第2章 英国文艺复兴
2.1 复习笔记
Ⅰ. Background Knowledge—Old England in Transition（背景知识——过渡中的英国）
1．Political & Religious Movements（政治和宗教运动）
(1) The New Monarchy（新君主政权）
After England having experienced the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) and the War of the Roses (1455-1485), the Tudor Dynasty was established by the end of the War of the Roses. It was a centralized monarchy of a totally new type.
英国在经历了百年大战（1337-1453）和玫瑰战争（1455-1485）之后，一个高度中央集权的都铎王朝顺势而生。
(2) The Reformation（宗教改革）
①The Reformation in England is not only a religious movement, but also a political struggle between the monarch and the bishop.
②It was started by Henry Ⅷ (1509-1547) to get rid of the international regime of the Roman Catholic Church and to establish an absolute monarchy.
③He declared the break with Rome, and suppressed the monasteries and confiscated the property of the Church, thus enriching the new bourgeois nobility. Then the new religious dogma known as Protestantism had been developed.
①英国宗教改革不只是一场宗教运动，更是一场君主和教士之间的较量。
②它是由亨利八世（1509-1547）发起的，旨在摆脱罗马天主教的高于国王的权威并建立绝对权力的君主政体。
③他宣布与罗马天主教破裂，并且镇压僧侣，将教堂的财产充公，因此新兴资产阶级获得发展。与此同时，新教得以发展。
2．Economic Movements（经济运动）
The political and religious turmoils of the age were but the reflection of the changes in the national economy of England which developed at a slow but steady pace.
这个时期的政治和宗教动乱只是对国民经济变动的反映。英国经济发展缓慢但在稳步前进。
(1) The Enclosure Movement（圈地运动）
①From the 15th century on, England developed from being a mere producer of wool to being a manufacturer of cloth.
②The Enclosure Movement stimulated the development of the clothing industry on a capitalist line; also it produced the helpless, dispossessed peasants who became hired labourers for merchants. These labourers were the fathers of modern English proleterians.
①从15世纪开始，英国从单纯的羊毛制造商发展成为布料制造者。
②圈地运动刺激了布料工业资本主义化，同时也产生了一批无助无财产的农民，他们最后变成了商人的劳工。他们就是现代英国无产阶级之父。
(2) The Commercial Expansion（贸易扩张）
The progress in industry at home stimulated the commercial expansion abroad. Queen Elizabeth encouraged exploration and travel. Numerous English ships visited America and other distant countries and established the first English colonies.
国内工业的发展刺激了海外贸易扩张。伊丽莎白女王鼓励海外探索。无数英国商船到达了美国及其他国家，同时也建立了第一批英国殖民地。
3．The War with Spain（与西班牙海战）
In 1588, a war between Spain and England broke out. It ended with the defeat of Spain, which declared the triumph of the rising young bourgeoisie over the declining old feudalism.
1588年，英国与西班牙之间爆发海战，结果西班牙大败，这宣告了年轻的资本主义国家战胜了腐朽的封建主义国家。
4．William Caxton & Printing（威廉·卡克斯顿和印刷术）
The Renaissance was slow in reaching England. The introduction of printing to England by William Caxton (1476) brought classical works within reach of the common people. It had a great significance in fixing a national language in England and to the development of English culture as a whole.
文艺复兴很晚才传到英国。威廉·卡克斯顿将印刷术引进到英国，这使普通平民也可以读古典作品。这对于形成一种国家语言和国家文化的发展具有重要意义。
5．The Renaissance and Humanism（文艺复兴）
The English society was in its transition from the feudalism to capitalism. The rise of the bourgeoisie soon showed its influence in the sphere of cultural life. The result is the Renaissance which sprang first in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe.
英国社会处于由封建社会向资本主义社会转型的时期。资本主义的兴起也影响到了文化生活。结果便是始于14世纪的意大利，逐渐传遍欧洲的文艺复兴运动。
(1) Two striking features of Renaissance（文艺复兴的两个重要特征）
①People had a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.
②The keen interest in the activities of humanity was arisen. People ceased to look upon themselves as living only for God. Humanism is the key note of the Renaissance.
①对古典文学的渴望和好奇。
②对人文活动的热情和兴趣。人们不再把自己视为只是为了上帝而活着。人文主义成为了文艺复兴运动的主旋律。
(2) The Beginning of the English Renaissance（英国文艺复兴的开始）
In the days of Henry Ⅷ (1509-1547), a group of scholars called Oxford Reformers introduced the classical literature to England and strove to reform education on a humanistic line. These English humanists were all churchmen. The greatest of the English humanists was Thomas More, the author of Utopia.
亨利八世（1509-1547）统治时期，被称为牛津改革家的学者将古典文学介绍到英国并且努力将教育改革得更为人性化。这些英国人文主义者全部为教士。其中最伟大的便是托马斯·莫尔，著有《乌托邦》。
Ⅱ. Literary Features of the Renaissance Period（文艺复兴时期的文学特征）
From the first half of the 16th century, the English Renaissance began to develop into a flowering of literature and then England became “a nest of singing birds”.
①Translation occupied an important place in the English Renaissance. To supply the growing demand of the public, classical and Italian and French works were turned into English.
②Books describing discoveries and adventures prevailed. Representative of this genre is John Lily’s Euphues.
③The vigour of the age found better expression in the sphere of poetry. The sonnet was introduced to England from Italy, and blank verse was also first used in England. The most excellent poet of this period was Spenser, with his masterpiece The Faerie Queene.
④The highest glory of the English Renaissance was unquestionably its drama. And this period produced three brilliant playwrights: Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ben Jonson.
从16世纪上半叶开始，英国文艺复兴开始进入繁荣期，英国成为了“百花齐放”之地。
①翻译在英国文艺复兴中占据重要位置。为了满足公众不断增长的需求，大量古典、意大利和法国作品被翻译成英语。
②描写发现和冒险的文学作品也在文艺复兴时期盛行。典型代表是约翰·黎里的《尤浮绮斯》。
③这个时代更为重要的文学体裁是诗歌。十四行诗从意大利引入英国，无韵体也首次在英国使用。最突出的诗人是斯宾塞，著有《仙后》。
④文艺复兴时期最高成就是戏剧。这个时代创造了三位杰出的戏剧家：莎士比亚，马洛和本·琼森。
Ⅲ.Literary Terms（文学术语）
1．The Miracle Play（奇迹剧）
English drama had roots reaching back to the miracle plays of the Middle Ages. Miracle plays are also called mystery plays. The “miracles” were simple plays based on Bible stories.
英国戏剧可以追溯到中世纪的奇迹剧。奇迹剧又被叫做神秘剧。奇迹剧中的奇迹以圣经故事为基础。
2．The Morality Play（道德剧）
A kind of medieval and early Renaissance drama presents the conflict between the good and evil through allegorical characters. The characters tend to be personified abstractions of vices and virtues, such as Mercy, Peace, Hate, Folly. One of the most popular morality plays was Ben Jonson’s Everyman.
道德剧是一种中世纪和早期文艺复兴戏剧，它通过使用寓言式的人物来表现善与恶的冲突。抽象的恶行和美德通常被拟人为作品中的形象，如“宽恕”，“和平”，“厌恶”，“愚蠢”。道德剧的典型代表之一是本·琼森的《个性互异》。
3．The Interlude（幕间幽默短剧）
The interludes existed at about the same time as the moralities. The interlude is a short performance slipped into a play to enliven the audience after a solemn scene. From the point of view of the historical development of drama in England, interludes are important in that they broke away from the dull and allegorical church drama of the Middle Ages and heralded in the native English secular drama of the later decade of the 16th century.
幕间幽默短剧几乎和道德剧同时存在。它是插入一部戏剧的小短剧，目的是在肃穆的剧情之后来活跃群众的情绪。从英国戏剧发展史的角度来看，幕间幽默短剧因为告别了中世纪沉闷的寓言式的教堂戏剧，并预示了十六世纪晚期英国世俗戏剧的到来而具有重要意义。
4．The London Theatre（伦敦剧院）
(1) The London Theatre（伦敦剧院）
In the 16th century, London became the centre of English drama. By 1567, regular playhouses were built in the outskirts of London. The Elizabethan theatres were wooden buildings. The stage was without scenery, footlight or a front curtain. There were no actresses. Women’s parts were always taken by boys.
