Literary Criticism

10. Critical Interpretations One critic has suggested that when “confronted by a need to make a decision in a moment of crisis,” Arthur “invariably chooses the wrong course of action” because he is unable or unwilling to see the situation as it really is. Think about the various conflicts, both internal and external, that Arthur struggles with in the selection, and consider the important decisions he makes. Do you agree or disagree that he “invariably chooses the wrong course of action”? Give examples from the text to support your opinion.

11. Writing About Literature A heroic king’s death should not go unobserved. Write a eulogy for King Arthur. The eulogy may mention both strengths and weaknesses of the king as long as the tone is appropriate. Compare your eulogy with those of classmates. You may want to stage a memorial service in which several people deliver their eulogies.

12. Creative Writing Imagine that you are a newspaper reporter assigned to cover the battle between Arthur and Mordred. Write a factual account of the battle, such as might appear in a newspaper. If you wish, include quotations from Sir Bedivere or witnesses to the battle. Give your story an attention-grabbing headline.

UNIT 3. RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

Reading Focus I. Pastoral Poems

KEY IDEA Throughout the ages, writers have composed poems and songs describing the ardor of new love. But have people placed too much emphasis on passion in romantic love? Are other aspects of love—such as friendship, respect, and trust—more important?

Before Reading: Meet Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

and Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?-1618)

Christopher Marlowe was the first great English playwright. In his brief career, he transformed theater by showing the potential power and beauty of blank verse dialogue.

Rise to Fame Born in 1564, Marlowe was the son of a shoemaker. At age 17, he received a scholarship to attend Cambridge. While there, Marlowe was recruited by Sir Francis Walsingham to serve as a secret agent for Queen Elizabeth—a path that led to trouble. Marlowe was nearly denied his master of arts because the university found his lengthy absences suspicious and potentially heretical. However, a letter from the Privy Council righted the situation: “It was not Her Majesty’s pleasure that anyone employed, as he [Marlowe] had been, in matters touching the benefit of his country, should be defamed by those that are ignorant in th’ affairs he went about.” Some believe his “affairs” helped uncover the most dangerous conspiracy to assassinate the queen.

Poetry and Drama While at Cambridge, Marlowe translated Ovid’s Amores into English by using blank verse and rhyming pentameter couplets. By age 23, he was the best-known playwright in England. His most famous play, Dr. Faustus, is about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in return for knowledge, power, and pleasure. Marlowe also distinguished himself as a poet; his poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” was so popular that it inspired responses in verse, including Raleigh’s “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.” The two poems present sharply contrasting views on love. He also wrote Tamburlaine, the play that launched him into the London spotlight in 1587. Marlowe’s plays, including Edward II, The Massacre at Paris, and The Jew of Malta, provide a social commentary and reveal his feelings about Queen Elizabeth’s rule, as well as his deep awareness of corruption through power, the darkness of individual suffering, the danger of greed, and the need for social responsibility.

Freethinker … and Criminal? While in London, Marlowe met the dramatist Thomas Kyd, an acquaintance that would later prove fatal. In 1593 Kyd was arrested by officers of the court. Papers denying the divinity of Jesus Christ and referring to the Roman Catholic Church had been found in Kyd’s room. Under torture and duress, Kyd professed his innocence and claimed the papers belonged to Marlowe and had been merely “shuffled” into his. Marlowe was a freethinker who questioned established authority and religious teaching, which gained him enemies in Elizabethan England. He was accused of being an atheist, a spy, a counterfeiter, a traitor, and a murderer. Although he spent time in prison, he was never convicted of any crime. He died from a stab wound in a tavern brawl at age 29. Some biographers speculate that he was murdered for political reasons.

Sir Walter Raleigh was a soldier, explorer, colonizer, courtier, poet, scientist, and historian—perhaps the best example of a Renaissance man to emerge from the Elizabethan Age. He was described as “the most romantic figure of the most romantic age in the annals of English history” by biographer Hugh de Selincourt. Like Christopher Marlowe, Raleigh was brilliant and ambitious. He is credited as the father of both the British Empire and modern historical writing. He also introduced the potato to Ireland and tobacco to England. Even so, Raleigh experienced several spectacular failures. In his lifetime, he went from a war hero, favorite of the queen, and most loved man in England to a heretic accused of high treason and a prisoner of the court for more than a decade.

The Queen’s Favorite According to legend, Raleigh attracted Elizabeth’s attention by taking off an expensive cloak and spreading it over the ground so she would not have to walk through mud. Raleigh became the queen’s favorite, gaining a mansion and a monopoly on licensing wine. She also made him a knight and captain of her guard.

Raleigh began his persuaded Elizabeth and her council to sponsor a voyage that established the first English colony—named Virginia after Queen Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen—in the hope of furthering England’s position in the New World. However, his attempt to found a colony at Roanoke Island failed, as did most of his later overseas enterprises, such as his quest to find gold in Guiana.

Literary Man A patron of poets, Raleigh was also a poet himself. Fellow poet Edmund Spenser, whom Raleigh brought to Elizabeth’s court from Ireland, claimed Raleigh’s verse was “the sommers Nightingale.” Critics, however, disagree about Raleigh’s stature as a poet. Some argue that he “ranks even better amongst the minor poets of his time” and is indeed “extraordinary by any standards,” while others label him “sometimes a Poet, not often.”

The authenticity of some poems credited to Raleigh has been debated, but much of his best work simply disappeared or was left unsigned. Like many court poets, he resisted the “stigma of print.” However, his remaining poems, his many papers, and his only book, The History of the World, mark Raleigh as a gifted writer who deserves his place in English literature.

Losing It All When the queen found out that Raleigh had secretly married without her permission, she imprisoned him and his wife in the Tower of London. Raleigh bought his way out of prison and subsequently led several expeditions to the New World. But the queen’s death in 1603 sealed his fate. King James distrusted Raleigh, who was imprisoned for 13 years on a charge of treason. The king released him to lead a gold-finding expedition to South America. But after that expedition ended in failure, Raleigh was imprisoned again. He remained in the Tower for the rest of his life, and it was there that he wrote his long, incomplete book The History of the World. He was to dedicate it to the Prince of Wales, his most powerful supporter, who is said to have declared, “None but my father would keep such a bird in a cage.” The prince died in 1612 before he could help Raleigh, who was finally beheaded in 1618. As he examined his executioner’s ax, Raleigh remarked, “This is a sharp medicine, but it is a cure for all diseases.” His final words, as the executioner hesitated, were “Strike, man!”

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