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?

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England in April 1564.Lived in and around London, England.In 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 LifeBorn April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon (94 miles from London).Father was a glove maker, shopkeeper, and landowner.Had 7 brothers and sisters.Probably attended free grammar school until the age of 15, mainly studying in Latin.Read much mythology.

Shakespeare’s Life (continued)Married Anne Hathaway.She was 8 years older.Had 3 children: Susanna, Hamnet (only son), and Judith. Shakespeare lived in London most of his life, although he later became Stratford's third largest landowner and eventually retired there.In his will, he left his “second-best bed,” implying he had ill-feeling towards her.

Shakespeare’s Life (continued)By 1592, he was 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.

After death, his works were published in a collection called the First Folio.

Shakespeare the poetFirst of all– Shakespeare became famed as a poet!

He wrote 154 sonnets.Shakespeare used “blank verse” (unrhymed iambic pentameter).

Dedicated many poems to the “The Dark Lady,” who some believe to be the Earl of Southampton or Queen Elizabeth I.

Sonnet 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.

Shakespeare the actorFor 20 years from 1585 to 1605, Shakespeare was a member and part owner of a repertory group called Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and later The King’s Men.

Probably made most of his money as an actor & producer, not as a playwright.

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

Fencing-Swordfighting

Tumbling

Dancing

Elocution-Articulation (speech)

Acting

Music

Shakespeare the PlaywrightGot his ideas from other plays– from the works of Seneca, Plautus, Ovid, and Plutarch’s Lives (Classical Literature).

Wrote at least 36 plays. (13 comedies, 13, histories, 6, tragedies, & 4 tragicomedies)

Written for his company– “The KING’S MEN”

Paid him about $40 per play.

Comedies Comedy of Errors

Love’s Labor’s Lost

Much Ado About Nothing

As You Like It

Twelfth Night

Merry Wives of Windsor

The Taming of the Shrew

Two Gentlemen of Verona

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Merchant of Venice

Troilus and Cressida

All’s Well that Ends Well

Measure 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

Hamlet

Othello

King Lear

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

Titus Andronicus

Tragicomedies

Timon of Athens

Cymbeline

The Winter’s Tale

Tempest

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 Globe

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

The Globe Theatre

The Elizabethan TheatreShow lasted about 2 ½ hoursNo intermissionsNo curtain. End of “scenes” was indicated by “rhymed tags” (couplets) or a change of actors.No scenery or setsAfternoon performances. No artificial lightingMany devices such as trap doors & scaffolds No women actresses– men or boys played parts of ladies, clowns, ghosts, witches, etc.Groundlings—poor who paid a penny to stand & watch performance

What the Audience Wanted (AND GOT!)

Lots of ACTION

Puns, wit, asides, conceits

Noise, music, shouting, sound effects, including real CANNONS

Shakespeare’s Style

Use of PUNS---humorous play on words indicating different meanings.Use of METAPHORSUse of BLANK VERSEUse of Conceits--whimsical, extravagant, fanciful ideasUse of –SOLILOQUIES--somebody talking to himselfUse of ASIDES--saying something to audience that other players can’t hearUse of Original Pronunciation

THE END

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