16世纪时，伦敦成为英国戏剧中心。到1567年，伦敦郊区建成了正规表演场所。伊丽莎白时期的剧院是木质结构。舞台没有布景、脚灯或者幕帘。当时没有女演员，男孩子扮演女子的角色。
(2) The Audience（剧院观众）
Both the gentlemen and the common people went to the theatres. The spectators in the pit, the “groundings”, paid a penny and stood throughout the performance. The galleries had benches and boxes for which higher prices were charged. In the early days the audience was masculine. But soon the citizens’ wives took to attending the plays too.
绅士和普通百姓都去剧院看戏。站在地面上围绕表演场的观众，也被称为“地面上的站客”，他们要花上一便士，站着看完表演。而位于走廊上的长凳或者包厢的价格相对较高。早期的观众是男士，不久妇女也开始喜欢看戏。
(3) The Playwrights（剧作家）
There was a group of so-called “university wits” including Lily, Marlowe Greene and so on, who wrote for the stage. They were all of humble birth and struggled for a livelihood through writing. They entered the dramatic circle between the years 1587 and 1593. The price of the plays was very low. They were looked down upon by the gentlemen, and often suspected by the government. But they furnished the Elizabethan stage with a large part of its repertoire.
一群“大学才子”包括黎里，马洛和葛林等人，他们为剧院写剧本。他们出身卑微，以写作为生，在1587到1593年间进入戏剧界。剧本价格非常低，且受到绅士的歧视，还经常遭受政府怀疑。但也正是这些人为伊丽莎白时期的戏剧提供了大部分的剧作。
5．The Spenserian Stanza（斯宾塞体）
A nine-line stanza with the following rhyme scheme: ababbcbcc. The first eight lines are written in iambic pentameter. The ninth line is written in iambic hexameter which is called an alexandrine. The Spenserian stanza was invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene. It was also used by Robert Bums, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
九行构成一个诗节，韵脚是ababbcbcc。前八行用抑扬格五音步写成。第九行用抑扬格六音步（也叫做亚历山大体）。斯宾塞体由埃德蒙·斯宾塞在其作品《仙后》中首次使用。后世诗人如罗伯特·彭斯，约翰·济慈和珀西·比希·雪莱都使用过此诗体。
Ⅳ. Major Writers and Works（主要作家作品）
1．The English Bible（英文圣经）
(1) Before the Reformation, the Latin Bible was universally used by the Catholic churches. The first complete English Bible was translated by John Wycliffe (1324?-1384?). The Authorized Version was made in 1611 under the auspices of James Ⅰ and so was sometimes called the King James Bible. It was the work of many learned scholars headed by Bishop Lancelot Andrews.
(2) Apart from its religious influence, the Authorized Version has had a great influence on English language and literature. About 93 percent of the 6,000 words used in it are the main words of native English. With the widespread influence of the English Bible, the standard modern English has been fixed and confirmed.
(1) 宗教改革以前，天主教堂普遍采用拉丁语圣经。第一本完整的英文圣经是由约翰·威克里夫和他的追随者翻译的。1611年，在詹姆斯一世的主办下，钦定版本问世，因此它有时也被叫做詹姆斯王圣经。这部圣经是在大主教兰斯洛特·安德鲁斯的主持下由众多知识渊博的学者完成的。
(2) 钦定版圣经除了对宗教产生影响之外还对英国语言和文化产生深远影响。书中用到的6000词汇有93%是地道英语的常用语。随着圣经影响的广泛扩展，标准现代英语也成型并被固定下来。
2．Prose（散文体）
(1) More(1478-1535)（莫尔）
①Major Works（主要作品）
Utopia《乌托邦》
The Life of John Picus, Earl of Myrandula《约翰·皮库斯，米兰都拉伯爵的一生》
The History of King Richard Ⅲ《理查三世的历史》
②Analysis of Major Work（主要作品分析）
◆Utopia《乌托邦》
Utopia is More’s masterpiece, written in the form of a conversation between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager. It is divided into two books. The first book contains a long discussion on the social conditions of England. The second book describes in detail an ideal communist society, Utopia, which means “no place” in Greek.
《乌托邦》是莫尔的杰作，以莫尔和一名归来的航行者西斯洛德的对话形式写成。该书分两卷。第一卷包括对英国社会现状的长篇讨论。第二卷详述一个理想的共产主义社会，乌托邦，希腊语“乌有之乡”。
③The Evaluation of More（对莫尔的评价）
More dared to fight against the feudalism ruler and he was a humanist. But he had his own limitations. He was no revolutionary in the sense of wishing to arouse the people or to start any revolutionary movement among the exploited classes; The system of bondsmen suggested to solve the problem of social productivity still remains the features of class exploitation; Living in the Middle Ages, More could see what was wrong and what was needed, but he could never find the means by which socialism could be realized.
莫尔敢于同封建统治者作斗争，他是一个人文主义者。莫尔不是革命者，也无意激起人民或者被统治阶级的革命行动。书中提及的解决社会生产力问题的奴隶系统说明乌托邦没有摆脱阶级剥削的特征。身处中世纪，莫尔知道社会弊端，了解社会需要什么，但是他无法找到实现社会主义的途径。
(2) Francis Bacon (1561-1626)（弗朗西斯·培根）
① Major Works（主要作品）
Advancement of Learning (1605)《学问的演进》
New Instrument (1620)《新工具》
The Essays《随笔》
②Wise Old Sayings of Bacon（培根语录）
“Knowledge is power.”
“Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”
“Histories make men wise; poems witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.”
“Natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study.”
“To choose time is to save time.”
“Money is a good servant and a bad master.”
“知识就是力量。”
“读书使人充实，讨论使人机敏，写作使人严谨。”
“历史使人明智；诗词使人灵秀；数学使人周密；自然哲学使人深刻；伦理使人庄重；逻辑修辞学使人善辨。”
“天生的才干如同天生的植物一样，需要靠学习来修剪。”
“合理安排时间就是节约时间。”
“金钱是善仆，也是恶主。”
3．Poem（诗歌）
(1) Sidney (1554-1586)（锡德尼）
①Life（生平）
Sir Philip Sidney is well-known as a poet and critic of poetry. He was at the same time a courtier, a scholar and a soldier, famous for his beauty and courage, his wit, his learning and his noble character.
菲利普·锡德尼（Sir Philip Sidney）是位著名的诗人和诗歌评论家。他同时是大臣，学者和战士。他以美貌，勇气，智慧，学识和高尚的人格著称。
②Major Works（主要作品）
◆Apology for Poetry (or Defence of Poesie)《诗辨》
It is one of the earliest English literary essays. It was written to answer an attack on poetry and drama.
它是最早的英国文学评论之一。该文是对当时攻击诗歌和戏剧的回应。
◆Astrophel and Stella《爱星者和星星》
Astrophel and Stella was written by Sidney to celebrate his love for Penelope Devereux whom he loved in his early days and had the prospect of marrying but who later was married to someone else. It reveals genuine feelings of the poet in the 1st, 31st, 39th sonnets and the 11th song, and as personal expressions of earthly love represent the humanist outcry against medieval asceticism.
《爱星者和星星》是锡德尼为歌颂他对珀涅罗珀·德弗罗的爱创作的。他早年爱慕这位女子并有望与之结婚，但后来她嫁为人妇。第1、31、39首十四行诗和第11首歌表达了诗人的真实情感，这些个人世俗情感的表达表现了人文主义者对中世纪禁欲主义的反抗。
(2) Walter Raleigh (1552?-1618)（华尔特·罗利）
Walter Raleigh was another versatile man. He ended his life on the scaffold on an unfair charge of treason. He is remembered in literary history for his Discovery of Guiana, an account of exploration, his History of the World, written in the imprisonment, and his handful of lyrics.
