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A Study of Mark Antony's Downfall in John Dryden's All for Love

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A Study of Mark Antony's Downfall in John Dryden's All for Love CI{AP'TERI II'\ITRODL,C:TION I.1 Backgroundof the Stud.v- The existenceof Puritanismin Englandhad teriblv trec.omethe great obstaclefbr the Englishdramatic literature to dcvelop.preciselv tluring 1642unlil 1660. The Puritans. having the intention to puri$'the Church of England. were eagerto fbrbid all sorts of amusementwhich were consideredbv them as public immoralit-l'. That is wh1'rvhen the-v" cameto potver in 1642. they immediatel"vclosed down all the theatres. It meansthat the geat blooming of drama and performancefrom the ElizabethanAge (1485-1625) was tbrced to put an end. As a result, playvriting degeneratedduring the gorremment of the Republic of Commonwealth(1649-1659) (\Voods 824). The blooming of drama in England returned as soon as CharlesII. who rvas restoredto the English throne in 1660. camefiom his exile in France. The theat'eswere reopenedunder royal patronage. It causedthe public's aftentionto-retum to theane with great excitement after the long privation. The English plavrvrights' desire and spiriq which were prosseddown during Puritanisnl dared to rise again. This situation awakenedthe dramatic literature greatly. Thus this era' known as the RestorationAge (1660-1700)' '"the indicates the great development of drama, most spectaculart-vpe of literature produced in Restoration Age,' in English literature (S23--$). This fact makes the thesis lwiter interestedin this particular age since she is amazedby'the revival of drama after being banned during the eighteenyears of Puritan domination. It also becomes her reason why she choosesdrama. insteadof other literary geffes. of the Restorationperiod. As the greatestwriter of the RestorationAge. John Dryden is eminenf as pla.v"nright.poet. and critic. Becauseof hi,sg'eat contribulion in literary work. he representsthe irnportantfigure of the seventeenthoentury English man-of-literarure. specilicaiiy of the Restoration. Since he dominatesthe Restorationperiod people otien 'the considerthat particular period to be .$e ot Dryden" (-{,rcher869). His substantial "one achier,ementsaffirrn his place in the literary history as of the chief founders of modern English prose. the tirst great English critic, the mosl rcpresenta{itevr,riter of the Restoration.and the greatestliterary man of his time" (Needlernan325). His outstanding characteristicsmake him'"the protbssionalman-of:letter" who is dominant o\,er his rivals and contemporaries(Schilling 4). Consequenth'.his remarkableabilitv in literarv lield has been admitted. His extraordinarycompetence in literaturemakes the thesisnriter interested in this particular author among other Restorationones. As the leadingrepresentative of the Restorationdrama. .Iohn Drvden's dramatic "under abiliqvis absolutelyundoubted. As a Restorationdramatisl, he lives the shadorvof Shakespeare"w-hose name had flourished in the ElizabethanAge. the age before Dryden's time, as a great English dramatist (Kautmann 87). As a result, it is not easy'for Drydon to "the triumph over Shakespearebecause people hale considered Shaliespeare representathe of true dramatic genius" (Nicoll67). Particularly,they have adored Shakespeareas the greatestplaywright ever since. Nevertheless,John Dryden has successfu$ made hirnself "rank near Shakespeare"in a specifiedwa1'through his accomplishmentsas a playwright. He annualb produces plays that dominantly'"influence every writer of his time" @erman i i9). ii is ob"ioiisl-1'a wondefui job of irim. Tiris arnazingabililv of Dn'den rnakesthe thesiswriter decideto chooseone of his plavs tbr her thesis. In writing his plays. Dryden intends t<lpresent befter work than Shakespeare.It i-" 's becausehe noticessorne defbcts in Shakespeare plays. kr his pretaceto Tfqflus_Alld Cressida.he sa-".'sof Shakespeare."lvlanv of his wotds. and more of his phrases.are scaroe intellQible. And of thosewhich lve understand.some are ungrarrmatical.others doarsc. and his rvhole stvle is so pesteredrvith figuratir.eexpressions. that it is as arlbcted as rt is obscure" (Campbell 8). Although Shakespeare'slanguage sg{e might be consideredas the beauf-v"of his pla1,'sin the ElizabethanAge. it does not absolutelvfit with the literary tasteof Dryden's time since the RestorationAge. influenced b1'the neo-olassicalmo'oemenl, has "directness the tendencytorvard and simplicin'of expression." From this point. he tries to follorv the Restorationtaste in w'riting his plays. He successfullydoes it sincehe has his own stvle and abiliqvto make the plal's simpler and more intelligible bv using simplicitr.of statementsthat do not exist in Shakespeare'spla"vs ('Iaine 227). Drvden is also successfu"r-r"*able to make the plavs "more compactand lessdithlse" than