All for Love - Brossura

Dryden, John

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1500356670 ISBN 13: 9781500356675

Casa editrice: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Riassunto

All for Love or, the World Well Lost, is a heroic drama by John Dryden written in 1677. Today, it is Dryden's best-known and most performed play. It is a tragedy written in blank verse and is an attempt on Dryden's part to reinvigorate serious drama. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine. The original 1677 production by the King's Company starred Charles Hart as Marc Antony and Elizabeth Boutell as Cleopatra, with Michael Mohun as Ventidius and Katherine Corey as Octavia.[2] All for Love; also called, The World Well Lost is a tragedy by John Dryden, first acted and printed in 1677. Dryden deals in this play with the same subject as that of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Whilst, however, the elder poet "diffused the action of his play over Italy, Greece, and Egypt," Dryden laid every scene in the city of Alexandria. Moreover, he "contents himself with the concluding scene of Antony's history, instead of introducing the incidents of the war with Pompey, the negotiation with Lepidus, death of his first wife, and other circumstances which, in Shakespeare, only tend to distract our attention from the main interest of the drama" (Sir Walter Scott). Dryden, says Saintsbury, "omits whatever in the original story is shocking and repulsive from the romantic point of view.... The best pieces of All for Love cannot, of course, challenge comparison with the best pieces of Shakespeare ... but the best passages of this play, and, what is more, its general facture and style, equal, with certain time-allowance, the best things of Beaumont and Fletcher, and therefore the best things of almost any English tragedian save Shakespeare." The original cast included Hart as Antony, Mohun as Ventidius, Clarke as Dolabella, Goodman as Alexas, Griffin as Serapion, Mrs. Boutell as Cleopatra, Mrs. Corey as Octavia. The play was revived at Lincoln's Inn Fields in February 1704, with Betterton as Antony, Mrs. Barry as Cleopatra, Wilks as Dolabella, and Mrs. Bracegirdle as Octavia; at Drury Lane in December 1718, with Booth as Antony, Mrs. Oldfield as Cleopatra, and Mrs. Porter as Octavia. John Dryden dedicated his play All For Love to the leader of the anti-French movement at court, Thomas Osborne, Lord Treasurer and Earl of Danby. The Dedication critiques Whiggery and "republican" politics, or political practices which strove to continue the Reformation in England. The Dedication also critiques the aggressive and intolerant Anglicanism present in England. Danby was himself prejudiced against Catholics. This prejudice led to his opposition of Charles II’s alliances with the Catholic French. When the Dedication was published in 1678, Danby was at a difficult point in his career. Shortly before the fall of Ghent to Louis XIV's forces, and the signing of a peace treaty at Nijmegen between the Dutch Republic and France, Danby was attempting to arrange an unpopular Anglo-Dutch alliance against the French. Using his Dedication, Dryden took advantage of this political turmoil by attempting to befriend Danby, one of the most powerful members of the Cabinet. There were many potential benefits for Dryden's decision to dedicate his play to Danbury. One reason for Dryden's choice was the economic advantages he incurred. As treasurer, Danbury had the opportunity to monetarily reward underpaid poets. Danbury paid Dryden his full salary as poet laureate from 1673–77 even though the treasury was heavily depleted at the time. However, Dryden's choice of dedicatee also allowed him to highlight the political, as well as romantic, follies within the play. Dryden uses the Dedication to advise Danby to adopt a more moderate political stance. Additionally, Dryden uses the Dedication to demonstrate the similarities between his patron's life and the characters in All for Love.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1500356670
• ISBN 13: 9781500356675
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 104