Robert Garnier in Elizabethan England: Mary Sindey Herbert's “Antonius” and Thomas Kyd's “Cornelia.” Marie-Alice Belle and Line Cottegnies, eds. MHRA Tudor and Stuart Translations 16. Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2017. x + 324 pp. $45 (original) (raw)
Although celebrated in its time as a worthy contribution to the poetic experiments of the late Elizabethan age, Thomas Kyd’s 1594 Cornelia, translated from Robert Garnier’s Cornélie (1574), has long been held by modern criticism as a minor work in the playwright’s career. Previous attempts to rehabilitate the dramatic and poetic values of Kyd’s translation have focused on the metaphoric networks that underlie Kyd’s appropriation of Garnier’s play or on the political aspects of Kyd’s treatment of historical figures and themes. This article examines more specifically Kyd’s approach to Garnier’s epic similes—many of which are actually borrowed from both classical authors and contemporary poets. By exploring the intergeneric and intertextual connections established in Kyd’s translation, this article maps out the literary and cultural trajectories involved in the appropriation and emulation of Continental tragic models, thus highlighting Kyd’s experiments with various kinds of drama, clarifying the play’s connection with the productions of the Sidney-Herbert “circle,” and establishing its significance in late Elizabethan literary culture.
Renaissance and Reformation, 2017
Although celebrated in its time as a worthy contribution to the poetic experiments of the late Elizabethan age, Thomas Kyd’s 1594 Cornelia, translated from Robert Garnier’s Cornélie (1574), has long been held by modern criticism as a minor work in the playwright’s career. Previous attempts to rehabilitate the dramatic and poetic values of Kyd’s translation have focused on the metaphoric networks that underlie Kyd’s appropriation of Garnier’s play or on the political aspects of Kyd’s treatment of historical figures and themes. This article examines more specifically Kyd’s approach to Garnier’s epic similes—many of which are actually borrowed from both classical authors and contemporary poets. By exploring the inter-generic and intertextual connections established in Kyd’s translation, this article maps out the literary and cultural trajectories involved in the appropriation and emulation of Continental tragic models, thus highlighting Kyd’s experiments with various kinds of drama, cl...
New Theatre Quarterly, 2005
THE FEATURES OF ELIZABETHAN DRAMA
The Elizabethan era is part of the English Renaissance. It refers to the period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. The period started around 1558 and continued until 1603. This period signifies the rebirth of literature. Many historians considered this era to be the Golden Age in English Literary History. The Elizabethan era saw a great flourishing of literature, especially in the field of drama. This paper, therefore, attempts an exhaustive analysis of the Elizabethan Drama, the features of the drama as explicated in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. The analysis reveals the importance of the period and it also portrays the contribution of the era to the English Literary History. The conclusion is hinged on the fact that the Elizabethan Era is characterized by vigorous intellectual thinking, adventure, discovery, new ideas and new experiences. The period revolutionized many aspects of English life, most significantly literature. This is reflected in Christopher Marlow's Doctor Faustus.
Pierre Corneille, after having written four master pieces of French classical tragedy within a seven year period, was unable in thirty additional years of writing even to approach the standard which he himself had set, in spite of the fact that there occured at no time any significant deterioration in his poetic ability. An explanation of this phenomenon can be found in an examination of the evolution of dramatic procedure in the Cornelian masterpieces and in those tragedies which follow ed them. In the four masterpieces, Le Cid, Horace, Cinna, and Polyeucte, Corneille's successful dramatic formula consists of a relatively simple plot constructed around two central themes: a political question to be solved, which leads to a physical conflict between opposing forces; and a moral issue which results from the political problem and engenders a mental conflict. While the political issue is frequently dated in interest and no longer of importance, the inner struggle is a human characteristic which gives universal appeal to the plays and to the characters. During the second stage in the evolution of Cornelian tragedy, beginning with Pompee(1643) and ending with Pertharite (1651), several major changes in dramatic procedure are noted: the moral issue is almost nonexistent, having been replaced by political concerns and ideals, and with its disappearance comes the elimination of the element of inner conflict, resulting in subjects which are wholly political and plays consisting of physical conflicts be tween opposing forces of different political beliefs. Certain romanesque and melodramatic elements are intro duced which prove detrimental to the creation of the highly restrictive classical tragedy; extremely complex and complicated plots replace the relatively simple ones of the masterpieces and result in poor or incomplete development of the principal characters and loss of spec tator interest. Likewise the will of the Cornelian hero, which in the past was in some cases almost superhuman but which always inspired its possessor actively to seek his goal, becomes so rigid and inflexible that it inspires not activity but passiveness in the protagonist and re sults in insensitive, immobile characters solving cold, uninspiring political problems. In the third period, which dates