Chapters
1-2
I.
Explain in English or give definitions of and find contextual synonyms for the
following words and phrases:
Complacency - a feeling of satisfaction, especially
extreme self-satisfaction (smugness)
three times running - taking place three times
filthy - very dirty (muddy)
supercilious – displaying arrogant pride, scorn, or
indifference (contemptuous)
military bearing - the high level of military
professionalism (carriage)
natural flamboyance - natural brightness
stupendous – amazingly large or great (immense)
staggered - to astound or overwhelm, as with shock (embarrass)
natural homage – special honor or respect shown or
expressed publicly and accepted as one's due (natural respect)
entanglement – state of confusion (involvement)
concubinage - cohabitation of a man and woman without
legal or formal marriage (cohabitation)
languorous – lacking spirit or liveliness (impassive)
flippant rejoinder – frivolous answer (frivolous
answer)
to risk smth – to expose to a chance of loss
(run the venture)
a quick study - to learn smth by heart very quickly
II.
Search for the allusions in the text. Define their type (literary, artistic,
historical and others) and functions; explain their meaning.
Literary
allusions:
William
Shakespeare (26
April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely
regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's
pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the
"Bard of Avon". His plays have been translated into every major
living language and are performed more often than those of any other
playwright.
Artistic
allusions:
Sir
Thomas Lawrence (13
April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was a leading English portrait painter and
president of the Royal
Academy. The most
outstanding work: Satan summoning his legions. Here he illustrated lines from
John Milton's Paradise Lost. The portraitist was mentioned to emphasize the
lightness, tenderness, and feminity of the main character.
Sarah
Siddons (5 July
1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the
best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was most famous for
her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a
character she made her own, and for famously fainting at the sight of the Elgin
Marbles in London.
The Sarah Siddons Society continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award in Chicago every year to a
prominent actress.
John
Philip Kemble (1
February 1757 – 26 February 1823) was an English actor. He was born into a
theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring
troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of
the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
His other siblings Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth
Whitlock also enjoyed success on the stage.
Benoît-Constant
Coquelin (23
January 1841 – 27 January 1909), known as Coquelin aîné ("Coquelin
the Eldest"), was a French actor, "one of the greatest theatrical
figures of the age."
Sarah
Bernhardt (23
October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage and early film actress, and
was referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever
known."Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France
in the 1870s, at the beginning of the Belle Epoque period, and was soon in demand
in Europe and the Americas.
She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname
"The Divine Sarah."
Mounet-Sully (February 28, 1841 – 1916), a
French actor, was born at Bergerac. His birth name was Jean-Sully Mounet:
"Mounet-Sully" (without the "Jean") was a stage name.
Jean-Marc
Nattier (March 17,
1685 – November 7, 1766), French painter, was born in Paris, He is noted for his portraits of the
ladies of King Louis XV's court in classical mythological attire.
Charles
John Kean (18
January 1811 - 22 January 1868), was born at Waterford, Ireland,
the son of the actor Edmund Kean. Charles Kean had early opportunities to play
Shakespearian leads in London:
Romeo (1829), Richard III (1830), Iago (1833) to his father's Othello, Othello
and Hamlet (both 1838).
Historical
allusions:
Sir
Francis Robert Benson
(4 November 1858 – 31 December 1939), commonly known as Frank Benson or F.
R. Benson, was a British actor-manager. He founded his own company in 1883
and produced all but two of Shakespeare's plays.
To my mind
their main function is to make the reader to be closer to the theatre and art.
III.
Using direct and indirect evidence from the text give character sketches of
Julia Lambert and Michael Gosselyn.
Julia
Lambert was the
best actress of her time in England.
She was 46 years old. Julia had big brown eyes, her smile was warm and ready.
She was a woman with a lovely figure. She was tall, she had long legs. “Her
nose was slightly thick, but he had managed by his lighting to make it look
very delicate, not a wrinkle marred the smoothness of her skin, and there was a
melting look in her fine eyes.” “Her voice, her rather low rich voice, with
that effective hoarseness, which wrung your heart in an emotional passage or
gave so much humour to a comedy line, seemed to sound all wrong when she spoke
it. And then her articulation; it was so distinct that, without raising her
voice, she could make you hear her every word in the last row of the gallery;
they said it made verse sound like prose.” Julia loved beautiful dresses and
she had a lot of them. She had her clothes made in Paris. Julia earned enough to be an
independent woman. This woman was hard-working. She wanted to be a good actress
very much.
Michael
Gosselyn had at
fifty‑two a very good figure. “As a young man, with a great mass of curling
chestnut hair, with a wonderful skin and large deep blue eyes, a straight nose
and small ears, he had been the best‑looking actor on the English stage. The
only thing that slightly spoiled him was the thinness of his mouth. He was just
six foot tall and he had a gallant bearing. It was his obvious beauty that had
engaged him to go on the stage rather than to become a soldier like his father.
Now his chestnut hair was very grey, and he wore it much shorter; his face had
broadened and was a good deal lined; his skin no longer had the soft bloom of a
peach and his colour was high. But with his splendid eyes and his fine figure
he was still a very handsome man. Since his five years at the war he had adopted
a military bearing.” “He boasted that his weight had not changed since he was
twenty, and for years, wet or fine, he had got up every morning at eight to put
on shorts and a sweater and have a run round Regent's Park.”
IV. Give
a summary of the first two chapters.
One day
young handsome man came to famous couple. Michael invited him to work as an accountant.
Julia paid attention on him. He was very shy and it only amused Julia. This
woman gave him a photo of her own. Looking through the photos she remembered
her springtime. When Julia was 16 she entered the Royal academy of the
dramatics, but only met Jimmie Langton she became a real actress.
