William Shakespeare

An Introduction to Understanding “The Bard”

Intro to William Shakespeare

• William Shakespeare b. April 26th, 1564(TODAY: Bill Shakespeare just had his 450th

birthday!)• Parents: John and Mary (Arden) Shakespeare• Place of birth: Stratford-Upon-Avon (named so because the town was on the banks of

the Avon river)• Childhood home: Henley Street (can still be

visited today)

Parents

• John Shakespeare: Married (Mary) the daughter of his landlord

• Held many jobs: glover, money lender, wool and grain dealer

• Prestige: Bailiff (= to mayor)• 1576 – Petitioned town for a coat of arms to

become a gentleman• Petition expired without being granted

Childhood

• Education: father’s prominent position suggests that Shakespeare would have attended:– King’s New School (petty school=preschool): well

respected, taught by Oxford grads– Grammar School (6-7am until 5pm)• Study Latin and some Greek• Read Roman authors Plautus, Ovid, Seneca, and Horace• Traces of these authors in his own later works

– Did NOT attend University (Greek/Latin education)

Wife and Children

• November 1582 (age 18): Married Anne Hathaway (age 26)

• May 1583 (6 mo. later): birth of first child, Susanna

• February 1585: twins Hamnet and Judith• Hamnet would die at the age of 11 while

Shakespeare was living in London away from his family

London and The Stage

• Went to London after twins’ birth (between 21 and 28 yrs. old)

• (Most likely) went as an actor and slowly gained attention as a playwright

• Jealous Much?– Robert Greene (1592) warned other University

colleagues that the uneducated Shakespeare was trying to parade as a legit playwright

– Shakespeare’s reputation for poetry provoked the envy of a failing competitor

London and The Stage

• 1593: All London theatres closed due to outbreak of the bubonic plague– During this time Shakespeare wrote the poems

Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

– Only two of his works that he seemed to have helped into print due to the presence of dedications

• 1594: Theatres reopened; Shakespeare joined the acting company Lord Chamberlain’s Men

London and The StagePlays:• Early years: Histories– 1591-92: Henry VI,

trilogy– 1592-93: Richard III

• 1590s: Romantic Comedies– 1594: The Comedy of Errors– 1594-95: Love’s Labour’s

Lost– 1595: A Midsummer Night’s

Dream– 1598: Much Ado About

Nothing

London and The Stage• Plays (con’t)– Tragedies

• 1595: Romeo and Juliet• 1599: Julius Caesar• 1600-1601: Hamlet• 1606: Macbeth

• Total Plays: 37*– Histories: 10– Comedies: 17– Tragedies: 10

*This number is debated by scholars

The Theatre

• 1597: Success– Secure a coat of arms = gentleman– Purchase of New Place – one of the largest houses

in Stratford• 1597: The boot– Lease expired with Lord Chamberlain’s playhouse

(called The Theatre)– The company had to perform in various

playhouses until 1599

The Globe• 1599: Opening of the Globe Theatre– Built with lumber from The Theatre– Shakespeare just one of the shareholders in the

theatre• 1613: Fire– Thatched roof caught fire during a production of

Henry VIII – entire building demolished– The Second Globe was rebuilt quickly

• 1642: Closed– All theatres closed under Puritan rule– Demolished in 1644 for tenements (apartments)

The Globe

The Globe

The (new) Globe

• 1996: Revival– A replica built near original site– Built with techniques and materials that would

have been used then– Only added details that were required• Exits, illuminated signage, fire retardant materials, etc.

– Go to see plays today!

The (new) Globe

The (new) Globe

Final Days• William Shakespeare died on April 26, 1616 at

the age of 52 (398 years ago today!)• Exact cause of death unknown• Believed to have been celebrating the

marriage of daughter, Judith• Contracted a fever• Death imminent?– Changed his will in March of same year

Publication

• The First Folio– Published • 7 years after his death (posthumous)• By two members from his former company

– First collection published• Printer folded each sheet only once (folio)• Folio was a larger and more prestigious book (usually

reserved for works such as the Bible)• Contained 36 plays

Legacy

• The First Folio was the beginning of the process of constructing Shakespeare as England’s national poet and “The Bard of Avon”– Bard: Gaelic term for a poet

• Contemporary playwright and friend, Ben Jonson wrote:

“He was not of an age, but for all time!”

Dramatic Terminology

Tragedy: A narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily, usually with the death of the main characters.

The play is broken up into acts and the acts are broken up into scenes.

Monologue: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character onstage to everyone.

Soliloquy: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character alone on stage, inaudible to other characters

Aside: A short speech given by one character, traditionally the other characters cannot hear.

Dramatic Terminology

Pun: A humorous play on words

After that poisonous snake struck at me in the Arizona

Desert I was really rattled.

A carpenter must have been here. I saw dust. Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

The executioner decided to drop out of Executioner School. It was just too cut throat for him.

He who farts in church sits in his own pew.

Dramatic Terminology

Dramatic Foil: A pair of characters who are opposite in many ways and highlight or exaggerate each other’s differences.

Poetic Terminology

Blank Verse: Unrhymed meter; unrhymed iambic pentameter specifically.

Iambic Meter: Each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.

Couplets: Two consecutive lines that rhyme (aa bb cc). Usually followed when a character leaves or a scene ends.

End-stopped Line: Has some form of punctionat at the end of the line (,;.!?).

Run-on Line: Has NO punctuation at the end of the line and meaning is continued to following lines.

Sonnet: A fourteen line poem using iambic pentameter and the following rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

Poetic Terminology

Internal Rhyme: Words rhyming inside one line.

End Line Rhyme: Words rhyming at the end of consecutive lines.

Perfect vs. Slant Rhyme: ball & hall are a perfect rhyme (end sounds the same). Ball & bell are slant rhymes (beginning and end sounds the same; middle sound is different).

Alliteration: the repetition of the same beginning consonants

Assonance: the repetition of the same vowel sounds in the middle of words

Consonance: the repetition of the same ending consonants

Onomatopoeia: words that are spelled much like how they sound.

Shakespeare’s 5 Part Storytelling Pattern:

Act I: Exposition

Establishes setting, characters, conflict, and

background

Act II: Rising Action

A series of complications

Act III: Crisis/Turning Point

A series of complications

Act IV: Falling Action

Results of the turning point; characters locked

into deeper disaster

Act V: Resolution

Death of the main characters and then the loose parts of the plot are tied up

Tips for UnderstandingRomeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s long narrative poem the Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562).

The play has a highly moral tone: disobedience, as well as fate, leads to the deaths of two lovers.

Motifs in Romeo and Juliet

Power of Love

Violence from Passion

The Individual vs. Society

The Inevitability of Fate

MONTAGUE vs. CAPULET

Romeo

Lord Montague (his dad)

Lady Montague (his mom)

Mercutio (friend)

Benvolio (cousin)

Juliet

Lord Capulet (her father)

Lady Capulet (her mother)

Tybalt (cousin)

Nurse

A Pair of Star Crossed Lovers…“My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen

unknown , and known too late!” ~ Juliet; Act I, Scene V (I.v.)

ROMEO AND JULIET

PrologueTwo households, both alike in dignity,in fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

from ancient grudge break to new mutiny,where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrowsdo with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,and the continuance of their parents' rage,

which, but their children's end, nought could remove,is now the two hours' traffic of our stage.