and his fortunes fall, the stage empties; all that is left is a mottled
black backdrop.
There are blots. Ward seems to have a fixation on slopes. Gloucester tramps up an absurd little
wedge of a cliff at Dover. Russell Beale delivers his howls while balanced preposterously high up on
a steeply inclined platform. In the mock trial of his daughters Lear addresses not a joint stool but (is
this a terrible pun?) a lavatory: there should now be a ban on bathroom equipment in Shakespeare
productions. The triumphs outweigh these. Kate Fleetwood is a doomed and glacial Goneril, who
melts just once as her father seems about to approach her; Anna Maxwell Martin is a compulsive
seducer, purring as she clambers on to Lear's lap. Both suggest a lifetime of paternal neglect. Adrian
Scarborough's Fool (whose death is startling yet has a terrible logic) is delicate and plaintive; Stanley
Townsend's Kent commands with frankness and a soldierly bellow. All are magnetised by Russell
Beale's dominating Lear.
King Lear – Criticism
If King Lear were to have been written according to the classically accepted rules of writing,
Shakespeare would not have ended up with the play as it is. The illogicalities in the plot and
characterisation have been examined and found wanting. The storm on the heath has been
criticised as unpresentable on a stage. Perhaps most significantly, the choice by Shakespeare to
change the ending of his source material - from a justice-prevailing happy resolution to a
disconcertingly bleak outcome, with no physical redemption for its main characters - has resulted in
a rewriting of the play by later authors in order to make it palatable to 'softer souls'.
Critical opinion since Shakespeare has been more divided on King Lear than perhaps any other play.
Called 'too savage and shocking' by Joseph Warton, 'impossible to be represented on a stage' by Charles
Lamb, and even Harold Bloom in 'Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human' argues for a
moratorium on stagings of Lear in favour of solitary readings. Tolstoy so disliked the play, he used it in a
pamphlet to attack Shakespeare - 'Shakespeare might have been whatever you like, but he was not an
artist.' Orwell countered with a meticulous essay, painstakingly going through each of Tolstoy's
arguments and refuting them and still came to the conclusion that King Lear is not a very good play
- 'It is too drawn-out and has too many characters and sub-plots.'
Recently however, the critical mass of opinion has moved in favour of the play, particularly in the
last century. G. Wilson Knight in 'The Wheel of Fire' 1930 explored the hugeness of the world of
the play- 'King Lear is great in the abundance and richness of human delineation, in the level focus of
creation that builds a massive oneness, in fact, a universe...'
18
Harley Granville Barker in his Prefaces to Shakespeare (1930) wondered at the magnificent
stagecraft shown in the wealth of characters that Shakespeare brings to King Lear - 'Edmund is
another Iago, Edgar might have been at Wittenberg with Hamlet and Oswald steps straight from the
Seventeenth Century London streets...'
Peter Brook's monumental production of the play for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962,
recently voted the greatest stage performance of Shakespeare ever, reimagined King Lear anew, with a
perception that this was not only a great play but a necessary one.
Jan Kott in 1964 drew parallels between King Lear and Samuel Becket's Endgame to point out the
link between the world of tragedy and the world of the grotesque.
G.K. Hunter wrote in 1987 'King Lear is generally agreed today to be Shakespeare's 'greatest play', not
only by the learned...but also by the general public...'
In Everybody's Shakespeare (1993), Maynard Mack presents King Lear as the play most in line with
contemporary philosophy, 'As compared with Hamlet, the nineteenth century's favorite, King Lear speaks
of a world more problematical...King Lear's world, like our century, is larger, looser, cruder, crueller.'
Harold Bloom in Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human (1998) places the play beyond even the
greatest works ever written, and posits that Hamlet and King Lear 'now constitute either a kind of
secular scripture or a mythology'.
19
King Lear – Major Themes
TASK 1: Find 3 quotations for each of these major themes:
1.) Conflict between fathers and daughters: As children mature their relationship with their
parents, especially their fathers, changes from one of loving dependency to often stormy
confrontation. We can see why children may need to assert their independence, but this conflict can
be tough for fathers who see themselves going from the center of the child's universe to an
unwelcome reminder of the past. Lear's struggle for respect from his daughters is heightened
because the two older girls are so consciously bad, while the youngest daughter, Cordelia, dares to
challenge her father's wrong-headed decisions with love he cannot recognize.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2.) Conflict between fathers and sons: The same conflict that Lear faces tears
apart Gloucester and his two sons. In this case the struggle is over power and is intensified because
the father fears that one son is trying to get rid of him. Both Lear and Gloucester are easily
manipulated
because
they
do
not
know
their
children's
hearts.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3.) The problems of giving up power: We see frequent examples of older men who have
problems relinquishing power. They retire from running a business, but they continue to try and
exercise control even after they have left. King Lear is a perfect example of a man who can't let
go. He has been a monarch for so long he thinks his first name is "King." The play shows us how
the old man suffers because he must forge a new identity through intense suffering at an age when
change
is
most
difficult
for
him.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4.) The difference between true loyalty and blind obedience: We meet two characters in
the play who illustrate the fact that there is an enormous difference between simply obeying orders
and being loyal to what one's leader stands for. Goneril's servant Oswald obeys every evil order his
mistress gives him and is truly despicable. The Earl of Kent disguises himself to return and serve King
Lear even though he has been banished by the ruler. Kentis loyal to the higher good that Lear has
forgotten.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
20
5.)
The difference between true love and lust: Edmund the Bastard rises quickly in his climb
to power over the bodies of his brother and father. Edmund almost becomes the sole ruler
of England by using physical lust to win Lear's two older daughters to his cause. Ultimately that
physical passion will lead to their and his destruction. Cordelia's selfless love for her father,
when he least deserves it, shines by way of contrast.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
6.) The difference between sanity and insanity: For much of the play we watch as King Lear
loses his sanity because the injustice of his treatment and the resulting emotional stress prove too
much for him. In his madness, however, we see the beginnings of a new, wiser identity. His madness
is complimented by two other characters who pretend they are insane, or at least mentally
impaired. The Fool plays a role where he is supposed be to a half-wit, and consequently despite the
wisdom of his observations, Lear never takes him seriously. Edgar, the object of an intense manhunt,
can only escape death by playing the part of a lunatic who is possessed by demons and
hallucinates. Shakespeare plays with the idea of real insanity and mock madness throughout the play.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
7.)
The function of charity in restoring spiritual health: Several characters suffer from the
most profound despair, a spiritual condition. Some of these characters are helped to recover
their spirits because of simple acts of charity. Helping others becomes a form of therapy that
helps bring them back from the desolation of their souls. This is one of several aspects of the
play that have a profound religious resonance.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
8.) The power of redemption in achieving inner peace: Both Lear and Gloucester suffer
terribly, and yet both of them achieve a profound inner peace just before they die. They are able to
