LICEO ARTISTICO STATALE

“PAOLO TOSCHI”

PARMA

Modulo CLIL

SHAKESPEARE attraverso le opere di FUSSLI

Titolo del modulo CLIL SHAKESPEARE attraverso le opere di FUSSLI

Destinatario Classe 5 di Istituto d’Arte/Liceo Artistico

Periodo Primo quadrimestreDurata modulo 2 mesi (ottobre, novembre)

Discipline coinvolte Lingua e Cultura IngleseStoria dell’arte

Lingua veicolare Inglese

Introduction

Historical and literary background to English Renaissance Elizabethan drama William Shakespeare and the four big tragedies HAMLET, 1602: plot of tragedy, summaries of acts

First stepFrom images to text

1. Act 1, Scene 4 (ll. 38-91)o Description and analysis of the following engraving

“Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus and the Ghost on the guard-platform of the castle”,plate XLIV from Volume II of Boydell's Shakespeare Prints; the illustration in Boydell is based on the original painting by Heinrich Fussli of 1789. The text accompanying the engraving: "Hamlet. Act I. Scene IV. A platform before the Castle of Elsineur. Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost. Painted by H. Fuseli, R. A. Engraved by R. Thew

Description and analysis of the following drawing by H Fussli, 1780-1785

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“Amleto, Orazio, Marcello e lo spettro”, studio preliminare al dipinto, pennello, inchiostro grigio e nero, matita su carta, Kunsthaus Zurigo

Analysis of lines from the tragedy and identification of similarities and differences between visual and verbal description, comparison between emotions conveyed through images and words, personal response to both images and Shakespearean description.

HORATIO

    Look, my lord, it comes!

    Enter Ghost

HAMLET

    Angels and ministers of grace defend us!     Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn'd,     Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell,     Be thy intents wicked or charitable,     Thou comest in such a questionable shape     That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet,     King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!     Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell     Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,     Have burst their escrements; why the sepulchre,     Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd,     Hath opened his ponderous and marble jaws,     To cast thee up again. What may this mean,

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    That thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel     Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon,     Making night hideous; and we fools of nature     So horridly to shake our disposition     With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?     Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?

    Ghost beckons HAMLET

HORATIO

    It beckons you to go away with it,     As if it some impartment did desire     To you alone.

MARCELLUS

    Look, with what courteous action     It waves you to a more removed ground:     But do not go with it.

HORATIO

    No, by no means.

HAMLET

    It will not speak; then I will follow it.

HORATIO

    Do not, my lord.

HAMLET

    Why, what should be the fear?     I do not set my life in a pin's fee;     And for my soul, what can it do to that,     Being a thing immortal as itself?     It waves me forth again: I'll follow it.

HORATIO

    What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,     Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff     That beetles o'er his base into the sea,     And there assume some other horrible form,     Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason     And draw you into madness? think of it:     The very place puts toys of desperation,     Without more motive, into every brain     That looks so many fathoms to the sea     And hears it roar beneath.

HAMLET

    It waves me still.     Go on; I'll follow thee.

MARCELLUS 4

    You shall not go, my lord.

HAMLET

    Hold off your hands.

HORATIO

    Be ruled; you shall not go.

HAMLET

    My fate cries out,     And makes each petty artery in this body     As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.     Still am I call'd. Unhand me, gentlemen.     By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me!     I say, away! Go on; I'll follow thee.

    Exeunt Ghost and HAMLET

HORATIO

    He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS

    Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO

    Have after. To what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS

    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO

    Heaven will direct it.

MARCELLUS

    Nay, let's follow him.

    Exeunt

At this point students are asked to “transfer” their knowledge about Fussli’s art and works and the context he lived in:

Heinrich Fussli as a visionary painter, his poetics of the sublime, his literary, mythological and historical references as a Pre-romantic painter. Analogies and differences with the art of the Middle Ages and of the Neoclassical age. His representations of the subconscious and Michelangelo’s influence. The Northern

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tradition versus the classical heritage. His interest in the theatre and his love for Shakespeare, “the master of human passions and lord of our souls”. His fear of the unknown and the anticipation of surrealism.

Edmund Burke as the philosopher of the sublime. Analysis of extracts from “A philosophical enquiry into the ideas of the beautiful and the sublime”.

