Literary Theory Literary criticism Thorough analysis and interpretation of a text o Three essential ways Sociological Society history affects plot Psychoanalytic Freud Analyze the character s way of thinking Traditional Ancient Greece Aristotle o Use of modern literary devices A Portrait of An Artist James Joyce o Sociological Irish Catholic history o Psychoanalytic Stephen s thoughts and personality o Traditional Semi autobiographical novel Bildunsgroman and Kuntleroman Coming of age story o Growth and development of a character from youth to adulthood External factors affect character s Personality Maturity Feelings o Goal protagonist gains maturity This character is weak and young Search for self definition and individualization Sub genre of beauty o Focuses on artists process of growth through the recreation Tragic Comedy and Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama Shakespeare grew up in Stratford o 58 plays o 152 sonnets o 2 long narrative poems Anne Hathaway wife Hamlet and Judith daughters Lived in London as an actor writer and play writer o Owned company Lord Chamberlain Men King s Men Published works 1632 o Retired at 49 yrs He was famous by his time but we owe the recreation of his works to the 19th and 20th century scholars Elizabethan Period tragedy must end in the death of the main The spectacle by rousing in us pity and fear purges us of these character emotions Aristotle Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama 16th and 17th century Early modern drama 1567 first English theatre appeared Red Lion 1642 closure of theaters due to Puritans plays were written in verse iambic pentameter Christopher Marlow Thomas Middleton o Prominent play wrights that criticized Shakespeare Drama themes o historic events and figures o Revenge dramas o Comedies City comedy life in London o Classical mythology included in plays o Drew techniques from Roman play wrights Audience o Upper and lower classes o At the end of period most theatres were designed for the more affluent member of society Loyalty forgiveness and honor in King Lear Justice quality by which fairness is employed No justice in King Lear Loyalty root of much of the play s option Forgiveness o To seize resentment towards someone o Greatest show of love is forgiveness Honor o Integrity in ones believes and actions o Separates the virtuous from the unethical characters o Regan and others don t have it Six themes in King Lear Family o Members who want power Goneril Regan and Edmund Madness Dysfunctional family relationships in King Lear Lear and his daughter Father and two sons Why does Cordelia stay loyal to his father o Father favored Edgar Edgar reciprocated his father s love for him o Treated Edmund with less respect Why does Edgar stay loyal to his father o Favoritism created resentment and provoked other daughters o Cordelia reciprocated Lear s love for her Through her actions Greed envy anger and lust o Capital sins Analysis of King Lear in relation to Conscience Dignity and Morality Conscience o Two characters serve as Lear s conscience The fool brings Lear to his senses Reality to his face o Kent Lear s voice of reason o Lear loses conscience because of his pride He sees reality in a difference way Leads him to his death o Lear expects obedience o He was stripping himself from his dignity as a father and as a Dignity king Values o Trust lacks in the play Betrayal happens between most characters o Cordelia Kent and Edgar Represent values of trust honesty duty o Edmund Regan Goneril Represent vices of lust greed anger Morality o Albany decides to follow a life of values Goes against his own wife to save Lear The play s message might be to respect your elders o Also respect who loves you truly not by flattery Stream of consciousness Coined by William James 19th century authors were first one to use o breaking away from Victorian formality Started as philosophical branch Authors use it to imitate how characters think Readers cant tell the difference btw objective reality and the reality of what we read o Only one perspective is portrayed Ulysses is the epitome of stream of consciousness Literary devices used by Shakespeare in King Lear Allusions Soliloquy o Subtle or direct reference to something outside books Shakespeare uses many Biblical allusions o Monologues of characters within the play o Give reader insight to the character s stream of consciousness o Edmund s soliloquy Lust for power Critique of society that shuns him because he is a bastard Puns o Play of words o The fool uses puns o Shakespeare uses puns to communicate universal truths Metaphors Simile o Analogies that relate unrelated objects or concepts o Gloucester blindness o The tempest serves to represent the storm in his mind o Relate unrelated objects with words such as like as seems o As curls from diamonds from drop Irish Catholics gained religious rights and political privileges Simon for example has more economic rights as a Catholic and is able to Leader of movement that advocated that Irish parliament needed to be Irish politics history and religion Setting Dublin 1882 1903 pay Stephen s schools Mr Casey against Catholic piety Charles Parnell independent from English Parliament Church was involved in politics Parnell committed adultery Jesuits Affects Stephen greatly Decides to be a priest at first then decides to be an artist and leave all religious life behind Attends Clongowes and Beverley Includes in his work Greek mythology Irish history DICTION IMAGERY DETAILS LANGUAGE SYNTAX Sestina Originally French Appeared in 12th century by Arnau Jeubreo o Trovadour Singer for the French noble Its about romantic flirtation and desire Spread to France east Spain and north Italy Complex and difficult Challenging form o Rather than simply rhyming the actual line ending words are repeated in successive stanzas in a designated order o 123456 o 615243 o 364125 Petrarch and Dant used sestina Grouped into six sextets and a concluding tercet