do this because they are freed from their previous sins by the intervention of one of their children
who, although wronged, redeems them. This redemption comes at a time when the suffering father
least expects it. This idea of redemption, almost as if it were the miraculous intervention of a higher
power,
is
another
theme
with
religious
resonance
in
the
play.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
21
King Lear – Settings
TASK 2: Note down alongside - what is the symbolic significance of each of the
settings?
ACT I
Scene 1 - Setting: A room in King Lear's palace.
Scene 2 - Setting: The Earl of Gloucester's Castle.
Scene 3 - Setting: A room in the Duke of Albany's palace.
Scene 4 - Setting: A hall in the Duke of Albany's palace.
Scene 5 - Setting: A court in the Duke of Albany's palace.
ACT II
Scene 1 - Setting: A court within the castle of the Earl of Gloucester.
Scene 2 - Setting: Before Gloucester's castle.
Scene 3 - Setting: A wood.
Scene 4 - Setting: Before Gloucester's castle.
ACT III
Scene 1 - Setting: A heath. A storm, with thunder and lightning.
Scene 2 - Setting: Another part of the heath. Storm still.
Scene 3 - Setting: A room in Gloucester's castle.
Scene 4 - Setting: The heath, before a hovel.
Scene 5 - Setting: A room in Gloucester's castle.
Scene 6 - Setting: A chamber in a farmhouse adjoining the castle.
Scene 7 - Setting: A room in Gloucester's castle.
ACT IV
Scene 1 - Setting: The heath
Scene 2 - Setting: Before the Duke of Albany's palace.
Scene 3 - Setting: The French camp near Dover.
Scene 4 - Setting: The same.
Scene 5 - Setting: A room in Gloucester's castle.
Scene 6 - Setting: The country near Dover.
Scene 7 - Setting: A tent in the French camp.
ACT V
Scene 1 - Setting: The British camp near Dover.
Scene 2 - Setting: A field between the two camps.
Scene 3 - Setting: The British camp near Dover.
22
King Lear – Major Characters
TASK3: Make a list of the characters below. Find 3 quotations for each one that match
up with the major themes.
23
King Lear – Dramatic Effects
TASK4: Find a quotation for each of these:
1.)
Parallel Storyline: To the basic story of King Lear, Shakespeare added the account
of Gloucester and his struggle with his two sons. In both stories the fathers mistake the loyalty
and intention of their children. Shakespeare is able to cut back and forth between the two
stories throughout the play, doubling the conflict and allowing the audience to perceive
similarities between the two families.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2.)
Economy of Narrative Development: At the point in his career when Shakespeare
wrote this play, he was very skilled in revealing a plot. Once the qualities of a character and the
situation are established, Shakespeare is able to develop a story very quickly, presenting only
the highlights and allowing the audience to fill in the intermediate stages in their
imaginations. For example, Edmund’s seduction of Lear’s two daughters to advance his own
ambitions is presented in minimal manner, allowing more time for showing Lear’s ordeal.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
3.)
Extremes in Good and Evil: More than in any other play, King Lear has characters of
overwhelming evil, Goneril, Regan and Edmund, and characters of transcendent
good, Cordelia, Kent and Edgar. The struggle between these two extremes dominates the play,
and those people caught between the extremes, such as Albany or Gloucester, are shown to be
ineffectual, despite their best intentions, in stopping the evil taking place.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
4.)
Consciously Pagan Context for the Action: The events of King Lear’s life took place
before the birth of Christ. Ordinarily Shakespeare paid little attention to historical authenticity,
but in this play he emphasizes the idea that these characters exist in a pre-Christian time. Both
Lear and Gloucesterevoke the idea of pagan gods controlling the events of this world. One of
the effects of this setting in time is that the suffering of the characters is seen in its own
terms. There is no heavenly bliss awaiting the victims of the cruelty in this play. For
Shakespeare’s largely traditional Christian audience, the lack of divine justice must have made
the suffering all the more powerful.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
5.)
Dramatic Force of Reconciliation: Because both Lear and Gloucester bring terrible
suffering upon themselves by their own blindness, they both sink into spiritual despair. When
the children whom they have wronged return to redeem them, the resulting reconciliations are
dramatic highpoints of the play, heightening the emotional response of the audience.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
24
King Lear – Literary Techniques
TASK5: Find a quotation of each one:
Blank Verse and Iambic Pentameter:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Soliloquy:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Asides:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Rhyming Couplets:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Pathetic Fallacy:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Simile:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Metaphor:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Pathetic Fallacy:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Protagonist and Antagonist:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
25
King Lear – Model Answer
TASK6: Read and highlight AOs using mark scheme.
26
What did the essay do well? What could it do to improve?
27
King Lear - Practice questions
TASK7: Practice planning these in pairs, then answer them in timed conditions (1
hour) and give to your teacher to mark.
1. To what extent is Lear a tragic hero, or does he get what he deserves?
2. ‘The theme of disguise is vitally important to the play’s effects.’ Evaluate this view by
considering the role of Edgar in the play.
3. The play’s dramatic impact arises from the overturning of the natural order. Explore this
view by considering ways in which such an overturning occurs in King Lear.
4. By analysing the dramatic presentation of the Fool in King Lear, evaluate the view that he
plays ‘the role of the detached and isolated observer; he is present in serious events of the
play, but he is never a part of them.’
5. ‘The unnatural behaviour of women is a central element in the play.’ How significant do you
feel the presentation of women is in King Lear?
6. ‘Kent’s role in the play is often undervalued; he is more important than he seems.’ Consider
this notion by evaluating the role of Kent in King Lear.
7. ‘The play’s dramatic impact springs from the inevitable conflict fathers and their children.’
Evaluate the importance of the theme of intergenerational conflict in King Lear.
8. 'The play reflects a patriarchal world view and seems terrified by women and what they
might represent.' Consider this notion by evaluating the presentation of women in King Lear.
9. 'Because they reconcile themselves with the child they rejected, Lear and Gloucester's
deaths are made less tragic.' Explore this view.
10. 'We respect the women in 'King Lear' but we cannot like them.' Consider this notion by
evaluating the presentation of women in King Lear.
28
Section 4: Marvell and Jonson Revision
Marvell and Jonson - Context
17th Century Philosophy
In the West, 17th-century philosophy is usually taken to start with the work of René Descartes,
who set much of the agenda as well as much of the methodology for those who came after him.
Immanuel Kant classified his predecessors into two schools: the rationalists and the empiricists, and
Early Modern Philosophy (as 17th- and 18th-century philosophy is known) is sometimes
characterized in terms of a supposed conflict between these schools.
Rationalism is often contrasted with empiricism. Taken very broadly these views are not mutually
exclusive, since a philosopher can be both rationalist and empiricist. Taken to extremes, the
empiricist view holds that all ideas come to us a posteriori, that is to say, through experience; either
through the external senses or through such inner sensations as pain and gratification. The
empiricist essentially believes that knowledge is based on or derived directly from experience. The
rationalist believes we come to knowledge a priori – through the use of logic – and is thus
independent of sensory experience.
The three main rationalists are normally taken to have been René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza,
and Gottfried Leibniz.