Students are also asked to operate a detailed analysis of the various techniques (drawings, paintings, engravings, etc.) and of the visual codes of Fussli’s art.

Act 1, Scene 5 (ll 1-41)An open space at the foot of the castle. A door in the wall opens; the Ghost comes forth and Hamlet after, the hilt of his drawn sword held crosswise before him.

HAMLET

    Where wilt thou lead me? speak; I'll go no further.

Ghost

    Mark me.

HAMLET

    I will.

Ghost

    My hour is almost come,     When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames     Must render up myself.

HAMLET

    Alas, poor ghost!

Ghost

    Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing     To what I shall unfold.

HAMLET

    Speak; I am bound to hear.

Ghost

    So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

HAMLET

    What?

Ghost

    I am thy father's spirit,     Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,     And for the day confined to fast in fires,     Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature     Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid

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    To tell the secrets of my prison-house,     I could a tale unfold whose lightest word     Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,     Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,     Thy knotted and combined locks to part     And each particular hair to stand on end,     Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:     But this eternal blazon must not be     To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!     If thou didst ever thy dear father love--

HAMLET

    O God!

Ghost

    Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAMLET

    Murder!

Ghost

    Murder most foul, as in the best it is;     But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

HAMLET

    Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift     As meditation or the thoughts of love,     May sweep to my revenge.

Ghost

    I find thee apt;     And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed     That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf,     Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, hear:     'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,     A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark     Is by a forged process of my death     Rankly abused: but know, thou noble youth,     The serpent that did sting thy father's life     Now wears his crown.

HAMLET

    O my prophetic soul! My uncle!

2. Act 2, Scene 1 (ll 71-97) Istruzioni come per il punto 1

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H. Fussli, “Hamlet and Ophelia”, 1775-1776, British Museum, London

H. Fussli, “ Hamlet and Ophelia in her closet”,

  Enter OPHELIA

 How now, Ophelia! what's the matter?

      OPHELIA  O, my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!

      POLONIUS With what, i' the name of God?

      OPHELIA

My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd,

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Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ankle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors—he comes before me.

      POLONIUS Mad for thy love?

      OPHELIA My lord, I do not know; But truly, I do fear it.

      POLONIUS What said he?

      OPHELIA He took me by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all his arm; And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so; At last, a little shaking of mine arm And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He raised a sigh so piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being: that done, he lets me go: And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd, He seem'd to find his way without his eyes; For out o' doors he went without their helps, And, to the last, bended their light on me.

3. Act 3, Scene 4 (ll. 116-136)Istruzioni come per il punto 1

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H. Fussli, “Gertrude, Hamlet and his father’s ghost”, 1793, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    Alas, how is't with you,     That you do bend your eye on vacancy     And with the incorporal air do hold discourse?     Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep;     And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm,     Your bedded hair, like life in excrements,     Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son,     Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper     Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look?

HAMLET

    On him, on him! Look you, how pale he glares!     His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,     Would make them capable. Do not look upon me;     Lest with this piteous action you convert     My stern effects: then what I have to do     Will want true colour; tears perchance for blood.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    To whom do you speak this?

HAMLET

    Do you see nothing there?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

HAMLET 10

    Nor did you nothing hear?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    No, nothing but ourselves.

HAMLET

    Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!     My father, in his habit as he lived!     Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!

    Exit GhosT

4. Act 4, Scene 7Istruzioni come per il punto 1Compare the various renderings of Ophelia’s death and choose the most suitable to the Shakespearian lines. Motivate your choice. Identify the periods and movements the various painters belong to and work out a development of the pictorial techniques used and the emotions and feelings each of them convey to the viewer.

J. E. Millais, “Ophelia”, 1851-1852, Tate Gallery, London

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H Fussli, “Ophelia”,Roman drawings, 1770-1778, British Museum, London

Eugène Delacroix,”Ophelia’s death”, 1844, Louvre, Paris

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Arthur Hughes, “Ophelia”, 1851-1853, Manchester City Art gallery  

Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE     How now, sweet queen!

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    One woe doth tread upon another's heel,     So fast they follow; your sister's drown'd, Laertes.

