Speech

    England has a big heritage of gifted writers and artisans. John Wycliffe (1320-1384), a professor at Oxford University, wrote in the middle Ages. With the help of his students Wycliffe translated the Bible into English. His teaching had a strong influence on Jan Hus in Bohemia.

   Geoffrey Chaucer (1345-1400) lived and worked in the second half of the l4th century. His work is seen as a bridge between the medieval and Renaissance periods. His greatest work, a poem called Canterbury Tales, is a brilliant portrait of 30 pilgrims who travel to Canterbury and each tells four stories. The poem provides a graphic picture of l4th century English society.

    In 1476 a wealthy merchant, William Caxton, introduced printing in England. The availability of books helped the development of English into a common language, and made the writings of England‘s authors available to many more people.

    The period of the Renaissance was a time of great affluence and cultural activity in Europe. During this era, known also as the Elizabethan age, English explorers discovered new lands and military leaders won famous battles. Under the rule of Queen Elizabeth 1(1558-1603) England became prosperous, added new colonies, and began to grow into a powerful world empire.

    The greatest dramatist of the English Renaissance period was William Shakespeare (1564-16 16). Indeed, he is considered to be the greatest dramatists of all time in the world. His writings, in many ways, helped create the English language. Shakespeare‘s plays and poems are still studied by students of the English language around the world.

William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare, the English poet and playwright, is often described as the greatest writer in the English language. He was born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. In 1588, he moved to London and joined a theater company called the Chamberlain‘s Men. He began writing plays and poetry. His best-known poems are “The Sonnets“ (poems of 14 lines). They are a series of love poems written to an unknown “dark lady“. Some express the author’s devotion to a handsome man, some are written to dark lady, unfriendly but fascinating whom the writer loves, some are about a stolen mistress. Shakespeare returned to Stratford-on-Avon in 1611 and died the day after a boisterous celebration of his birthday in 1616.

    In 1592 he came to London and joined a group of actors (called the Lord Chamberlains Men, than the Kings Men) under the patronage of James I. In 1599 he bought the Globe Theatre. First hoe helped adapt older plays but later he started to write his own plays and he was very successful. Both Queen Elizabeth I. and James I. like him very much. His plays were first published in 1623, after his death. After sons death he went back to Stratford and lived a quiet life with his family. He died on the same day as he was born. He is buried at local Church.

    He wrote 37 plays – history plays, comedies and tragedies, 2 epic poems and 154 sonnets. His work is so large, that it becomes speculation, if he is the real author of that plays.

His heroes are renaissance person: he decides under his own will or feelings, the God stay instead. He showed mastery all sides of human seal, problems of social and political life. His first comedies are light farces, then romantic features prevail and in some a rather tragically note is hidden. Than there is romantic period. His last plays are balanced and wise romances

Theatre

    Elizabethan company: about 12 actors the 1st night every 15 days (long and a lot of roles in dramas). 20 days for rewriting the texts, all the roles, new costumes and decorations => actors had to be intellectually of high standard, good memory ÷ lots of them writers, painters or musicians. 500 actors in Elizabethan period (a real name was “play-maker“). Half of them were educated at Universities.

    Early plays: looking for new forms and contents fight of the good and evil inside the man. He came out of older plays because the Renaissance aim was not to discover new themes but to enrich old themes: the older and more famous, the better.

Historical plays

“King Richard III. “: the titan, terrible, cruel, clever but a real man with all the human qualities (he needs friends, he feels his loneliness.) he murdered several people to become king and was killed at the battle of Bosworth Field.

“Henry IV.“ “Henry V.,‘

“Antony and Cleopatra“

Comedies and tragicomedies

“The Merchant of Venice“ (kupec benátský) - the stereotyped “wicked Jew“ named Shylock. But he is not only a cruel moneylender who wants to have a pound of his debtor‘s flesh. He is the victim of the anti-semite contempt who can cry out in protest that the Jew has eyes and hands, passion like other men.

“As You Like It“

“Twelfth Night“ (Večer tříkrálový)

“The Taming of the Shrew“ (Zkrocení zlé ženy)

“A Midsummer Night Dream“ (sen noci svatojánské)- the peak of his comedies; three parallel plots: love between two young people, the story of the fairy king Oberon and his queen Titania (with elfs) and actors who are rehearsing a play in the forest.

“A comedy of errors” - Two sets of twin boys were separated at birth and know nothing of their twin. One set of twins is employed as servants to the other set. Much confusion arises when they au four come to the same city.

Tragedies

“Romeo and Juliet” - The play is set in Verona in Italy and tells the story of two young people, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love although they are from families who are enemies. They marry secretly but are unable to live together and finally kill themselves. The most famous scene is the ‘balcony scene‘. The musical ‘West Side Story‘ is based on the play.

“Othello“ - the study of disorder in the sexual and domestic life; Othello is passionate, sincere and honest, Iago is a cruel man (Villain) who longs for power. He manipulates Othello into the murder of his wife Desdemona though she is innocent.

 “Macbeth“ - the tragedy of ambition which leads to numerous murders. First there is the temptation (prophecy of witches) which lures M. to murder his king, his guest and others. He is supported by his ambitious wife Lady Macbeth.

“Hamlet, Prince of Denmark“ - Hamlet’s uncle murdered his brother and succeeded to the throne. Hamlet sees the apparition of his dead father and wants to make revenge. He pretends to be mad and organizes a theatrical performance during which the murder is reacted. By mistake he kills Ophelia‘s father and is sent to England to be killed. He returns and at the end au the heroes die. It is a tragedy of an honest man who hesitates (“to be, or not to be“) and can‘t kill the man. He is an intellectual, too just to try to kill anybody.

“King Lear“ - about family relations and treason. It shows a chaos in a state which isn‘t governed by a strong ruler. Only after being teachered, King Lear sets on pilgrimage and comes to self knowledge. But it is too late to change the fate of his beloved. A tragedy is about Lear, a British king who divides his land and possessions among his daughters. Lear foolishly gives a share each to the two older daughters, Regan and Goneril, who are greedy and cruel, but refuses to give anything to the youngest, Cordelia, who is honest and loyal. Regan and Goneril later treat Lear badly and Cordelia finally comes to rescue him with a French army. In the battle that follows, however, she is captured and killed. Lear dies too and the play ends. It is best known for its speeches about parents and children.

Romances

“The Winter‘s Tale” (1610) - It begins sadly and ends happily. Leontes, king of Sicilia, thinks that his wife is not faithful. Re puts her in prison and orders his baby daughter to be left on a “desert shore“. Re believes that they are both dead, and feels very sorry for what he has done. His daughter, however, is found by a shepherd and grows up to become a shepherd herself. When she falls in love with a prince they run away together to Sicilia. There, Leontes recognizes his daughter and finds out that his wife is also alive. The young lovers are married and the king and queen are united again.