Thomas Coyne - William Shakespeare 5 p HIST 214

William ShakespeareBy: Thomas Coyne

Who is William Shakespeare?• William Shakespeare was an English playwright, a

poet, and a theater actor from the Elizabethan era.

• Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

• There is no definite recording of Shakespeare’s date of birth, but it is taken that he was born on April 23.

Who is William Shakespearecontinued

• William Shakespeare widely renown to be the best playwright who has ever lived

• Shakespeare was often referred to as The Bard of Avon.

Who is William Shakespearecontinued William Shakespeare was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare.

William was the third of eight children and was the oldest surviving son.

He was brought up in a Christian family and was baptized on April 26. The recording of his baptism is how historians guess his date of birth.

Early Life

Little about the childhood of Shakespeare is a set in stone fact.

Most can agree that Shakespeare attended the King’s New School in Stratford-upon-Avon.

It is also assumed that he would have attended grammar school in Stratford. Though grammar schools varied in quality, Shakespeare would have been introduced to classic writings. Much of that emphases would be set upon Latin grammar and literature.

Early life continued In 1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was eight

years older than him. Six months after the date of their marriage license, Anne gave birth to Williams first child named Susanna.

In 1585 William and Anne had twins names Hamnet and Judith. There are no records of William Shakespeare after the birth of the

twins intel 1592. There are many assumptions on what he could have done in this time

including: being a schoolteacher, running away form Stratford to avoid prosecution for stealing a deer, and that he had joined a group of traveling players.

Thesis

William Shakespeare is credited for writing hundreds of books, poems, and songs. He also is to thank for many words that are used in the English language today. William Shakespeare is the best playwright that has ever lived.

Achievements of William Shakespeare Shakespeare is credited with writing five

narrative poems: “The Rape of Lucrece”, “The Passionate Pilgrim”, “Venus and Adonis”, “The Phoenix and the Turtle”, and “A Lover’s Complaint”.

Shakespeare also had written 154 sonnets and 37 plays.

Achievements Continued

In 1596 Shakespeare’s family was granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds.

In 1597 Shakespeare had been successful enough to purchase the New Place mansion in Stratford. This home was the second largest in the town.

Achievements Continued

In the year of 1599 Shakespeare got partial ownership of the Globe theater.

Then in the year of 1608 Shakespeare part owner of the Blackfriars theater.

Without question Shakespeare , though was not ever a rich man, had a enjoyable retirement in Stratford after 1613.

Shakespeare’s career start

The time after the birth of his twins is called “the lost years” because there are no written records of what he was doing.

In 1594 the lost years come to an end. Shakespeare joined a group called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. William Shakespeare had become an actor and a playwright.

Shakespeare stayed a member of this group for the duration of his career.

Shakespeare as an actor

As an actor, many believe that Shakespeare had many roles as old men. Roles that were like Old Adam in “As You Like It” and the ghost in Hamlet.

Records show that in his own plays, Shakespeare would break off from the Old man and would play a multitude of roles.

Some historians believe Shakespeare played the lead role in “Edward I”, a play written by Edward Peele.

The Plays of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was responsible for writing 37 plays and had helped write many more.

The plays of Shakespeare can be broken down into four categories that include: comedies, tragedies, and romances, and historical plays.

The order in which his plays are written in uncertain. However an educated guess can be made by looking at the dates of publication, references, thematic relationships, and relation to contemporary events.

Plays Continued

Geographers would say that Shakespeare wasn’t as intelligent as people thought. In one of Shakespeare’s earliest recorded plays, The Two Gentleman of Verona, one of his characters sails from Verona to Milan. These cities are both land locked.

Again in The Winter’s Tale, two of his characters arrive on the seacoast of Bohemia. There is no seacoast in Bohemia.

Plays Continued

Shakespeare experts came up with a couple explanations for these errors.

The first explanation is that Shakespeare was aware of what he was doing. This was the time of modern historic writing and a formation of a new time, it was a age of ‘print and New learning. Elizabethan maps of Italy reveal a compilation of rivers and canals that this character could have sailed to Milan.