华尔特·罗利（Walter Raleigh）也是一位多才多艺的人。因被不公平的叛国指控，罗利死在断头台上。他因其探险游记《发现圭亚那》，在狱中所作《世界历史》和多首抒情诗而名留文史。
(3) Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)（埃德蒙·斯宾塞）
①Life（生平）
Edmund Spenser was recognized as the “Poet’s poet” by his contemporaries. In 1580, Spenser was made private secretary to Lord Grey, the Queen’s Lord Deputy in Ireland where he wrote Epithalamion and his masterpiece The Faerie Queene. After his death, Spenser was buried beside Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.
埃德蒙·斯宾塞被称为“诗人中的诗人”。1580年，斯宾塞充任女王在爱尔兰的勋爵代表、葛雷勋爵的私人秘书。在爱尔兰，他完成了《结婚曲》和《仙后》。他死后被葬在威斯敏斯特教堂乔叟墓旁。
②Major Works of Spenser（斯宾塞主要作品）
The Shepherd’s Calendar《牧羊人日历》
Epithalamion《结婚曲》
Amoretti《爱情小唱》
The Faerie Queene《仙后》
◆The Shepherd’s Calendar《牧羊人日历》
The Shepherd’s Calendar is Spenser’s first important poem, consisting of 12 eclogues, one for each month of the year, and written in different meters. The shepherds in the poem represent the poet and his friends. They take the form of dialogues among shepherds, except the first and the last, which are complaints by “Colin Clout”, the author himself. The theme of love is the dominant one.
《牧羊人日历》是斯宾塞第一首重要诗歌，包括12首牧歌，每一首对应一年中的一个月，各自运用不同韵律。诗中牧羊人代表诗人自己和他的朋友。除第一首和最后一首诗是诗人的化身“科林·科劳特”的抱怨外，其它诗歌均采用牧羊人的对话形式。全诗主要内容是爱情。
◆The Faerie Queene《仙后》
Spenser’s greatest work, The Faerie Queene, is a long poem planned in 12 books, of which he finished only six. The Faerie Queene is set in the mythical world of King Arthur and his knights. Each book has a hero knight who performs noble deeds for a glorious fairy queen whom Spenser intentionally associates with Queen Elizabeth. The dominating thoughts of the poem are nationalism (as shown in its celebration of Queen Elizabeth), humanism (as shown in its strong opposition to Roman Catholicism) and Puritanism (as shown in its moral teaching). The Faerie Queene is written in Spenserian stanza.
斯宾塞最伟大的作品《仙后》是一首长诗，只完成了预计12卷中的一半。《仙后》的故事背景是亚瑟王和他的武士生活的时代。每一卷讲述的是一位行为高尚的武士为仙后完成使命的故事，作者有意将伊丽莎白女王比作书中的仙后。诗的主题是民族主义（伊丽莎白女王的庆祝），人文主义（强烈的反对罗马天主教）和清教主义（书中的道德教化）。《仙后》使用斯宾塞体写成。
③Spenser’s Position in English Literature（斯宾塞在英国文学中的地位）
a. English poetry had been silent for about a century and a half since the death of Chaucer in 1400, when the publication of The Shepherd’s Calendar marked the budding of the Renaissance flower in the northern island of England.
b. The language had changed as to be called Modern English, to distinguish it from the Middle English of Chaucer’s day. Spenser is the first master to make that language the natural music of his poetic effusions.
c. He invented the Spenserian stanza, which became a popular verse form in the historical development of English poetry.
d. Spenser has held his position as a model of poetical art among the Renaissance English poets, and his influence can be traced in the works of Milton, Shelly and Keats.
a. 英国诗歌在1400年乔叟去世沉寂了一个半世纪，斯宾塞的《牧羊人日历》发表标志着英国文艺复兴之花在英岛北部开放。
b. 斯宾塞时期的英语已转变为现代英语，区别乔叟时代的中古英语。斯宾塞是第一个在诗歌中流露出语言的自然音乐美的大师。
c. 他创造的斯宾塞体成为英国诗歌发展史上的流行诗歌形式。
d. 斯宾塞是诗歌艺术的楷模，弥尔顿，雪莱和济慈也受其影响。
4．Drama（戏剧）
(1) Marlowe (1564-1593)（马洛）
①Life（生平）
Christopher Marlowe was the most preeminent figure among the “university wits”, as well as the greatest playwright before the rise of Shakespeare.
Born in 1564, the same year as Shakespeare, Marlowe is a genius with remarkable creativity. He took the London theatre by storm with his play Tamburlaine. His association with people with independent and heretic thought led to the charges of “blasphemy” and “atheism” by the authorities. In a quarrel in an inn, Marlowe was killed. Modern scholars have pointed out that Marlowe was the victim of a deliberately planned political murder. Shortly after his death, his friends had his poems and plays printed, and they won the praises of Shakespeare and other writers of the time.
马洛，“大学才子”中最杰出，也是莎士比亚之前最伟大的戏剧家。
生于1564年，与莎士比亚同年，马洛是一个充满创造力的人。他的《帖木儿大帝》在伦敦剧院大受欢迎。他结交了持有独特见解和异端学说思想的人，这使他受到当局的“亵渎罪”和“无神论”的指控。马洛在酒馆里的一次纷争中被杀，现代学者认为马洛是精心策划的政治谋杀受害者。他死后不久，朋友们出版了他的作品。
②Major Works of Marlowe（主要作品）
Tamburlaine (1587)《帖木儿大帝》
The Jew of Malta (1592)《马耳他的犹太人》
Doctor Faustus (1588)《浮士德博士》
③Analysis of Major Works（主要作品分析）
◆Tamburlaine《帖木儿大帝》
Tamburlaine is Marlowe’s first great theatrical success. The play tells the story of Tamburlaine, a Scythian shepherd chieftain. It depicts a series of conquests of his most powerful armies on earth; his unbounded ambition and cruelty carry all before him. The passion for sovereignty governs his life and career. The greed for power destroyed him .Marlowe’s mighty blank-verse lines successfully describe Tamburlaine’s restless ambition.
该剧是马洛在戏剧上第一次巨大成功。戏剧讲述了一个塞西亚牧羊人首领帖木儿的故事。描述世界上最强大的军队的征服事件，他极大的野心和残忍在书中表现得淋漓尽致。对统治权的狂热追求贯穿他的整个生涯。对权力的贪婪最终毁灭了他。马洛用浑雄有力的无韵体诗句表现帖木儿无休止的野心。
◆Doctor Faustus《浮士德博士》
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Marlowe’s masterpiece, is based upon a German legend. The play is set in the 1580s in Europe, specifically Germany and Italy. The protagonist Doctor Faustus sells his soul to Mephistophilis, the devil, in exchange for twenty-four years of immense power, but the desire to repent begins to plague him as the fear of hell grows in him. The play deals with themes including sin, redemption, and damnation. The chief feature of Faustus’s character is an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The tragedy of Doctor Faustus is characteristic of a humanist in the age of Renaissance.
马洛的杰作《浮士德博士》来自德国传奇。该剧背景设在16世纪80年代的欧洲，主要是德国和意大利。主人公浮士德博士将灵魂出卖给魔鬼来换取奴役魔鬼24年的权利，随着对地狱恐惧的与日俱增，他备受悔恨折磨。该剧主题涉及了原罪，救赎和毁灭等。浮士德主要的性格特点是对知识的无止境的欲望。浮士德博士的悲剧也是文艺复兴时期人文主义者的特征。
◆The Jew of Malta《马耳他的犹太人》
In The Jew of Malta, Barabas, the money-lender, for his greed for wealth, inflicts vengeance upon almost everybody and at last falls into the cauldron of boiling fat which he has prepared for his enemies.
