History of Foreign Literature (II) – European literature during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Medieval European literature

11. Dante

The Italian medieval poets, Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe, were called the "Three Great Literary Masters of the World". Representative works: "Divine Comedy", the whole poem is divided into "Hell", "Purgatory", "Heaven" three parts, through the dialogue of characters, reflecting the achievements and major issues in the field of medieval culture, with the dawn of [humanistic] thought.

(1) Dante was a man who transitioned between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. At this time, Dante felt more and more that Christianity was not as good as he thought, and began to question, in his own way, to explain where people should go after death. Whether it is to hell, purgatory or heaven, so the Divine Comedy has an autobiographical nature, the protagonist is called Dante, the work is very interesting, he doubts and convinces himself at the same time, but it is this contradiction that inspires future generations to a great extent. Dante as a man and his work were crucial to the literati of the Renaissance.

(2) Dante (Italy), Shakespeare (England) and Goethe (Germany) are also known as the "three great literary giants of the world". Dante's Divine Comedy is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and at the beginning Dante enters a black forest and encounters three divine beasts, which represent different paths, such as greed, ambition, and so on. At this point Virgil appeared, led him on the right path, and took him on a tour of Hell and Purgatory. When they arrived in heaven, they summoned a dante's unrequited lover, Atriche (the image of this woman was very pure), who toured heaven under the guidance of this lover, and then returned to earth. The poem shows us that we should focus on people rather than religion, and that the dawn of his humanistic ideas sparkles in the Divine Comedy, leading to a large number of later works.

European literature of the Renaissance

12. Boccaccio

An outstanding representative of the Italian Renaissance movement, the humanists. The masterpiece short story collection "Ten Days" is the "first realist masterpiece" in the history of European literature, criticizing religious conservatism and advocating "happiness in the world", which is regarded as the manifesto of the Renaissance. The Black Death in Europe is now like a plague. In this context, when many people (two-thirds) died in Europe due to the great plague, combined with the repressive politics of the time, there was a growing belief that religion might not be able to save people's souls, so Christianity was divided into many factions, and different factions chose different paths. Bishops and popes had great power at that time, far higher than the European ruling class, so Boccaccio wrote the Decameron to criticize the papacy and directly confront them. "Ten Days' Talk" is that young people want to escape the plague, there are ten people, 7 women and 3 men, they have relatives and lovers between them, hiding together in a manor, every day every day everyone tells a story, hiding for ten days a total of a hundred stories. In these hundred stories, there are particularly many color descriptions, these descriptions are satirical godfathers and nuns, themselves said to abstain from sex, but each of them themselves can not help lust, selfish, a large number of criticisms of this class, advocating that happiness is not in heaven on earth, the pursuit of happiness in the world, do not pray to ascend to heaven, there is no meaning.

13. Rabelais

One of the most prominent humanist writers of Renaissance France, known as the "Giant of Humanism". The masterpiece novel "The Legend of the Giants" is based on French folklore stories, mainly writing the activities of three generations of giants, Namengguje, Gao Kangda, and Huge Gué.

Rabelais, more and more people know that wisdom is not in the hands of the Pope and religion, but in the hands of man, and only man can become very great in thought. "The Legend of the Giants" is about the appearance of Gao Kangda and Huge Guai are very large, because their births and their mothers are difficult to give birth and die. Not only are they huge, but their minds are also enormous, exuding humanistic care. The Legend of the Giants was a very important difference for the Renaissance, and one should pursue spiritual enormity, whether it is science, politics, or law. He had several debates with the bishops that were refreshing, and it turned out that the most important thing was wisdom on earth (humanism).

14. Petrarch: Renaissance Italian humanist (the first humanist of the Renaissance), known as the "father of humanism". He was known for his sonnets, which opened the way for the development of European lyric poetry, and later generations honored him as "poetic saint". Along with Dante and Boccaccio, he has been called the "Three Superstars" in the history of literature.

15. Chaucer

English novelist and poet. Representative works include the poetic short story collection "Canterbury Stories".

