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Assignment
Name : Dabhi Vipul C
Semester : 1
Roll no : 47
Enrollment no : 2069108420180009
Email : dabhivc04@gmail.com
Paper : 1 The Renaissance Literature
Topic : Ben Jonson's chief plays and other contemporaries of Shakespeare
Batch : 2017-19
Submitted to : S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU
Introduction :
Ben Jonson (1573 ? 1637)
Jonson was the most commanding literary figure among the Elizabethans. He was the literary dictator of London. He fought for two things,to restore the classic form of the drama and to keep the stage from its downward course.
Jonson was born at Westminster. His father was an educated gentleman and his property confiscated and himself thrown into prison by Queen Mary. Because some passages in the comedy of East -Ward Ho! gave offence to King James.
In his first great play, Every Man in His Humour (1598) Shakespeare acted one of the parts; and that may have been the beginning of their friendship. After the retirement of Shakespeare he stopped writing for stage of and gave him self up to study and serious work. In 1618 he traveled to Scotland on foot, that called foot Pilgrimage.
Works of Ben Jonson :
Every Man in His Humour
Cynthia 's Revels
The Poetaster
Volpone, the Fox
The Alchemist
Epicoene
Silent Woman
Every Man in His Humour 's aim was to ridicule the humours of the city. Cynthia 's Revels, satirizes the humours of the court. The Poetaster is on the false standards of the poets of the age. Volpone is a keen and merciless analysis of a man governed by an overwhelming love of money for its own sake. Jonson challenges his time's writers and sets a new tradition. So let's discusses in detail The Alchemist and The Silent Woman.
The Alchemist :
The Alchemist is a study of quackery on one side and of gullibility on the other, founded on the mediaeval idea of the philosopher's stone. It is a perfect specimen of the best English drama .
Characters of the Alchemist :
Abel Drugger, Tribulation Wholesome, Don Common, Sir Epicure Mammon
Sir Pertrinax Surly, Lovewit, Neighbors -2,1,5, Subtle
Dapper, Kastril, Ananias, Dame Pliant
Analysis :
Lovewit has left for his hop-yards in London, and he has left Jeremy, his butler, in charge of his house in Blackfriars. Jeremy, whose name in the play is Face, lives in the house with Subtle, a supposed alchemist, and Dol Common, a prostitute. The three run a major con operation.
The play opens with an argument that continues throughout the play between Subtle and Face. It concerns which of them is the most essential to the business of the con, each claiming his own supremacy. Dol quells this argument and forces the conmen to shake hands. The bell rings, and Dapper, a legal clerk, enters, the first gull of the day. Face takes on the role of “Captain Face”, and Subtle plays the “Doctor.”
Dapper wants a spirit that will allow him to win at gambling. Subtle promises one and then tells him he is related to the Queen of the Fairies. Dispatched to get a clean shirt and wash himself, Dapper leaves, immediately replaced by Drugger, a young tobacconist who wants to know how he should arrange his shop. Subtle tells him, and Face gets him to return later with tobacco and a damask. Their argument looks set to resume when Dol returns to warn them that Sir Epicure Mammon is approaching.
Sir Epicure Mammon and his cynical sidekick, Sir Pertinax Surly, are next through the door. Mammon is terrifically excited because Subtle has promised to make him the Philosopher’s Stone, about which Mammon is already fantasizing. Face changes character into “Lungs” or “Ulen Spiegel,” the Doctor’s laboratory assistant, and the two conmen impress Mammon and irritate Surly with a whirl of scientific language. Face arranges for “Captain Face” to meet Surly in half an hour at the Temple Church, and a sudden entrance from Dol provokes Mammon, instantly besotted, into begging Face for a meeting with her.