LAERTES

    Drown'd! O, where?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    There is a willow grows aslant a brook,     That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;     There with fantastic garlands did she come     Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples     That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,     But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:     There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds     Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;     When down her weedy trophies and herself     Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;     And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:     Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;     As one incapable of her own distress,     Or like a creature native and indued     Unto that element: but long it could not be

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    Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,     Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay     To muddy death.

LAERTES

    Alas, then, she is drown'd?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

    Drown'd, drown'd.

Second stepFrom text to images

Macbeth (1606)

Summaries of acts

1 . Act 1 scene 3 (ll. 38-68)Enter MACBETH and BANQUO

MACBETH

    So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

BANQUO

    How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these     So wither'd and so wild in their attire,     That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,     And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught     That man may question? You seem to understand me,     By each at once her chappy finger laying     Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,     And yet your beards forbid me to interpret     That you are so.

MACBETH

    Speak, if you can: what are you?

First Witch

    All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

Second Witch

    All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

Third Witch

    All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

BANQUO 14

    Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear     Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,     Are ye fantastical, or that indeed     Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner     You greet with present grace and great prediction     Of noble having and of royal hope,     That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.     If you can look into the seeds of time,     And say which grain will grow and which will not,     Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear     Your favours nor your hate.

First Witch

    Hail!

Second Witch

    Hail!

Third Witch

    Hail!

First Witch

    Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch

    Not so happy, yet much happier.

Third Witch

    Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:     So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

After reading the text students are asked to find and analyse Fussli’s works related to the lines by themselves, highlighting any differences and similarities between images and texts. The following are the most suitable images.

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H.Fussli, “The weird sisters”, 1783, Kunsthaus Zurich

H.Fussli, “Macbeth, Banquo and the three witches”, 1793, Petsworth House, Sussex

2. Act 1, scene 7 (ll 47-61)Istruzioni come per il punto 1

ACT 1 scene 7

LADY MACBETH

    What beast was't, then,

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    That made you break this enterprise to me?     When you durst do it, then you were a man;     And, to be more than what you were, you would     Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place     Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:     They have made themselves, and that their fitness now     Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know     How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:     I would, while it was smiling in my face,     Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,     And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you     Have done to this.

MACBETH

    If we should fail?

LADY MACBETH

    We fail!     But screw your courage to the sticking-place,     And we'll not fail.    

H. Fussli, “Lady Macbeth”, 1815, Kunsthaus Zurigo

3.  Act 2 scene 2 (ll. 14-54)Istruzioni come per il punto 1

Enter MACBETH     My husband!

MACBETH

    I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

LADY MACBETH

    I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.

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    Did not you speak?

MACBETH

    When?

LADY MACBETH

    Now.

MACBETH

    As I descended?

LADY MACBETH

    Ay.

MACBETH

    Hark!     Who lies i' the second chamber?

LADY MACBETH

    Donalbain.

MACBETH

    This is a sorry sight.

    Looking on his hands

LADY MACBETH

    A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

MACBETH

    There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried     'Murder!'     That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them:     But they did say their prayers, and address'd them     Again to sleep.

LADY MACBETH

    There are two lodged together.

MACBETH

    One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other;     As they had seen me with these hangman's hands.     Listening their fear, I could not say 'Amen,'     When they did say 'God bless us!'

LADY MACBETH

    Consider it not so deeply.

MACBETH

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    But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'?     I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen'     Stuck in my throat.

LADY MACBETH

    These deeds must not be thought     After these ways; so, it will make us mad.

MACBETH

    Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more!     Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep,     Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,     The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,     Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,     Chief nourisher in life's feast,--

LADY MACBETH

    What do you mean?

MACBETH

    Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house:     'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor     Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'

LADY MACBETH

    Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,     You do unbend your noble strength, to think     So brainsickly of things. Go get some water,     And wash this filthy witness from your hand.     Why did you bring these daggers from the place?     They must lie there: go carry them; and smear     The sleepy grooms with blood.

MACBETH

    I'll go no more:     I am afraid to think what I have done;     Look on't again I dare not.

LADY MACBETH

    Infirm of purpose!     Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead     Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood     That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,     I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;     For it must seem their guilt.

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H. Fussli, “Lady Macbeth seizing the daggers”, 1812, Tate Gallery

H. Fussli, “Garrick and Mrs Pritchard in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth”, 1768, Kunsthaus Zurich

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5. Act 4 scene 1 (ll. 61-111)Istruzioni come per il punto 1

First Witch

    Speak.