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories in poetic style that tells the story of a group of 30 pilgrims who gathered at the Tiba Inn, including knights, monks and nuns, merchants, craftsmen, doctors, lawyers, scholars, farmers, housewives and other people from all walks of life in British society at that time, who were preparing to go to Canterbury to pay homage to St. Thomas. The shopkeeper was so lively that he volunteered to serve as a guide for them, and proposed that each person tell two stories back and forth on the way to and from the holy place to relieve the loneliness of the journey, and the owner would be the judge, selecting the person who told the story the best, and when he returned to the hotel, everyone would gather and invite him to dinner. The crowd accepted the owner's advice, and the next day they embarked on a pilgrimage together and began to tell stories.

16. Cervantes

The most important writer of the Renaissance [Spain]. "Don Quixote" [Chivalry, Absurdity] (Introduction to High School Masterpieces)

(1) Spain was once at its peak, and the iron horse broke through half of Europe. He was able to reach Europe at that time because he had knighthood (chivalry), and sailing brought him economic superiority over other countries. In the age of cold weapons, no one could shake Spain's position.

(2) Until the Industrial Revolution in England, muskets and artillery appeared, knights were useless, and the Spanish dynasty gradually fell. After the Golden Age, the knights changed their taste and became robbers who robbed houses and killed people. Because there were too many articles and novels of knights at that time, many people at that time had a bad impact, and many people wanted to do chivalry and righteousness from a young age, and to be such knights, they did not expect that the fall of the times made them become robbers.

(3) Cervantes particularly satirized and denied this chivalry, and wrote Don Quixote to criticize this declining chivalry. Although the protagonist don Quixote is a good knight who fights with a sense of righteousness, what he does is absurd, such as seeing a big windmill and rushing up, not deliberately, he wants to say that the knight has been blind, his eyes have been blind, he has been covered, just a group of fools, a group of people abandoned by the times. He completely destroyed the territory of chivalric literature with extremely exaggerated art. He wrote a critique of chivalric literature on the one hand, and the whole community of knights on the other. This is a class of the times, and what is eliminated must withdraw from the stage of history and stop influencing others. So Cervantes is very important in the West. In high school, I should be selected to read famous books, and I should have some understanding. Cervantes joined the army in his early years, but was captured, and was released later, he was conceived by Don Quixote during his captivity, after he returned, due to war wounds missing an arm, no ability, has been a state of mixed eating and waiting for death, later he lost his official position because of his corruption and bribery, had to do some coolies, and was rated as the most important writer in Spain after his death.

(4) The tragedy "Numancia" is based on the history of the military and civilian resistance of the ancient Spanish Numansia military and civilians against the Roman invaders, and the writing is similar to the medieval moral drama, in which many allegorical characters appear. The Numansians, who had been under siege by the Roman army for fourteen years, suffered terrible suffering, but remained heroic. Finally, the Roman army broke through the city, and all the inhabitants committed suicide and were martyred. Cervantes, a tragic and moving historical tragedy, celebrates the patriotism and heroic character of the Spanish people and is deeply loved by the people.

(5) "Don Quixote": At the time of the story, the knight has been extinct for more than a century, but the protagonist Alonso Gihano (don Quixote's original name) is obsessed with chivalric novels, often fantasizing that he is a medieval knight, and then self-proclaimed "Don Quixote de La Mancha" (the guardian of the de La Mancha region), pulling his neighbor Sancho Pansha as his servant, "doing heroic deeds", wandering the world, making all kinds of acts contrary to the times and strange, and the result is that he runs into walls everywhere. But eventually woke up from the dream. He died after returning to his hometown.

(6) Cervantes's short story collection "Cautionary Model Novel Collection" (also known as "Punishment of Evil and Promoting Good Stories") published by Cervantes in his later years is a collection of short stories that depict the life of various classes of feudal society in Spain in a realistic way, which can be roughly divided into two categories: the first type is the Italian novel type. Love stories and adventures based on history or real life; the second category is the Spanish tramp novel genre. It is partial to exposing and satirizing reality, reflecting the customs of life, advocating noble morality, opposing feudal prejudice, praising the liberation of individuality, and sympathizing with the people's unfortunate humanistic ideas. Cervantes called the collection of novels a "social metamorphosis." This is the first short story to appear in Spain.

16. Shakespeare

Dramatist and poet of Renaissance England.

Four Tragedies: Hamlet (Introduction to High School Masterpieces), Othello, King Lear, Macbeth

Four comedies: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merchant of Venice", "Twelfth Night", "Everyone Rejoices"

Historical dramas: Henry IV, Henry V, Charles II

Drama: Romeo and Juliet

(1) Four tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. The mantra "Harrow Li Bai".

