Everything You Wanted to Know (or not) About Shakespeare

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Early Life

• Born April 23,1564 (we think) —died 1616 (also on April 23)

• Stratford-upon-Avon• Parents: John and Mary Arden

Shakespeare• Mary—daughter of wealthy

landowner• John—glovemaker, local

politician (alderman)

From: http://www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps.html

Location of Stratford-upon-Avon

As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).

Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time

From Stratford’s web site: http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm

Stratford-upon-Avon Today

From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

• Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford

• His school day was long and rigorousEducated in:

-Rhetoric-Logic-History-Latin

• Shakespeare dropped out of ‘middle school’ when his father lost his fortune

Education

From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/

King’s New School

• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter

• Had twins in 1585- Hamnet & Judith• Hamnet died from the plague at age

11• Sometime between 1583-1592, he

moved to London and began working in theatre.

• The years 1583-1592 are know as ‘The Lost Years’

Married Life

1585-1592The Lost Years

• We have no records of his life during this time period• The Lost Years are very controversial and hotly debated

among scholars because they might hold important keys to Shakespeare’s identity.

• It is speculated that he might have been a teacher, a butcher, or an actor to support his family.

– Some believe he was traveling around with the Jesuits on missionary trips (specifically Edmund Campion)

• In 1592, he resurfaces in London, while Ann and the kids are still in Stratford-upon-Avon

From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

Elizabethan England •

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Elizabethan Culture

• And travelers coming to England LOVED watching plays...

The Playwrights...

• Christopher Marlowe (more about him later)

• Thomas Kyd • Ben Jonson• And William

Shakespeare was the original “New Kid on the Block”

The Big Theatres in Town

• The Theatre, built in 1576

• The Rose, built in 1587 (London’s first “Bankside” theatre)

• The Swan, 1595• The Globe

(Shakespeare helped construct in 1598-1599)

About the theatres

•Protestants condemned the plays

•Theatres were on the outskirts of London--away from the authorities

•People who attended the theatres included:

-merchants

-lawyers

-laborers

-prostitutes

-visitors from other countries

-nobility & royalty

•No lighting•No scenery--Just a curtain•Could hold around 2,000 people

The most expensive seats were directly behind the stage, called the gallery.

Though the people sitting there could only see the actors from behind, they themselves could be seen by everyone in the audience.

The theatres were closed during the plague.

• Shakespeare was a member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men

• Globe Theater built in 1599 with Shakespeare as primary investor

• Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays (Henry the 8th) due to a misfired prop cannon○ The story goes that only one guy was injured

because his pants caught on fire and someone tried to put them out with ale.

Theatre Career

The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

Acting• The actors were all men; young boys (age

12-14) played the female parts• They were considered “shareholders” and

owned stock or shares in the play texts, costumes, and props

• Their pay depended on admission sales• Actors only had about 3 weeks to practice a

new play• In one week, the troupes may perform 6

different plays (as many as 4,000 lines!)

Elizabethan Theatrical

Conventions

A theatrical convention is a

suspension of reality.

❖ No electricity ❖ Women forbidden to act on stage

❖ Minimal, contemporary costumes

❖ Minimal scenery

These control the dialogue.

Audience loves to be

scared.

❖ Soliloquy❖ Aside

Types of speech

❖ Blood and gore❖ Use of supernatural

❖ Use of disguises/ mistaken identity

❖ Multiple marriages (in comedies)

❖ Multiple murders (in tragedies)

❖ Last speaker—highest in rank (in tragedies)

By 1597, Shakespeare...

• Had written the following plays:

• Romeo and Juliet• Merchant of Venice• A MidSummer Night’s

Dream

The CompetitionChristopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

He was the first great playwright, paving the way for Shakespeare. He wrote and acted for The Lord Admiral’s Company--which was The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s arch-rivals. He was possibly Shakespeare’s biggest influence.

Most Notable Works Include: Tamburlaine the Great (1587), Dr. Faustus (1588), The Jew of Malta (1589), Edward II (1592)

1603• Queen Elizabeth dies• Shakespeare’s troupe

changes their name to The King’s Men, becoming the first OFFICIAL theatre company of England’s new king, James I

The Plays

• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare• 14 comedies• 10 histories• 10 tragedies

– The Big 4: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear

• 4 romances• Possibly wrote three others• Collaborated on several others

Shakespeare’s Death• Between 1611-1612, Shakespeare returns to

Stratford to his wife and family.• Shakespeare died on April 23rd, 1616• Not exactly sure what he died from

– History says he drank too much wine and ate too many pickled herrings

• In his will, Shakespeare left money, horses, stables, etc. to his two sons-in-law

• But only left his wife one thing- the “second-best bed” … what was he trying to say?

Shakespeare’s Death• Shakespeare is buried in

Holy Trinity Church in his birth village of Stratford.

• His grave is covered by a flat stone that bears an epitaph warning of a curse to come upon anyone who moves his bones.

"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the bones enclosed here! Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones."

