Lecture Four
The Renaissance &
William Shakespeare
Teaching Objectives
Know the general characteristics of English
Renaissance;
 Know the important writers and their works;
 Understand the story of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet and Sonnets 18 and 29; analyze the
story Hamlet;
 Know Shakespeare’s contribution to English
literature.

The English Renaissance
(1500-1625)

Social and political background:
an epoch of social and cultural
development embracing all Europe ;
first in Italy in the 14th century, and
gradually spread all over Europe.
 the
term means a rebirth or
fresh beginning, it refers to the
revival of interest in the Greek
and Latin culture, and its
influence was not confined to
science，literature, music and
arts, but affected the whole
development of civilization.

According to the conventional accounts, the
scholars and artists involved in this rebirth
aspired to match the cultural achievements of
the great civilizations of Greece and Rome.
Innovators in all creative fields modeled their
works on examples set by the surviving
fragments of the classical heritage: literary
works, philosophical and scientific treatises,
surviving paintings on walls or vases, statues
and buildings. These artists and intellectuals
believed they would produce a humane
civilization in Europe equal to what they
perceived to be the humane civilizations of
Greece and Rome.
The contents of the English
Renaissance: Humanism
 taking
interest in the welfare of human
beings, they praised man and his
pursuit of freedom, equality and
happiness in this life.
 emphasizing the dignity of human
beings and the importance of this life,
they voiced human’s rights and ability
to fight and mould the world.
attacking
the old feudal rule
and condemning political
oppression and religious
persecution.
Two striking features of this
movement

A. A thirsting curiosity for classical
literature.
Old manuscripts were dug out. There arose
a general revival of the study of Greek and
Latin authors. While people learned to
admire their works as models of literary form
they also caught sth very different in spirit
from the medieval Catholic dogma. So the
love of classics was in fact also an
expression of the general dissatisfaction
with the catholic and feudal ideas.

B. The keen interest in life and human
activities.
People ceased to look upon themselves as living
only for God and a future world. Thinkers, artists,
and poets showed their admiration for human
beauty and human achievements. So arose
humanism—the key-note of the Renaissance,
reflecting the new outlook of the rising bourgeois.
Ideas: both man and world are hindered from
infinite improvement by external restricts; man
could mould the world according to his desires,
and attain happiness by removing all external
checks by the exercise of human reason

文艺复兴是漫长的中世纪黑暗混沌时期以后从14
世纪到16世纪遍及欧洲许多国家的文化和思想运
动，是文学艺术和科学的繁荣发展时代。它以复
兴灿烂辉煌的希腊、罗马古典文化为契机和形式，
实质上却是新兴的资产阶级文化的萌芽，它表现
出反封建、反教会文化的强烈倾向。文艺复兴始
于意大利，后来发展到欧洲各国，英国起步较晚。
15世纪后半期到17世纪是英国社会政治、经济方
面巨大而深刻的变动、文学艺术出现空前高涨和
繁荣时代。这一时期的欧洲社会经历了深刻的变
化：工商业的发展，王权的巩固，海外的扩张与
殖民，地理与科学的新发现，社会生活的世俗化，
德英法等国先后进行的宗教改革等极大地开阔了
人们的眼界，促进了资本主义经济的发展，鼓励
人们进一步探索人存在的价值和现实生活的意义。

