William Shakespeare

the Bard of Avon

The Mystery of Shakespeare

• What we know vs. what we surmise are two very different sets of “facts” about The Bard.

• Read The Mystery of Shakespeare handout and compare it to the Power Point notes we’re taking and your prior knowledge. Then draw your own conclusions: Could one man really have written this entire tome? (The new movie, Anonymous, suggests otherwise!)

http://www.anonymous-movie.com/

Biographical Information

• Born April 23, 1564

• Resided in Stratford-on-Avon (whose sylvan surroundings inspired setting of As You Like It)

• Early education - Greek and Latin literature, rhetoric, and Christian ethics

• Left school in 1579 at the age of 15 and did not pursue formal education any further: he never attended a university and was not considered to be a truly learned man.

• November 1582, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway (a woman eight years his senior)

• She gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, six months later. Two years after that, the Shakespeares had twins: Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died at the age of eleven.

• Speculation: Shakespeare was not happy in his marriage; this may have played a role in his decision to move to London's theater scene.

Life as a Playwright

• engaged in a variety of occupations, probably working with his father in leathers and grains, probably working as a law clerk, and possibly serving as a soldier or sailor for an England threatened by Spain.

• displays a command of the argot (theives’ language) and the practices of many such crafts, as in his portrayal of the law profession in trial scenes of The Merchant of Venice.

The Complete Works of The Complete Works of William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare

• Between the 1590s (Between the 1590s (The Comedy of ErrorsThe Comedy of Errors) and the ) and the early 1600s (early 1600s (The TempestThe Tempest - 1611), Shakespeare - 1611), Shakespeare composed the most extraordinary body of works in composed the most extraordinary body of works in the history of world drama. the history of world drama.

• His works are often divided into periods, moving His works are often divided into periods, moving roughly from comedies to histories to tragedies roughly from comedies to histories to tragedies and then to his final romances capped by a farewell and then to his final romances capped by a farewell to the stage in to the stage in The TempestThe Tempest. .

A Nod from RoyaltyA Nod from Royalty

• Leaving London in the plague years, Shakespeare briefly put playwriting aside to compose long poems like Venus and Adonis and at least some of his sonnets.

• During this period, Shakespeare, as a leading figure in the Chamberlain's Men company, would garner patronage from the courts of Queen Elizabeth and her successor, King James.

Bye-bye to Bye-bye to

the Bardthe Bard• In 1612, four years before his death, In 1612, four years before his death,

Shakespeare went into semi-retirement at the Shakespeare went into semi-retirement at the relatively young age of forty-eight. relatively young age of forty-eight.

• He died on or about April 23, 1616 (his 52He died on or about April 23, 1616 (his 52ndnd birthday) of unknown causes. birthday) of unknown causes.

Literary Genius

The Bard is widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the greatest in Western literature, and the world's preeminent dramatist.

• He wrote about 37 plays and 154 sonnets, as well as a variety of other poems.

• A popular writer in his own lifetime, Shakespeare became increasingly celebrated after his death.

• In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the literature and history of the English-speaking world.

Quotable Quotes

"To be or not to be, --that is the question:--

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them?"

Hamlet

Quotable Quotes

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my

love,And I'll no longer be a Capulet “Romeo & Juliet

Quotable Quotes

"Et tu, Brute?"

Julius Caesar

Quotable Quotes"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages." As You Like It

Quotable Quotes

Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the

stage,And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

MacBeth

Quotable Quotes

"Now is the winter of our discontent.“

King Richard III

Quotable Quotes

Out, damned spot! out, I say!-- One; two; why, then 'tis

time to do't ;--Hell is murky!--Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier,

and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call

our power to account?--Yet who would have thought the old man to

have had so much blood in him?

MacBeth

Quotable Quotes – 2 points!

1. identify speaker2. identify play

“A plague o' both your houses!”

Character – Mercutio

Play –Romeo and Juliet

Quotable Quotes

"If music be the food of love, play on;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,The appetite may sicken, and so die."

Twelfth Night

Quotable Quotes“All that glitters is not gold,

Often have you heard that told;Many a man his life hath sold

But my outside to behold:Gilded tombs do worms infold.Had you been as wise as bold,

Young in limbs, in judgment old,Your answer had not been inscroll'd:

Fare you well, your suit is cold.”

Merchant of Venice

Where were Shakespeare’s plays

performed?The Globe Theatre

Which Shakespearean play was West Side Story

based on?Romeo & Juliet

How many lines are in a Shakespearean

sonnet?Fourteen

14

Elizabeth I was queen when Shakespeare was born. Who was the king

when he died?King James I

Was Romeo a Montague or a Capulet?

Montague