Second Witch

    Demand.

Third Witch

    We'll answer.

First Witch

    Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our mouths,     Or from our masters?

MACBETH

    Call 'em; let me see 'em.

First Witch

    Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten     Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten     From the murderer's gibbet throw     Into the flame.

ALL

    Come, high or low;     Thyself and office deftly show!

    Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head

MACBETH

    Tell me, thou unknown power,--

First Witch

    He knows thy thought:     Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

First Apparition

    Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;     Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.

    Descends

MACBETH

    Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;     Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one     word more,--

First Witch

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    He will not be commanded: here's another,     More potent than the first.

    Thunder. Second Apparition: A bloody Child

Second Apparition

    Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

MACBETH

    Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee.

Second Apparition

    Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn     The power of man, for none of woman born     Shall harm Macbeth.

    Descends

MACBETH

    Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?     But yet I'll make assurance double sure,     And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;     That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,     And sleep in spite of thunder.

    Thunder. Third Apparition: a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand     What is this     That rises like the issue of a king,     And wears upon his baby-brow the round     And top of sovereignty?

ALL

    Listen, but speak not to't.

Third Apparition

    Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care     Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:     Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until     Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill     Shall come against him.

    Descends

MACBETH

    That will never be     Who can impress the forest, bid the tree     Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!     Rebellion's head, rise never till the wood     Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth     Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath     To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart     Throbs to know one thing: tell me, if your art     Can tell so much: shall Banquo's issue ever     Reign in this kingdom?

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ALL

    Seek to know no more.

MACBETH

    I will be satisfied: deny me this,     And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.     Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?

    Hautboys

First Witch

    Show!

Second Witch

    Show!

Third Witch

    Show!

ALL

    Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;     Come like shadows, so depart!

    A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following

H. Fussli, “Macbeth in the witches cave”, 1793, Washington , Folger Shakespeare Library

6. Act 5 scene 1 (ll. 18-52)Istruzioni come per il punto 1

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 Enter LADY MACBETH, with a taper     Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise;     and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.

Doctor

    How came she by that light?

Gentlewoman

    Why, it stood by her: she has light by her     continually; 'tis her command.

Doctor

    You see, her eyes are open.

Gentlewoman

    Ay, but their sense is shut.

Doctor

    What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.

Gentlewoman

    It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus     washing her hands: I have known her continue in     this a quarter of an hour.

LADY MACBETH

    Yet here's a spot.

Doctor

    Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from     her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

LADY MACBETH

    Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,     then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my     lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we     fear who knows it, when none can call our power to     account?--Yet who would have thought the old man     to have had so much blood in him.

Doctor

    Do you mark that?

LADY MACBETH

    The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?--     What, will these hands ne'er be clean?--No more o'     that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with     this starting.

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Doctor

    Go to, go to; you have known what you should not.

Gentlewoman

    She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of     that: heaven knows what she has known.

LADY MACBETH

    Here's the smell of the blood still: all the     perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little     hand. Oh, oh, oh!

H. Fussli, “Lady Macbeth walking in sleep”, 1783, Louvre, Paris

VERIFICHE

(da adattare ai singoli lavori e alle varie occasioni, scritte o orali, in compresenza o meno con il docente di storia dell’arte)

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1. Look at the picture. What particular moment of the scene does the picture refer to? What happens in the play afterwards/immediately before the scene?

2. Look at the characters’ faces. What do they express?

3. Describe the composition of the picture. Start from the position of the figures in relation to one another, then focus on the use of lines and the feelings and ideas they can suggest. Continue with the use of light and colour and the function they perform in the picture.

4. Compare the literary text and the picture.

5. Establish possible connections between the painting/drawing and the cultural atmosphere of the period.

6. Make a comparison of the pictures representing Ophelia’s death and choose the one that in your opinion better renders the sorrow in Gertrude’s words.

7. Set both artists (Shakespeare and Fussli) in their historical and cultural context and highlight any differences and similarities.

8. Find examples of other plays by Shakespeare and their visual counterparts in the history of art.

9. Match a painting or a sculpture of your choice to a poem or a literary extract you have recently studied.

10. Write an essay (200-250 words) about how art and literature can influence each other making reference to any works of your choice.

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