3.1 Rationalist philosophy from antiquity
o
3.1.1 Pythagoras (570–495 BCE)
o
3.1.2 Plato (427–347 BCE)
o
3.1.3 Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
3.1.4 After Aristotle
3.2 Modern rationalism
o

o
3.2.1 René Descartes (1596–1650)
o
3.2.2 Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677)
o
3.2.3 Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
o
3.2.4 Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
René Descartes
Descartes is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between
algebra and geometry, crucial to the discovery of infinitesimal
calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the scientific
revolution and has been described as an example of genius. He refused to
accept the authority of previous philosophers and also refused to accept the
obviousness of his own senses.
29
Descartes frequently sets his views apart from those of his predecessors. Many elements of his
philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, the revived Stoicism of the 16th century, or in
earlier philosophers like Augustine. In his natural philosophy, he differs from the schools on two
major points: First, he rejects the splitting of corporeal substance into matter and form; second, he
rejects any appeal to final ends—divine or natural—in explaining natural phenomena.[8] In his
theology, he insists on the absolute freedom of God's act of creation.
Descartes laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch
Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting
of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Leibniz, Spinoza and Descartes were all well versed in
mathematics as well as philosophy, and Descartes and Leibniz contributed greatly to science as well.
He is perhaps best known for the philosophical statement "Cogito ergo sum"
Building upon their English predecessor Francis Bacon, the two main empiricists of the 17th-century
were Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
Thomas Hobbes
Though on rational grounds a champion of absolutism for the sovereign,
Hobbes also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought:
the right of the individual; the natural equality of all men; the artificial character
of the political order (which led to the later distinction between civil
society and the state); the view that all legitimate political power must be
"representative" and based on the consent of the people; and a liberal interpretation of law which
leaves people free to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid - Social contract arguments
typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their
freedoms and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate (or to the decision of a majority),
in exchange for protection of their remaining rights.
John Locke
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of
identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such
as Hume, Rousseau, and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a
continuity of consciousness. He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate
or tabula rasa. Contrary to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts,
he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead
determined only by experience derived from sense perception.
The Soul
Socrates and Plato on The Soul
Drawing on the words of his teacher Socrates, Plato considered the psyche to be theessence of a
person, being that which decides how we behave. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal,
eternal occupant of our being. As bodies die, the soul is continually reborn in subsequent bodies.
The Platonic soul comprises three parts:
30
1. the logos, or logistikon (mind, nous, or reason) located in the head
2. the thymos, or thumetikon (emotion, or spiritedness, or masculine) located near the chest
region
3. the eros, or epithumetikon (appetitive, or desire, or feminine) located in the stomach
Each of these has a function in a balanced, level and peaceful soul. However, logos (reason) governs
the others in order for the psyche or soul to function optimally.
Plato also compares the three parts of the soul or psyche to the caste system of a society. The
three part soul is essentially the same thing as the class system in a state because, in order to
function well, each part has to make a contribution in order for the whole to function well. Logos
keeps the other functions of the soul regulated.
***
Dualism
In philosophy of mind, dualism is the position that mental phenomena are, in some respects, nonphysical, or that the mind and body are not identical.
Thus, it encompasses a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter, and is
contrasted with other positions, such as physicalism, in the mind–body problem.
Aristotle shared Plato's view of multiple souls, (ψυχή psychē) and further elaborated a hierarchical
arrangement, corresponding to the distinctive functions of plants, animals and people: a nutritive
soul of growth and metabolism, that all three share, a perceptive soul of pain, pleasure and desire,
that only people and other animals share, and the faculty of reason, that is unique to people only. In
this view, a soul is the hylomorphic form of a viable organism, wherein each level of the hierarchy
formally supervenes upon the substance of the preceding level. Thus, for Aristotle, all three souls
perish when the living organism dies.
For Plato however, the soul was not dependent on the physical body; he believed
in metempsychosis, the migration of the soul to a new physical body.
31
***
The Great Chain of Being
The great chain of being (Latin: scala naturae, literally
"ladder/stair-way of nature"), is a concept derived
from Plato, Aristotle, and Proclus; further developed
during the Middle Ages, it reached full expression in early
modern Neoplatonism.
It details a strict, religious hierarchical structure of all
matter and life, believed to have been decreed by God.
The chain starts from God and progresses downward to
angels, demons (fallen/renegade angels), stars, moon,
kings, princes, nobles, men, wild animals, domesticated
animals, trees, other plants, precious stones, precious
metals, and other minerals.
Humanity
For Medieval and Renaissance thinkers, humans occupied a unique position on the Chain of Being,
straddling the world of spiritual beings and the world of physical creation.
Humans were thought to possess divine powers such as reason, love, and imagination.
Like angels, humans were spiritual beings, but unlike angels, human souls were "knotted" to a
physical body.
As such, they were subject to passions and physical sensations—pain, hunger, thirst, sexual desire—
just like other animals lower on the Chain of the Being. They also possessed the powers of
reproduction unlike the minerals and rocks lowest on the Chain of Being.
Humans had a particularly difficult position, balancing the divine and the animalistic parts of their
nature. For instance, an angel is only capable of intellectual sin such as pride (as evidenced
by Lucifer's fall from heaven in Christian belief).
Humans, however, were capable of both intellectual sin and physical sins such as lust and gluttony if
they let their animal appetites overrule their divine reason. Humans also possessed sensory
attributes: sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. Unlike angels, however, their sensory attributes
were limited by physical organs. (They could only know things they could discern through the five
senses.) The highest-ranking human being was the King.
Animals
Animals, like humans higher on the Chain, were animated (capable of independent motion). They
possessed physical appetites and sensory attributes, the number depending upon their position
within the Chain of Being. They had limited intelligence and awareness of their surroundings. Unlike
humans, they were thought to lack spiritual and mental attributes such as immortal souls and the
ability to use logic and language. The primate of all animals (the "King of Beasts") was variously
32
thought to be either the lion or the elephant. However, each subgroup of animals also had its own
primate, an avatar superior in qualities of its type.


