Cry of curs :language, class and the mob in Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare

Sidney;Philip;Shakespeare;William;Spenser;Edmund;Politics and literature -- Great Britain -- History;Speech and social status -- England;English literature -- Early modern;1500-1700;History and criticism

Zirbel, Jason J.Klemp, Paul J. ;

University of Wisconsin

关键词: Sidney;    Philip;    Shakespeare;    William;    Spenser;    Edmund;    Politics and literature -- Great Britain -- History;    Speech and social status -- England;    English literature -- Early modern;    1500-1700;    History and criticism;   

Others  :  https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/34328/Zirbel_Thesis_08.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: University of Wisconsin

【 摘 要 】

According to Stephen Greenblatt, ;;the Renaissance displays a markedly increasedsensitivity, nourished by classicism, to theoretical implications of genre differentiation.;;In the works of Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare, the respective genres of pastoralromance, chivalric romance, and history stage play each work to advance the individualclass interest of the author. In Book 2 of the Old and New Arcadia, the aristocraticSidney depicts upper-class characters as possessing a linguistic facility which allows andat times justifies their manipulation of the inherently inarticulate lower-class mob. InBook 5 canto 2 of Spenser;;s Faerie Queene, the knight Artegall acts as an enforcer ofcentralized authority, deconstructing the populist ideology of a demagogic giant, andrecalling the bureaucratic Spe~ser;;s own fear of the unrestrained voice of the lowerorders as laid out in his View ofthe Present State of Ireland. Finally, the Roman historyplay Coriolanus allows Shakespeare to demonstrate the importance of language and roleplayingin the social and political arenas, thereby legitimating the occupation by which heearned the financial capital that allowed him to lay claim to the title of gentleman.The humanistic belief in the power of language to shape social reality is evident in thework of each author, as is influence of the class society that formed the ideologyunderlying each text.