3 - Jacobean Period

Literary period

1. 3 – JACOBEAN PERIOD

Good day!
In the previous video, we talk about the Elizabethan Era.
Now it is the turn of the Jacobean Age.
So, do you know something about it?
I invite you to look for the interesting history behind this reign and Elizabeth’s. Spoilers! It is
history full of betrayals and complicated families.
So, the Jacobean Age is named for the reign of James I, son of Mary Queen of Scotts, who
inherited the crow of England and Ireland after his godmother, Elizabeth I, died in 1603. He
achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the
Gunpowder Plot and repeated conflicts with the English Parliament. Do you think religion
had any relation with this? After all, he was born as a Catholic because of his mother.
Whatever, under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued.
Then, when we talk about Shakespeare´s works, this period is very dark. Here, he wrote the
so-called "problem plays", as well as a number of his best known tragedies. These plays are
tragic in that each has a central character whose actions drive the events and whose flaws
make the conclusion unavoidable: Hamlet (self-doubt, self-dramatization and an intensely
personal drama), Othello (jealousy), King Lear (sanity buffeted by storms and his daughters’
treatment) and Macbeth (guilt and ruthless ambition).
Other written works have a bitter flavour far removed from comedy. Even the plays of this
period which are literally comedies, in the simple sense that they end happily, are in mood
closer to tragedy. In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and
completed three more major plays, including The Tempest. These four plays are graver in tone
but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors.
After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure of
the Jacobean era. Jonson's aesthetics hark back to the Middle Ages and his characters embody
the theory of humours, which was based on contemporary medical theory. He achieves his
most distinctive voice in two satirical comedies based on interplay of characters seen as types.

2. In Volpone, the characters are even given the Italian names of animals to point up their
supposed natures. Volpone (the fox) pretends to be dying so as to extract gifts from people
expecting an inheritance. Mosca (the fly) acts as his accomplice. A lawyer, Voltore (the
vulture), hovers around the supposed death bed. A feeble old man, Corbaccio (the crow), is
willing to disinherit his son for his own benefit. And a self-righteous Corvino (the raven) offers
his wife to satisfy Volpone's lust.
His sharp eye for the everyday scene, and for the amusing quirks of people's behaviour, even
enables him to make a viable play out of Bartholomew Fair. It has little to hold it together
except the context of the famous fair itself. The plot consists only of the adventures and
mishaps which befall different groups of visitors.
Others who followed Jonson's style include Beaumont and Fletcher, who wrote the popular
comedy, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, a satire of the rising middle class.
So, Jacobean poetry includes Shakespeare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, but there are others
too. For example, one of the most popular styles of theatre during Jacobean times was the
revenge play (remember what I told you in the previous video). It was further developed by
John Webster with The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi. Other revenge tragedies
include The Changeling written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley.
In the case of prose, the most important work was the King James Bible. This is one of the most
massive translation projects in the history of English up to this time. This represents the
culmination of a tradition of Bible translation into English that began with the work of William
Tyndale (remember the background in the first video), and it became the standard Bible of the
Church of England.
George Chapman is remembered chiefly for his famous translation in 1616 of The Iliad and
Odyssey into English verse. This was the first ever complete translations of either poem into
the English language. The translation had a profound influence on English literature.
Also, in this period, Shakespeare popularized the English sonnet, which made significant
changes to Petrarch's model. He wrote a collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as
the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. The beauty of the individual sonnets is
enhanced by the mysterious personal relationships of which they give tantalizing hints.
Besides Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, the major poets of this period included the Metaphysical
poets.
The term Metaphysical has been applied to poets who share a love of intellectual ingenuity,
literary allusion and paradox, and who use language, images and rhythms of a kind not

3. conventionally 'poetic' to startle the reader into thought. Their style was characterized by wit
and metaphysical conceits that is far-fetched or unusual similes or metaphors.
The earliest of the group is John Donne, whose wide range of themes stretches from erotic
delights to the power of a holy sonnet such as the one on death.
George Herbert writes only devotional poems. They convey a mood of simple piety
transcending subtle torments of spiritual conflict.
So, you survived this video too! Congratulations! From now on the path is easier.
Again, in order to digest all this information, I suggest you to watch the video a couple of
times and write down the most important aspects for you. Try to discuss with your classmates
about it. If you have any doubt or you want more information about it, you can send an e-mail.
What do you think about this period? Did you find something interesting? What do you think
about this phase of Shakespeare’s work? Have you read any of the works mentioned before?
Leave your answers in the comments section.
I shall see you anon.


Jessica Rivas.
[email protected]