Mammalian Primate: Lion or Elephant

Wild Animals (large cats, etc.)

"Useful" Domesticated Animals (horse, dog, etc.)

"Tame" Domesticated Animals (housecat, etc.)
Avian Primate: Eagle

Birds of Prey (hawks, owls, etc.)

Carrion Birds (vultures, crows)

"Worm-eating" Birds (robin, etc.)

"Seed-eating" Birds (sparrow, etc.)
Note that avian creatures, linked to the element of air, were considered superior to aquatic
creatures linked to the element of water. Air naturally tended to rise and soar above the surface of
water, and analogously, aerial creatures were placed higher in the Chain.

Piscine Primate: Whale

Aquatic Mammals

Sharks

Fish of various sizes and attributes
The chart would continue to descend through various reptiles, amphibians, and insects. The higher
up the chart one went, the more noble, mobile, strong, and intelligent the creature in Renaissance
belief. At the very bottom of the animal section, we find sessile creatures like the oysters, clams,
and barnacles. Like the plants below them, these creatures lacked mobility, and were thought to
lack various sensory organs such as sight and hearing. However, they were still considered superior
to plants because they had tactile and gustatory senses (touch and taste).
***
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was
cultural of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Europe emphasizing
reason and individualism rather than tradition.
Its purpose was to reform society using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and faith,
and to advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted scientific thought, skepticism,
and intellectual interchange. The Enlightenment was a revolution in human thought. This new way
of thinking was that rational thought begins with clearly stated principles, uses correct logic to
arrive at conclusions, tests the conclusions against evidence, and then revises the principles in the
light of the evidence.
33
The Scientific Revolution is closely tied to the Enlightenment, as its discoveries overturned many
traditional concepts and introduced new perspectives on nature and man's place within it. The
Enlightenment flourished until about 1790–1800, at which point the Enlightenment, with its
emphasis on reason, gave way to Romanticism, which placed a new emphasis on emotion;
a Counter-Enlightenment began to increase in prominence. The Romantics argued that the
Enlightenment was reductionistic insofar as it had largely ignored the forces of imagination, mystery,
and sentiment.
***
Beast fable
The beast fable or beast epic, usually a short story or poem in which animals talk, is a traditional
form of allegorical writing. It is a type of fable in which human behaviour and weaknesses are
subject to scrutiny by reflection into the animal kingdom.
Important traditions in beast fables are represented by the Panchatantra and Kalila and
Dimna (Sanskrit and Arabic originals), Aesop (Greek original), One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian
Nights) and separate trickster traditions (West African and Native American). The medieval
French Roman de Reynart is called a beast-epic, with the recurring figure Reynard the fox.
**************************************************************************************
********
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St. Alban (22 January 1561 – 9
April 1626), was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist,
orator, essayist, and author.
He famously died by contracting pneumonia while studying the
effects of freezing on the preservation of meat.
On love:

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

On contrast:
In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.
On Revenge:
 In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.
On Gardens:
 “God Almighty planted a garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.”
On Ambition:
 Ambition is like choler; which is an humor that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity,
and stirring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped, and cannot have his way, it becometh
adust, and thereby malign and venomous.
34

…Ambitious men… if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent,
and look upon men and matters with an evil eye
On death:
 Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark
On love:
 The stage is more beholding to love, that the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever
matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief;
sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury.
 That it is impossible to love, and to be wise.
 Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth, and
embaseth it.
Nature of men:
 Nature is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom extinguished.
 A man's nature, runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one,
and destroy the other.
Of cunning:
 We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly there is a great difference,
between a cunning man, and a wise man; not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability.
T.S. Eliot: Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965)
was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and one of
the twentieth century's major poets.
On Marvell:
 The actual poetry, of Marvell… is a blend in varying proportions.
 His grave needs neither rose nor rue nor laurel; there is no imaginary
justice to be done; we may think about him, if there be need for thinking,
for our own benefit, not his.

The fact that of all Marvell's verse, which is itself not a great quantity, the really valuable part
consists of a very few poems indicates that the unknown quality of which we speak is
probably a literary rather than a personal quality; or, more truly, that it is a quality of a
civilization, of a traditional habit of life.

Out of that high style developed from Marlowe through Jonson (for Shakespeare does not
lend himself to these genealogies) the seventeenth century separated two qualities: wit and
magniloquence. Neither is as simple or as apprehensible as its name seems to imply, and the
two are not in practice antithetical; both are conscious and cultivated, and the mind which
cultivates one may cultivate the other.
35

It is more than a technical accomplish meet, or the vocabulary and syntax of an epoch; it is,
what we have designated tentatively as wit, a tough reasonableness beneath the slight Iyric
grace.

Marvell's best verse is the product of European, that is to say Latin, culture.

Wit is not a quality that we are accustomed to associate with 'Puritan' literature….

… the sense in which a man like Marvell is a 'Puritan' is restricted.

The persons who opposed Charles I and the persons who supported the
Commonwealth…. Many of them were gentlemen of the time who merely believed, with
considerable show of reason, that government by a Parliament of gentlemen was better than
government by a Stuart; … Being men of education and culture, even of travel, some of
them were exposed to that spirit of the age which was coming to be the French spirit of the
age. This spirit, curiously enough, was quite opposed to the tendencies latent or the forces
active in Puritanism;

… Marvell, an active servant of the public, but a lukewarm partisan, and a poet on a smaller
scale, is far less injured by it. His line on the statue of Charles II, 'It is such a King as no
chisel can mend', may be set off against his criticism of the Great Rebellion: 'Men . . ought
and might have trusted the King'.

Marvell, therefore, more a man of the century than a Puritan, speaks more clearly and
unequivocally with the voice of his literary age than does Milton.
On "To His Coy Mistress."
 The theme is one of the great traditional commonplaces of European literature. It is the
theme of 'O mistress mine,' of 'Gather ye rosebuds,' of 'Co, lovely rose'; it is in the savage
austerity of Lucretius and the intense levity of Catullus.

