WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

QUEEN ELIZABETH I

Elizabeth I (Protestant) became the Queen of England in 1558, six years before Shakespeare's birth

Elizabeth’s mother was Anne Boleyn who was executed by husband Henry VIII

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

England was firmly established as a leading military and commercial power in the Western world

Queen Elizabeth recognized the importance of the arts and was fond of the theater

With her permission, professional theaters were built in England for the first time

Music, art, and theater began to flourish

EARLY THEATER

Theatres built on outskirts of city out of county jurisdiction

Areas called “Liberties”Naturally also a breeding ground

for thieves, pickpockets, criminals, etc: slum areas

Other popular forms of entertainment included: bear/bull-baiting, cock fights

ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

Hygiene was not understood as it is today (Sewage & garbage thrown into street gutters)

Onset of bubonic plague, or Black Death hit London in 1592 and theatres and other public venues were closed

KING JAMES VI

Replaced Elizabeth after her death Reigned in three kingdoms (England,

Scotland, and Ireland) for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean Era

The "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued

Shakespeare now part of the King’s Men (Theatrical company supported by James)

King James strong believer of witchcraft

GUY FAWKES DAY

November 5th, 1605: Guy Fawkes and other terrorist conspirators failed to blow up the Houses of Parliament

Known as the 'Gunpowder Plot,' and was discovered the night before the explosion was to occur

An attempt to re-establish the Catholic religion All the conspirators were subjected to extensive

torture. Fawkes and the other conspirators who remained alive were tried for high treason and were convicted and sentenced to death.

The heads and other portions of the conspirators' bodies were set up at various points around Westminster and London.

SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE

Born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616 in Stratford on Avon

Went to school at Stratford Grammar school where he got ideas for plays from Greek/Roman history, Plautus, Seneca, and learned Latin (school was very rigorous-9 hours per day all year round)

Married Anne Hathaway when he was 18, she was 26

Anne gave birth to daughter Susanna 6 months after they were married

• Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford on Avon• Shakespeare spent very little time here, lived most of his life in an apartment in London

SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE Later had twins Judith and Hamnet (Hamnet

died at 11) Little is known of his life between when he left

Stratford and arrived in London During these “Lost Years” he could have done

anything: sailor, soldier (helped defeat the Spanish Armada), printer, gardener, etc

Between 1589-1613, Shakespeare wrote 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems (sonnets and poems mostly written during time of plague when theatre were shut down in 1592)

He retired a wealthy man having invested in real estate

His death is something of a mystery

GLOBE THEATRE Opened in 1599 Theatre advertising was forbidden (Puritan

pressure) so a flag was raised and a trumpet blasted before every performance, red for histories, white for comedies, black for tragedies

Ticket priced depended on the location of the seat: groundlings had penny seats and stood in the pit in front of the stage

Performances were only during the day Environment was very boisterous, loud, and

riotous, audience often threw food, beer, and other items at performers

GLOBE THEATRE

Scenery and props were minimal, focus was on the language, although props and costumes were often elaborate

No women actors were allowed, female parts played by young men

In 1613 the Globe was destroyed by cannon fire as part of a production of Henry IV. It was then rebuilt and then closed in 1642.

New Globe

SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS

Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English

Plays are divided into Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Romances

He usually wrote in Iambic Pentameter:Iamb: a poetic unit with one unstressed

syllable followed by an stressed syllablePentameter: ten syllables or beats in each

line(5 stresses per line)Prose: no pattern, no rhyme

To be, or not to be: that is the question:  Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer  The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune  Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,  And by opposing end them?

Iambic Pentameter

Prose

For the satirical rogue says here that old men have gray beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes  purging thick amber and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most weak hams. All which, sir, though I most powerfully and potently believe, yet I hold it not honesty to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, should be old as I am if like a crab you could go backward.

NoblesRational

(Natural Speech Patterns)Songs

Rational (Iambic Pentameter) is contrasted with the emotional (Prose) (Brutus vs. Antony in Julius Caesar). 

CommonersMad/Insane

DrunkDisorderly

MAJOR PLAYS Julius Caesar Hamlet Othello King Lear Macbeth Henry V Romeo & Juliet The Tempest Twelfth Night A Midsummer Night’s DreamFirst Folio (1623)

SHAKESPEARE’S DEATH

Shakespeare died April 23, 1616 (52 years later on his birthday)

Cause of death is unknown He is buried under the old stone floor

of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The following is carved on his

tombstone. He wrote his own Elegy:“Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these

stones And cursed be he that moves my bones”