在《马耳他的犹太人》这部剧中，巴罗巴斯是一个借债人，为了满足他对金钱的贪欲，几乎对每个人实施报复，最后他掉进了本来是为他的敌人准备的那口煮肉的大锅里。
④Social Significance of Marlowe’s Plays（马洛戏剧的社会意义）
a. Marlowe’s plays show the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie. The heroes of his plays are generally distinguished by a resolute character, a scorn of orthodox creeds, and an overpowering passion. They are typical images of the era of the primitive accumulation of capital.
b. The theme of Marlowe’s plays is the praise of individuality freed from the restraints of medieval dogmas and law, and the conviction of the boundless possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe.
c. However, the heroes in Marlowe’s plays are merely individualists. Their individualistic ambition often brings ruin to the world and sometimes to themselves.
a. 马洛的剧本反映了新兴资产阶级的精神：渴求知识和权利，自尊强烈。他戏剧中的英雄通常是因为一个决绝的性格，一种对正统教义的轻蔑和一种强势的激情而显得与众不同。这些人物是原始资本积累时代的形象化身。
b. 戏剧的主题是赞扬从中世纪教条和律法中解放出来的个性，坚信人类通过努力能够征服宇宙的无限可能。
c. 剧中的主人公都是个人主义者。他们个人的野心常会给世界带来灾难，给自己带来毁灭。
⑤Marlowe’s Literary Achievement（马洛的文学成就）
Marlowe was the greatest of the pioneers of English drama. He reformed the English drama and perfected the language and verse of dramatic works.
a. It is Marlowe who first made blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) the principal instrument of English drama.
b. Although his plays lack of variety in characterization and construction, he was famous for his “mighty line”.
c. His works paved the way for the plays of the greatest English dramatist—Shakespeare.
马洛是英国戏剧最伟大的先锋。他改革了戏剧，完善了戏剧语言和诗节。
a. 马洛首次使无韵体（无韵五步抑扬格）成为英国戏剧创作的主要手段。
b. 虽然他的戏剧在人物刻画和构造上缺少多样性，他的戏剧以“雄浑有力”的诗行著称。
c. 他的作品为最伟大的剧作家莎士比亚的戏剧奠定了基础。
(2) Shakespeare (1564-1616)（莎士比亚）
①Life（生平）
The limited facts of Shakespeare’s life come down to us from three sources: church and legal records, folk traditions, and the comments of his contemporaries.
Shakespeare is the most remarkable playwright and poet. He was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon. He began making a living early in his youth and married at 18 to a farmer’s daughter who was eight years older than Shakespeare. After he moved to London, he once worked as an actor, a playwright, and a part owner of a theater company. In 1597, he went back home and bought a house called New Place, and retired at 49. He died on April 23, the anniversary of his birth, in 1616 and was buried in Stratford Church.
As a child of Renaissance, Shakespeare is a humanist for not being judgmental in his writing. He, like Chaucer, is tolerant of his characters and observes humanity objectively.
莎士比亚的生平，我们知之甚少。少量事实源于三类：教堂和法律的记录；民间传说；同时代人的评论。
莎士比亚是世界最著名的剧作家和诗人。生于1564年4月23日的英格兰斯特拉福德的埃文河畔。莎士比亚18岁就结婚，新娘是一位农夫的女儿，比莎士比亚年长8岁。后他搬到伦敦，做过演员、剧作家和剧院股东。1597年，他回到家乡，买了一幢名为新宫的房子。他逝于1616年4月23日他生日的那一天，安葬在斯特拉特福德教堂。
作为文艺复兴时期的作家，他从不在自己的作品中妄下论断，和乔叟一样，他能容忍人物的缺陷，客观观察人性。
②A Chronological List of Shakespeare’s Plays（莎士比亚戏剧目录）
37 of Shakespeare’s plays have come down to us. But it is often difficult to date a given play precisely. Scholars worked out the chronological order of his plays, based on three kinds of evidence: external evidence (records of performance and publication, or references in contemporary works); internal evidence (allusions in the plays to contemporary events, or quotations from contemporary works); stylistic evidence (changes and developments in Shakespeare’s use of blank verse, rhyme and prose).
莎士比亚的37部戏剧流传至今。但是戏剧时间难以确定，学者们根据三类证据将其编年：外部证据（表演和出版记录，或参考同时期作品）；内部证据（作品中引用的同时代的时间，或者同时代作品引语）；文体证据（莎士比亚使用无韵体、韵律和散文技术的变化）。
1590 Henry Ⅵ, Part Ⅱ《亨利六世，第二部》
Henry Ⅵ, Part Ⅲ《亨利六世，第三部》
1591 Henry Ⅵ, Part Ⅰ《亨利六世，第一部》
1592 Richard Ⅲ《理查德三世》
The Comedy of Errors《错中错》
1593 Titus Andronicus《泰特斯·安特洛尼克斯》
The Taming of the Shrew《驯悍记》
1594 The Two Gentlemen of Verona《维洛那二绅士》
Love’s Labour’s Lost《爱的徒劳》
Romeo and Juliet 《罗密欧与朱丽叶》
1595 Richard Ⅱ《理查德二世》
A Midsummer Night’s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》
1596 King John《约翰王》
The Merchant of Venice《威尼斯商人》
1597 Henry Ⅳ, Part Ⅰ《亨利四世，第一部》
Henry Ⅳ, Part Ⅱ《亨利四世，第二部》
1598 Much Ado about Nothing《无事生非》
Henry Ⅴ《亨利五世》
The Merry Wives of Windsor《温莎的风流娘们》
1599 Julius Caesar《朱利尤斯·凯撒》
As You Like It《皆大欢喜》
1600 Twelfth Night《第十二夜》
1601 Hamlet《哈姆雷特》
1602 Troilus and Cressida《特洛伊罗斯与克莱西达》
1603 All’s Well That Ends Well《终成眷属》
1604 Measure for Measure《一报还一报》
Othello《奥赛罗》
1605 King Lear《李尔王》
Macbeth《麦克白》
1606 Antony and Cleopatra《安东尼与克里奥佩特拉》
1607 Coriolanus《科利奥兰纳斯》
Timon of Athens《雅典的泰门》
1608 Pericles《佩力克尔斯》
1609 Cymbeline《辛白林》
1610 The Winter’s Tale《冬天的故事》
1611 The Tempest《暴风雨》
1612 Henry Ⅷ《亨利八世》
Periods of Shakespeare’s Plays（莎士比亚戏剧分期）
a. Histories and comedies before 1600, such as Henry Ⅵ, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard Ⅲ, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor. (Romeo and Juliet of this period is exceptionally tragic). This period is a period of “great comedies”. The comedies are chiefly concerned with the affairs of youth and full of romantic sentiment.
b. Tragedies from 1600 to 1608 including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth (even the comedies written in this period like All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure are touched with sadness). This is the period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”.
c. Tragicomedies and romances from 1608 to 1612 such as The Winter’s Tale, The Tempest.
a. 1600年以前的历史剧和喜剧，如《亨利六世》，《爱的徒劳》，《理查德三世》，《仲夏夜之梦》，《威尼斯商人》，《温莎的风流娘们》（《罗密欧与朱丽叶》是这一时期的悲剧）。这一时期产生了“伟大喜剧”。这些喜剧主要是关于年轻人之间的爱情，充满浪漫气息。
b. 1600-1608年的悲剧，包括《哈姆雷特》，《奥赛罗》，《李尔王》和《麦克白》（这一时期的戏剧如《终成眷属》，《一报还一报》也渲染了悲伤气息）。这是“伟大悲剧”和“阴郁喜剧”的时期。
c. 1608-1612年的悲喜剧和传奇，如《冬天的童话》，《暴风雨》。
④The Great Comedies（伟大喜剧）
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night have been called Shakespeare’s “great comedies”. In them he portrayed young people just freed from feudal fetters.