Another explanation for these errors is that didn’t know any better or that he just didn’t care there were inconstancies.

Plays Continued

The Renaissance was broadening the horizons of his audiences. Shakespeare would carefully rebuild the places and the people of the Mediterranean in order to accommodate to his audiences needs and wants.

These jokes tend to confuse present day audiences. The idea of these jokes was the new history that England was integrating into.

Plays Continued

It is often observed that the characters in Shakespeare’s plays are never completely good or evil. What makes his characters memorable is their inconsistent nature.

The works of Shakespeare get their core strength from the fluid and elaborate speech, the vast complexity of his characters, and deep stories that his plays portray.

Shakespeare would get the audience involved emotionally using the surrounding environment. If the surroundings allowed for refraction of images or echo of words, Shakespeare would utilize it.

Plays Continued

Shakespeare would also utilize the value of texts, specifically Catholic. He would use both the historic and contemporary meanings as a play on worship and authority.

It would be hard for one, of the original audience, not to be moved while watching a statue of a woman being brought to life. This being more moving being cast in a former priory.

Plays Continued

The plays of Shakespeare had and unmatched use of vocabulary. Shakespeare had a high use of synonyms and alternate meaning to his words. He was also a master of punning and often would coin new terms.

Shakespeare is responsible for approximately 1700 words used in the modern day.

Plays Continued

Shakespeare’s works are continued to be under examination and critique even after his death. His works are quoted far more than any other lone author.

Since his death on April 23, 1616 his plays have been continuously preformed. This is true, not only in countries that primarily speak English, in nations that do not use English as their language.

Wrap Up

William Shakespeare is a world renown playwright . He would not limit himself by using just one specific philosophy or ideology. Shakespeare was not afraid to alter characters or geography if it helped his dramatic cause.

To this day Shakespeare’s plays are studied, preformed, and appreciated all over the globe.

Little is known about what kind of man the Bard of Avon was, but what we do know is that the Bard shall be remembered forever.

How does Shakespeare fit into civilization of the Elizabethan era? The Elizabethan era in intertwined in the English Renaissance. This

was a time of great movement in literature, music, and the visual arts.

William Shakespeare was a poet, a playwright, and an actor. Shakespeare played a vital role in this renaissance movement and earned his place of history, in this era.

What about Shakespeare is unique to world history? Something that is unique about Shakespeare is that he invented

words. Shakespeare is responsible for the creation of approximately 1700

common words. William Shakespeare would change verbs into adjectives, change

nouns into verbs, add suffixed and prefixes, and use words together that weren’t normally used together.

How would I have felt living in the era? This Elizabethan era seems to have a very rich and bright culture. This era was part of the English Renaissance, so there was a vast

movement of literature and music. \ With so much living talent and artistic breakthroughs, I feel that I

would have presently enjoyed living in this time; despite poor living conditions and the plague.

What is Shakespeare’s role in society today? William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Many of those

are still widely enjoyed and reenacted to this day. Theaters still do reenactments of his plays and hard copies of his prints are still manufactured and purchased.

William Shakespeare may have died in 1616, but glory of his works shall never die.

What new information did I learn about William Shakespeare? There is much controversy when it comes to information regarding

Shakespeare. Before starting this project, I had no inclination to think that William Shakespeare shouldn’t be credited with all of the works that he is indeed credited for. Information I found stated that he genuinely did all his work. I also found information that claimed there were multiple writers for some of his works and in some cases clams were made that he hadn’t done them at all.

Works Cited

Green, Dominic. THE BARD Beyond Borders. History Reference Center. Article.Hogeboom, Willard L.. William Shakespeare went west or at least his plays did and the bard was a hit on the frontier. Article. Lyons, Mathew. Inside the theater of Experience. History Today, Nov 2014, Vol 64 issue 11, p36. Article.No author. William Shakespeare. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition. Biography. Ravilious, Kate. The Bard at Home. Archaeology, July/Aug 2016, Vol 69 issue 4, p44.