Aleksandra Stryk

dr Julitta Rydlewska
Literatura brytyjska
28 Grudzie 2015

READERS JOURNAL

Index:
I.
1.
2.
3.
II.
1.
2.
3.
III.
1.
2.
3.
IV.
1.
2.
3.
V.

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Short Description...................................................................
Themes of work.....................................................................
Personal Evaluation...............................................................
William Shakespeare As You Like It
Short Description...................................................................
Themes of work.....................................................................
Personal Evaluation...............................................................
Thomas Wyatt My Lute, Awake!
Short Description...................................................................
Themes of work.....................................................................
Personal Evaluation...............................................................
Anthony Burgess Tudor Poetry and Prose
Short Description...................................................................
Themes of work.....................................................................
Personal Evaluation...............................................................
Bibliography................................................................................

p. 3-4
p. 5-7
p. 8-9
p. 10-12
p. 13-14
p. 15-16
p. 17-18
p. 19
p. 20
p. 21-24
p. 25-26
p. 27
p. 28-29

William Shakespeare
Hamlet

Short Description:
This drama, which includes five acts is focused on Hamlet, son of King of Denmark and
Queen Gertrude, who married Claudius, his uncle and murder of previous ruler.
Protagonist is torn about trying to avenge him, and ends up pretending to be insane.
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Moreover, he violently rejects Ophelia, Polonius daughter, who is betrothed with prince.
Meanwhile, a company of actors arrives and protagonist asks them to perform a play,
hoping that its similarity to the murder of his own father will force the king to reveal his
guilt and confirms Hamlets suspicions. Later, during visiting his mother, Hamlets
attempt to kill Claudius kills Polonius by mistake. Claudius sends Hamlet to England but
he escapes. At the same time, Laertes, Polonius' son, demands revenge for his father's
death. His sister, Ophelia, maddened by grief, has drowned. Hamlet returns and confronts
Laertes at her funeral. Claudius arranges a duel between Hamlet and Ophelias brother.
Gertrude drinks from a poisoned goblet meant for Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both
receive fatal poisoned cuts, and Hamlet kills Claudius. At the end, Young Fortinbras of
Norway arrives and lays claim to the throne of Denmark.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Act I, Scene IV by Henry Fuseli. Hamlet, Horatio,

Marcellus, and the Ghost, on platform before the Palace of Elsinor.
Themes of work:
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Mortality The weight of one's mortality and the complexities of life and death are
introduced from the beginning of Hamlet. In the wake of his father's death, protagonist
can't stop pondering and considering the meaning of life and its eventual ending. In
Hamlet's mind the idea of dying is not so bad. It's the uncertainty of the afterlife that
frightens prince away from suicide, even though he's obsessed with the notion. A turning
point for Hamlet occurs in the graveyard scene. Before, he has been appalled and revolted
by the moral corruption of the living. Seeing Yorick's skull (someone Hamlet loved and
respected) propels Hamlet's realization that death eliminates the differences between
people. The sheer number of bodies at the end of protagonist can be misleading. Even
though eight of the nine primary characters die, the question of mortality is not fully
answered. The questions about death, suicide, and what comes after are left unanswered.
What Hamlet presents in an exploration and discussion without a true resolution.

Madness Hamlet's originally acts mad to fool people into think he is harmless while
probing his father's death and Claudius's involvement. However, Polonius falsely believes
Hamlet's madness stems from Hamlet's love of Ophelia. To notice a method behind the
crazy talk was impressive of Polonius. But as the play progresses, Hamlet's behavior
become more erratic. His acting mad seems to cause Hamlet to lose his grip on reality.
The circumstances he has to manage emotionally are difficult, to say the least.
Succumbing to physical violence when under extreme stress shows that Hamlet has
deeper-set issues than merely acting mad.
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Women The presence of only two named female characters says something about the
role of women within Hamlet. The death of both women also indicates a social
commentary. Hamlet is at his most agitated state when talking to either female character.
Although he cares for both, he is suspicious, as well. In the case of his mother, Gertrude,
protagonist feels she remarried too quickly and that her remarriage means she didn't love
her first husband all that much. The idea freaks Hamlet out. Then there's Ophelia. From
the way the characters talk, we know Hamlet has been wooing Ophelia for some time.
But after Hamlet starts to act mad, it doesn't take long for him to assume that Ophelia is
in cahoots with Gertrude, Claudius, and Polonius. In reality, Ophelia obeyed her father
and her monarch. In both cases, Hamlet feels as if each woman has let him down,
respectively. He is critical and quick to point out flaws though puns and backhanded
comments. Ophelia is usually viewed as a true victim, while Gertrude's role is interpreted
with more flexibility. In either case, the role and treatment of women in Hamlet is
essential to discuss with an open mind.

