William Shakespeare

Simonetta Gatto Istituto Comprensivo di Casella (GE)

Who was William Shakespeare?

He was:

a poet a playwright an actor

His life

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in central England, in 1564 and he died there in 1616.

When William Shakespeare was 18 years old he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith.

Then Shakespeare went to London to work as an actor and a writer.

He wrote and acted for two important monarchs: Queen Elizabeth I and James I.

He had a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men which later was called the King’s men.

He produced most of his work between 1589 and 1603.

Stratford-upon-Avon : Shakespeare’s house

Shakespeare’s playsShakespeare wrote 38 plays These have been translated into every

major language and are performed more than those of any other playwright in the world. His plays can be divided into three groups:

• Tragedies: for example Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet.

• Comedies: for example A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Twelfth Nightand Much Ado About Nothing.

• Historical plays: for example Richard III, Henry IV and Julius Caesar.

A tragedy is a play with a sad ending, in which someone suffers or dies.A comedy is a play of a light, amusing kind. It is intended to makepeople laugh.A historical play is about historical events and characters.

Shakespeare’s poems

Shakespeare has written 154sonnets.The Shakesperean or EnglishSonnet has 14 lines and is

dividedinto three quartrains and a

couplet.The rhyming scheme usually is

abab, cdcd, efef, gg.Most of his sonnets are about

love.

Sonnet 138When my love swears that she is made of truth, aI do believe her though I know she lies, bThat she might think me some untutor'd youth, aUnlearned in the world's false subtleties. b

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, cAlthough she knows my days are past the best, dSimply I credit her false-speaking tongue; cOn both sides thus is simple truth suppressed. d

But wherefore says she not she is unjust? eAnd wherefore say not I that I am old? fO! love's best habit is in seeming trust, eAnd age in love loves not to have years told: f

Therefore I lie with her, and she with me, gAnd in our faults by lies we flatter'd be. g

Shakespeare Theatre: the Globe

• It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company and was destroyed by fire in 1613.

• A modern copy of the Globe was built in 1997

• The modern theatre is located in London on the banks of the river Thames.

• Today it is possible to see Shakespeare’s plays at the Globe.

The globe is an open-air theatre because it took inspiration from the Roman amphitheatres.

The audience

In the XVI – XVII centuriesgoing to theatre was pureamusement. Everybody liked it,and poor people, too, went to

seethe most popular plays.The poor did not have a seat;they stood “on the ground” infront of the stage and for thisreason they were called“groundlings”. This tradition isstill respected today.

THE ACTORS

In the Elizabethan Theatre women’sroles were played by young men or

boys.Today at the Globe both men andwomen interpret Shakespeareancharacters, but some works are

playedby men only to recreate the real

atmosphere of that period.

Elizabethan age

Shakespeare lived and worked in the Elizabethan ge

This period is called Elizabethan from Queen Elizabeth I who reigned between 1558 and 1603.

It is considered a golden age in the history of Britain because the country was healthy and powerful and it was a period of exploration and expansion abroad.

In this period art and literature were very important and most popular of all was drama, thanks to Shakespeare and other artists.

Shakespeare and his plays have inspired some modern

films

• Shakespeare in Love

• Romeo and Juliet