《仲夏夜之梦》、《威尼斯商人》、《皆大欢喜》和《第十二夜》被认为是莎士比亚的四部最伟大的喜剧。
◆The Merchant of Venice《威尼斯商人》
Character Analysis（人物分析）
Portia is one of Shakespeare’s ideal women—beautiful, cultured, courteous and capable of rising to an emergency. The image of Shylock is also very powerful. Besides being an avaricious money-lender, he is a Jew of pride and deep religious instincts. He has suffered much in the hands of the Christians. His revolting bond is counterbalanced by Antonio’s arrogant treatment of him. So his loud protest against racial discrimination cannot be altogether ignored by the audience.
鲍西亚是莎士比亚剧中理想女性之一，她美丽，有修养，礼貌谦恭，并且在危急时刻能沉着应对。夏洛克的人物形象也很丰满。夏洛克除了是一个贪婪的借贷者外，他还是一个有自尊和深厚宗教本能的犹太人。他令人嗤鼻的合同是对安东尼奥傲慢无礼的反抗。所以他对种族歧视的高声抗议是不容忽视的。
◆A Midsummer Night’s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》
This play is a beautiful fairy-tale combined with the story of the struggle of happiness of two pairs of lovers: Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. Hermia, ordered by her father to marry Demetrius, refuses because she loves Lysander, while Demetrius has formerly professed love for her friend Helena. Hermia and Lysander arrange to meet in a wood to leave Athens. But D follows Hermia, and Helena follows D. So the four are all that night in the wood. This wood is the haunt of fairies. Oberon, king of the fairies, overhearing the quarrel between D and Helena and decides to reconcile them. He orders Puck, a mischievous sprite, to drop some love juice into the eyes of D, to make him love Helena again. But Puck unluckily drops it into L’s eyes, making him confess love to Helena. When Puck applies juice again, both D and L show love to Helena. This leads to a quarrel between the two girls and to an attempted duel between D and L. At last, Oberon sets the matter right, and they return to their former loves. Subplots concern the quarrel between Oberon and his queen Titania and their final reconciliation.
It is the most lyrical of all Shakespeare’s plays, in which elements of Greek mythology are fancifully combined with those of British folklore.
这部戏剧结合了童话和两对情人赫米亚和拉山德（下简称L），海伦娜和狄米基（下简称D）为争取幸福而斗争的故事。赫米亚拒绝了父亲要她嫁给D的命令，因为她爱的是L，D也曾向她的朋友海伦娜示爱。赫米亚和L约定在树林会合离开雅典，但D也跟着赫米亚前往，海伦娜则跟着D一起。于是四个人全部在树林里。精灵王欧伯隆无意中听到海伦娜和D的争吵，他想让两人重归于好，便派淘气精灵帕克（Puck）将爱情花汁滴到D的眼睛上，但帕克错将L当成D，于是L爱上海伦娜，为弥补错误，帕克又将花汁滴到D眼睛上，这样D和L同时爱上海伦娜。这造成了很多误会，欧伯隆出面解决，心爱的人又在一起。第二条线索是围绕精灵王和王后之间的矛盾及最终和解。
这部戏剧是莎翁情感表达最热烈的一部。其中结合了希腊神话和英国民间传说。
◆As You Like It《皆大欢喜》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
This play is romantic and pastoral. Frederick, a bad nobleman, has usurped the dukedom of his elder brother. The old Duke has taken refuge with a few followers in the Forest of Arden. But his daughter Rosalind stays at the court with the usurper’s daughter Celia, who is her devoted friend. There is a wrestling in the court in which Orlando takes part. Oliver, Orlando’s wicked elder brother has agitated a wrestler to kill Orlando, but Orlando kills the wrestler in the match. Rosalind falls in love with Orlando and Orlando with her. Frederick banishes Rosalind from the court. She dresses herself as a boy and goes to the forest with her good friend Celia. Then Rosalind in disguise meets Orlando. Oliver, coming to kill Orlando, is saved by him from a hungry lioness, so repents and is accepted by Celia. At the wedding of Celia and Oliver, Rosalind appears in her wedding frock, to the happy surprise of all. The usurper Frederick, converted by “an old religious man”, gives up the dukedom to Rosalind’s father. Other characters include the genial jester Touchstone and Jacque, a melancholy courtier.
邪恶的贵族弗莱德里克篡夺了他哥哥的爵位。老公爵与他的几个追随者在附近的亚登森林里避难。他的女儿罗莎琳德留在宫廷，因为她的挚友，篡位者的女儿西利亚离不开她。奥兰多参加宫廷里的摔跤比赛，他的哥哥奥利弗煽动一位摔跤手杀死他。但奥兰多在比赛中杀死摔跤手。罗莎琳德与奥兰多一见钟情。弗莱德里克将罗莎琳德驱逐出宫廷，她女扮男装和西利亚一起前往森林。罗莎琳德与奥兰多再次相遇。奥利弗为了杀奥兰多也来到森林，但是当奥兰多将他从狮子口中救出时，他悔过自新并与西利亚相爱。最后在西利亚和奥利弗的婚礼上，罗莎琳德身着婚纱出现，给了所有人惊喜。弗莱德里克也受到一位老宗教人士的劝说皈依，将爵位还给老公爵。
B. Character Analysis（人物分析）
Heroines like Rosalind are no longer the women under the yoke of feudalism. They are witty, bold, loving, optimistic and faithful. They carry their destinies with them and in speaking and thinking as well as in feeling are men’s equals or even superiors.
像罗莎琳德这样的女主人公不再是受封建主义束缚的女性。她们机智、勇敢、钟情、乐观。她们掌握了自己的命运，在说话、思考和感受方面可与男性相比甚至超过男性。
◆Twelfth Night《第十二夜》
Viola, cross-dresses and takes the man's name of Cesario. She works as page of the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. Orsino longs for the love of a neighbouring countess Olivia and sends Viola as a messenger to show love to her for himself. Viola, already falls in love with Orsino, expresses sentiment on love so eloquently that Olivia becomes in love with the page instead with the Duke. To add to the farce Viola's identical twin brother, Sebastian arrives on the scene. In the end Sebastian and Olivia fall in love and marry. Orsino realizes that it is Viola that he loves and she agrees to marry him.
维奥拉，女扮男装并化名为西萨里奥，充当公爵奥西诺的听差。奥西诺爱慕邻里女伯爵奥利维亚，于是派西萨里奥前去代他示爱。西萨里奥，即维奥拉，此时已爱上奥西诺，她对爱情的看法打动了奥利维亚的心，奥利维亚爱上了这个听差而非伯爵。这时，与维奥拉长的一模一样的孪生哥哥塞巴斯蒂安出现。故事最后奥利维亚与塞巴斯蒂结合，奥西诺意识到自己爱的是维奥拉。
⑤The Mature Histories（成熟期的历史剧）
Shakespeare’s histories include ten historical plays, nine of which dramatize successively two centuries of English history from Richard Ⅱ (1377-1399) to Henry Ⅷ (1509-1547). The principal idea of these plays is the necessity for national unity under one king.
莎士比亚共创作了十部历史剧，其中九部是跨越从理查德二世（1377-1399）到亨利八世（1509-1547）两百年时间的戏剧系列。这些戏剧的主要思想是一个国王统治的国家统一的必要性。
◆Henry Ⅳ《亨利四世》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
Henry Ⅳ is one of the most remarkable historical plays of Shakespeare. The play contains two parts. The subject of Part Ⅰ is the rebellion of the Percy family and its defeat. The king is worried first by the opposition of some nobles led by the Percys, and secondly by the dissolute conduct of his own son, Prince Hal, who leads a riotous life with the old ruffian Sir John Falstaff and his fellow rogues. The first part of Henry Ⅳ is a mixture of richest Shakespearian comedy with the finest Shakespearian history. Part Ⅱcontinues the story, but the mood is grimmer than that of the first part. The king is ill in London, worried over the fate of England, which is to be left to his dissolute son, Hal. The dying king admonishes his repentant son in loving words, and gives him counsel for his future duties. Hal, now King Henry Ⅴ, is determined to turn away his former self.