Political Livelihood The state of the nation in Denmark is deteriorating. The death of a
king throws any nation into political turmoil. With a new king on the throne and the
deceased king's son acting erratically, something's clearly off. When the guard Marcellus
is saying that how something evil and vile is coming, this moment could be interpreted as
foreshadowing of the impending deaths of most of the principle characters. But it also
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refers to the political unrest Denmark is feeling as a nation. The political livelihood of
Denmark can be directly linked back to the mental state of Hamlet at many points
throughout the play.

Personal Evaluation:

The last time when I read Hamlet was in high school, because it was my first
Shakespeare play and overall I thought it was a good reading experience. However, when
reading it, I found some scenes quite difficult to understand because of Elizabethan
vocabulary. It helped a lot that many words very explained on the bottom of the page, but
it would have been far easier if they had their modern equivalents in the first place.
However, I understand that the language is basically as important as the plot in
Shakespeare.
Throughout the story, there were some aspects of the characters that confused me. Hamlet
has a very interesting personality, and it is obvious that his thoughts and level of
intelligence is far above any other character in the story. However, his murder of Polonius
confused me. When the ghost told Hamlet about his fathers murder, prince did not
immediately go to kill Claudius, but instead he planned his revenge for a long time, and
thoughtfully used a play to prove Claudius guilt. This shows that Hamlet is a very
thoughtful person. Because of that reasons, I found his murder of Polonius very strange.
Without even checking who was behind the curtain, Hamlet instantly stabbed him to
death, and when he sees that it was Polonius, and not the king as he possibly thought, he
does not seem to care much. This surprises me as Polonius have not caused protagonist
any major problems, I found it quite contradictory to Hamlets otherwise so careful and
thoughtful character.
Also, I was a bit confused with Claudius motive to murder the king. At first, I thought he
did it for his relationship with the queen, but as I read further I started to doubt that. Even
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if Claudius knows that Hamlet is mad, he does not seem to be bothered with the fact that
the queen is left alone with Hamlet during the moment when Polonius is killed. Also after
the murder, when Claudius enters the room, instead of expressing worry for the queens
safety, it seems to me as if he mostly cares about his own safety. To me, this suggest that
his main motive to kill the king was to become king himself, and marrying Gertrude was
mainly a way to help him seem respectful to the people of Denmark, and to increase his
chances of taking the throne from Hamlet. Moreover, I think his lack of love for the
queen is proved in the last scene when Gertrude drinks the poison. Claudius seems to
rather let her drink the poison and die, than to reveal that it is poisoned and cause him
danger.
Finally, I found Horatios behavior throughout the play was somewhat strange. As he
himself is a scholar, I expected him to have many thoughts and opinions himself, and
possibly help Hamlet to understand the situation. Instead, Horatio constantly agrees with
Hamlet in everything he says, and the audience never gets to hear his thoughts. This
makes me wonder whether they are actually very close friends, or if Horatio feels obliged
to agree and tell lies, as Hamlet after all is the prince.

