Who is William Shakespeare?

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The Globe Theater

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Who is William Shakespeare?

• Born in 1564 to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare

• 1582: Married to Anne• 1583: Birth of Daughter Susanna• 1585: Birth of twins: Judith and Hamnet• 1587-1592: Established in London as

actor/playwright; first work Comedy of Errors

Who is William Shakespeare?

• 1593: Begins writing sonnets (until 1597-ish)• 1594-1596: Some more famous plays

Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s Dream

• 1597-1608: Best known plays including the rest of the tragedies

• 1599: The Globe Theatre built • 1609: Publication of the Sonnets• April 23, 1616: Shakespeare dies

His Works

• Poetryo The Sonnetso The Rape of Lucrece

• PlaysTragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, MacbethComedies: Much Ado About NothingHistories: Richard III, Henry V

The Time Period

• Elizabethan Era• The Renaissance• Actors were men only

o Men even played female roles!

• Plays were one of the main source of entertainment

Three Classifications of Shakespearean Drama:

• COMEDY

• HISTORY

• TRAGEDY

Romeo and Juliet is a…

Tragedy

TRAGIC HERO

Qualities of a Tragic Hero:• Possesses high importance or rank• Exhibits extraordinary talents• Displays a tragic flaw—an error in

judgment or defect in character—that leads to downfall

• Faces downfall with courage and dignity

BLANK VERSE

• Written like poetry• But tells a story• More free-flowing rules

o doesn’t have a rhyme scheme or set number of lines, etc.

• Iambic Pentameter

Iambic Pentameter

• Lines have a rhythm to them• 10 syllables• Pattern of stressed and unstressed

syllables

He JESTS at SCARS that NEV er FELT a WOUNDBut SOFT! what LIGHT through YON der WIN dow BREAKS?

SOLILOQUY AND ASIDE

• Soliloquy - Long speech given by a character while alone on stage to reveal his or her private thoughts or intentions

• Aside - Character’s quiet remark to the audience or another character that no one else on stage is supposed to hear

DRAMATIC IRONY

• Irony—contrast between appearance and reality

• Dramatic Irony—the audience or reader knows something the character(s) does not know

Foil

• A character with qualities that are in sharp contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the qualities of each

• How is Mercutio a foil to Romeo?

Journal Entry

Write about a time when you've done something wrongand it's affected others around you.• What did you do?• How did it affect others?• What consequences did you face?• Did you resolve it?