University Wits

 UNIVERSITY WITS 

The term “University Wits” was first coined by George Saintsbury .

A group of late 16th century English playwrights who were educated at Oxford or Cambridge University .

Members are Cristopher Marlowe , Robert Greene , Thomas Nashe (from Cambridge) , John Lyly , Thomas Lodge , George Peele (from Oxford ) & Thomas Kyd (he did not study either in Oxford or Cambridge) .But  writing style is same . 

Characteristics of their plays 

The plays are mainly based on heroic characters like Tamburlaine , Doctor Faustus .legendary characters 

Heroic treatment – long speeches(soliloguies)  , spectacles , violence which often led to loudness & disorder. The themes are tragic in nature except Lyly’s plays .(comedy) .Predecessors of Shakespeare . 

John Lyly (1554-1606)

Comedy Master .Famous for writing court comedies . 

Edmund Blount published six court comedies of Lyly in 1632 .They are Endymion , Compaspe , Sapho & Phao , Gallathea , Midas & Mother Bombie . 

Fomously known for his prose romances – Euphues : The Anatomy of Wit (1578) , Euphes and His England (1580) . 

The term ‘Euphues’ is a Greek word meaning ‘well-endowed by nature ‘ . It was earlier used by Roger Ascham in The Schoolmaster . 

Lyly’s writing style is known as ‘Euphueism ‘ ,(is a unique style like Bacon’s Aphoristic style ) is an elaborate style , decorated with long sentences , clauses ,alliterations , rhetorical questions , antithesis etc . (ornamental style ) . 

“All is fair in love & war “ – this famous line is from Lyly’s Euphues . 

Three pastoral plays – Gallathea (Lincolnshire) , Love’s Metamorphosis (Arcadia) , & The woman in the Moon ( Utopia) . 

Gallathea is a source of A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Love’s Labour’s Lost was inspired by Love’s Metamorphosis . 

The Woman in the Moon is the only blank verse play by Lyly . 

Character of Toby Belch in Twelfth Night is taken from Endymion or subtitle (The Man in the Moon). 

Campaspe is the first Romantic play of Elizabethan era . 

Mother Bombie is his only play based on modern themes .

Lyly’s plays are mainly based on Greek legend , but he remodeled the mythological characters in an original way . 

Intellectual comedies , use of pun , conceit etc . 

George peele (1558-1596)

The Arraignment of Paris is a mythological & pastoral play dedicated to Queen Elizabeth . It was performed by the children of the chapel before the Queen in early  1580s .

Subplot is influenced by Shepherd’s Calender (1579) . Wrote about violence and bloodshed . 

Famous for writing The Old Wive’s Tale , a satire on the current dramatic taste . It is based on English folklore & anticipates Beaumont & Fletchers The knight of the Burning Pestle . 

Battle of Alcazar – Historical play . 

The Love of King David & Fair Bathseba is based on Biblical themes . 

His famous chronicle of Edward 1 is considered as a precursor to Shakespeare’s historical drama . 

Polyhymia , The Honour of the Garter are some poems by Peele. He also wrote a sonnet A Farewell to Arms .(same name Earnest Hemingway’s novel ). 

Robert Greene (1558-1592) 

Famously known for his pamphlet AGroatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million Repentence where he criticized Shakespeare as “ an upstart crow , beautified with our feathers “ . 

He wrote Menophon in imitation of Lyly’s Euphuistic prose style . 

Friar Bacon & Friar Bungay is about Bacon’s proof of his magical powers before King Henry iii . 

Known as the first notorious professional writer . 

His short romance Pandosto : The Triumph of Wit (1588) in the source of The Winter’s Tale ,

Mamillia is one of his early romances . 

He wrote A Looking Glass for London &England is collaboration with Thomas Lodge . 

The History of Orlando Furioso is a romantic comedy combined with melodrama & inspired by Aristo . 