Shakespeare's(Berman l2i)). Besidesusing simplicit.vof stafements.he restrictshis plays to the classicalunities, involving time. place,and action, as the Restorationdramatists commonlv observe (Woods 879). What is meant b_vthe unif-vof time is 'the action of the play should co!'er not more than a da,v," rvhile the uniw of place means 'the sceneof a plar' should take place in one gven localih-." and the unir-v*of action is "a plav should be of one f-v*peonly, w'holly comic or wholly tragrc,and should have onh'one plot" (819). It is much different from Shakespeare'splays since he disregardsthese unities in writing his plays (Campbell 191). That is rvhy Dryden's pla,r'sarc "more condensedand more closefuknit than the loose$ constructed"Shakespearean plays (879). Among Dryden's plays, ,{.ll for Love is gencral$ known as his best play. It is regardedas'the hearr of his dramaticwork" which "prolbundlv aftbcted subsequent English tragic writing" (Kaufmann 871. tn fbct. it is successfull.v'Thebest tragedl'of its age" (Prior 95). Even accordingto Bonamy l)obree. All for Love is "the best dramatic blanli verse since Shakespeare."Il seemsthat .4.11&Ll-_rlvgis sonsideredas the most "lhe outstandingtragedl,'arnong Dryden's other tragedicssinoe they'hardl-v- hale same strengthand fbn'our" as that particular plav (Nicoll 148). All of thesefacrs preoccupvthe thesiswriter's attentionto write a thesison this particularplal'. In writing his AIL&r!q1o. Dryden baseshis story on Shakespeare'sgreat tregedy Antonv and Cleopatraof rvhich sourceo1'story is taken from Sir Thomas North's translationof Plutarch's ParallelLies (Woods 879). As DrJ'denhas statedin his preface to .4,11forLor,e. the story about ,{ntony and Cleopatrahas fbncied him sinceit has interestedman-v great writers after Shakespeare.Because the plays of Shakespearehad alrea{'been regarded-old-fashioned in tbrm and language"in Dryden's period. Dn'den attemptsto retell the story along the demandsof his age (Sampson338). Although his play is an adaptationof Shakespeare's.it does not mean that John Dryden is simply an imifator. He modifies the pla.vwith his original way (Nicoll 147). Thlough the three unities and his simple language,he remodelsShakespeare's Antony and Cleopatraand gir.estitle to his modified play All for Lol'e. As the result of his adaptation to Shakespeare'sgreat traged-v "the and his effort to follow the Restoration taste, that particular play of him implies relationship of the greatBlizabethan age of drama and his own" (Berman 120). The story of All for Lol'e is taken from the well-known history of the Roman Empire. The name of Mark Antony has flourished as well as of Julius Caesarin history. fuiton-v, one of the Roman Triumvirate. is the central character of this play. As one of the leading persons in Rome, he undoubtt-vhas fame, power, and honor ol'er people. He is - - outstandingsince he is a greatman. Despitehis greatness.he has a lot of conflictl and he sofueshis conflictsby committingsuicide. Thus,IVIark Antony's tragicdownf-all is interestingto discuss.as such a greatman ma]'take such a drasticstep in solvinghis problern. I.2 Statementof the Problem L-onsideringAntonv's tragrc downfall. the thesiswriter is curious to know how .dtntonymeef.s his downfall. I.3 Purposeof the Study Throughher anaf.'sis.the thesisrvriter will try to anal.vzethe processof .{ntonl"s dorvnfall. I.4 Importanceof the Study Throughthe topic sheraises in her thesis.the thesiswriter rvouldlilie to show the readersthat greatnessin one's lilb will not excludehim from t'acingdownfall. That a great man suchlvlark Antony may end his life in suicideis indeeda tragicthing. Throughher thesis,the writer expectsthal the readerswill know and understand more aboutDryden's besttragedy play, All for tove. Sincethis particularplay is considered'"thebest trage{v' of the Restorationdrama (Prior 95), the readerscan at lea$t recognizethe sort of dramaticwork in Restorationperiod, a period in w'hichthe dramatic literaturehas flourished greatly after beingbarured by the Puritanism. Then after the readersknow and understandthis particularplay, the thesiswriter certain$ hopesthat they 6 wiii appreciate Aii for Love as a great piece of literary work. As the resulq they will realize plavwright. that John Dryden is an excellent , The thesis writer also wants to conve-vto the readets, especially the studentsof the English Department, that drama is interestingto analyze. It is her great desireto recommendthem to chooseolher works of Dryden for theil thesissince she believesthat his works are interesting. .Iohn Dryden. as the dominant man-of-literaturein Restoration period. has absolutel-vproduced man-v good literan, works *'hich make people cunsiderhim a great gdter. That is whl'she believesthat his rvorks are outstandingand rvorthl'to be analy'zed. She real$-hopesthat her thesisma1'gile somecontribution
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