from 1659(Oedipe) to 1667(Attila) , we note only one major change from the tragedies of the previous period. The one essential dif ference is that Corneille depicts a new kind of love, based on political expediency and couched in gallant vocabulary, with its sole object a marriage leading to political advancement. It is clearly a love designed to suit the vogue for preciosite and gallantry prominent at the time, and while most of the tragedies produced during this period enjoyed a measure of success, their popularity ended with the death of preciosite. During the final stage, which includes Tite et Bere nice (1670), Pulcherie(1672), and Surena(1674), we note several major changes within the framework of Cornelian drama. These plays, like the earlier masterpieces, are psychological in nature and relatively simple in plot, with a minimum of emphasis on political ideas and maxi mum focus on character reaction. The Cornelian heroic, gallant, and political loves of the past are replaced by strong emotional love; and the element of inner conflict once again assumes a vital role. However, in this case it results solely from the passions of love, anger, and jeal ousy. These changes, made after the presentation of Racine's Andromaque, are considered too drastic and too similar to be coincidental and have caused Corneille's last three plays, although very excellent Cornelian trage dies, to be classified by most critics as imitations of Racinean tragedy. vi CHAPTER I From Le Cid to Polyeucte: 1636-1643 By the time he had reached his thirtieth year, Pierre Corneille was ranked among the leading dramatists of his time, and had to his credit six comedies, one tragi-comedy, and one tragedy. Yet in all this work there was nothing to suggest the real genius which was "on the point of burst ing into full flower,*1 and which did so in December, 1636 2 or early in January, 1637, with the introduction of Ije Cid. However important his plays which preceded Le Cid may have appeared to Corneille and to his contemporaries, they have since fallen into the category of his inferior works. But Le Cid opened a new epoch in the history of French drama, for with the innovation of the emphasis on mental conflict, "it pioneered the tragedy of inner con flict and sealed the fate of the tragedy of mere mis-3 fortune." It is essentially the dramatization of dual Lockert, op. cit., p. 29. 2 H.C. Lancaster, A History of French Dramatic Litera ture in the Seventeenth "Century, Part V, Recapitulation (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 174277 P^ 39. Critics prior to Lancaster generally accept December, 1636 as the correct date of Le Cid. The latter, however, after exten sive research, concludes that January, 1637 is the prob able date of its first presentation. K 9 Diegue, and is likewise sustained, first by Rodrigue, then by Chimene, throughout the play. Rodrigue is the first to experience it. After his father explains the insult he has suffered and says , r Va, Cours, Vole, et nous venge, Rodrigue realizes his predicament: 8 I bid., p. 715. 9 Ibid., p. 715. 1 0 Ibid., p. 717. 9 Que je sens de rudes combats! Contre mon propre honneur mon amour s'interesse: II faut venger un pere et perdre une maltresse. L'un m'anlme le coeur, 1 *autre retient mon bras. Reduit au triste choix ou de trahir ma flamme, Ou de vivre en inf&me, Des deux c0tes mon mal est infini. 0 Dieu! l'etrange peine! Faut-il laisser un^affront impuni? Faut-il punir le pere de Chimene? He sees that he must choose between family honor and love for Chimene; between betraying his love or living en infSme, and that, in either case, he will lose Chimene because "l'un me rend infidele, et l'autre indigne d 'elle."^^ hj. s initial solution, then, is: Allons, mon fime; et puisqu'il faut mourir, Mourons, du moins, sans offenser Chimene. Immediately after this decision is reached, however, Rodrigue realizes that he cannot die and leave his name as well as that of his father in disgrace. And so, by calling upon all his powers of reason, he reaches a deci sion in favor of his honor and duty: Allons,. mcfn bras, sauvons du moins 1'honneur, Puisque apres tout il faut perdre Chimene. This victory of the will over the emotions is not an easy one for Rodrigue, and it is attained only by a careful analysis of right and wrong. Once he realizes, however, 1 1 Ibid., p. 718. 1 2 Ibid., p. 718. 1 3 Ibid., p. 718. 1 4 Ibid., p. 718. 10 that duty must come before inclination, he does not waver. True, he does express sorrow and regret after the duel with Don Gomes, but this sorrow is only for what he has done to Chimene, and not for what he has done to Don Gomes. It is only natural and human that he should regret hurting his loved one. Chimene*s plight is basically the same as that of Rodrigue, with the exception, of course, that with her it is love that triumphs. As has been previously pointed out, she feels, at the beginning of the play, that her happiness is too complete to run smoothly, and only too soon her feel ings are justified. Her initial conflict, when she learns of her father's actions and their effect on Rodrigue, is simply an amplification of that of Rodrigue, for she too realizes that she is unable to prevent the duel. She knows that her intervention could probably prevent the clash, Just as Rodrigue could have avoided it by taking his own life or by fleeing, but she also realizes that should she Stop Rodrigue, she would cause him to lose his honor and thus she would lose him. And so her sense of honor prevents her intervention. She does, however, indicate the strength of her love for Rodrigue, for when the Infante proposes:. Mais si jusques au jour de 1 *accommodement Je fais mon prisonnier de ce parfait amant, Et que j'emp^che ainsi l'effet de son courage,-^g Ton esprit amoureux n 'aura-t-il point d 'ombrage? 15 Ibid., p. 727.