Ananias, an Anabaptist, enters and is greeted with fury by Subtle. Ananias then returns with his pastor, Tribulation. The Anabaptists want the Philosopher’s Stone in order to make money in order to win more people to their religion. Subtle, adopting a slightly different persona, plays along. Kastrill is the next new gull, brought by Drugger, who has come to learn how to quarrel—and to case the joint to see if it is fit for his rich, widowed sister, Dame Pliant. Face immediately impresses young Kastrill, and he exits with Drugger to fetch his sister.
Dapper, in the meantime, is treated to a fairy rite in which Subtle and Face (accompanied by Dol on cithern) steal most of his possessions. When Mammon arrives at the door, they gag him and bundle him into the privy. Mammon and Dol (pretending to be a “great lady”) have a conversation which ends with them being bundled together into the garden or upstairs—Face is pretending that Subtle cannot know about Mammon’s attraction to Dol.
The widow is brought into the play, as is a Spanish Don who Face met when Surly did not turn up. This Spaniard is in fact Surly in disguise, and the two conmen flicker between arguing about who will marry the widow and mocking the Spaniard by speaking loudly in English of how they will “cozen” or deceive him. Because Dol is occupied with Mammon, the conmen agree to have the Spaniard marry the widow, and the widow is carried out by Surly.
In the meantime, Dol has gone into a fit of talking, being caught with a panicked Mammon by a furious “Father” Subtle. Because there has been lust in the house, a huge explosion happens offstage, which Face comes in to report has destroyed the furnace and all the alchemical apparatus. Mammon is quickly packed out the door, completely destroyed by the loss his entire investment.
Things start to spiral out of control, and the gulls turn up without warning. At one point, nearly all the gulls, including an unmasked Surly, are in the room, and Face only just manages to improvise his way out of it. Dol then reports that Lovewit has arrived, and suddenly Face has to make a final change into “Jeremy the Butler.”
Lovewit is mobbed by the neighbors and the gulls at the door, and Face admits to Lovewit, when forced to do so by Dapper’s voice emerging from the privy, that all is not as it seems—and has him marry the widow. After Dapper’s quick dispatch, Face undercuts Dol and Subtle and, as the gulls return with officers and a search warrant, Dol and Subtle are forced to escape, penniless, over the back wall. The gulls storm the house, find nothing themselves, and are forced to leave empty-handed. Lovewit leaves with Kastrill and his new wife, Dame Pliant. Face is left alone on stage with a financial reward, delivering the epilogue.
Themes :
Belief and faith, Alchemy, Gold
Theatricality, London in 1610,Texts
All things in common
Original quotation :
“I’ll believe/ That alchemy is a pretty kind of game,/ Somewhat like tricks o’the cards, to cheat a man.”
(Act 2, scene 3, lines 179-181)
“You know that I am an indulgent master,/ And therefore conceal nothing.”
(Act 5, scene 3, lines 80-81)
..................................
The Silent Woman :
The Silent Woman is a prose comedy exceedingly well constructed full of life, abounding in fun and unexpected situations.
Characters of the Silent Woman :
Morose, Sir Dauphine Eugenie, Ned clerimont, Truewit, Epicoene, Sir John Daw ,
Sir Amorous La Foole ,Thomas otter, Cut beard, Mute, Madame Haughty, Madame Centaure ,
Mistress Mavis, Mistress Trusty, Mistress Otter, Parson, pages, Servants.
Main theme of the Silent Woman :
Silence, Eloquence, Chatter.
About Silent Woman :
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, also known as Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. The play is about a man named Dauphine who creates a scheme to get his inheritance from his uncle Morose. The plan involves setting Morose up to marry Epicoene, a boy disguised as a woman. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. Excluding its two prologues, the play is written entirely in prose.
The first performance of Epicœne was, by Jonson's admission, a failure. Years later, however, John Dryden and others championed it, and after the Restoration it was frequently revived—Samuel Pepys refers to a performance on 6 July 1660, and places it among the first plays legally performed after Charles II's accession.
.............................
Shakespeare's Contemporaries :
Beaumont (1584-1616) and Fletcher (1579-1625):
They both met at the Mermaid tavern under Ben Jonson's leadership and soon became inseparable friends.