The verse of Marvell has not the grand reverberation of Catullus's Latin; but the image of
Marvell is certainly more comprehensive and penetrates greater depths than Horace's. A
modern poet, had he reached the height, would very likely have closed on this moral
reflection. But the three strophes of Marvell's poem have something like a syllogistic relation
to each other.

It will hardly be denied that this poem contains wit; but it may not be evident that this wit
forms the crescendo and diminuendo of a scale of great imaginative power. The wit is not
only combined with, but fused into, the imagination. We can easily recognize a witty fancy in
the successive images ('my vegetable love', 'till the conversion of the Jews'), but this fancy is
not indulged…, for its own sake. It is structural decoration of a serious idea… In fact, this
alliance of levity and seriousness (by which the seriousness is intensified) is a characteristic
of the sort of wit we are trying to identify.
On Marvell’s Wit
 It is a quality of a sophisticated literature; a quality which expands in English literature just at
the moment before the English mind altered; it is not a quality which we should expect
Puritanism to encourage.
36

With our eye still on Marvell, we can say that wit is not erudition; it is sometimes stifled by
erudition

It is not cynicism, though it has a kind of toughness which may be confused with cynicism by
the tender-minded. It is confused with erudition because it belongs to an educated mind,
rich in generations of experience; and it is confused with cynicism because it implies a
constant inspection and criticism of experience. It involves, probably, a recognition, implicit
in the expression of every experience, of other kinds of experience which are possible,
which we find as clearly in the greatest as in poets like Marvell.

…that precise taste of Marvell's which finds for him the proper degree of seriousness for
every subject which he treats.

His errors of taste, when he trespasses, are not sins against this virtue; they are conceits,
distended metaphors and similes, but they never consist in taking a subject too seriously or
too lightly.

We should find it difficult to draw any useful comparison between these lines of Shelley and
anything by Marvell…

The quality which Marvell had, this modest and certainly impersonal virtue - whether we call
it wit or reason, or even urbanity - we have patently failed to define. By whatever name we
call it, and however we define that name, it is something precious and needed and
apparently extinct; it is what should preserve the reputation of Marvell.
On Nymph and Fawn:
 Marvell's "Nymph and the Fawn," appearing more slight, is the more serious.

These verses have the suggestiveness of true poetry…

Marvell takes a slight affair, the feeling of a girl for her pet, and gives it a connection with
that inexhaustible and terrible nebula of emotion which surrounds all our exact and practical
passions and mingles with them. Again, Marvell does this in a poem which, because of its
formal pastoral machinery, may appear a trifling object…where we find that a metaphor has
suddenly rapt us to the image of spiritual purgation.

Marvell is no greater personality than William Morris, but he had something much more
solid behind him: he had the vast and penetrating influence of Ben Jonson.

Jonson never wrote anything purer than Marvell's "Horatian Ode"; this ode has that same
quality of wit which was diffused over the whole Elizabethan product and concentrated in
the work of Jonson.

And, as was said before, this wit which pervades the poetry of Marvell is more Latin, more
refined, than anything that succeeded it.
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). The Sacred Wood. 1921.
37
Ben Jonson

The immediate appeal of Jonson is to the mind; his emotional tone is not in the single
verse, but in the design of the whole.

When we say that Jonson requires study, we do not mean study of his classical scholarship
or of seventeenth-century manners. We mean intelligent saturation in his work as a whole;
we mean that in order to enjoy him at all, we must get to the centre of his work and his
temperament, and that we must see him unbiased by time, as a contemporary.

It is generally conceded that Jonson failed as a tragic dramatist; and it is usually agreed that
he failed because his genius was for satiric comedy and because of the weight of pedantic
learning with which he burdened his two tragic failures.

Jonson had his own scale, his own instrument.

Every creator is also a critic; Jonson was a conscious critic, but he was also conscious in his
creations.

The characters of Jonson, of Shakespeare, perhaps of all the greatest drama, are drawn in
positive and simple outlines.

And having a more tenuous reference, the work of Jonson is much less directly satirical.

…it is sometimes assumed that Jonson is occupied with types; typical exaggerations, or
exaggerations of type.

Jonson is the legitimate heir of Marlowe… if Marlowe is a poet, Jonson is also.

And, if Jonson’s comedy is a comedy of humours, then Marlowe’s tragedy, a large part of it,
is a tragedy of humours.

But Jonson has too exclusively been considered as the typical representative of a point of
view toward comedy. He has suffered from his great reputation as a critic and theorist,
from the effects of his intelligence.

We have been taught to think of him as the man, the dictator (confusedly in our minds
with his later namesake), as the literary politician impressing his views upon a generation;
we are offended by the constant reminder of his scholarship.

We forget the comedy in the humours, and the serious artist in the scholar. Jonson has
suffered in public opinion, as anyone must suffer who is forced to talk about his art.

If you examine the first hundred lines or more of Volpone the verse appears to be in the
manner of Marlowe, more deliberate, more mature, but without Marlowe’s inspiration.

It looks like mere “rhetoric,” certainly not “deeds and language such as men do use”! It
appears to us, in fact, forced and flagitious bombast. That it is not “rhetoric,” or at least
not vicious rhetoric, we do not know until we are able to review the whole play.
38

For the consistent maintenance of this manner conveys in the end an effect not of
verbosity, but of bold, even shocking and terrifying directness.

We have difficulty in saying exactly what produces this simple and single effect.

It is not in any ordinary way due to management of intrigue.

Jonson employs immense dramatic constructive skill: it is not so much skill in plot as skill in
doing without a plot.

In Volpone … the plot is enough to keep the players in motion; it is rather an “action” than
a plot. The plot does not hold the play together; what holds the play together is a unity of
inspiration that radiates into plot and personages alike.

We have attempted to make more precise the sense in which it was said that Jonson’s
work is “of the surface”; carefully avoiding the word “superficial.”

It is what it is; it does not pretend to be another thing. But it is so very conscious and
deliberate that we must look with eyes alert to the whole before we apprehend the
significance of any part. We cannot call a man’s work superficial when it is the creation of a
world; a man cannot be accused of dealing superficially with the world which he himself has
created; the superficies is the world.

Jonson’s characters conform to the logic of the emotions of their world.

They are not fancy, because they have a logic of their own; and this logic illuminates the
actual world, because it gives us a new point of view from which to inspect it.