文艺复兴倡导人文主义思想。人文主义指出关心人，尊
重人，以“人”为本的世界观，反对中世纪以“神”为
中心的世界观，对抗神的权威。它反对宗教的苦行禁欲
主义思想，提倡积极进取、享受现实欢乐的生活理想。
它反对神权，肯定个人追求财富、幸福和爱情的权利，
要求解放个性。它反对蒙昧主义和神秘主义，提倡理性
和追求知识，发展个人才智。反对封建迫害，提倡仁慈
博爱和友谊平等，并积极推进学术，传播科学知识和国
家统一等新思想，对封建制度、宗教禁欲主义和上层僧
侣的腐败虚伪则进行了无情的嘲讽和抨击。文艺复兴时
期的文学正是以人文主义思想为内容的。意大利诗人但
丁，彼得拉克，小说家薄伽丘等是意大利和欧洲早期的
人文主义杰出的代表。人文主义是资产阶级上升时期反
封建、反教会的思想武器，表现出蓬勃的革命朝气和乐
观的战斗精神，在当时具有进步意义。
Three periods of the English
Renaissance
 The
first period called the
beginning of the Renaissance
(1516-1578), characterized by
imitation and assimilation in style
and represented by Surrey’s（萨
里） blank verse and Thomas
More’s Utopia.
 The
second period known as the
flowering time of the Renaissance
(1578 -1625), in the Elizabethan Age,
regarded as the flowering time of
English literature and the highest glory
of Renaissance with representative
authors as Shakespeare (great
comedies, tragedies, historical plays
and sonnets) and Francis Bacon’s
prose.
 The
third period(1625-1660 ), the
epilogue (ending, last part) of the
Renaissance represented by The King
James’s Bible with clearness, brevity
and precision as its features. Apart
from its religious influence, the version
has had a great influence on English
language and literature. The standard
modern English has been fixed and
confirmed.
Statue of Shakespeare
‘What piece of work is a
man, how noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties, in
form and moving how
express and admirable, in
action how like an angel,
in apprehension how like a
god: the beauty of the
world, the paragon of
animals—and yet, to me,
what is this quintessence
of dust? Man delights not
me...’ (Act Two, Scene
Two, Arden)
William Shakespeare
“What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how
express and admirable, in action how like an angel,
in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the
world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what
is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me...”
“人类是一件多么了不得的杰作! 多么高贵的理性!多么伟大
的力量!多么优美的仪表!多么文雅的举止!在行为上多么
像一个天使!在智慧上多么像一个天神! 宇宙的精华! 万
物的灵长! 可是在我看来，这一个泥土塑成的生命算得
了什么？”
William Shakespeare(1564-1616)
William Shakespeare belongs to those rare
geniuses who have become landmarks in the
history of world culture. He is generally
considered the greatest dramatist in human
history, the supreme poet of the English language
and one of the first founders of realism. His
brilliant works are universally celebrated for their
comprehensive understanding of the human
condition.
Shakespeare’s life