"Hamlet" is a high school masterpiece guide, is the prince's revenge, his uncle killed his father, and the uncle also married his mother. His uncle (Claudius) was a symbol of the emerging bourgeoisie and saw only profit in his eyes. His mother, Trudd, was a very blind, profit-centered man who was unfaithful to marriage and unfaithful to children. Later Hamlet learned the truth and returned to the palace intending to take revenge, but he had a characteristic - delay, that is, every time he wanted revenge, there were always all kinds of ideas to stop him, this is because he received a good education since he was a child, there was nothing bad around him, so he represented those who were better bourgeois, but did not know what to do in the future. Later, he fulfilled his revenge, and his mother mistakenly drank the wine his uncle gave Hamlet and died. He competed with the minister's son again, and both were poisoned by the sword, and the minister's son died, and he killed his uncle before he died. In the process, his beloved girl died in the sinking river due to excessive sadness, which is a complete tragedy.

b. Othello's work tells that Othello is a brave member of the Duchy of Venice. He falls in love with desdemona, the daughter of the Elders. Because the age difference between the two was too much, the marriage was not allowed. The two had to marry privately. Othello has a sinister flag officer, Iagu, who is bent on getting rid of Othello. He first informed the elders, but unexpectedly facilitated the marriage of the two. He also provoked Othello's relationship with Desdemona, saying that another vice admiral, Cassio, had an unusual relationship with Desdemona, and forged the so-called promise letters. Othello believed it to be true and strangled his wife in anger. When he learned the truth, he drew his sword in remorse and fell to Desdemona's side.

c. In "King Lear", the elderly King Lear intends to divide the land among his three daughters, the eldest daughter of the honey-bellied sword, Gonarrell, and the second daughter Reagan win his favor and divide the land, while the younger daughter Cordelia has nothing because she does not want to be flattered. The King of France, who had come to propose, had a discerning vision and married Cordelia as Empress. King Lear left the throne, the eldest daughter and the second daughter did not give him a place to live, and the king had to go to the wilderness... Cordelia leads the team to attack, and the father and daughter are reunited. But the battle was unfavorable, Cordelia was killed, and King Lear guarded the body of his beloved little daughter and died a sad death.

b. Macbeth, the cousin of King Duncan of Scotland, returns from a campaign to put down the king's rebellion, and encounters three witches on the way. The witch gave him some prophecies and secret words: the first witch called Macbeth Sir Grammys, the second witch called Macbeth Sir Court, and the third witch called him King of Scotland; and said that Macbeth's colleague Bancor, though he could not be ruler, would be king for his descendants. The witch prophesied and then disappeared. Macbeth was an ambitious hero who murdered Duncan at the instigation of his wife and became king. In order to hide his eyes and ears and prevent others from seizing the throne, he killed Duncan's bodyguards step by step, killed Banko, and killed the wife and children of the nobleman McDuff. Fear and suspicion made Macbeth more and more ghostly and cold in his heart. Mrs. Macbeth eventually died of insanity, and Macbeth was not sad at all. In the face of rebellion, Macbeth faced a siege by Duncan's son and the English reinforcements he had invited, and ended up with a slash of his head.

(2) Four comedies: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merchant of Venice" (Charlotte is a miser, he and Antonio have a loan, if Antonio can not pay it will ask Antonio to cut a pound of meat as compensation, in the process Antonio almost chose to die, and then saved by his friend's wife, said that you can dig meat, but if the process of digging meat if a drop of blood will give all the family property to Antonio, so the agreement will not be broken) "Twelfth Night", "Everyone is happy", the ending is perfect, the story is laughable.

a. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" tell a love story of a lover who eventually becomes a family. The story takes place in ancient Greece in Athens, where the young Hermia falls in love with Lasander, but Hermia's father wants her to marry Dimitrius, so Hemia and Lasander flee to a forest outside the city. At this time, in order to cheer for the grand wedding of Thessius, Duke of Athens, and the beautiful Hippolyta, a group of actors also rehearsed a comedy in the forest. Hemea's friend Helena loves Dimitris, so she reveals the news to Dimitris, and the two of them go to the forest. There are many cute little elves living in the forest, and the fairy king Aubrean and the fairy queen Titenia are making trouble. In order to tease the fairy queen, the fairy king orders a little mischievous man named Puke to pick a flower juice and put it in the fairy's eyes, so that she will wake up in a frenzied love for the first person or animal she sees. It happens that the Fairy King also inadvertently learns that Helena is in love with Dimitris, so he asks Puke to drop some flower juice in Dimetrich's eyes, but Puke mistakes Lassander for Dimetriade. As a result, Lassander wakes up to see Helena and keeps courting her, forgetting Hemiya. After the Immortal King found out. Hurriedly dripped the flower juice into the eyes of the sleeping Dimitris. Dimitris wakes up to see Helena being chased by Lasander, and the two scramble to woo Helena. Seeing this, Helena and Hemiya were very angry. At the same time, the fairy queen also won the plan and fell in love with a rehearsal actor, Bolton. In the end, the Fairy King cast a spell on everyone except Dimitrius, and everyone got their own love.

Baucia, a young and beautiful rich woman in The Merchant of Venice, receives three boxes of gold, silver, and lead according to her father's will. One of the boxes contained a portrait of her, and if any gentleman chose the right box, she would marry the man. So the suitors came from all over the world, and there was a young man named Bassanio, who was determined to win Bosia. However, in order to achieve this wish, it is necessary to prepare a considerable amount of money. So he turned to Antonio, a wealthy Venetian merchant, for help, hoping that his friend would lend him 3,000 yuan. Unfortunately, Antonio's money was invested in maritime trade, and he could not come up with so much money for a while. But Antonio is a Christian who values friendship very much. He was determined to fulfill his friend's good deeds, and borrowed money for his friends as a guarantee of his own credit. Thus, the usury Shylock became Antonio's creditor.  When borrowing, the two parties agreed: "Three months is the term, and if it is not repaid when it is due, the creditor will cut a pound of flesh on the debtor as a penalty." As a result, Antonio's maritime trade was blocked and he failed to repay the loan on time. So Shylock asked the court for permission to cut off a pound of flesh from Antonio's body as agreed in the contract.  Sherlock, a loan shark, believed that the contracts made must be kept and that no one could break or change them. Therefore, Sherlock must cut a pound of meat as agreed. He told the judge in court: "My request is reasonable. If you reject me, then your laws will go to hell! In this regard, antonio, a Venetian businessman as the defendant, also knew in his heart that the judge could not change the provisions of the law. Sherlock's demands were excessive, but all those present had to admit: "No one in Venice has the power to change the established law." The contract must be kept and Antonio must keep his promise. Although the contract is cruel, in Venice, where commerce and trade are very developed, the members of society act according to the contract and do not consider other non-legal and non-contractual means. In the face of this pound of flesh, clinging to the contract seems to be a violation of human feelings, and if human feelings are respected, it seems to be contemptuous of the contract. Between human feelings and contracts, the court still chose the contract. At the last moment, Sherlock still put down the butcher knife. What made him change his mind was not someone's plea, nor was it the remorse of conscience, it was still a contract. When Antonio and Shylock signed the contract, they only stipulated one pound of meat, not the blood shed from cutting the meat. The judge seized on this oversight and demanded that Sherlock, when cutting flesh, could not let Antonio shed a drop of divine blood, or else it would be a breach of contract. If he defaulted, he was deliberately killing, his property, according to venetian law, was to be confiscated, and in order to show gratitude and respect, Bassanio gave the ring to his lawyer as a last resort, and the secretary took the ring from Graciano. Bassanio and the others return to Belmont and rejoice in their reunion with Portia and the others; however, they are teased by Portia and Niliza over the ring, causing a "quarrel". It wasn't until Portia and Neelisa took out their rings that the truth came out, and it turned out that the lawyer and secretary in the courtroom were the two of them. Just then, the news came: Antonio's merchant ship had returned with a full load and had arrived safely. Antonio and Bassanio and Portia, Gracenow and Neliza: Lorenzo and Jessica, three lovers, are immersed in a joyful atmosphere.

