Shakespeare the Writer

Shakespeare Wrote

• 37 plays

• about 154 sonnets

• a few long poems for which he earned his initial fame

Stage Celebrity• Actor for Lord Chamberlain’s

Men and later The King’s Men.

• Also, he was the principal playwright for them.

• 1599—He co-owned The Globe Theater where his plays were performed

Shakespeare wrote:

• Comedies

• Histories

• Tragedies

Comedies

• 4 categories: early, middle, romances, and tragic comedies

• All the comedies are driven by love

• Each deals differently with problems of illusion, mistaken identity, rivalries for love, and the war between the sexes.

• In the comedies, love conquers all.

Comedies

• Taming of the Shrew

• Much Ado about Nothing

• Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Merchant of Venice

• Twelfth Night

• The Tempest

Histories

• The background came from the chronicles of British history

• Central theme: politics and the struggle for power• Common Traits:

– Kings are unhappy or tragic– Kings are faced with treachery– Rivalries exist between families– Characters are motivated by ambition and arrogant pride

• Because the histories dealt realistically with events from the past, these plays were a novelty (new) in Shakespeare’s time

• Shakespeare himself is often credited with inventing this type of literature.

Histories

• King John

• Richard II

• Richard III

• Henry IV Parts One and Two

• Henry V

• Henry VI

• Henry VIII

Tragedies

• Four of Shakespeare’s tragedies are considered his greatest achievements:– Hamlet– Othello– Macbeth– King Lear

Tragedies

• Focus on a powerful central character with a tragic flaw

• Each finds his humanity and accepts his destiny

The End

Segments of this presentation are from http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/Eng9/BrickeyShakespeare.ppt

andhttp://exchange.guhsd.net/details.php?object_id=66