What everyone should know about Shakespeare

“He was not of an age but for all time.”- Ben Jonson (First Folio)

Who was William Shakespeare? Probably the world’s most

famous playwright. A writing genius. His understanding of people,

his skill with words and his sense of drama are the key elements that would please an audience.

The English theatre and language have never been the same since.

Everyone should know about William Shakespeare!

Where did Shakespeare live?He lived in and around London, England.Around 1600, London was a busy, bustling, walled city.It was having a Renaissance (RE-BIRTH) of arts and sciences under two monarchs who loved the theatre.The only major disasters in Shakespeare’s time were the plagues of 1592-94 and 1613, which closed the theatres.

Queen Elizabeth I and King James I

Queen Elizabeth I. reigned from 1558 to 1603.Shakespeare gave 32 performances at her court during her reign.

King James I. reigned from 1603 to 1625.

William Shakespeare’s LifeHe was born April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon (94 miles from London).His father was a glove maker, shop keeper and land owner.He also had 7 brothers and sisters.He probably attended free grammar school until the age of 15, mainly studying in Latin.He read much mythology.

Shakespeare’s Life (continued)He married Anne Hathaway.She was 8 years older.They had 3 children: Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. He lived in London most of his life, although he later became Stratford's third largest landowner and eventually retired there.

                                                 

Shakespeare’s Life (continued)

By 1592 he was recognized as a successful actor on the London stage- as well as a leading poet.He wrote at least 36 plays as well as sonnets, and other poems.He retired from the theatre to his native Stratford sometime between 1611 and 1613. He died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616 in Stratford.

Shakespeare the poetFirst of all– Shakespeare became famed as a poet!He wrote 154 sonnets

Shakespeare the poet (continued)He wrote “Venus and Adonis” which was a romantic poem in the Classical Tradition dedicated to the Earl of Southampton.He wrote the “Rape of Lucrece”, which was a narrative poem. He also wrote “Phoenix and the Turtle”.

Shakespeare used “blank verse” (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

Shakespeare the actor

For 20 years from 1585 to 1605 Shakespeare was a member and part owner of a repertory group called the King’s Men.Shakespeare probably made most of his money as an actor and producer, not as a playwright.

An Elizabethan ActorAn Elizabethan actor had to be an expert in :FencingTumblingDancingElocutionActingMusic

Shakespeare the playwrightHe got his ideas from other plays– from the works of Seneca, Plautus, Ovid, and Plutarch’s Lives.Shakespeare wrote at least 36 plays.All were written for his company– the “KINGS MEN”They paid him about $40 per play.

Shakespeare's PlaysShakespeare wrote:13 Comedies13 Historical Plays6 Tragedies 4 Tragicomedies

Comedies Comedy of ErrorsLove’s Labor’s LostMuch Ado About NothingAs You Like ItTwelfth NightMerry Wives of WindsorThe Taming of the Shrew

Two Gentlemen of VeronaA Midsummer Night’s DreamThe Merchant of VeniceTroilus and CressidaAll’s Well that Ends WellMeasure for Measure

Histories Henry VI Parts I, II,III.Richard IIIKing Henry IV Parts I,IIHenry VIIIKing Henry VJulius Caesar Richard IIAnthony and CleopatraCoriolanusKing John

Tragedies

HamletOthelloKing LearRomeo and JulietMacbethTitus Andronicus

TragicomediesTimon of AthensCymbelineThe Winter’s TaleTempest

Famous Elizabethan TheatresSome of the most famous Elizabethan theatres were:“The Theatre”“The Swan”“The Globe”“The Black friars”“The Whitehall”“The Rose”“The Fortune”“The Curtain” A play was being performed when a flag was up.

Shakespeare’s theatre

The Elizabethan TheatreA show lasted about 2 ½ hours.No intermissions.No curtain. End of “scenes” was indicated by “rhymed tags” (couplets) or a change of actors.No “scenery” or “set”.Many “devices” such as trap doors and scaffolds.No actresses– men or boys took parts of women, clowns, ghosts and witches.Groundlings

What the Audience Wanted (AND GOT!)

Lots of ACTION.Puns, wit, asides, “conceits”.Evil overcome.Noise, music, shouting, sound effects.

Shakespeare’s Style Use of “PUNS” (humorous play on words indicating different meanings).Use of “METAPHORSUse of “BLANK VERSEUse of “Conceits” (whimsical, extravagant, fanciful ideas)Use of “SOLILOQUIES” (somebody talking to himself)Use of “ASIDES” (saying something to audience that other players can’t hear).

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Sonnets

XVIII. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest:  So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,  So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

THE END.