A writer of power and intelligence

Jonson behaved as the great creative mind that he was: he created his own world, a world
from which his followers, as well as the dramatists who were trying to do something
wholly different, are excluded.

Mr. Gregory Smith’s objection—that Jonson’s characters lack the third dimension, have no
life out of the theatrical existence in which they appear—and demand an inquest.

It is not merely Humours: for neither Volpone nor Mosca is a humour. No theory of
humours could account for Jonson’s best plays or the best characters in them.

The creation of a work of art, we will say the creation of a character in a drama, consists in
the process of transfusion of the personality, or, in a deeper sense, the life, of the author
into the character.

The ways in which the passions and desires of the creator may be satisfied in the work of
art are complex and devious.
39

But small worlds—the worlds which artists create—do not differ only in magnitude; if they
are complete worlds, drawn to scale in every part, they differ in kind also. And Jonson’s
world has this scale.

It is not defined by the word “satire.” Jonson poses as a satirist. But satire like Jonson’s is
great in the end not by hitting off its object, but by creating it; the satire is merely the
means which leads to the æsthetic result, the impulse which projects a new world into a
new orbit.

His characters are and remain… simplified characters; but the simplification does not
consist in the dominance of a particular humour or monomania. That is a very superficial
account of it. The simplification consists largely in reduction of detail, in the seizing of
aspects relevant to the relief of an emotional impulse which remains the same for that
character, in making the character conform to a particular setting.

It is an art of caricature, of great caricature…It is a great caricature, which is beautiful; and
a great humour, which is serious. The “world” of Jonson is sufficiently large; it is a world of
poetic imagination; it is sombre.
Marvell and Jonson - Literary Context - Classical Influences:
Ovid’s Metamorphoses:
The Metamorphoses (Latin: Metamorphōseōn libri: "Books of Transformations") is a Latin narrative
poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising fifteen books and over
250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification
of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework.
Section I Book I–Book II (end, line 875): The Divine Comedy
Section II Book III–Book VI, 400: The Avenging Gods
Section III Book VI, 401–Book XI (end, line 795): The Pathos of Love
Section IV Book XII–Book XV (end, line 879): Rome and the Deified Ruler
The poem is generally considered to meet the criteria for an epic; it is considerably long, relating
over 250 narratives across fifteen books; it is composed in dactylic hexameter, the meter of both
the ancient Iliad and Odyssey, and the more contemporary epic Aeneid; and it treats the high literary
subject of myth. However, the poem "handles the themes and employs the tone of virtually every
species of literature, ranging from epic and elegy to tragedy and pastoral. Commenting on the genre
debate, G. Karl Galinsky has opined that "... it would be misguided to pin the label of any genre on
the Metamorphoses."
The recurring theme, as with nearly all of Ovid's work, is love—be it personal love or love
personified in the figure of Amor(Cupid). Indeed, the other Roman gods are repeatedly perplexed,
40
humiliated, and made ridiculous by Amor, an otherwise relatively minor god of the pantheon, who
is the closest thing this putative mock-epic has to a hero. Apollo comes in for particular
ridicule as Ovid shows how irrational love can confound the god out of reason.
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus ( c. 84 – 54 BC) was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote
in the neoteric style of poetry. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence
poetry and other forms of art.
Catullus's poems have been preserved in an anthology of 116 carmina. There is no scholarly
consensus on whether Catullus himself arranged the order of the poems. The polymetra and the
epigrams can be divided into four major thematic groups (ignoring a rather large number of poems
that elude such categorization):

Poems to and about his friends (e.g., an invitation like poem 13).

Erotic poems: some of them (50 and 99) indicate homosexual penchants, but most are
about women, especially about one he calls "Lesbia" (which served as a false name for his
married girlfriend, Clodia, source and inspiration of many of his poems).

Invectives: often rude and sometimes downright obscene poems targeted at friends-turnedtraitors (e.g., poem 16), other lovers of Lesbia, well-known poets, politicians (e.g., Julius
Caesar) and rhetors, including Cicero.