William Shakespeare
As You Like It
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Short Description:
This comedy, which includes five acts is focused on two main plots: there is the conflict
between Orlando and his older brother Oliver, and there is the usurpation of the ducal
throne by Duke Frederick from his brother Duke Senior. However, Duke Frederick
allowed his niece Rosalind to stay at court. She falls in love with young nobleman
Orlando at a wrestling match against Charles, the court wrestler. Her uncle banishes her
to the Forest of Arden. Rosalind and her cousin Celia leave the court, taking the fool
Touchstone with them and disguising themselves as a men - 'Ganymede' and 'Aliena'.
Meanwhile, Orlando also flees to the forest, because the old family servant Adam
discovered that, Oliver is going to kill younger brother. In Arden, Rosalind and Celia buy
a farm in order to help the old shepherd Corin, at the same time Orlando meets up with
the banished duke and his courtiers. He also pins love poems for his love on trees. Upon
finding them, 'Ganymede' persuades Orlando to get rid of his lovesickness by pretending
to be Rosalind, so that he can rehearse his love-lines. Meantime, the shepherd Silvius is
in love with shepherdess Phoebe but she reject him by falling in love with the disguised
Rosalind. Touchstone, after initially scorning rural life, decides to marry Audrey the
goatherd, displacing country bumpkin William. Oliver, after arriving into the forest and
being saved by his brother, he repents of his wicked ways and falls in love with Celia.
When news comes that, Duke Frederick becomes a hermit and returned the duchy to his

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brother, Rosalind reveals her true identity. All ends happily, all couples are married
except the melancholy traveler Jacques, who does not want to take part in the festivities.

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As You Like It; Act I, Scene II by Francis Hayman. The wrestling scene.
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Themes of work:
Forest As a main setting of play, it is shown as a place, where people go to escape the
dishonesty and politics of court life. Forest of Arden represents the purity of Mother
Nature and anyone who goes near it seems to absorb this it to some extent. Duke Senior
is shown to be the better of the two Dukes, because of his harmony with nature. As a fact,
he and his supporters decide to leave the court and reside in the forest. When Rosalind is
banished, she and Celia, both shown to be good people, go there as well. Lastly, Duke
Frederick goes to the forest to hunt Duke Senior, and when he reaches the edge he is
converted and gives up his title.
Love This comedy is a love story with the end of the play showing four different
couples getting married. However, unlike the times in which it was written, the main
person directing the courtship is the woman, Rosalind. Dressed as Ganymede, she is able
to take advantage of her disguise by helping two shepherds unite, and also by planning
her own wedding. Rosalind even asks her own father if her beau can have her hand in
marriage, something that would normally be handled by the male in the relationship.
Conflict The play is focuses on issues between brothers. As often happened at that
time, one child received more inheritance than another. This causes tension between the
family members such as Duke Senior and Duke Frederick, along with Oliver and
Orlando. Duke Frederick and Oliver both want to destroy their brothers so they will not
have to share the portion of wealth they received upon their father's death. The play

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works itself out however, when Orlando saves his brothers life earning his love and
gratitude. When the forest brings Duke Frederick back to his honesty, Duke Senior solves
the boy's land dispute.

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Personal Evaluation:
The problem I have with Shakespeare's love plays is that they are almost all too cloying,
too simpleminded and simplistic, and they almost seem like juvenile depictions of love.
Shakespeare can do the darker emotions like hate, jealousy, revenge, vanity, murderous
ambition, and rage so well, but love? Well, to me his plays about love lack the growth
process that is necessary for love. With very few exceptions, people do not fall madly in
love with one another based on a passing glance, or a brief conversation. Sparks may fly,
there may be lust, there may be interest, but the kind of I-must-wed-you-or-I-will-*die*
kind of love that Shakespeare gives us just doesn't happen that fast in real life. As You
Like It is just another example of a play that gives us nothing but a weak, insubstantial,
unrealistic depiction of love. Again a couple falls madly in love with one another on
nothing more than a brief encounter. Then the female dresses up as a male, and the man
who loves her so madly that he can think of nothing but her face and eyes fails to
recognize her, even in close proximity to her, because she's traded in her dress for the
latest in woodsman wear. Of course, it's hard to blame him for this, since he probably
didn't have time to fully commit her face to memory during that one brief encounter they
had before his world was turned upside down by his burning love for her. This is just
silliness. Orlando and Rosalind did not impress me at all. What I did like about As You
Like It, however, was the relationship between Rosalind and her beloved cousin Celia.
There was a past there, an authenticity, a true devotion to one another that was lacking in

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all of the other relationships in this play, and I was impressed that Shakespeare put their
relationship on such full display.

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Thomas Wyatt
My Lute, Awake!