c. In "Twelfth Night", Sebastian and Viola, twin siblings, are in distress during a sea voyage, and they both escape from danger and are exiled to Illyria. Viola dressed as a man to serve as a maid to Duke Osino, and she secretly fell in love with the Duke, but the Duke was in love with a Countess, Olivia. But Olivia did not love him, but instead fell in love with Viola, who had courted her in place of the Duke. After some interesting twists and turns. Viola and Osino, Olivia and Sebastian both form a good relationship. Although Olivia did not love Sebastian. But his face was exactly the same as Viola's, which fulfilled her wish.

d. In "Everybody Rejoices", Frederick, in defiance of brotherhood, usurped the dukehood of his brother (i.e., Rosserlyn's father), drove the duke away, and forced him into exile in the forest. The exiled Duke's daughter, Rosslyn, falls in love with Orlando, who was abused by his elder brother Oliver. Soon, however, Rotherine was also banished by her uncle and usurper Frederick, and had to flee to the ArdenNes in disguise as a man, where she later met Orlando unexpectedly. Ill-treated by his elder brother, Orlando resented his brother and saved him, causing Oliver to discover and fall in love with Celia, The daughter of Frederick, a cousin of Rosalyn. They have been living with Rotherine in the forest, helping her find her father Eventually Roseline found her father in the forest, Frederick was ordered by the hermit, repented, and returned the throne to his brother, Orlando and Rosslyn, Oliver and Celia, the shepherd Sylvie and the shepherd Febi, the clown touchstone and the village girl Audrey four lovers were happy to marry, with good over evil, all rejoiced.

(3) Historical dramas: "Henry IV", "Henry V", "Charles II". Just get it.

(4) There is no joy or sorrow in the main drama, and it cannot be said that this story is a reunion, nor can it be said to be a complete tragedy, so it is characterized as a positive drama. "Romeo and Juliet": Romeo and Juliet are young people from two large local families, the two families are intolerable for generations, often fighting, and the love of the two young people is not recognized. One day Romeo met Juliet's cousin on the street, the cousin had to duel with him, Romeo did not duel, his friend could not see it and fought in place of Romeo, the result was that the friend was killed, Romeo was very angry, he killed Juliet's cousin, so Romeo was sentenced to exile. Juliet didn't want him to go, and the two wanted to elope. The two people discussed well, the girl took a 24-hour death medicine, and after living, they eloped together, the man did not know that he committed suicide when he saw the woman's death, and the woman woke up to see the man's death and committed suicide. Due to the deaths of two young men, the two families were finally reconciled.

【Note】

(1) The historical status of "Romeo and Juliet" is far inferior to that of the four tragedies and the four major comedies, but because the love of two people can never be erased by the family and the times, it celebrates great love, so it is enduring.

(2) The Four Misers: Sherlock in the English Shakespearean comedy The Merchant of Venice; Abagon in the French Molière comedy "The Miserly Man" ("The Miserly Ghost"), Grundy in the French Balzac novel Eugenie Grande, and Pryushkin in the Russian Gogol novel "The Dead".

Shakespeare, Britain's preeminent theatre master, in The Merchant of Venice, was very successful in portraying Sherlock as a greedy, sinister, and murderous miser. Sherlock was a bourgeois usurer, and in order to make more money, he showed his fierceness in the Venetian courtroom, "This pound of meat I asked him for was bought at a great price, it belongs to me, and I must take it into my hands." "Like all misers, greed is its commonality.

Abagon has become almost synonymous with miserliness. Molière's characters have distinct personalities, but they are slightly thin, close to what critics call "flat figures". Most of Molière's comedies follow the classical "Trinity" principle, with concentrated conflicts and rigorous structure. Molière often used the "farce" technique to create a comedic atmosphere and enhance the satirical effect of comedy.

Grantaire was a miser. Grantaire only loved money all his life, and never just recognized money and did not recognize people. His nephew Charlie, who cried for his father's bankruptcy and committed suicide, actually said, "This young man (i.e., Charlie) is a useless man, not money." In Grandaire's view, what Charlie should be sad about is not his father's death, but that he has not only become a destitute and dilapidated son, but also has to pay a debt of four million francs for his dead father.

As misers, Sherlock and Grantaire, although they have different personalities, they both have the commonality of greed and miserliness, and they are representatives of the landlord class who deliberately accumulate wealth. Gogol's Pryushkin is a typical example of Russia's landless landlord, a microcosm of the imminent demise of Russian feudal society. Although greed and miserliness are the same, decay is the personality of Pryushkin.