William Shakespeare

with help from:

The British LibarayNorton Anthology

Royal Shakespeare Company

• Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564, only five years or so into the reign of Elizabeth I.

• 1564 was an extraordinary time to be born. England was going through nothing less than a Cultural Revolution.

• In the previous twelve years, the state religion had gone from the hard-line Protestantism of Edward VI to the persecuting Catholicism of Queen Mary, and then back to Protestantism.

• South Warwickshire was a strongly Catholic area, especially in the villages to the north of Stratford where both of Shakespeare’s parents were born to old farming families loyal to the Old Faith.

• Government spies' reports, astonishingly, show a dozen old priests from Queen Mary's day still working as vicars in Stratford in 1585, one of whom may well have been the vicar who married William and Anne Hathaway; William was 18 and Anne was 26.

• Their first child, Susanna, was born in May 1583. Twins, Hamnet and Judith, were christened in February 1585.

• From 1585 until 1592, very little is known about Shakespeare. These are generally referred to as 'The Lost Years'.

• But by 1592 we know that he was in London.

• Plague broke out in London in 1593, forcing the theatres to close. Shakespeare turned to writing poetry.

• In 1593 Shakespeare published Venus and Adonis dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, a young courtier and favorite of Queen Elizabeth.

• Shakespeare's earliest plays included Henry VI parts I, II & III, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus. The sonnets were also written about this time, though they were not published until 1609.

• In 1594, Shakespeare became a founding member, actor, playwright and shareholder of the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

• Richard Burbage was the company's leading actor. He played roles such as Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and Lear.

• Under James VI/I, the company was renamed The King's Men. They performed at court more often than any other company.

• Sometime after 1611, Shakespeare retired to Stratford. On 23rd April, his presumed birthday, Shakespeare died, aged 52.

• On 25th April: Shakespeare is buried at Holy Trinity in Stratford.

• Shakespeare's widow, Anne, died in 1623 and was buried beside him.

• Shakespeare's family line came to an end with the death of his grand-daughter Elizabeth in 1670.

• In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, John Heminge and Henry Condell (two actors from The King's Company) had Shakespeare's plays published. This first folio contained 36 plays and sold for 1 pound.

The Globe Theater• Before the first public playhouses were built in London in the late 16th

century, players performed in the yards and upper rooms of the capital’s many inns. By the early 1600s there were several playhouses just outside the City of London. They were of two types:

• Open-air amphitheatres. These were usually polygonal. The stage projected into the central yard and may or may not have been covered. The audience stood around the stage in the yard, where places were cheapest, or stood or sat in the tiers of galleries that enclosed it. These playhouses relied on natural light.

• Indoor halls. These were rectangular, with the stage along one of the short sides. The audience sat, either immediately in front of the stage where the seats were most expensive, or in galleries which ran around the other three sides of the room. These playhouses were lit by candles and torches.

• The playhouses were brightly decorated inside. • Their stages had two doors for entrances and exits, often flanking a

larger central opening at the back which could be used for more ceremonial comings and goings.

• There was little or no scenery but hangings, for example painted cloths and curtains, were used on the stage.

• Properties, such as beds, thrones, or tombs, were needed for some plays.

• Audiences were socially mixed, and women as well as men visited both the open-air and the indoor playhouses.

• Admission to the open-air amphitheatres cost one old penny, and they catered more for the citizenry.

• Admission to the indoor halls cost six old pennies, and they were frequented by the court and gentry.

• The Globe was built in 1599, from the reused timbers of the Theatre. It was located on Bankside, near to the Rose.

• It was an open-air amphitheatre, with three tiers of galleries, a covered stage and a thatched roof.

• The first Globe burnt down in 1613, when its thatch caught fire during a performance of Shakespeare and Fletcher’s Henry VIII (All is True).

• The second Globe was built on the foundations of the first, but given a tiled roof. It could accommodate an audience of 3,000.

• From 1609, the King’s Men used the Globe during the summer and their indoor playhouse at Blackfriars during the winter.

Macbeth, the

Scottish play

As it begins so

it will end…

Behind every successful man is an ambitious woman, and behind the Scottish Thane of Cawdor is his wife, Lady Macbeth.

Together they will plot the death of a king, and all else who stand in their path towards absolute power.

But guilt-stoked madness and paranormal visitation lie ahead, and the man who kills in the night will come to understand that what begins in blood will end in blood.

Macbeth (c. 1606)• Macbeth may have been

written to please King James I (Elizabeth’s successor & King of Scotland).

• Macbeth is called “The Scottish Play” by superstitious theater folk (many mishaps have been associated with performances of the play).

• The plot & cast of characters are based on actual people & events.

Themes & Motifs in Macbeth

• Honor vs. Ambition• Good vs. Evil• Appearance vs. Reality• Good vs. Bad Leadership• Identity & Manhood• Connection between

socio-political disturbances & natural phenomenon

• Power vs. Justice

• Imagery & Motifs:– Blood

– Sleep/Sleeplessness

– Darkness/Night

– Clothing

– Hands

– Paradox

– Ambiguity

• Shakespeare may have included the Witches as a nod to King James who was considered an “expert” on witchcraft. (He even wrote a treatise on witchcraft.)

• Elizabethans believed in witches and in the real possibility of witchcraft.

• Legend has it that the play is “cursed” by actual spells that someone wrote into the text of the play.

Macbeth’s Witches

The Curse• The Scottish play and The

Bard's play are euphemisms often used for William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

• Saying 'Macbeth' inside a theatre is often considered taboo, as it is thought to bring on the curse associated with the play.

• The lead actors themselves are referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. M." or a variety of different names.

• “The Scottish play” refers to the fact that Macbeth is set in Scotland.

• Another variation of the superstition forbids direct quotation of the play while within a theatre (when not performing).

There are a variety of traditional rituals used to ward off evil when the play is mentioned, such as turning three times, spitting over one's left shoulder, swearing, or reciting a line from another of Shakespeare's plays, often "Angels and ministers of grace defend us," (Hamlet 1.iv), or "Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you" (The Merchant of Venice, 3.iv).

When the name of the play is spoken in a theatre, tradition requires that the person must leave, perform one of a number of rituals, and be invited back in.

• Productions of the play are said to have been plagued with accidents, many ending in death.

• According to legend, this dates back to the original performance of the play, in which prop daggers were mistakenly swapped for real ones, resulting in a death.

• Those who believe in the curse of Macbeth claim its origin to be in the three Witches, who in the play are said to be casting real spells.

• It has also been suggested that the inclusion of the character Hecate, frequently cut from productions of the play due to questions about her part's authorship, will intensify the effects of the curse.