Art Culture and History - Essay Example

Running Head: Art Culture and History Art Culture and History οf the οf the Art Culture and History Medieval were not impressed by originality the way we are nowadays. Since the value οf a poem was proved by its authors skills, they focused on the art οf writing. Or rewriting, which meant studying and performing profound changes in a previous text in order to emphasize social factors, the personal intentions οf the author (entertaining, edifying, advising) and their own sense οf literary aesthetics. For instance, Geoffrey Chaucers work has proved to be original and peculiar although it is based on a miscellany οf literary models and traditions. The sphere οf influence οf Chaucer while writing The Canterbury Tales included Bocaccios Decameron, Dantes Divine Comedy, Petrarchs Canzonere and John Gowers Confessio Amantis. But whilst Bocaccio does not give much importance to frame, one οf Chaucers greatest and most particular abilities lies in the creation οf characters. Chaucers main interest, and quite a modern one, is on portraying different human types. Chaucer chooses sources that fit with his purposes, using intertextuality to achieve a personal creative goal. The Wife οf Bathss Tale is really appropriate to her character. Drawn from a popular story -already written by Gower in his Confessio Amantis, and later to become The Wedding οf Sir Gawen and the Dame οf Ragnell (in a manuscript written circa 1450)- the Tale looks for an answer to the question What do women most desire?. In the prologue to the tale, Chaucer develops some οf his most shiny and colorful narrative thats containing great examples οf intertextuality, but they are not as obvious as in the tale. For instance, there is a clear influence οf Confessions, in the opening lines οf the Wifes parliament: "If there were no authority on earth/ except experience; mine, for what its worth,/ and thats enough for me, all goes to show/ that marriage is a raisery and a woe;/ For let me say, if I may make so bold,/ My lords, since when I was but twelve years old,/ Thanks be to God Eternal evermore,/ Five husbands have I had at the church door;" (Chaucer 279). The story that the pilgrims are going to listen to its the story οf her life and marriages. Truth be told, the wifes tale has little to do with the Confessions οf St. Agoustin. In fact, the prologues main plot is closer to the fabliaux tradition and its popular and sexual-orientated stories. The prologue shares with the Confessions a similar autobiographical tone, but switched to serve Chaucers intentions, that in this case are slightly ironical. Fabliauxs witty word games are also shown in this prologue. "God bade us all to wax and multiply./ That kindly text I well can understand." (280) Or: "Let them be pure wheat loaves οf maiden head/ And let us wives be known for barley-bread;/Yet Mark can tell that barley-bread sufficed/to freshen many at the hand οf Christ" (282). The cheeky Wifes personality seems to be pretty convenient to the word games and the humorous content οf her parliament. There is also strong influence οf the exemplas tone that is also present in the prologue. "Listen, Ill tell you how I used to hold them,/you knowing women, who can understand." (284) Here, the wife uses her experiences to advise women on how to treat their husbands. The intention οf her prologue is similar to the aim οf the priests exemplas, teaching the populace on how to behave. Οf course, the prologues content is, again, far away from the exemplas and closer to popular tradition. Chaucers tales are written in iambic couplets, a form that allows him to express himself more freely and brings him to one οf his highest achievements: the transformation οf English language into a vehicle that could drive popular and high literature through new ways οf expression. This is probably one οf the most attractive peculiarities οf Chaucer, and probably the one that attracted Shakespeare to Chaucer the most. Chaucers aim to transform English language was present in Shakespeare. Probably in a wider and more complete sense than in Chaucer. This turned out to be very useful when willing to reflect the different levels οf English language according to the social position οf a character, for instance. Shakespeare did also amplify the remaking οf English language started by Chaucer and achieved the level οf poetry that he was looking for.The strong influence οf Chaucer in Shakespeares writing is also shown in a particular sense οf rhythm and an ability to describe human characters in a profound way that they both share. Midsummer Nights Dream was one οf the few plays in which William Shakespeare was not adapting existing sources, but this does not mean it proved free from any intertextuality. Influences for the play include Ovid, the Elizabethan comedy, Chaucer... Apparently, Shakespeare took Theseus and Hippolytas names and main characteristics from Plutarchs Lives οf the Noble Grecians and Romans. The Lives also held some influence in the general plot οf the play. Back to Chaucer, some hints about these two characters can also be found in The Knights Tale. Some οf Midsummer Nights Dream characters present similarities to the original sources, but they are simple coincidences οf names and certain physical attributes (Oberon from Huon οf Bordeaux, Titania from Ovids Metamorphoses...) Shakespeare did create the characters own personality, their way οf behaving and talking. Shakespeares characters were influenced by his readings but were not dominated by them. Ovids Metamorphoses does also bring a general source for the comedy. The metamorphoses οf Bottom and the love tricks played by Puck under command οf Oberon, displays an obvious analogy with Ovids myth stories οf transformation. Also, there is a parallelism between Ovids stories οf mortals and gods relationships and Shakespeares story οf encounters between the human world and the fairy worlds fantasy. Still, Shakespeares sense οf comedy is far away οf the one-sided humourless myth tales οf Ovid, as it appears in the third act when Bottoms head is turned into an asss: "Snout: o Bottom, thou art charged./ What do I see on thee?. Bottom: What do you see?/ You see an ass head οf your own, do you?" (Shakespeare, 76). The irreverence οf Shakespeares peculiar reading οf classic metamorphoses is also shown in Titanias love for Bottom: "Titania: Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful" (77) This is a great example οf intertextuality turned into creativity. From a few borrowed clues and names, Shakespeare creates a story οf an absolutely personal imagery. Shakespeare knows and is influenced by Ovids but his re-writing οf his main work shows an ability to transform intertextuality into an inspiring tool. Something similar happens with the Sonneteers. The Sonnet tradition brought to England the earliest Rennaissances characteristics. Sonneteers such as Sir Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard and Sir Philip Sidney rewrote poems already into English, but their aim was placed far beyond the mere translation. By choosing certain authors and poems they were willing to show a new way οf writing and understanding that came from Italy. Soneteers originality may be not in the content οf their poems but in the form and structure οf their writing. Their English is malleable. They create new forms οf expression that, though borrowed from a different literary tradition, turned out to be originative for English literature. Still, we cant underestimate the influence οf a poets own literary voice. This voice is overwhelming in certain parts οf Sir Thomas Wyatts well-known sonnet Whoso list to hunt, supposedly a translation οf Petrarchs poem Una Candida Cerva. His "There is written her fair neck round about:/"Noli me tangere for Caesars I am,/and wild for to hold, though I seem tame." (Course Reading Pack, 43) is an allusion to Anne Boleyn. It seems that she wore a hint with her diamond collar inscribed with Noli me tangere. Boleyn, bride to Henry VIII had an affair with Wyatt some time before she married the King. In fact none οf this allusion can be found in Petrarchs original poem. Wyatt is displaying here a characteristical use οf intertextuality: using someone elses words to express a personal opinion. Slightly remade, Una Candida Cerva essence prevails, though the relevance οf the innovations added to its English parallel is capital. As it appears on the examples given throughout this essay, from a broader perspective, intertextuality is as basic and important to the development οf literature as any other writing tool, such as grammar or vocabulary. Intertextuality may appear to our modern minds as a heavy burden for a writers personal development. Wyatt, Chaucer and Shakespeares mastery in the subject demonstrates that intertextuality could become a valid starting point for a new author to develop his own private literary voice. Work Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin Books, 2003 Course Reading Pack. Literatura dels origens al segle XVIII. Curs 2003-2004, 2003. Shakespeare, William. Midsummers Night Dream. London: Penguin Books, 1995 Read More