Shakespeare The Dirty Old

English Man and His Times

(1564 – 1616)

Shakespearean Myth

Despite the vicious rumors started

by hateful and spite-filled

students, Shakespeare writes in

Modern English.

Beowulf Canterbury Tales

Shakespearean Myth Busting

The difficulty in Shakespeare’s language is not that he writes in a different language, but that he uses a lot of idioms, colloquialisms, and allusions specific to his time period.Just like you!

Shakespeare’s Society

Shakespeare’s Society

Shakespeare’s Society

Middle Age Class systemsRoyalty

Nobility

Peasant

Church = State

Kings/Queens = authority from God.

Shakespeare’s Society

Shakespeare is a puzzle and his

published plays are comprised (put

together) by editors using their best judgment after

analyzing multiple versions

5 Reasons Why Brain workout to capture meaning because of

text difficulty.

Universal themes with relevance today.

Master of language manipulation, rhetorical devices, and weaving plots together. Allows the strongest readers and weakest readers to work at a level that challenges them.

Make your life easier next year.

Frequently alluded to in all areas (TV, Movies, books, etc.) of Western society.

Just Fun!

Hamlet

Not in England

Characteristics of Plays

• Uses MANY layered of plots.

• Make-up = artificial beauty/corruption

• Little/No Scenery

• Inspired by social issues

Shakespeare’s Language

Alternate Word Meanings

•“Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?” •“But what is your affair in Elisnore?” (1.2.174) •“Ay, marry, is’t” (1.4.13) (Yes, indeed it is.)

Be sure to write down words like these that are defined for you because they will only be defined the first time they appear.

Syntax Differences

• “And sure I am two men there is not living to whom he more adheres.” (2.2.20-21)

• “Mad call I it, for, to define true madness what is’t but to be nothing else but mad?” (2.2.93-94)

Dashes“We have here writTo Norway, uncle of young Fortinbras – Who impotent and bedrid, scarcely hearsOf this his nephew’s purpose – to suppressHis further gait herein, in that the levies,The lists, and full proportions are all madeOut of his subject”

(1.2.27-33)

Dashes “Why, she – O God, a beast that wants discourse of reasonWould have mourned longer! – married with my uncle,My father’s brother, but no more like my fatherThan I to Hercules.”

(1.2.149-153)

Royal “We”

“Now our Queen,Th’ imperial jointress to this warlike state, have we…taken to wife.

(1.2.8-10,14)

Character Activity

Characters

MajorHamletGertrudeClaudiusPoloniusLaertesOpheliaHoratioRosencrantzGuildenstern

Minor

Ghost

Reynaldo

Voltemand

Cornelius

Barnardo

Francisco

Marcellus