Shakespeare’s Epitaph…

Shakespeare’s Language In Shakespeare’s time, everyone loved the

English language.

There were no grammar rules, punctuation keys, OR spelling!

The language was evolving and everyday new words were being made up.

Shakespeare’s language reflects this freedom and experimentation.

WHY should I CARE about IAMBIC PENTAMETER???

• Using iambic pentameter kept things moving in the play (like a drum beat)

• It made the words & play more interesting

• It helped the actors remember their lines (like a song)

Where Did it Come From?• The Greeks and Romans started combining

drama & poetry.• The English experimented with it, using

verse and prose in their plays.• In the 1590’s “Blank Verse” (poetry that

doesn’t rhyme) was the new Craze!• The English Language is harder to rhyme

than French or Italian, and English is more heavily accented.

When Shakespeare set his words to iambic

pentameter it is compared to the birth of

rock-n-roll: a mixing of old styles

and new sounds.

Shakespeare’s English

• Shakespeare did NOT write in “Old English.”

• Old English is the language of Beowulf:Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunonHu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!

(Hey! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes, how noble princes showed great courage!)

Shakespeare’s English

• Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English.”

• Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Malory:

We redeth oft and findeth y-write—And this clerkes wele it wite—Layes that ben in harpingBen y-founde of ferli thing… (Sir Orfeo)

Shakespeare’s English

• Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern English.”• EME was not very different from “Modern English,” except that it had some old holdovers.

Shakespeare’s English• Shakespeare coined many words we still use today:

• Critical• Majestic• Dwindle

• And quite a few phrases as well:• One fell swoop• Flesh and blood• Vanish into thin air

See http://www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm

Shakespeare’s English

• A mix of old and very new• Rural and urban words/images• Understandable by the lowest peasant and the highest noble

What would you do if you just lost your only copy of the paper

you wrote?

•In Shakespeare’s time, you only had one copy of a play, and after you wrote it for the acting company, you no longer owned it!

•Scripts were thrown out when they were no longer wanted or needed.

•NO copies of Shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting have survived. The only known evidence of anything in his handwriting is his signature (shown above) on the play Sir Thomas More that Shakespeare might have written.

• Companies may perform plays for years before they became printed.

• Plays weren’t thought of as works of literature. They were “entertainment.”

“Quartos”• Small books of published plays

were called “quartos.”• The first published works of

Shakespeare’s vary considerably, making it probable that they were written from actors’ memories, or shorthand notes from a scribe working for a publisher, as opposed to Shakespeare himself.

• Scholars believe these are faulty versions, calling them “bad quartos.” Or as we say today, “Pirated” versions.

Plagiarism back then?• Acting troupes didn’t want

other acting troupes stealing and performing their plays.

• It was common that people would go watch the play and write down the lines they remembered, then sell the “quartos” to other acting troupes.

• Many think that much of Shakespeare’s own work was stolen from other playwrights.

• Remember, back then there were no copyright laws!

It says, in short:…because the author is dead, we are writing

this for him...

• The first full collection of Shakespeare’s work was published in 1623, seven years after his death.

• It was called “First Folio”• It contained 36 plays (compiled

by John Heminge and Henry Condell--friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare’s)

A Case of Bad Editing!• “First Folio”, as well as

many other works at that time, contained many errors, due to the fact sometimes the printers could not read the handwriting and had to memorize the lines as they set them on the press.

• The printers were the ones who decided how a line should be punctuated & spelled (not the writers)!

• “First Folio” contained multiple errors--for example, there was no indication where Acts or Scenes began or ended.

• Today’s Act and Scene divisions are based on shrewd “guesses” by generations of editors.

• There are many uncertainties, so even today’s editions have variations in the text.

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Why study Shakespeare?

Chances are, you’ve quoted Shakespeare without even knowing it!

Have you ever said the following...

“in a pickle”“It’s all Greek to me.”

“Too much of a good thing.”

“good riddance” “dead as a door-nail”

“foul play”

“a laughing stock”

“an eyesore”

“send him packing”

“without rhyme or reason”

Shakespeare:The Ultimate Roastmaster

Shakespeare loved thinking of new and clever ways to insult people, so much so that he has become famous for the numerous “roasts” he made up just for his plays:● “I am sick when I do look on thee “● “I’ll beat thee, but I would infect my hands.”● “More of your conversation would infect my brain.”● “Poisonous bunch-backed toad! “● “The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes.”● “Thine face is not worth sunburning.”● “Thou art as fat as butter.”● “You are as a candle, the better burnt out.”● “Villain, I have done thy mother” (yes, he invented

Yo Mama jokes)

Even today, Shakespeare lives on.

We can relate to his tales of love, hatred, revenge, courage, trust and deception.

So much of our world today has been influenced by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare in Pop Culture

Titania and Bottom John Anster Christian Fitzgerald

What do you think this play is about? What kind of events, characters, setting, and themes do you think will be in this play? What do you think the conflict will be? How will it be resolved?