William Shakespeare

Why he is widely regarded as the greatest writer in English

literature…

Shakespeare

• 1563-1616

• Stratford-on-Avon, England

• wrote 37 plays

• about 154 sonnets

• started out as an actor

Stage Celebrity• Actor for Lord Chamberlain’s Men

(London theater company)

• Also > principal playwright for them

• 1599> Lord Chamberlain’s company built Globe Theater where most of Shakespeare’s plays were performed

Shakespeare wrote:

• Comedies

• Histories

• Tragedies

London Life in the 16th century

Poor sewer system

High crime rate But … 200,000

inhabitants the cultural and

political heart of England

The Theater

• Plays produced for the general public

• Roofless - open air

• No artificial lighting

• Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries

Spectators• Wealthy got benches

• “Groundlings” - poorer people stood and watched from the courtyard (“pit”)

• All but the wealthy were uneducated/illiterate

• Much more interactive than today

Staging Areas• Stage - platform that extended into the

pit

• Dressing/storage rooms in galleries behind & above stage

• second-level gallery - upper stage - famous balcony scene in R & J

• Trap door – used for ‘ghosts’, “Heavens”, angelic beings

Differences (from today)• No scenery

• Settings – refs. in dialogue

• Elaborate costumes

• Plenty of props

• Fast-paced, colorful – often 2 hours long!

Actors

• Were only men and boys

• Women’s roles – played by young boys whose voices had not changed

• Would have been considered indecent for a woman to appear on stage

Elizabethan (QE1) Words• An, and: If

• Anon: Soon

• Aye: Yes

• But: Except for

• E’en: Even

• E’er: Ever

QE1 Words (cont’d.)• Haply: Perhaps

• Happy: Fortunate

• Hence: Away, from her

• Hie: Hurry

• Marry: Indeed

QE1 Words (cont’d.)

• Whence: Where

• Wilt: Will, will you

• Withal: In addition to

• Would: Wish

Shakespearean Comedies

• Influences:– Greek ‘old’ comedy – generally satirical and

frequently political in nature– Greek ‘new’ comedy – involved sex and

seduction and often showed youth outwitting old age

Elements of Comedy cont’d.

• Structure– 5 ACTS:

• 1 – situation with tensions or implicit conflict

• 2 – implicit conflict is developed

• 3 - conflict reaches height; frequently an impasse

• 4 – things begin to clear up (Falling Action)

• 5 – problem is resolved, knots untied

Elements of Comedy

• ‘Plurals’:– Plots typically are multiple – many story lines– Frames, inductions as well as subsidiary actions– Tone often varies accordingly

Elements of Comedies cont’d.

• Action in Comedies:– Traces a movement from conflict, to the

resolution of the conflict, from some sort of (generally figurative) bondage to freedom, despite obstacles, complication, reversals, and discoveries

– Ends with celebration and unity

Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies

• Conventions:– Main action is LOVE – courtship is staple

activity– Would-be lovers must overcome obstacles and

misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union

– Frequently contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous

Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies

• Conventions cont’d.:– In BEST mature comedies, is frequently a

philosophical aspect involving weightier issues and themes --- personal identity, the importance of love in human existence, the power of language to help/hinder communication, transforming power of poetry and art, disjunction between appearance and reality, power of dreams or illusions

Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies

• Character Types:– Controller-figures – Petruccio (Taming of the

Shrew) – through their own ingenuity can be seen as trying to reshape reality

– Frequent disguisers/deceivers – manipulate others through their superior knowledge; their stragems, indispensable for the dramatic structure, generate both complications and resolutions

Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies

• Character Types cont’d.:– Woman-on-Top – speciality of Shakespeare –

had special relevance to Comedy – temporarily place servants over masters and women over men to dislocate the hierarchies sanctioned by society, only to reassert them at the play’s end

Literary Devices Most Commonly Used

Blank Verse• Much of Shakespeare’s work is

written in it:–unrhymed verse–iambic (unstressed, stressed)–pentameter( 5 “feet” to a line)

• ends up to be 10 syllable lines

Prose• Ordinary writing that is not

poetry, drama, or song–Only characters in the lower

social classes speak this way in Shakespeare’s plays

–Why do you suppose that is?

Plot

•The sequence of events in a literary work

Exposition• The plot usually begins with

this:

–Introduces setting, characters, basic situation

Inciting Moment

• Often called “initial incident”–the first bit of action that

occurs which begins the plot

–Romeo and Juliet “lock eyes” at the party

Conflict

• The struggle that develops–man vs. man

–man vs. himself

–man vs. society

–man vs. nature

Crisis

• The point where the protagonist’s situation will either get better or worse–Protagonist - good guy

–Antagonist - bad guy

Climax

• The turning point of the story - everything begins to unravel from here –Thus begins the falling action

Resolution

•The end of the central conflict

Denouement

• The final explanation or outcome of the plot–If this is included in

literature, it will occur after the resolution.

Tragedy • Drama where the central character(s)

suffer disaster/great misfortune– In many tragedies, downfall results

from -

•Fate

•Character flaw/Fatal flaw

•Combination of the two

Theme

•Central idea or …

•Insight about life which explains the downfall

Metaphorical Language

• Comparison of unlike things -– Paris standing over the “lifeless

body” of Juliet, “Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew…”

– “Thou detestable maw…” Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth…” Romeo

Dramatic Foil

• A character whose purpose is to show off another character–Benvolio for Tybalt

•look for others in R & J

Round characters

•Characters who have many personality traits, like real people.

Flat Characters

• One-dimensional, embodying only a single trait -–Shakespeare often uses them to

provide comic relief even in a tragedy

Static Characters

• Characters within a story who remain the same; they do not change; they do not change their minds, opinions or character.

Dynamic Character

• Characters who change somehow during the course of the plot; they generally change for the better.

Monologue

• One person speaking on stage - may be other characters on stage, too–ex : the Prince of Verona

commanding the Capulets and Montagues to cease feuding

Soliloquy

• Long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage.

• In R & J, Romeo gives a soliloquy after the servant has fled and Paris has died.

Aside

• Words spoken, usually in an undertone, not intended to be heard by all characters

Puns

• Shakespeare loved to use them!!!

–Humorous use of a word with two meanings - sometimes missed by the reader because of Elizabethan language and sexual innuendo

Direct Address

• Words that tell the reader who is being addressed:

• “A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.”

• “Ah, my mistresses, which of you all/ Will now deny to dance?”

Dramatic Irony

• A contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader/

audience knows to be true

Verbal Irony

•Words used to suggest the opposite of what is meant

Situational Irony

• An event that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience

Comic Relief• Use of comedy within literature

that is NOT a comedy to provide “relief” from seriousness or sadness

• In R & J, look for moments of comic relief that help “relieve” the tragedy of the situation