【導讀】[內(nèi)容提要]中古文學包括盎格魯-薩克遜文學和中世紀文學兩部分。薩克遜文學發(fā)生在原始社會，主要。稱作英格蘭民族史詩。中世紀文學的巔峰之作系“英國詩歌之父”喬叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》，在此。之前還有一種類似于當代武俠小說的騎士文學。[學習要點]《貝奧武夫》的社會意義及文體風格；騎士文學的界定及其特點；騎士文學的主要題材；喬叟創(chuàng)作經(jīng)歷；喬叟對英國詩歌的貢獻。

　　

【正文】 k Othello‘s happy life. Then he works out an evil plan. One day he tells Othello that his wife has betrayed him and fallen in love with another man whose name is Cassio. In order to prove what he said is true, he steals a handkerchief from the lady‘s chamber and secretly puts it into Cassio‘s hands. Thus Othello‘s suspicion is aroused. He bees so suspicious that one night he strangles his wife. When the truth es to light, Othello bees very remorseful. He kills himself at last. Iago is punished and Cassio is made the governor of Cyprus. King Lear The story of King Lear was taken from Holinshed‘s chronicles. King Lear, one of British kings, wants to divide his kingdom into 3 parts and bestows each daughter a part. With this intention in mind, he calls the 3 daughters before him in order to know which daughter loves him best. His eldest daughter tells him that her love for his father is quite beyond words. She says that his is dearer to her than the light of her eyes. The old king feels happy to hear these sweet words. Then he turns to his second daughter. The second daughter says that she has found all the other joys dead in the love of her dear king and father. The king is very glad to hear these words too. Now he asks his favorite daughter, the youngest one to e before him, thinking that she would make him happier with more sweet words. But his youngest daughter does not flatter him. She just says that he is her father and he has brought her up and loved her, so she will love him in return for that. The old king is so angry with his youngest daughter that he decides to give her nothing. Then the kingdom is divided into two parts, and each of his elder daughters gets one part. Later on the youngest daughter is married to the king of France, and goes away. The aged king lives in his two elder daughter‘s houses in turn. They maltreat him and make him suffer a lot in their hands. Finally the old king is driven out of their houses and lives in the fields. When the youngest daughter hears the sad news, she leads an army and wages a war against her two sisters. Unfortunately, she is killed by her two sisters. King Lear feels sorrowful when he has lost his dearest daughter. He dies in grief and sorrow. Macbeth The story of Macbeth is also taken from Holinshed‘s Chronicles. Macbeth is a famous general of Scotland. One day he es back triumphantly from a battle. He meets three witches on his way back. The three witches tell him that he will bee the king of Scotland. What the witches said sirs his ambition. His wife, Lady Macbeth, helps him to take the further steps. Macbeth murders the old king Duncan and declares himself the king of Scotland. To maintain his power, Macbeth mits one atrocity after another. His reign is a chain of heinous crimes. The Scottish people rise up against him. Macbeth is killed in battle at last. Then Malcolm, the old king‘s son, bees the king of Scotland. II. Shakespeare’s edies and youth plays Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare‘s best known youth plays ands it fully deserves its fame. Romeo and Juliet belong to two families engaged in family feud of long standing, but the two fall in love and are secretly married. When Romeo is banished for killing one of Juliet‘s kinsmen Tybalt and the girl‘s parents insist on marrying her to another, the friar who has married the two lovers tries to help them, but his plan fails owing to several unhappy accidents, and the young lovers die one after another. In this tragedy Shakespeare attacks the feudal world of family feud by placing in it two young lovers with humanist ideals of love and then working out their inevitable tragedy in the hostile environment. Though the incidents in the drama seem to suggest that the tragedy is due more to accidents than to the social contradictions because if some of the friar‘s plans hadn‘t gone awry the lovers could still have a chance to gain their eventual happiness, yet to think that way would be to overlook the irreconcilable conflicts between the terrible feudal bondage of family feud and the young lovers‘ daring yet inexperienced attempts to shatter that bondage, for such a contradiction must necessarily lead to tragedy earlier or later, in one way or another. And the play was rendered with such power and beauty via the enormously successful characterportraits of the hero and the heroine, so successful that the name of Romeo has since been identified with the acme of a dashing young lover and Juliet has bee a synonym for an illstarred heroine of great beauty, strong will and true passion. Their youthful love is told in brilliant dialogue and elegant verse, highlighted in the famous balcony scene (Act II, Scene 2) and the poignant parting scene (Act III, Scene 5), which have ever been remembered as two of the truly great love in all literature. The text of Romeo and Juliet in the Oxford copy of the First Folio was almost thumbed to pieces by the eager students of the 17th century. The Merchant of Venice The story of The Merchant of Venice is of Italian origin. There are four main characters in it. They are Shylock, a Jewish usurper。 Antonio, a Christian merchant。 Bassanio, a young man who is the dear friend of Antonio‘s。 Portia, a beautiful girl who is the heroine and Shakespeare‘s ideal woman character. The story tells us that Shylock, the Jewish usurper, has amassed an immense fortune by lending money at great interest to Christian merchants. Therefore he is much disliked by all Christians, and particularly by Antonio, a young merchant of Venice. Ba ssanio, the dear friend of Antonio, wants to court Portia. He needs money. So he goes to ask his friend Antonio for help. Antonio has no money to lend him. He takes him to see Shylock, hoping the money lender could lend them some money. Shylock, who usually hates