Short Description:
This poem begins with the speaker addressing his lute, calling for it to awaken and join
him in performing one last labor before they are done. That labor is to sing of his failed
attempts to capture the heart of a woman he loves. He goes on to speak of how cruelly his
beloved has repelled his advances. The speaker repeats his claims that he has given up,
and both he and his lute are done with this. This heartbreak turns to accusation in the
fourth stanza, where he begins to address his love directly, rather than his lute. He
accuses the unnamed woman of being 'proud of the spoil' of hearts that she was won.
'Spoil,' in this case, meaning captured treasure or profits. He goes on to warn her the day
will come when she is no longer young and beautiful, and on that lonely day she may
wish she'd accepted his love. After that, he concludes his poem as he began, saying that
both he and his lute are done.

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Portrait of Sir Thomas Wyatt by Hans Holbein the Younger

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Themes of work:
Rejection The purpose of the poem is to show the progression that lyrical subject goes
through during refusal. At first he is hopeful, then realizes he will never get her and
becomes sad and angry. He then expresses that the woman will be alone because of her
cruel behavior and gives up his efforts. The purpose is to express that not every love has a
happy ending, and in some situations people lose the ones they want.

Unrequited lust In My Lute, Awake! the lyrical subject wants his instrument to awake
and play for the last time fir the woman he loves. He is playing for her, but he is losing
hope because he feels like she does not love him. He thinks his music will not have an
effect on her and he is confused about what he should do. He then basically says that she
will not go unrevenged for what she has done to him. That karma will come back around
to her and she will be old and alone on cold winter nights, and when this happens she
wants him but by then it will be too late.

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Personal Evaluation:
This is my favorite poem from Elizabethan era, because to me it follows Wyatts
experience of dealing with rejection. Throughout the poem the reader understands what
Wyatt is experiencing. Through his descriptions of his emotions the reader can
successfully understand what exactly Wyatt himself has to deal with. From sadness, to
rejection, to anger, to acceptance, the reader easily flows through each of the emotions
Wyatt describes. Likewise, he felt that his own words of pain and suffering could be
understood someday. After all, a man with a broken heart seems like half a man than a
whole. He felt that sometimes love is unfair and materialistic, although he himself had
nothing be vengeance and bitterness against the one who cursed him with false love.
After all, he does an incredible job portraying the poor man. Moreover, the theme is
effectively portrayed. History of 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with
introducing the sonnet into English. His best-known poems are those that deal with the
trials of romantic love. Mostly related with his own experience as a passionate man who
had many relationships. Unhappily married, fell in love with the young Anne Boleyn,
divorced his wife on the grounds of adultery. Not used to being rejected, so this poem
may have described a particularly memorable experience in his life.

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Anthony Burgess
Tudor Poetry and Prose