Condolences: some poems of Catullus are solemn in nature. 96 comforts a friend in the
death of a loved one; several others, most famously 101, lament the death of his brother.
Lucan
The Pharsalia (also known as De Bello Civili "On the Civil War" or also simply Bellum Civile "The
Civil War") is a Roman epic poem by the poet Lucan, telling of the civil war between Julius
Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Great. The poem's title is a
reference to the Battle of Pharsalus, which occurred in 48 BC, near Pharsalus, Thessaly, in
northern Greece. Caesar decisively defeated Pompey in this battle, which occupies all of the epic's
seventh book. Though probably incomplete, the poem is widely considered the best epic poem of
the Silver Age of Latin literature
Events throughout the poem are described in terms of insanity and sacrilege. Most of the main
characters are terribly flawed and unattractive; Caesar is cruel and vindictive, while Pompey is
ineffective and uninspiring. Far from glorious, the battle scenes are portraits of bloody horror,
where nature is ravaged to build terrible siege engines and wild animals tear mercilessly at the flesh
of the dead (perhaps reflecting the taste of an audience accustomed to the bloodlust of gladiatorial
games).
Lucan is heavily influenced by Latin poetic tradition, most notably Ovid's Metamorphoses and of
course Virgil's Aeneid, the work to which the Pharsalia is most naturally compared. Lucan frequently
appropriates ideas from Virgil's epic and "inverts" them to undermine their original, heroic purpose.
41
Sextus' visit to the Thracian witch Erichtho provides an example; the scene and language clearly
reference Aeneas' descent into the underworld (also in Book VI), but while Virgil's description
highlights optimism toward the future glories of Rome under Augustan rule, Lucan uses the scene
to present a bitter and gory pessimism concerning the loss of liberty under the coming empire.
** Thomas May published a complete translation into heroic couplets in 1626. The success of this
translation led May to write a Latin continuation of Lucan's incomplete poem. The seven books of
May's effort take the story through to Caesar's assassination.**
TASK 8: What other classical references can you find?
42
Marvell and Jonson – Key Themes
TASK 9: Fill in the chart with the main themes from both texts. Look for connections.
Themes
Where in Volpone
43
Where in Marvell’s poems
Model Answer
Read the answer below and highlight the AOs.
‘The skull lies only a little way beneath the skin.’ In the light of this view, consider ways in which
writers explore the awareness of death. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry
text from the lists above.
T S Elliot famously stated that ‘Webster saw the skull beneath the skin, and Donne such another’.
This would contradict the latter quote and suggest that John Webster and Donne both note the
importance and awareness of death at the time. In the Jacobean era, death was a common reality,
women often died in childbirth, the plague etc. There is a constant realisation of death always being
there. In the Duchess of Malfi the awareness of death is introduced to us in the first couple of lines
when Antonio speaks of the corruption of the court ‘death and disease through the whole land
spread’: already we are dealing with a society which is taken over by death. This also links to the
corruption of the court, linking to characters such as the Cardinal and Ferdinand. Death approaches
the characters in the play in various circumstances and Act 5 is mainly concerned with death and
conscience.
The realisation of death can be linked to the speaker in Donne’s poetry, his ideas of death undergo
a change. At first it may seem that ‘the skull lies a little way beneath’ with lines such as ‘death, thou
shalt die’: the speaker believes ‘rest’ is all that there is in ‘Death be not Proud’. Donne shows a
combat of death, and the speaker believes that he and his lover can ‘transcend’ death. The speakers
sense of hope that ‘none shall die’ in Good Morrow shows his sense of certainty. This is the soon
contradicted with doubt soon after, the speaker describes having ‘a sin of fear’ in Nocturnal upon
Saint Lucy - the idea of fear relates to Death. Jacobean audiences would have known that fear of an
afterlife was a great sin. Religion gave hope of a certainty beyond death, a hope of an ‘eternal
church’ which the Duchess speaks off. Yet characters are uncertain about death and what will
happen. Julia’s last lines are ‘I go I know not whither’. The overall sense of confusion about death is
clearly explored in both texts.
However, like Donne’s speaker, Webster’s characterisation of the Duchess is aware of death and
approaches it without fear (stoicism). Shortly after the marriage scene she realises she is heading
into a ‘wilderness’, the sense of awareness of what will face her. Even though she begins to question
if her and Cariola will know each other in the next world, she still realises she will enter ‘heaven’s
gates’ and also on her ‘knees’. The reason why the Duchess is such a rejoiced character, is due to
her triumph over death in contrast to her murderers. The Duchess and Antonio represent a love
that transcends death, and is not, as the Cardinal describes it, ‘an entry into some kind of prison’.
The neo-platonic nature of Antonio and the Duchess represents lovers aware of an eternal glory,
like Donne ‘if not fit for tombs’ then ‘in sonnets’ shall their love be remembered.
We are presented with a couple ‘canonised by love’ - Canonisation. Antonio’s eulogy shows how
he idolises the Duchess ‘she stains time past, and lights the time to come’: in modern productions
the Duchess is presented as a Christ-like figure, even in sacrifice. In the 2012 Old Vic production,
the Duchess is associated with light and often lights up the set. She seems triumphant throughout
44
and lives again in the echo scene. In a way, it could be read that the skull is only a little way beneath
the skin: ‘it is but a rest’ and Donne’s speaker comments on their ‘waking soul’ - Valediction
Forbidding Mourning - there is an overall sense of hope. Even the lovers are not restricted by the
time ‘nor hours, days, months’. In ‘Relic’ their love lives on.
It could be argued that neo-platonic ideals are the only way to achieve a release from death. The
characters who face a bitter awareness of death are those who are corrupt. For example, in Act 5
we see Ferdinand tormented by death, when seeing the Duchess’s body ‘his eyes dazzle’ - it’s too
much for him. This madness after leads him into a crazed imagination of false realities (believing he
is a wolf). Richard Burbage who plays the role of Othello and Ferdinand (King’s Men) would have
exhibited the same harsh imagery that both characters have: both damned by their sin and leading
them to what Bosola describes as ‘a kind of nothing’ - the tip of a triangle. Ferdinand’s ruthless
nature ‘to feed a fire as great as my revenge’ shows the way in which revenge tragedy was highly
concerned with death. Sir Francis Bacon described revenge as ‘a kind of wild justice’ in which those
seeking revenge all die! Links to ‘The Apparition’ ‘O murderesse, I am dead’. None of the avengers
have a sense of a life after death. Like the Cardinal, the bad are haunted by death and and the
damning they will expect ‘I see a thing armed with a rake’.
[The] Cardinal, the religious figure in the play, even displays a confusion about death. This
internalised guilt shows in Act 5, when he engages in his first theological debate ‘I am puzzled in a
question about hell’. His unawareness and uncertainty would have been viewed as a sin at the time.
Even so Ferdinand wishes to bring ‘despair’ on the Duchess, but doesn’t succeed. The Cardinal
becomes warped with fear and his dying word shows his bitter self-realisation when he doesn’t
want to be remembered. This anti-Catholicism would have been favoured in a period when the
Protestants ruled and the Papacy presented a corrupt state of affairs. 13 The speaker in ‘Batter my
Heart’ can be linked to the character of the Cardinal: ‘betroth’d to the Enemy’ - he has married sin
and with that comes the guilt and weariness - he wants to be forgiven.
Meanwhile Webster presents the corruption of the court: Donne presents the corruption of love
and has been called at times nothing other than a misogynist. The speaker’s link to female’s and
death is key. In ‘Love’s Alchemy’, women ‘sweet and wit at best, but mummy’s possessed’. This
negative view on women reflects Bosola’s answer to the Duchess ‘thou are a box of wormseed, ....
a green salvatory mummy’. Women were closely linked with death and emptiness. Once the
Duchess loses her good name, she is nothing. Ferdinand continues to ‘damn that body of hers’.
Rupert Brooke has generalised the ‘Duchess of Malfi’ as a play of ‘maggot’, symbolising the eaten
flesh, the death that haunts the character. However, the Duchess triumphs over mysogynistic
claims, and represents a strong character not scared to die; ‘whether I am doomed to live or die, I
can do both like a prince’, when saying this to Ferdinand in Act 3. This shows Webster as a
‘protofeminist’ according to Luckyj, a character defining herself as prince displaying her strong
(masculine) nature. The Duchess is aware of her fate but still stands strong - those otherwise
should be ‘pitied rather than feared’. By Webster removing the protagonist a scene earlier, it
comically contrasts with the all male affair displaying ‘havoc’ of men who have no control. The
malcontent Bosola bitterly remarks ‘O this gloomy world, womanish and fearful doth mankind live’.
Men are becoming women, [showing] a weakness which the Duchess doesn’t display. The use of
45
metadrama takes away from the awareness of the cruelty we see, in death. ‘I have often seen it in a
play’ and when the Duchess accounts this world ‘nothing but a tedious theatre’. Contrasting this
with the horror ‘I will boil her bastards into cullis’. This horror would have been favoured more so
in World War 2 after Nazi tortures: audiences were much more aware of death and a growing
popularity of the play returned.
Both writers display an awareness of death internally and externally showing how the skull can lie
deep beneath the skin. The comic way in which the men die in Act 5 symbolises the detachment
from neoplatonic love which Donne’s speaker swears by, equal in love through it ‘both sexes fit’
and also triumphant in death through it ‘canonised by love’. Characters such as Ferdinand and the
Cardinal would be an example of those who ‘beg’ a ‘pattern’ of their love. The brother in the play
will never find peace and hope of an ‘Eternal Church’. Despite bitter realisations of death, in both
Donne and Webster we still see a positive representation of Death. In ‘Hymne to God the Father’,
Donne speaks of having ‘more’, a pun which can relate to always having Anne (his wife) in his heart,
which thus makes him ‘fear no more’.
TASK 10: What did they do well? What could be improved?
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Past Questions
TASK11: In pairs, work through the question and make a mind map of the most