Works of them :
Philaster, The maid's Tragedy, The Woman hater, Cupid 's Revenge, A king and No king, The Captain, The Scornful lady, Love 's Pilgrimage, The noble Gentleman, Thierry and Theodorest, The Coxcomb, Beggars Bush, Love 's cure.
Their work in strong contrast with Jonson 's.
John Webster (1580-1634):
He was dramatist under James -1's reigns.In his play blood and thunder are shown. He was 17th century writer.
Works :
The white Devil, The Duchess of Malfi, A cure for a Cuckold, Keep the Window waking, Appius and Virginia .
Thomas Middleton (1570?-1627):
Works :
The Changeling, Women beware women, A trick to catch the old one, A Fair Quarrel.
Thomas Heywood (1580?-1650?):
He wrote 220 plays. He coverded the whole period of the Elizabethan drama.
Works :
A woman killed with kindness, A pathetic story of Domestic life, The Fair Maid of the West.
Thomas Dekker (1570-?)
Is in pleasing contrast with most of the dramatist of the time. He shows the happy and sunny nature, pleasant and good to meet. This all are the characteristics of his work.
Works:
The Shoemaker's Holiday, Old Fortunatus.
Philip Massinger (1584-1640):
He was a great poet of natural ability.
Works :
A new way to pay old Debt, The great Duke of Florence, The Virgin Martyr, The Maid of Honour.
John Ford (1586-1642?):
Work: The Broken Heart
Shirley (1596-1666):
Work :Hyde park
This three men mark the end of the Elizabethan drama. Their work done largely while the struggle was on between the actors and the corrupt court and the Puritans on the other.
Work cited:
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-alchemist-jonson/study-guide/summary
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-alchemist-jonson/study-guide/themes
http://www.novelguide.com/the-alchemist/toptenquotes.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicœne,_or_The_Silent_Woman
Reference : History of English literature by W. J. Long.
Assignment
Name : Dabhi Vipul C
Semester : 1
Roll no : 47
Enrollment no : 2069108420180009
Email : dabhivc04@gmail.com
Paper : 1 The Renaissance Literature
Topic : Ben Jonson's chief plays and other contemporaries of Shakespeare
Batch : 2017-19
Submitted to : S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU
Introduction :
Ben Jonson (1573 ? 1637)
Jonson was the most commanding literary figure among the Elizabethans. He was the literary dictator of London. He fought for two things,to restore the classic form of the drama and to keep the stage from its downward course.
Jonson was born at Westminster. His father was an educated gentleman and his property confiscated and himself thrown into prison by Queen Mary. Because some passages in the comedy of East -Ward Ho! gave offence to King James.
In his first great play, Every Man in His Humour (1598) Shakespeare acted one of the parts; and that may have been the beginning of their friendship. After the retirement of Shakespeare he stopped writing for stage of and gave him self up to study and serious work. In 1618 he traveled to Scotland on foot, that called foot Pilgrimage.
Works of Ben Jonson :
Every Man in His Humour
Cynthia 's Revels
The Poetaster
Volpone, the Fox
The Alchemist
Epicoene
Silent Woman
Every Man in His Humour 's aim was to ridicule the humours of the city. Cynthia 's Revels, satirizes the humours of the court. The Poetaster is on the false standards of the poets of the age. Volpone is a keen and merciless analysis of a man governed by an overwhelming love of money for its own sake. Jonson challenges his time's writers and sets a new tradition. So let's discusses in detail The Alchemist and The Silent Woman.
The Alchemist :
The Alchemist is a study of quackery on one side and of gullibility on the other, founded on the mediaeval idea of the philosopher's stone. It is a perfect specimen of the best English drama .