born on April 23rd, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon,
Warwickshire
went to school at 7 and had to leave school six
years later and helped his father in the trade
a legend of him
an actor and playwright in one of the leading
companies of players, and later on a shareholder
of the theater
in 1582, married
in 1616,died
Shakespeare’s Burial Site
William Shakespeare, died on April 23, 1616, and was
buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-uponAvon, Warwickshire, shown here.
The Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre, where dramatist William Shakespeare saw his plays
performed 400 years ago, has been rebuilt near its original location on the
south bank of the Thames River in London, England. The rebuilt theater
opened in 1997 and offers performances of Shakespeare’s plays during the
summer. The rebuilt theater encloses a roofless inner pit, into which the
roofed stage projects. Traditional materials were used in the rebuilding. A
thatched roof covers the galleries where the audience sits, and the outer walls
are made of lime plaster.
Globe Theatre Interior
Audience members at the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London can sit
on benches in one of the three covered galleries or stand in the open yard,
just as audiences did in the original Globe Theatre of Shakespeare’s time.
The projecting stage has a thatched roof and an elaborately decorated back
wall. Large oak pillars, painted to look like marble, support a canopy,
which has been painted to represent the heavens.
Shakespeare’s Works
His complete works include 37 plays, 2
narrative poems and 154 sonnets.
 He is mainly famous for his great plays,
especially the outstanding “Four Great
Tragedies”. (“Hamlet”, “King Lear”, “Othello”
and “Macbeth”)
 Shakespeare’s sonnets are also very good.
We’ll first introduce Sonnet 18, the most
famous sonnet written by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s Comedy
Comedy, drama that aims to make its audience
laugh, usually with a happy or amusing ending,
as opposed to tragedy. Comedy is associated
with humorous behavior, wordplay, pleasurable
feeling, release of tension, and laughter. It
generally follows a fixed pattern of theatrical
surprises that leads to a sense of exhilaration in
the spectator. Of all dramatic genres, comedy is
the most widely performed.
Shakespeare’s Tragedies
• Tragedies were concerned with the
harshness and apparent injustice of life.
They involved the trials and the final
death of a hero who was an important
person and whose death led to the
downfall of others. Often, a hero’s fall
from happiness was due to a weakness in
his character.
Shakespeare’s Comedies
Title
Written
Title
Written
The Tempest（暴风雨）
1611
As You Like it（皆大
1599
The Two Gentlemen of
Verona（维洛那两绅士）
1594
The Taming of the
Shrew（驯悍记）
1593
Measure for Measure
1604
All’s Well That Ends
Well（终成眷属）
1602
1592
Twelfth Night（第十
1601
1598
Pericles, Prince of
Tyre（泰而亲王西功克
（一报还一报）
The Comedy of Errors
（错误的喜剧）
Much Ado About
Nothing（无事生非）
欢喜）
二夜）
1608
斯）
Love’s Labor Lost（爱的
徒劳）
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream（仲夏夜之梦）
1594
The Winter’s Tale（冬 1610
1595
The Merchant of
1600
The Merry Wives of
Windsor（温莎的风流娘们）
天的故事）
Venice
（威尼斯商人）
1596
Shakespeare’s Comedies
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Fairies emerge from doorways
in space, and Bottom’s bed hangs
suspended before the moon in this
1998 production of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream at the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland,
Oregon. The set, lighting, staging,
and costumes all combine to
intensify the play’s enchanted,
unreal atmosphere.
Scene from As You Like It
Shakespeare’s second period, encompassing the mid and late-1590s,
is characterized by comedies and histories. The scene pictured here
is from a 20th century production of As You Like It (1599-1600),
one of Shakespeare’s best-known comedies.
Shakespeare’s Tragedies
Title
Written Title
The Tragedy of
Coriolanus
1607
Hamlet（汉姆雷特）
1601
Titus Andronicus
1593
King Lear（李尔王）
1605
1594
Othello（奥赛罗）
1604
1607
Antony and
Cleopatra
1607
Julius Caesar（裘里
1599
Cymbeline（辛白林）
1609
Macbeth（麦克白）
1605
Troilus and Cressida
1601
（泰特斯 安特罗尼
斯）
Romeo and Juliet
（罗密欧与朱丽叶）
Timon of Athens
（雅典的泰门）
斯 凯撒）
Written
Study Guide Questions
1.
What is meant by the question, "To be or not to be . . . "?
2. What does Hamlet mean by "noble"?
3. What are "slings and arrows"?
4. Give a synonym for "fortune" in this context.
5. What is Hamlet referring to when he speaks of ending a sea
of troubles?
6. To what does Hamlet compare death?
7. Define consummation in this context.
8. Why is this "a consummation devoutly to be wished"?
9. Define "contumely."
10. What does life consist of according to Hamlet?
Melancholy Hamlet
Hamlet’s attitude is
different in ‘To be,
or not to be’. He
asks himself about
death beyond
religious
considerations; the
nature of his
dilemma has
changed, as Hamlet
tells us with a lucid
simplicity.
Study Guide Questions
10. How does one make a "quietus . . . with a bare
bodkin"?
11. How could you summarize Hamlet’s problems?
12. According to Hamlet, why do we bear fardels?
13. What does Hamlet refer to as "the
undiscovered country"?
14. Define "bourn."
15. According to the passage, what do we dread?
16. How does our "conscience . . . make cowards
of us all"?
17. What does Hamlet mean when he says, "the
native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o'er with
the pale cast of thought..."?
18. What is Hamlet trying to excuse at the end of
the soliloquy?
Melancholy Hamlet
Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain?
breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and
blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose?
gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs?
我是不是个懦夫?
有谁能指责我是个恶棍, 敲我
的脑袋, 扭我的鼻子,
揪掉我的胡须然後吹它於我脸
上, 斥骂我是个无耻的谎者?
谁能对我如此?
The Drowning of
Ophelia
The watercolor is
especially striking in
its visualization -- the
almost identical vacant
expression on the face- the white dress that
billows over the water
to suggest the wings of
an angel.
Probably this is the most famous image of Ophelia. The model
was Elizabeth Siddal, painted by John Everett Millais, 1852
Quotations
Frailty, thy name
is woman .
To be or not to be,
that is the
question.
The time is out of
joint; O cursed
spite, That ever I
was born to set it
right!
•Juliet: O Romeo, O Romeo!
wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse they
name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be sworn
my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
--- Act Two, Scene II, line 33.
Juliet: What's in a name? That
which we call a rose
By any other name would smell
as sweet:
--- Act Two, Scene II, line 43.
Shakespearean Sonnets
 foot/feet (metrical feet音步): unit
of rhythm in a line of poetry
containing one stressed syllable
and one or more unstressed
syllables, as in the four divisions
of : for men /may come/ and men
/may go.
 rhyme: sameness of sound
between words or syllables,
esp. the endings of lines of
verse, as in day, away; visit, it.
 rhyme scheme: form of words
that sound same but not the
same words, usu. expressed in
the form of letters such as
aabbcc, meaning two lines of
verse rhyme with each other.(押
韵格式，常用字母表示，如
aabbcc表示两行诗的押韵格式)
 Stanza:
group of (esp. rhyming)
lines forming a unit in the same
type of poem.
 Quatrain: poem consisting of four
lines.
 Couplet: two successive lines of
verse of equal strength.
 Iambus:
metrical foot in poetry
consisting of one unstressed syllable
followed by one stressed syllable.
 Iambic pentameter: line of verse with
five metrical feet, each consisting of
one unstressed syllable followed by
one stressed syllable.
 Blank verse: verse written in lines of
usu. Ten syllables, without rhyme.
 The
sonnet is a lyric poem
consisting of a single stanza of
fourteen iambic pentameter lines
with a rigid rime-scheme. This
verse form was first employed by
the Italian poets in the early
period of the Renaissance in the
hands of Dante and especially of
Petrarch.