Short Description:
During the Tudor period, the most popular genre was drama. However, the other forms of
literature were flourishing as well, mostly on the field of poetry and prose. The activities
and literature of the Elizabethans writers reflected a new nationalism, which expressed
itself also in the works of chroniclers, historians, and translators and even in political and
religious tracts. A myriad of new genres, themes, and ideas were incorporated into
English literature. Italian poetic forms, especially the sonnet, became models for English
poets. For examples:
Among the contemporary writers was Sir Thomas More (1480-1535), one of the
precursors of the Renaissance, with his most imaginative work called Utopia. Sir Thomas
was a pioneer in the field of historical writing; and his Life and Reign of Edward V is a
model of clear, objective documentation. An important Elizabethan translation from the
French was the rendering of the Essais written by Michel de Montage (1533-1592), the
actual inventor of an essay. But, the first English essayist was Sir Francis Bacon (15611626), well-known because of his Essays, which have kept his name alive more than any
of his achievements. Next, Robert Burton (1577-1640), who wrote the Anatomy of
Melancholy a work full of fascinating stories and quotations from old stories with over
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half a million words. Also, the really great religious book of that age is the Laws
Ecclesiastical Polity by Richard Hooker (1554-1600). This is an attempt to show how the
Church of England could be so organized that Catholic-Protestant struggle would be
resolved once for all. Thomas Deloney (1543-1600) gives us a homely story in Jack of
Newbury, which is about life in the weaving trade, and Gentle Craft which is the robust
and vivid tale of shoemakers. Then, Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586) soldier, poet, and
scholar and his work named Arcadia. It is worth to mention about Edmund Spencer
(1552-1599) the first writer of verse to sum up aspiration and dreams of the
Elizabethan age. His major work is The Faerie Queen, which is monumental poem far
many to long for many modern readers. It tells of the human virtues - love, faith,
friendship, and so on. Spencer is with both - the people of England and the Court of
England: he know the tradition and the superstitions of the common folk, he can use their
earthy speech, but he is also filled with sophistication of the aristocratic. He is in love
with words, especially their melodious arrangement. Likewise, John Donne (1573-1631)
is another great poem at the time. Donne is very different from Spencer as Spencer is
gentle, Donne is fiery; Spencer is smooth, Donne is rough. Donne has two sides of his
character. He starred off as the soldier, lover, drinker, writer of passionate amorous
verses. He ended as Doctor John Donne, Dean of St. Pauls, great preacher of sermons.
As the passionate lover, he was always analytic, thoughtful, trying to dissect and explain
his passion almost scientifically. As the divine, he approached God with the passion he
had formerly shown to women. He is impatient of conventions and invents many new
verse - forms of his own. In his images, the stranger the comparison the better he likes it.
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He is always startling, always curiously modern. When we read him, we do not feel that it
is the work of a long dead man, but he seems to be a product of the Atomic Age. Finally,
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and the Earl of surrey (1517-1547). Surrey was the first to
use blank verse. Wyatt wrote the first English sonnets. Petrarch was divided into two
parts. The octave expressed the first half of an idea, the sestet the second half: the octave
posed the question, the sestet gave the answer: the octave expressed a theme, the sestet
contradicted. Shakespeare took the sonnet-form farther. Sir Philip Sidney some, Daniel,
Spenser, and Michael Bryton were content to deal with love. John Donne, inevitably,
used the sonnet-form not for love poetry, but for passionate religious poetry His Holy
sonnets are written in a combination of the Italian form and the Shakespearian.

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Queen Elizabeth I. of England dancing with Robert Dudley

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Themes of work:
Translations In the field of prose, they seems to come first. A prose literature can only
grow by taking nourishment, and this nourishment can only be obtained from foreign
sources. Thus, translation from Greek, Latin, French and Italian make up much of the
first Tudor prose, an example is English Bible.
Essays They are a prose-form and a loose composition in which he could informally
chat of subjects that interested him. What is more, these are brief observations on the
variety of subjects - death, revenge, reading, gardens, education and so on.
Utopia / Arcadia From Greek word with meaning nowhere the concept of an
imaginary island where everything is nearly perfected. This is an ideal world which man
can build on reason, charity and proper social organization, full of the highest principles
and the most beautiful ladies. Moreover, a point is contained in title - the perfect island
does not exist and never can - it is nowhere.
Spoken English This was the key to understanding the peculiar virtues of Elizabeth
prose. The Elizabethans addressed themselves to the ear rather than the eye, and this
explains the sensation of warmth and intimacy they get from most Elizabethan writings.
A hundred years later, prose became more scientific and lost intimate qualities.
Elizabethan prose was healthy, and even the near-illiterate seemed able to write it well,
because the Elizabethan age is full of brilliant books about all subjects under the sun

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recipes, cures for the plague, the London underworld, how to cheat at cards, what flowers
to grows etc.
Sonnets A common goal of Elizabethan poets was to make English as flexible a poetic
instrument as Italian. The octave expressed the first half of an idea, the sestet the second
half - the octave posed the question, the sestet gave the answer; the octave expressed a
theme, the sestet contradicted. It is consist of three quatrains and a couplet with
rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.

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Personal Evaluation:
In my opinion, this chapter was medium to read. Mostly because, besides of William
Shakespeare, Sir Thomas Wyatt or Sir Thomas More I did not recognise some of
mentioned writer. However, it does not stop me to enjoy this chapter. This work tackles
the aspect of borrowing ancient genres of literature, for example sonnets or using
motives, like utopia. I like this part, since Ancient and Tudor period is my favorite for
literature. Moreover, this chapter contributes not only to my knowledge about this
subject, but also to literature of mentioned era. That was kind of entertaining to make
some effort and search more about related with this particular content. I seems to that,
this work appeals to reason. Due to the fact, it is linked to previously mention the concept
of borrowing ancient types of literature, which is strictly related to the popularity of this
process during Renaissance period.

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