Characters of the Alchemist :
Abel Drugger, Tribulation Wholesome, Don Common, Sir Epicure Mammon
Sir Pertrinax Surly, Lovewit, Neighbors -2,1,5, Subtle
Dapper, Kastril, Ananias, Dame Pliant
Analysis :
Lovewit has left for his hop-yards in London, and he has left Jeremy, his butler, in charge of his house in Blackfriars. Jeremy, whose name in the play is Face, lives in the house with Subtle, a supposed alchemist, and Dol Common, a prostitute. The three run a major con operation.
The play opens with an argument that continues throughout the play between Subtle and Face. It concerns which of them is the most essential to the business of the con, each claiming his own supremacy. Dol quells this argument and forces the conmen to shake hands. The bell rings, and Dapper, a legal clerk, enters, the first gull of the day. Face takes on the role of “Captain Face”, and Subtle plays the “Doctor.”
Dapper wants a spirit that will allow him to win at gambling. Subtle promises one and then tells him he is related to the Queen of the Fairies. Dispatched to get a clean shirt and wash himself, Dapper leaves, immediately replaced by Drugger, a young tobacconist who wants to know how he should arrange his shop. Subtle tells him, and Face gets him to return later with tobacco and a damask. Their argument looks set to resume when Dol returns to warn them that Sir Epicure Mammon is approaching.
Sir Epicure Mammon and his cynical sidekick, Sir Pertinax Surly, are next through the door. Mammon is terrifically excited because Subtle has promised to make him the Philosopher’s Stone, about which Mammon is already fantasizing. Face changes character into “Lungs” or “Ulen Spiegel,” the Doctor’s laboratory assistant, and the two conmen impress Mammon and irritate Surly with a whirl of scientific language. Face arranges for “Captain Face” to meet Surly in half an hour at the Temple Church, and a sudden entrance from Dol provokes Mammon, instantly besotted, into begging Face for a meeting with her.
Ananias, an Anabaptist, enters and is greeted with fury by Subtle. Ananias then returns with his pastor, Tribulation. The Anabaptists want the Philosopher’s Stone in order to make money in order to win more people to their religion. Subtle, adopting a slightly different persona, plays along. Kastrill is the next new gull, brought by Drugger, who has come to learn how to quarrel—and to case the joint to see if it is fit for his rich, widowed sister, Dame Pliant. Face immediately impresses young Kastrill, and he exits with Drugger to fetch his sister.
Dapper, in the meantime, is treated to a fairy rite in which Subtle and Face (accompanied by Dol on cithern) steal most of his possessions. When Mammon arrives at the door, they gag him and bundle him into the privy. Mammon and Dol (pretending to be a “great lady”) have a conversation which ends with them being bundled together into the garden or upstairs—Face is pretending that Subtle cannot know about Mammon’s attraction to Dol.
The widow is brought into the play, as is a Spanish Don who Face met when Surly did not turn up. This Spaniard is in fact Surly in disguise, and the two conmen flicker between arguing about who will marry the widow and mocking the Spaniard by speaking loudly in English of how they will “cozen” or deceive him. Because Dol is occupied with Mammon, the conmen agree to have the Spaniard marry the widow, and the widow is carried out by Surly.
In the meantime, Dol has gone into a fit of talking, being caught with a panicked Mammon by a furious “Father” Subtle. Because there has been lust in the house, a huge explosion happens offstage, which Face comes in to report has destroyed the furnace and all the alchemical apparatus. Mammon is quickly packed out the door, completely destroyed by the loss his entire investment.
Things start to spiral out of control, and the gulls turn up without warning. At one point, nearly all the gulls, including an unmasked Surly, are in the room, and Face only just manages to improvise his way out of it. Dol then reports that Lovewit has arrived, and suddenly Face has to make a final change into “Jeremy the Butler.”
