Maddock British Literature Semester 1 History and Characters
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37 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Anglo-Saxon | Old English |
| Latin | language spoken by Romans |
| Battle of Hastings | fought in 1066 between Harold and William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) |
| Middle English | developed as French combined with Old English after 1066 |
| feudalism | the exchange of property for personal service |
| Thomas a Becket | Archbishop of Canterbury who was killed in his own church because Henry II was mad at him |
| Magna Carta | Latin for "Great Charter," it was signed by King John and often recognized at the start of a constitutional government in England |
| Wars of the Roses | fought between the Yorks and Lancasters between 1455 and 1485 |
| Black Plague | helped cause the decline of the feudal system because it caused a labor shortage |
| Johann Guetenberg | European who perfected the process of movable type printing |
| William Caxton | set up the first movable-type printing press in England |
| printing press | development of this helped standardize English spellings and bring the language into Modern English |
| James I | king during the latter part of Shakespeare's life, some of Macbeth's story was altered to possibly impress him |
| Anglo-Saxon | original language of Beowulf |
| Sumerian | where Gilgamesh was from legendarily |
| Homer | author of Illiad |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | author of The Canterbury Tales |
| Sir Thomas More | author of Utopia |
| Stratford-upon-Avon | Shakespeare's birthplace |
| Antonio | a sea captain; friend to Sebastian; disquised in Illyria, but still was arrested |
| Feste | Olivia's jester; often sings |
| Banquo | he heard the predictions; was told his children would be kings; is killed for what he knows but returns as a ghost |
| Duncan | King of Scotland at the beginning of the play; is murdered |
| Lady Macbeth | ambitious wife of a thane who helps him become king; becomes unstable at the end and sleepwalks |
| Lady Macduff | calls her husband a traitor for leaving his family |
| Macbeth | when King of Scotland is visiting his home, he murders the King |
| Malcolm | eldest son of the murdered King of Scotland; fled to England; King of Scotland at the very end of the play |
| Malvolio | a steward of Olivia's household; wears yellow stockings (cross-gartered) and is locked up as part of a joke |
| Maria | gentlewoman in Olivia's household; part of joke; marries Toby |
| Olivia | a rich countess of Illyria; falls in love with "Cesario" |
| Orsino | ends up with Viola at the end |
| Porter | his trip to answer the door provides a bit of comic relief |
| Sebastian | twin brother of Viola; ends up with Olivia |
| Sir Andrew Aguecheeck | a companion of Sir Toby; "fights" Cesario over Olivia |
| Sir Toby Belch | Olivia's uncle; often drunk |
| Viola | a shipwrecked lady, later disguised as Cesario |
| witches | give themain character misleading predictions |
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