It was introduced into England in the 16th
century, and adopted by many English poets,
with chiefly two variants: the Italian or
Petrarchan sonnet form and the English or
Shakespearean. The chief difference
between the two forms lies in their two
different rime schemes: abba, abba, cdcdcd
or abba, abba, cdecde for the Italian form and
abab, cdcd, efef, gg for the English form. All
of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets belong to the
latter type.
Shakespearean Sonnets
18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature's changing course
untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Study Questions






Why does the poet compare `thee` to a summer’s day?
And who could `thee` be?
What picture have you got of English summer, and
could you explain why?
How does the poet answer the question he puts forth
in the first line?
What makes the poet think that “thou” can be more
fair than summer and immortal?
What figures of speech are used in this poem?
What is the theme of the poem?
Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Sonnet 18 deals with the conventional theme that
natural beauty will surely be knocked out with
the passing of time and that only art (poetry )
can bring eternity to the one the poet loves and
eulogizes.
Metre:
Shall I compare thee to a sum mer’s day ?
Thou art more love ly and
more tem perate.
a
b
Rough winds do shake the dar ling buds of may,
a
And sum mer’s lease hath all too short a date.
b
Iambus（抑扬格） Iambic Foot（抑扬音步）
5-foot Iambus
(Iambic Pentameter) （五步抑扬格）
Sonnet
18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
a
b
a
b
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines ,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d.
c
d
c
d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
e
f
e
f
So long as man can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
g
g
Sonnet
18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
a
b
Introduction
(起
a)
b
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
c
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
d
Elucidation
(承
And every fair from fair sometime declines ,
c)
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d.
d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
e
Transition
f
(转)
e
f
So long as man can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Conclusion
( g合 )
g
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
我能否把你比作夏季的一天？
你可是更加可爱，更加温婉；
狂风会吹落五月的娇花嫩瓣，
夏季出租的日期又未免太短；
有时候苍天的巨眼照得太灼热，
他金光闪耀的圣颜也会被遮暗；
每一样美呀，总会失去美而凋落，
被时机或者自然的代谢所摧残；
但是你永久的夏天绝不会凋枯，
你永远不会丧失你美的形象；
死神夸不着你在他影子里踯躅，
你将在不朽的诗中与时间同在。
只要人类在呼吸，眼睛看得见，
我这诗就活着，使你的生命延续。
------屠 岸译
Sonnet 29
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
a
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
b
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
a
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
b
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
c
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, d
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
c
With what I most enjoy contented least;
d
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
e
Haply I think on thee --- and then my state,
a
Like to the lark at break of day arising
e
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate,
a
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings g
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
g
This sonnet also belongs to the English or
Shakespearean type. There is an imperfect
rime in “possessed” and “least” (in the 6th
and 8th lines).
 Shakespeare is supposed to reveal his own
feelings and thoughts, esp. in the first octet
(octave: the first eight lines of a sonnet).
 (theme) The poet complains of his own
miseries and dissatisfaction in life and then
becomes happy upon the thought of the one
he loves. From it we may see that the poet
is optimistic and bravely faces troubles in life.















我一旦失去了幸福，又遭人白眼，
就独自哭泣，叹人家把我抛弃，
白白地用哭喊来麻烦聋耳的苍天，
又看看自己，只痛恨时运不济，
愿自己像人家那样：会前程远大，
或一表人才，或胜友如云广交谊，
想有这人的见识，那人的才华，
于自己平素最得意的，倒最不满意；
但在这几乎是自轻自贱的思绪里，
我偶尔想到了你啊，---我的心怀
顿时想破晓的云雀从阴郁的大地
冲上了天门，歌唱起赞美诗来；
我怀着你的厚爱，如获至宝，
教我不屑把处境跟帝王对调。
He was not of an age, but for all time.
Ben Jonson
他不属于一个时代，而是属于永远。
本 琼森（莎士比亚同时
代的戏剧家）