Lovewit is mobbed by the neighbors and the gulls at the door, and Face admits to Lovewit, when forced to do so by Dapper’s voice emerging from the privy, that all is not as it seems—and has him marry the widow. After Dapper’s quick dispatch, Face undercuts Dol and Subtle and, as the gulls return with officers and a search warrant, Dol and Subtle are forced to escape, penniless, over the back wall. The gulls storm the house, find nothing themselves, and are forced to leave empty-handed. Lovewit leaves with Kastrill and his new wife, Dame Pliant. Face is left alone on stage with a financial reward, delivering the epilogue.
Themes :
Belief and faith, Alchemy, Gold
Theatricality, London in 1610,Texts
All things in common
Original quotation :
“I’ll believe/ That alchemy is a pretty kind of game,/ Somewhat like tricks o’the cards, to cheat a man.”
(Act 2, scene 3, lines 179-181)
“You know that I am an indulgent master,/ And therefore conceal nothing.”
(Act 5, scene 3, lines 80-81)
..................................
The Silent Woman :
The Silent Woman is a prose comedy exceedingly well constructed full of life, abounding in fun and unexpected situations.
Characters of the Silent Woman :
Morose, Sir Dauphine Eugenie, Ned clerimont, Truewit, Epicoene, Sir John Daw ,
Sir Amorous La Foole ,Thomas otter, Cut beard, Mute, Madame Haughty, Madame Centaure ,
Mistress Mavis, Mistress Trusty, Mistress Otter, Parson, pages, Servants.
Main theme of the Silent Woman :
Silence, Eloquence, Chatter.
About Silent Woman :
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, also known as Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. The play is about a man named Dauphine who creates a scheme to get his inheritance from his uncle Morose. The plan involves setting Morose up to marry Epicoene, a boy disguised as a woman. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. Excluding its two prologues, the play is written entirely in prose.
The first performance of Epicœne was, by Jonson's admission, a failure. Years later, however, John Dryden and others championed it, and after the Restoration it was frequently revived—Samuel Pepys refers to a performance on 6 July 1660, and places it among the first plays legally performed after Charles II's accession.
.............................
Shakespeare's Contemporaries :
Beaumont (1584-1616) and Fletcher (1579-1625):
They both met at the Mermaid tavern under Ben Jonson's leadership and soon became inseparable friends.
Works of them :
Philaster, The maid's Tragedy, The Woman hater, Cupid 's Revenge, A king and No king, The Captain, The Scornful lady, Love 's Pilgrimage, The noble Gentleman, Thierry and Theodorest, The Coxcomb, Beggars Bush, Love 's cure.
Their work in strong contrast with Jonson 's.
John Webster (1580-1634):
He was dramatist under James -1's reigns.In his play blood and thunder are shown. He was 17th century writer.
Works :
The white Devil, The Duchess of Malfi, A cure for a Cuckold, Keep the Window waking, Appius and Virginia .
Thomas Middleton (1570?-1627):
Works :
The Changeling, Women beware women, A trick to catch the old one, A Fair Quarrel.
Thomas Heywood (1580?-1650?):
He wrote 220 plays. He coverded the whole period of the Elizabethan drama.
Works :
A woman killed with kindness, A pathetic story of Domestic life, The Fair Maid of the West.
Thomas Dekker (1570-?)
Is in pleasing contrast with most of the dramatist of the time. He shows the happy and sunny nature, pleasant and good to meet. This all are the characteristics of his work.
Works:
The Shoemaker's Holiday, Old Fortunatus.
Philip Massinger (1584-1640):
He was a great poet of natural ability.
Works :
A new way to pay old Debt, The great Duke of Florence, The Virgin Martyr, The Maid of Honour.
John Ford (1586-1642?):
Work: The Broken Heart
Shirley (1596-1666):
Work :Hyde park
This three men mark the end of the Elizabethan drama. Their work done largely while the struggle was on between the actors and the corrupt court and the Puritans on the other.
Work cited:
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-alchemist-jonson/study-guide/summary
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-alchemist-jonson/study-guide/themes
http://www.novelguide.com/the-alchemist/toptenquotes.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicœne,_or_The_Silent_Woman
Reference : History of English literature by W. J. Long.
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