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Shakespeare: His Life and Times
3 Little Pigs…Shakespeare Style!!!
Why study Shakespeare?
Chances are, you’ve quoted Shakespeare without even knowing it!
Have you ever said the following...
“in a pickle”
“It’s Greek to me.”
“Too much of a good thing.”
“as luck would have it”
“good riddance”
“dead as a door-nail”
“foul play”
“a laughing stock”
“an eyesore”
“send me packing”
“without rhyme or reason”
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.
My Early Life- A Mystery?????
Born April 23 or 26 1564- died April 26, 1616
Stratford-upon-Avon 3rd of 8 children Parents: John and Mary Arden
Shakespeare• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner• John—glove maker, local politician
Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time
Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
• Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford
• Educated in:• Rhetoric• Logic• History• Latin
But was he actually educated????
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• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved
to London and began working in theatre.• Poet• Playwright• Actor
Married Life
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
1590’s Queen Elizabeth I
ruled English explorers
were crossing the ocean to the New World
And travelers coming to England LOVED watching plays...
The Playwrights... Christopher
Marlowe Thomas Kyd And William
Shakespeare was the original “New Kid on the Block”
The Theatres...
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
• most expensive seats were directly behind the stage
• people sitting there could only see the actors from behind
• Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men under Queen Elizabeth I
• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with Shakespeare as primary investor
• Later called the King’s Men under King James I• Burned down in 1613 during one of
Shakespeare’s plays
• What happened between 1593-1594 to theater companies?
Theatre Career
The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
The Plays
38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare14 comedies
Ex. Alls Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew
10 histories Henry IV, Henry V
10 tragedies Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
4 romances The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale
• 154 Sonnets• Numerous other poems
• Got his ideas from all over!
The Poetry
Shakespeare’s Language
• 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 Language
• 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 Language
• Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern English.”
• EME was not very different from “Modern English,”
Shakespeare’s Language• A mix of old and very new• Rural and urban words/images• Understandable by the lowest peasant and
the highest noble
How many words did he use?30,000
How many words do we use today?6,000-15,000
Love of the 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.
Iambic Pentameter Is a sound pattern IAMB: one unaccented (or
unstressed) syllable with one accented syllable
It’s like a heartbeat: ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum
Five “ba-bum”s in a row make one line of iambic pentameter (10-syllable lines)
Example: he WENT to TOWN toDAY to BUY a CAR
OR: In SOOTH / I KNOW / not WHY / I AM / so SAD
Why go to all the TROUBLE??? 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)
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.
•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.
“Quartos” Small books of published
plays were called “quartos.” The first published works of
Shakespeare’s vary considerably
Scholars believe these are faulty versions, calling them “bad quartos.”
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)
Elizabethan Theatrical
Conventions
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!)
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.These control the dialogue.
Audience loves to be scared.
Audience loves to be scared.
Soliloquy
Aside Types of speechTypes of speech
Blood
Use of supernatural
Use of disguises/
mistaken identity
Multiple marriages
(in comedies)
Multiple murders
(in tragedies)
Last speaker—highest in
rank (in tragedies)
“All the world 's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”
So…..
Let’s dramatize Shakespeare!!!
"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…