该剧包括两部。第一部讲述珀西家族的反抗和失败。困扰国王的有两件事，一件是部分贵族的反抗，另一件是他自己的儿子，哈尔亲王。哈尔与老流氓约翰·福斯塔夫及后者的无赖朋友们混在一起过着放纵的生活。第一部分是莎士比亚喜剧和历史剧的最完美结合。第二部故事紧接第一部，氛围较凝重。老国王病危时将哈尔亲王叫到身旁，循循善诱并给他治国建议。哈尔，现在的亨利五世下定决心跟从前的自己一刀两断。
B. The Image of Henry Ⅴ（亨利五世形象）
Henry Ⅴ represents the upsurging patriotism of the time. Henry Ⅴ is both a prince and a man. In the beginning, he is shown to be a prodigal son, keeping company with Sir John Falstaff and enjoying a low, riotous living with them. While amusing himself with Falstaff, he comes into contact with all sorts and conditions of men. He studies life and the people of his country, and this proves to be essential for the future king. Henry is also cool-headed and has a strong will. On the battlefield, Henry Ⅴ is depicted as a patriotic king and a brilliant military commander. The battle ends with victory for England.
Henry Ⅴ represents Shakespeare’s ideal of a good king and his aspiration for the national unity of England under a powerful and efficient monarchy.
亨利五世代表那时代急剧高涨的爱国主义。作品里亨利五世既是高贵的王子又是一个普通人。他最初是一个放荡的亲王，与约翰·福斯塔夫等无赖过着放纵的生活，但是混迹于无赖当中，亨利能够接触形形色色的人，并且可以观察生活和百姓，这对未来的国王至关重要。亨利也拥有冷静的头脑和坚强的意志。战场上，他是一个爱国的君王，又是一位足智多谋的军事指挥家。
亨利五世是莎翁对好君王的憧憬和将英国统一在一个强大而有效的君主统治下理想的代表。
C. The Image of Sir John Falstaff（福斯塔夫形象）
Sir John Falstaff is one of the most brilliant creations in Shakespeare. He is the product of a transition period when feudal ties are being dissolved and the capitalist society is not yet in birth. He is no longer a feudal lord, yet he cannot become a capitalist. He is only a social parasite. He shows contempt for the honour which cannot take away the grief of a wound, and this is a striking feature of the period of the decline of feudalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie.
Yet, he is the character that brings so much laughter to the audience. Queen Elizabeth Ⅰwas so amused by Falstaff that she ordered Shakespeare to write another play about him, and this is the Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
福斯塔夫是莎翁笔下最经典的人物之一。他是封建束缚瓦解，资本主义社会尚未成形的产物。他不再是封建地主，而又没法成为资本家，因此他成为了社会寄生虫。在他眼里，没有实际意义的荣誉一文不值，这也是社会转型期的主要人物特点。
然而他却给观众带来很多欢乐。据说女王伊丽莎白一世因喜爱福斯塔夫而命莎士比亚再写一个关于他的剧本，这便是《温莎的风流娘们》中福斯塔夫的由来。
⑥The Great Tragedies（伟大悲剧）
Toward 1600, the economic and social crisis which began at the end of Elizabeth Ⅰ’s reign continued up to the English Revolution (1640). It was in this atmosphere of general unrest that Shakespeare created his great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.
伊丽莎白一世统治末期出现的经济和社会危机从1600年一直持续到1640年的英国革命。正是在这段动荡时期，莎士比亚创作了四大悲剧：《哈姆雷特》、《奥赛罗》、《李尔王》和《麦克白》。
◆Othello《奥赛罗》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
The story is taken from an Italian tale. Othello, a splendid Moorish general in the service of Venice, has wedded Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio. Iago is Othello’s subordinate and a cynical hater of other people’s happiness. He harbours a secret resentment against Othello because Othello has promoted Cassio over his head. After a series of misunderstandings and suspecions between Othello and his wife made by Iago, Othello believes that his wife betrays him and kills her out of rage. But Emilia, wife of Iago, proves Desdemona’s innocence. Othello realizes his mistake, runs at Iago, wounds him and then kills himself. Iago is punished.
故事取材意大利。奥赛罗是位杰出的摩尔人将军，娶了元老院议员女儿苔丝狄蒙娜。伊阿古是奥赛罗的下属，他嫉恨别人的幸福。他暗地里因为奥赛罗提升了卡西奥而不是自己怀恨在心。他编排了一系列事情，使得奥赛罗误解并怀疑妻子背叛了自己，最后盛怒之下他杀死了妻子。但是伊阿古的妻子伊米莉亚澄清了苔丝狄蒙娜的清白。奥赛罗重伤伊阿古后自杀。伊阿古得到应有的惩罚。
B. Character Analysis（人物分析）
☆Iago（伊阿古）
Iago is the villain who represents the dark power which crushes everything that is great and noble. He is also an artistic generalization of envy, selfishness, utter depravity and hypocrisy, concealed by good manners.
伊阿古是书中的反面人物，代表了摧毁一切伟大高尚事物的黑暗力量。他也是掩藏在高贵举止下嫉妒，自私，邪恶和虚伪的文学表现。
☆Othello（奥赛罗）
Othello is a new man of the Renaissance. He is a great warrior, and he has great moral beauty. The tragedy of Othello and Desdemona shows that noble-minded people may be led astray by evil forces in an evil society and commit heinous mistakes if they cannot distinguish falsehood from truth. Othello’s loneliness is felt in the play. Though well-known as a soldier and in high position, he has been a man isolated because he is black. So Othello is also a tragedy of the coloured people in a society of racial prejudice.
奥赛罗是文艺复兴的新型人物。他是出色的勇士，道德高尚。奥赛罗和苔丝德蒙娜的悲剧说明在充满邪恶的社会里，高尚的人们如果不能区分好坏、真假，他们很有可能被误入歧途。进一步来讲，书中的奥赛罗是孤独的，虽然他的军事才能得到众人肯定，但是作为白人社会里的黑人，他是受到歧视的，这也是导致他悲剧的原因之一。
◆King Lear《李尔王》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
The subject of King Lear is taken from an old English legend. It is a story of an old king’s relationship with his daughters: Goneril, Regan, and Coedelia. Lear, king of Britain and a self-willed old man, intends to give up the government of state affairs and divides his realm among his daughters according to their expressions of love towards him. The two elder daughters Goneril and Regan finally get the whole of the kingdom because the youngest daughter says that she loves her father according to her duty, for which King Lear gets furious with. It turns out that he is mistreated by the two daughters and driven out in a storm. Then he becomes insane. The youngest daughter Cordelia marries the King of France and comes with an army to save her father but fails. The play ends with a tragic scene, in which the poor old king with his dead Cordelia in his arms, heart-broken.
《李尔王》取材英国传说。该剧讲述一个老国王和他的三个女儿贡纳莉、瑞根和科迪莉亚的故事。李尔王是英国一位刚愎自用的老国王，他决定把国土分给三个女儿。贡纳莉和瑞根最终获得全部土地，因为小女儿科迪莉亚的“她对李尔王的爱是出于她的职责”激怒了国王。结果李尔王受到两个大女儿的虐待，在暴风雨天被赶出家门，变得疯癫。小女儿嫁给法国国王，得知父亲遭遇后率领军队来救父亲，结果战败被杀，李尔王怀抱着已死的爱女，悄然心碎。
B. Theme of King Lear（《李尔王》主题）
The theme is not simply filial ingratitude. The play depicts a great social upheaval. The miseries of Lear disclose the essence of a corrupt society, in which each is ready to destroy the other. King Lear also presents Shakespeare’s affirmation of national unity and royal responsibility. The root of Lear’s tragedy lies in his irresponsibility of dividing up his kingdom.
该剧主题不只是反应子女的忘恩负义，还描写了社会巨变。李尔的遭遇揭示了当时社会人欺人腐朽的本质。该剧也反映了莎翁对于国家统一和皇族责任的看法。李尔悲剧的根源是他不应该放弃国家统一的责任。
◆Macbeth《麦克白》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
Macbeth is an exposure of wild and treacherous ambition, which was common among the nobility both in earlier English history and in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. After hearing from the witches that he will be the king of Scotland and encouraged by his ambitious wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan. Then he becomes king, and in order to make himself secure on the throne, he plans more murders. Macbeth becomes so anxious and conscience-stricken that he cannot get a sleep, and his wife begins sleepwalking. Haunted by the extreme sense of guilt finally, she ends up suicide. Finally Duncan’s son comes with a large force from England. Impossible things prophesized by the witches come to pass and Macbeth is defeated and killed in battle.