common themes and questions. Then, link them to poems, and scenes from Volpone.
January 2010:
1. ‘Flawed characters are always more memorable than any moral lessons that literature seeks
to draw from them.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present characters’ flaws and failings.
In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Of all the emotions that drive us, fear is the strongest.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore the power of fear. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘The more intense the passion, the more bitter its effects.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore intense emotion. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘The pleasures of pursuit are greater than the thrill of conquest.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present seduction and its
consequences. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘Vanity drives us, and can all too easily destroy us.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore the power of vanity. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘By inviting us to laugh at foolishness, writers encourage us to laugh at ourselves.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers use mockery and humour. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
June 2010:
1. ‘There is a tension between the attractiveness of wrongdoing and fear of its consequences.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore aspects of wrongdoing. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘For women, sex is a means to an end, for men, it is an end in itself.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore differing attitudes to sex. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘It is the processes of argument and persuasion which most strongly engage us.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers use argument and persuasion. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘The struggle with God is all-consuming and passionate.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore relationships with God. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘It is their weaknesses which make heroic characters interesting.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present heroic characters. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
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6. ‘Pride is inseparable from foolishness.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore the nature of pride. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
January 2011:
1. ‘Appetite – whether for power, knowledge, sex or money – is a destructive force.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present appetite. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Love is a restless emotion, driving growth and change.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore the power and effects of love.
In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘Life is a game of chance, in which skilful players risk everything.;
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore risk and chance. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘Temptation arises from a willingness to be tempted.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present temptation and its results. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘Happiness – a state to which all aspire, but few will ever reach.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present the search for happiness. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘Irony exposes the gap between the way things appear to be and the way they are.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers make use of irony. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
June 2011:
1. ‘Evil characters are lonely characters – and their isolation fascinates us.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers portray the isolation of evil
characters. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Desire dazzles and destroys people like moths in a candle-flame.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present intense desires and their
consequences. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘Women are the subtler sex: more varied in their attractions, more ingenious in their
stratagems.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present women. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘Masks, poses, facades, deceptions – all are weapons in the battle of life.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present disguise and deception. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘In literature, the main purpose of setting is to intensify the presentation of character.’
In the light of the view, discuss the effects writers create by their use of settings. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘We are both fascinated by and repelled by the obsession of others.’
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In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers portray obsession and its effects.
In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
January 2012:
1. ‘Words can entice us, can compel us, can ensnare us.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers present persuasive or seductive uses
of language. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘We admire defiance and disobedience – especially in the face of the inevitable.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore defiance and disobedience. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘There is a fine line between heroism and foolishness.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore heroism. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘Because we know we must die, we live all the more intensely.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers portray the idea of living life to the
full. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘Laughter is always dangerous.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers use humour. In your answer, compare
one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘Love is the most selfish of emotions.’
In the light of the view, discuss ways in which writers explore love. In your answer, compare
one drama text and one poetry text.
June 2012:
1. ‘People will do anything, no matter how foolish, to get what they want.’
In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers represent ambition. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Sin must bring punishment. Sinners expect it; readers and audiences demand it!’
In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers portray sin and punishment. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘Strong emotions demand intense and vivid expression.’
In the light of this view, consider the uses which writers make of passionate language. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘We are little battlefields: in us, reason and emotion are constantly at war.’
In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers explore conflicts between reason and
emotion. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘The skull only lies a little way beneath the skin.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore awareness of death. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘Mockery makes us wiser.’
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In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers make use of satire. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
January 2013:
1. ‘Humour helps us come to terms with human weakness.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers use humour. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Writers, readers and audiences delight in the spectacle of sinfulness.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present sinfulness. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘Pride goes before a fall: the greater the pride, the harder the fall.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers portray pride and its consequences.
In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘Love is a kind of madness.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers portray love and its effects. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘In literature, the use of time is always significant.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers make use of time. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘Life goes on but literary texts must end.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers end their texts. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
June 2013:
1. ‘To embrace love is to embrace danger.’
In the light of this view, discuss writers’ treatment of love. In your answer, compare one
drama text and one poetry text.
2. ‘Forbidden pleasures are the best.’
In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers portray the pursuit and the
consequences of pleasure. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
3. ‘Literature explores the conflict between order and chaos.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present order and chaos. In your
answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
4. ‘Power is inevitably a source of corruption.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers explore power and corruption. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
5. ‘The fascination of innocence lies in its fragility.’
In the light of this view, consider ways in which writers present innocence. In your answer,
compare one drama text and one poetry text.
6. ‘Verbal wit is women’s strongest weapon.’
In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers portray women’s use of language. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
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Revision Links
King Lear
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http://www.srvc.net/engl154/html_files/KingLear-Background.htm
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/english-literature/king-lear/revise-it/plot-summary
http://mrmorgans13english.pbworks.com/f/schoolweb.pdf
Volpone
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http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/volpone/
http://www.gradesaver.com/volpone/study-guide/section7/
http://www.memrise.com/course/105044/quotations-from-jonsons-volpone/
Andrew Marvell
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http://www.gradesaver.com/andrew-marvell-poems/
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/marvbio.htm
https://hiddencause.wordpress.com/tag/andrew-marvell/
http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/marvell-per-newcrits.html
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/marvellsociety/category/article/
http://www.shmoop.com/a-dialogue-between-the-soul-and-body/
http://www.shmoop.com/to-his-coy-mistress/
http://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/the-garden.html
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