Reviews for In School and Out of School, Or, the History of William and John; An Interesting Tale

The average rating for In School and Out of School, Or, the History of William and John; An Interesting Tale based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-24 00:00:00 Dennis Barnes The fourth edition of Ward's "Old English Drama: Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and Greene's Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay" provides the definitive annotations for Marlowe's Doctor Faustus' (A-Text) and Greene's Bacon and Bungay. The plays themselves occupy a mere 110 pages of a nearly 500-page volume. The rest of the book is taken up with a long (173 page!) scholarly introduction on the history of the Faust and Bacon legends and playtexts, with long excerpts from both the English Faust Book (from Logeman's text of the 1592 edition, corrected against the British Library's copy) and the prose Friar Bacon (from Thoms' text of the undated Francis Grove edition) and 191 pages of very thorough textual notes, 101 for Faustus, 90 for Bacon. Textually, for Marlowe I prefer a parallel edition like Greg (the original spelling and punctuation are a challenge, but the whitespace used to keep the texts parallel down to the individual word makes comparisons easy) or the Revels Student Edition (modern spelling, but whitespace is only used to keep large hunks of text parallel, with lines and words are allowed to drift out of sync). For Greene, things are more complicated. I prefer Seltzer's text, but the differences between him and Ward are minor, and if I had to pick one, it would be Ward. Ward's few "corrections" of Greene are questionable, but Seltzer's introduction can't hold a candle to Ward's, and Seltzer's notes are mostly extreme abbreviations of Ward's. Where Seltzer's notes differ from Ward's, I favor Ward. The printing is also much better for Ward than for the edition of Seltzer I have--even though Ward's type is minuscule, it's a beautiful face and sharply printed (letterpress!), whereas my Seltzer is a cheap and blurry print-on-demand paperback made from a subpar scan of the original hardback. For print-on-demand copies of Ward, I expect the printing quality is on par with the current editions of Seltzer.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-27 00:00:00 Keith Peel Author’s Background- The play, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, was written by Christopher Marlowe. Christopher was born in Canterbury, England, in 1564. No one knows for sure when he was actually born, but since he was baptized around February 26 historians assume he was born around that day. While Christopher left behind a legacy after writing his famous play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, his literary career only lasted less than six years. Christopher was arrested for his assumed religion of atheism which was a crime back then. People thought his play about someone selling their soul to the devil was very corrupt. Marlowe was killed on May 30 after a fight broke out between him and Ingram Frizer-the same person that recruited Marlowe into secret service. Marlowe was stabbed in the forehead and was killed, but the actually cause for his death is still being debated today. Literary Time Period- 1592(although the play wasn’t published until a decade later) Setting- Medieval Wittenberg, Germany; Papal palace in Rome; Court and kingdom of Carolus, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Characters- Faustus- power-thirsy, brilliant scholar, sells his soul Mephastophilis- devil that appears when Faustus is messing with magic, good devil(attempts to discourage Faustus from selling his soul) Old Man- mysterious, doesn't appear until the final scene, tries to convince Faustus to repent and ask God to show him mercy Good Angel- holy, voice of reason, tries to convince Faustus not to go through with selling his soul because he would regret it. Bad Angel- evil, voice of corruption, tells Faustus that he should sell his soul knowing the consequences, seems like a recruiter for Hell in a way. Lucifer- ruler of Hell, Mephastophilis’s master Wagner- Faustus’s servant, sneaks Faustus’s master books to learn how to summon devils and work with magic Theme- Temptation, Sin, and Repentance Faustus gave into temptation when given the opportunity to gain power and control He sinned when he sold his soul to the Devil and messed with all of those people He repented when he knew the 24 year period was coming to an end and then it really dawned on him that his soul was going to be damned for eternity. Free will vs Fate In Faustus time Christianity outlooks were changing and at the time there was the belief of predestination which meant god has already predestined everyone to either heaven or hell and that free will is just an allusion. Throughout the book Faustus encounters moments of free will where he has the choice to make whatever decision he wants but it is debated that he made those decisions because they were all part of his predestined plan Plot Summary- A well-respected scholar named Dr. Faustus from Wittenberg, Germany finds interest in magic after deciding that his years of being a scholar have come to an end. He tells his servant to bring him men that can teach him magic and two angels appear. One trying to convince him not to partake in dark magic and the other telling him it's ok. After messing around with magic he summons up a demon by the name of Mephistopheles and he is used as Lucifer’s messenger. After talking to Mephastophilis Faustus agrees to make a deal with the devil that included selling his soul to experience 24 years of power and riches. After signing the agreement with his blood he immediately regrets it and wants to repent but Lucifer finds a way to distract him from the thought of wanting to repent. Faustus goes on to make himself the talk of the town. He entertains people from the Emperor of Germany to the Duchess of Vanholt. After his 24 years is up demons come to take Faustus’s soul but he tries to repent in the name of God, but by that time it is too late. Literary Devices- Symbolism Good and Evil Angels- They stand for the inner battle of wisdom vs. corruption that Faustus battles with throughout the whole story Blood- Faustus’s blood means something to Lucifer, because once he has his blood he has all of him. Foreshadowing Blood- when the blood congeals while Faustus tries to sign the agreement it just foreshadows that things aren’t going to get pretty from that moment on. It’s like his own blood was telling him to watch out. Memorable Quotes- “Fools that will laugh on earth, most weep in hell.” By saying this, Faustus meant that those who laugh on earth are the ones who sin and experience pleasure, but at the end of it they experience damnation because they have been fooled by their earthly desires. “Was not that Lucifer and angel once?” “Yes Faustus, and most dearly loved of God.” “How comes it, then that he is prince of devils?” “O, by aspiring pride and insolence, for which God threw him from the face of heaven” This quoted conversation was frustrating because Mephistopheles was clearly hinting the sins that got Lucifer kicked out of heaven and Faustus does not seem to get the hint that these are the sins he himself has indulged in and that he might not make it into heaven because of it, but he chooses to ignore his wrong-doings.