Shakespeare 1

Shakespeare: His Life and TimesShakespeare: His Life and Times

Who was he?Who was he?

• Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English Literature.

• Poet and dramatist

• Wrote 38 plays – comedies, histories, tragedies.

• Composed about 154 sonnets and a few epic poems.

• Started out as an actor.

Early LifeEarly Life

• Born 1564—died 1616

• Stratford-upon-Avon

• Parents: John Shakespeare and Mary Arden• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner• John—glovemaker, local politician

From: http://www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps.html

Location of Stratford-upon-AvonLocation of Stratford-upon-Avon

As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).

Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s TimeStratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time

From Stratford’s web site: http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm

Stratford-upon-Avon TodayStratford-upon-Avon Today

Shakespeare’s BirthplaceShakespeare’s Birthplace

• Attended grammar school in Stratford• Educated in:

• Rhetoric• Logic• History• Latin• Literature

EducationEducation

• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway (who was eight years older than he) and had their first daughter, Susanna (1583).

• Had twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585. His only son, Hamnet, died as a young boy.

• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved to London and began working in theatre.

Married LifeMarried Life

Anne Hathaway’s CottageAnne Hathaway’s Cottage

• Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men acting company, later called the King’s Men

• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with Shakespeare as primary investor

• The Globe Theatre burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays

Theatre CareerTheatre Career

The Globe Theater 1599The Globe Theater 1599

The Rebuilt Globe Theater, LondonThe Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

The Globe TheaterThe Globe Theater

The New Globe Theater 1999The New Globe Theater 1999

The PlaysThe Plays

• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare• comedies• histories• tragedies

• Possibly wrote three others• Collaborated on several others• Which plays have you heard of?

ComediesComedies

• The Taming of the Shrew

• Much Ado About Nothing

• As You Like I

• Twelfth Night

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

TragediesTragedies

• Hamlet

• Romeo and Juliet

• Othello

• King Lear

• Macbeth

HistoriesHistories

• Henry V• Henry VIII• King John• Richard II• Richard III

• Two major poems• Venus and Adonis• Rape of Lucrece

• 154 Sonnets• Numerous other poems

The PoetryThe Poetry

Shakespeare’s Language

• Shakespeare did NOT write in “Old English.”

• Old English is the language of Beowulf:Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunonHu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!

(Hey! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes, how noble princes showed great courage!)


• Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English.”

• Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Malory:

We redeth oft and findeth y-write—And this clerkes wele it wite—Layes that ben in harpingBen y-founde of ferli thing… (Sir Orfeo)


• Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern English.”• EME was not very different from “Modern English,” except that it had some old holdovers.


• Shakespeare coined many words we still use today:

• Critical• Majestic• Dwindle

• And quite a few phrases as well:• One fell swoop• Flesh and blood• Vanish into thin air

See http://www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm


• A mix of old and very new• Rural and urban words/images• Understandable by the lowest peasant and the highest noble

Elizabethan Theatrical

Conventions

A theatrical convention is a

suspension of reality.

No electricity

Women forbidden

to act on stage

Minimal, contemporary

costumes

Minimal scenery

These control the dialogue.These control the dialogue.

Audience loves to be scared.

Audience loves to be scared.

Soliloquy

Aside Types of speechTypes of speech

Blood and gore

Use of supernatural

Use of disguises/

mistaken identity

Multiple marriages

(in comedies)

Multiple murders

(in tragedies)

Last speaker—highest in

rank (in tragedies)