Another Pamphlet – A Notable Discovery of Coosnage (1592) 

The Scottish History of James IV is a combination of chronicle play & fantasy . 

His play Alphonsus : King of Aragon is an imitation of Tamburlaine . 

He mixes various themes like love , history , magic , fairy tales etc . 

Famous for Romantic settings .

Women characters are combination of real & ideal . 

Bohan(character ) in James IV may be served as a model for Jacques(character ) in As You Like It . 

First dramatist to draw romantic heroines . 

First dramatist to write Romantic comedies . 

Thomas Lodge (1558-1625) 

Most interesting prose romance is Rosalynde : Euphues Golden Legacy the source for As You Like It . 

The Wounds of Civil War is considered as an early handling of Roman History . Deals with the tragedy of Marius & Scilla . Chronicle play . 

Collaborated with Shakespeare in Henry VI 

Collaborated with Greene in A Looking Glass for London & England . 

Wrote a pamphlet called Defence of Poetry , Music & Stage plays in 1580 as a response to Stephen Gosson’s attack on stage plays in School of Abuse . 

A Margarite of America , Scillaes Metamorphosis , etc are other plays . 

Scillae’s Metamorphosis influenced Venus & Adonis . 

Prose work – An Alarum against Users 

Dialogue – The Devil Conjured in defence of ascetic life . 

Sermon – Wit’s Misery 

Thomas Nashe (1567-1601) 

Playwright & satirist 

Wrote many pamphlets under the pseudonym of Martin Marprelate 

Involved in a Pamphlet war with Gabriel Harvey . 

Satirized Harvey in Pierce Penniless . 

Harvey replied in Pierce’s Supererogation . 

Famous for writing the first picaresque novel The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack Wilton (1594) . Dedicated to Earl of Southampton . 

Wrote a preface to Greene’s Menophon .                                                                                                                     Christ’s Death Over Jerusalem (1593) – written on the backdrop of Black Death . 

Collaborated with Ben Jonson in the controversial play The Isle Dogs (1597) 

The Anatomy of Absurdity – a survey of contemporary writings . 

Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) 

Son of a scrievener 

Imprisoned & Tortured for spreading atheism . 

Wrote an original version of Hamlet called Ur-Hamlet .

Believed to be the author of The Spanish Tragedy due to the reference of Heywood’s Apology for Actors.

Kyd translated Torquato Tasso’s Padre di Familigia , as The Householder’s Philosophy & Robert Garnier’s Cornelia from French . 

The Spanish Tragedy or Hieronimo is Mad again is considered as the first example of revenge tragedy . 

Cornelia was never acted. 

What is Revenge Tragedy ? 

The term was coined by A.H. Thorndike to label a class of plays written in the late Elizabethan & early Jacobean era . 

Originated by Seneca & popularized by Kyd . 

Also called tragedy of blood . 

The earliest instance may be Oresteia by Aeschylus . 

Features of the Revenge Tragedy . 

1.Main focus is on the protagonist’s plight for revenge . 

2. Sensational, melodramatic , full of murder , bloodshed & violence . 

3. Ghost , Graveyards , adultery , macabre images , treachery are major elements . 

4. Protagonist is a villain like figure . 

5. Conflict between love & duty . 

The Spanish Tragedy Summary 

During a battle between Spain & Portugal , Portuguese prince Balthazar killed Don Andrea from Spain . 

Balthazar was imprisoned by Horatio , son of Hieronimo . 

Belimperia loves Andrea & Horatio becomes her new love . 

Balthazar falla in love with Belimperia during his imprisonment . 

When he comes to know that she loves Horatio , he kills him & hangs him before her eyes . 

Belimperia cries out in horror & Hieronimo goes half-mad in grief . 

Decides to take revenge on Balthazar . 

Hieronimo arranges a play within a play based on the topic of Solimon & Perseda & tricks everyone to take part in his play .

The murderer is exposed & everybody is killed at the end .