《麦克白》是对疯狂、叛逆的野心的揭露，这样的野心在英国早期历史，伊丽莎白时代和詹姆斯一世时代的贵族中很普遍。麦克白从女巫那听说他会成为苏格兰国王。在他野心勃勃的妻子的鼓励下，他杀死前来做客的国王邓肯，自己成为国王。为确保王位，他策划了更多谋杀。麦克白变得焦虑不安，夜不成寐。他的妻子也因为受罪恶感折磨开始梦游而自杀。最后，邓肯的儿子从英格兰带领一支部队，麦克白战败后被杀。
B. Theme of Macbeth（《麦克白》主题）
The play is a tragedy of ambition, which drives a brave soldier and national hero to degenerate into a bloody murderer and despot right to his doom.
该剧是因为野心造成的悲剧。它使一位国家英雄沦落为血腥的凶手和注定要灭亡的暴君。
◆Hamlet《哈姆雷特》
A. Main Plot（主要情节）
The protagonist is the prince of Denmark, and a student at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, has recently died, and his mother, Queen Gertrude, has married the new king, Hamlet’s uncle Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, cynical and full of hatred for his uncle and disgust at his mother for marrying him. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father appears and claims to have been murdered by Claudius, Hamlet becomes obsessed with avenging his father’s death. Mistakenly, he kills Polonius, father of Ophelia. Ophelia, lover of Hamlet, goes mad because of her father’s death and then is drowned in a stream. This leads to Ophelia’s brother—Laertes’ hatred for Hamlet. In the duel between Laertes and Hamlet, Laertes wounds Hamlet but is himself struck with the same poisoned weapon, which is made by Claudius. Before his death, Hamlet stabs Claudius while the queen has drunk a poisoned cup of wine intended for Hamlet.
该剧主人公哈姆雷特是丹麦王子，威登堡大学生。戏剧开端，哈姆雷特的父亲丹麦国王突然逝世，他的母亲格特鲁德皇后嫁给哈姆雷特的叔叔，新任国王克劳狄斯。哈姆雷特悲痛不已、愤世嫉俗，憎恨他的叔叔，厌恶他的母亲。当父亲的鬼魂出现，告诉他自己是被克劳狄斯害死时，哈姆雷特一直想着要为父报仇。在复仇过程中，他误杀波隆尼尔，欧菲莉亚的父亲。欧菲莉亚是哈姆雷特的情人，她因父亲的死精神失常，最后溺水身亡。这引起了欧菲莉亚的哥哥雷尔提对哈姆雷特的仇恨。在两人的对决中，雷尔提用有毒的武器刺伤哈姆雷特，雷尔提自己也被同样的武器所伤。武器上的毒是克劳狄斯作为。哈姆雷特临死之际用力刺向国王，王后也喝下了克劳狄斯准备给哈姆雷特的毒酒。
B. The Character of Hamlet（哈姆雷特人物分析）
Hamlet is a man of genius, highly accomplished and educated, a man of far-reaching perception and sparkling wit.
Though a scholar, he is at the same time fearless and impetuous in action. He is a humanist, a man who is free from medieval prejudices and superstitions. He loves good and hates evil. He cares for nothing but human worth and shows contempt for rank and wealth. He is a close observer of men and manners. He easily sees through people.
The keynote of Hamlet’s character is melancholy. Revenge is easy, but it is not merely personal revenge that Hamlet seeks. What is more important is to expose the roots of the evil and to establish a reign of justice. His responsibility is thus enlarged into a radical transformation of society. This is the cause of Hamlet’s profound melancholy and his delay in revenge.
哈姆雷特是一个拥有智慧和教养，观察力敏锐的英杰。虽然身为学者，但他行事冲动且毫无畏惧。他是位人文主义者，从中世纪的偏见和封建束缚中解放出来。他爱憎分明，关心人本身，不论贫穷贵贱。他对人事观察仔细，能够看透人心。
他最明显的性格特征是忧郁。当决心开始复仇后，他认识到重要的不只是复仇，怎样揭露现世的丑陋并建立公正的社会才是关键。因此他的责任上升到改造社会。这是他行动迟疑，表现忧郁的主要原因。
⑦The Later Comedies（晚期喜剧）
Shakespeare’s later comedies are written between 1608 and 1611, including: Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. They are sometimes called romances because of their tragic-comic nature. These plays portray a wide range of tragic events, pathetic emotions, and difficult conditions, but they all end in reconciliation and reunion and emphasize upon a renewal of hope.
莎士比亚晚期喜剧写于1608年到1611年，包括《佩力克尔斯》，《辛白林》，《冬天的故事》和《暴风雨》。这些戏剧因为其悲喜剧的性质，又被叫做传奇。它们共同的特征是描述大量悲喜事件，令人同情的情感和艰难的处境，和解与团圆的结尾。
◆The Tempest《暴风雨》
Prospero, the learned duke of Milan, is dethroned by his wicked brother Antonio with the help of the King of Naples. Then he finds refuge with his little daughter Miranda on an island in the remote ocean. After many years, his enemies, Antonio and the King of Naples with his son Ferdinand, are shipwrecked on the island. The young prince meets and falls in love with Miranda, a beautiful young woman now. The happy marriage of the young lovers reconciles the old grudge between Prospero and Antonio who at last repents his vicious deed.
学识渊博的米兰公爵普洛斯彼罗被他邪恶的兄弟安东尼奥在纳普勒斯王的帮助下夺走爵位。他与女儿米兰达逃往一个遥远的海岛。后安东尼奥和纳普勒斯王的船遇难，来到岛上，同行的海域纳普勒斯王的儿子费迪南，爱上了已经成为美少女的米兰达。后两人结婚，安东尼奥与普洛斯彼罗和解。
⑧Features of Shakespeare’s Drama（莎士比亚戏剧特点）
a. Shakespeare is one of the founders of realism in world literature. His historical plays describe the decaying of the old feudal nobility and the rising of the new Tudor monarchy. His comedies paint the life and love of the young men and women just freed from the fetters of feudalism. His great tragedies depict the life-and-death struggle between the humanists, representing the newly emerging forces, and the corrupt kings, the ambitious noble lords and all sorts of adventurists, parasites and flatterers who represent the dark power of the time.
b. Shakespeare’s dramatic creation often used the method of adaptation. He borrowed his plots widely from Greek legends and Roman history, from Italian stories and English chronicles, and from romances by his English contemporaries.
c. Shakespeare was skilled in many poetic forms: the song, the sonnet, the couplet, and the dramatic blank verse.
d. Shakespeare was a great master of the English language. He commanded a vocabulary larger than any other English writer. He used about 16.000 words. Shakespeare and the Authorized Version of the English Bible are the two great treasuries of the English language.
a. 莎士比亚是世界文学现实主义奠基人之一。他的历史剧描述旧的封建贵族的堕落和代表英国商人利益的新兴都铎王朝的崛起。他的喜剧描绘从封建枷锁中解放出来的年轻男女的喜爱情仇。他的悲剧讲述代表新兴力量的人文主义者和代表落后旧势力的封建国王，野心勃勃的贵族领主及形形色色的冒险家，寄生虫和阿谀奉承者的斗争。
b. 莎士比亚的戏剧创作多采用改编方法。他的故事情节多来自希腊神话和罗马历史，意大利故事和英国史实，以及他的英国同代人创作的传奇。
c. 莎士比亚善用多种诗体：歌曲，十四行诗，双韵体和无韵体。他尤其擅长无韵体。
d. 莎士比亚是英语语言大师。他用了大约16,000个单词，词汇多于任何一位英国作家。莎士比亚和钦定版圣经是英语语言的两大财富。
⑨The Poems（诗歌）
◆Venus and Adonis《维纳斯和阿多尼斯》
A narrative poem printed in 1593, this was Shakespeare’s first published work. The poem is full of vivid images of the countryside, and aphorisms on life.
Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, is in love with the beautiful youth Adonis. She chases him and begs him to meet her on the morrow, but he is then to hunt the boar and flees from her. When the morning comes, she finds him killed by the boar. Venus, stricken with grief, changes his blood into the anemone.
印刷于1593年的叙述诗，该诗是莎士比亚出版的第一部作品。该诗充满乡野画面和生活警句。
维纳斯，美和爱的女神，爱上漂亮的年轻人阿多尼斯。她追求并请求他第二天与她见面，然而阿多尼斯因为要去捕猎野猪而逃离了她。第二天维纳斯得知阿多尼斯被野猪杀死的消息，伤心的维纳斯将他的血变成银莲花。
◆The Rape of Lucrece《鲁克丽丝受辱记》
Lucrece, a Roman lady of outstanding virtue and beauty, was the wife of Collatine. But Sextus, the son of King of Rome, tried to seduce her, and when she resisted, committed rape upon her. She told her father and husband and exacted oath of vengeance from them, after which she killed herself. In consequence, a relative of her husband led a rebellion against the king and expelled them from the city.
鲁克丽丝，因美德和美貌著称的罗马妇女，是柯拉听那的妻子。罗马皇帝之子塞克斯特斯引诱鲁克丽丝不成，便强暴了她。鲁克丽丝告诉了父亲和丈夫，并要他们发誓为她报仇，说完后自杀。柯拉听那的亲戚领导了反对皇帝的战争，最终成功将他们驱逐出城。
◆Shakespeare’s Sonnets（莎士比亚《十四行诗集》）
The collection contains 154 sonnets, commonly thought to be written between 1593 and 1599.
They may be roughly divided into three groups: numbers 1-17 are variations on one theme. A handsome young man is being persuaded to marry and beget offspring who will preserve his beauty in a new generation, though he himself will lose it as he grows old; 18-126 are on a variety of themes associated with a handsome young man (who is presumably the youth of 1-17). The poet enjoys his friendship and is full of admiration promising to bestow immortality on the young man by the poems he writes in his honour. The rest are about a married woman with dark hair and complexion, by whom the poet is attracted, though well aware of her faults.
诗集包括154首十四行诗，多被认为写于1593-1599年间。
这些诗按主题可分为三类：前17首是规劝一位美少年尽早结婚产生后代，来延续他的美丽，因为随着年龄增长，他的美丽会日渐消退。第18-126首的写作对象很可能与前17首相同。诗人非常珍视两人之间的友情，并且承诺要用自己的诗歌来赋予少年永生。其余诗歌描写一位黑头发黑皮肤的已婚妇女，尽管了解她的不足，诗人还是被她吸引。
(3) Ben Jonson (1572-1637)（本·琼森）
①Life（生平）
Son of a bricklayer, Jonson received a good education, and became a remarkable Greek and Latin scholar. Then he began to write for the London stage, and rose to be one of the leading dramatists of the day.
本·琼森是一个砌砖工的儿子，但受到良好教育，成为一名杰出的希腊和拉丁语学者。后他为伦敦剧院创作，成为当时主要剧作家之一。
②Major Works of Ben Jonson（主要作品）
Roman tragedies（罗马悲剧）
Sejanus (1603)《席阶纳斯》
Catiline (1611)《客蒂琳》
Comedies（喜剧）
Every Man in His Humour (1598)《个性互异》
Volpone, or the Fox (1606)《福尔蓬奈》（或《狐狸》）
The Alchemist (1610)《炼金术士》
Bartholomew Fair (1614)《巴梭罗缪市集》
◆Every Man in His Humour《个性互异》
It tells the story of a jealous husband, a credulous young wife and a boasting coward soldier and gives us an excellent study of the “humours”, that is, temperaments or dispositions.
简述关于一个爱嫉妒的丈夫，一个轻信别人的妻子和一个爱吹牛的怯懦士兵的故事。此剧对“性情”，即气质或者品质做了出色的研究。
◆Volpone《福尔蓬奈》（《狐狸》）
Volpone is a satire against human greed. Volpone is a greedy Venetian merchant. He plots to cheat other people out of their pockets with his malignant servant Mosca. As he has no offspring, he pretends to be dying and is looking for an heir of his property. But Volpone, wishing to enjoy a general disappointment to the full, draws up a will, in which he bequeaths all his property to his servant Mosca. And Mosca, a cunning fellow, avails himself of the will, proclaims his master dead, and claims possession of Volpone’s wealth. In the end both are exposed and receive due punishment.
The names of the characters are all symbolic, suggestive of the predatory nature of human life. Volpone means “fox”, Mosca “fly”.
该剧是对人类贪婪的讽刺。贪婪的威尼斯商人福尔蓬奈策划同恶毒的仆人莫斯卡一起骗取人们的钱财。他假装在临死之际寻找继承人。为了能继承福尔蓬奈的财产，人们纷纷送礼。令众人失望的是福尔蓬奈选定莫斯卡为继承人，反被莫斯卡利用，宣称福尔蓬奈已死，自己为财产继承人。最后两人的诡计被众人识破并得到相应惩罚。
剧中人物采用象征手法，暗示人物本质，福尔蓬奈表示狐狸，莫斯卡代表苍蝇。
◆Bartholomew Fair《巴梭罗谬市集》
Bartholomew Fair does not have a unified plot or any truly centralized characters, but it gives a rather comprehensive picture of life in a London holiday fair and presents satirical portraits of persons from all walks of life. The comedy is a realistic picture of Elizabethan “low” life. In a way, it may serve as a most valuable historical document of the social conditions in England in Jonson’s day.
《巴梭罗缪市集》没有统一的情节，也没有真正的中心人物，但相当全面地描绘了一幅伦敦假日集市的画面，呈现了各行各业人们的讽刺画像。这部喜剧是伊丽莎白时期下层人民生活的真实写照，是记录琼森时代英国社会状况非常有用的历史资料。
③Features of Jonson’s Works（琼森作品特点）
a. Jonson’s comedies are “comedies of humours”. His portrayal of characters is one-sided, flat, and lacking development instead of being round and flexible.
b. Jonson took a firm stand for the “three unities” (time, place and action) and strongly disapproved of a mixture of serious and comic episodes in a play.
c. He demanded a high craftsman in play-writing, logical and strict development of plot and truthful and realistic description of life and people. He was a forerunner of classicism in English literature.
a. 他的喜剧是“性情喜剧”。他刻画的人物通常是单面的，不产生变化的，缺乏圆润和灵活。
b. 琼森坚守三一律原则（时间、地点和情节的统一），强烈反对一部戏剧里混杂严肃和喜剧的成分。
c. 在剧作创作上，他要求高技巧，强逻辑和对生活和人们的描写的现实性。他是英国文学古典主义的奠基人。
5．Romance（传奇）
John Lyly (1554?-1606)（约翰·黎里）
Another form of literature typical of this period is the romance written for the “gentle reader”. John Lily’s Euphues is the representative of such works. Euphues is an Athenian youth who goes to Naples, falls in love and is deserted, and then finds his way to England.
There is no much story in it. Euphues was written in a peculiar style known as “Euphuism”, which consists in the use of balanced sentences and words alliterating, riming or identical.
In addition, Lyly decorated his paragraphs with odd similes and comparisons drawn from natural history and geography.
这一时期另一种典型文学样式就是为“文雅读者”而作的传奇。约翰·黎里的《尤浮绮斯》是这种文体的代表作。尤浮绮斯是个雅典青年，在去纳普勒斯的途中恋爱又被抛弃，后来前往英国。
书本身没有太多故事情节。但该书的文体是种特殊的尤浮绮斯体，大量运用对偶，头韵、押韵和相同的词。
另外黎里还从自然历史和地理中找到奇怪的比喻和对比来修饰文章段落。