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Renaissance Theater:
Shakespeare and the Globe
William Shakespeare

1564-1616

Regarded as greatest writer in English language

Born in Stratford-on-Avon
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Married Anne Hathaway in 1582

Had three children


Has no living descendents
Moved to London

Started as an actor, then became a writer
Shakespeare’s Plays
 Wrote
3 types of plays
 Comedy
 Historical
 Tragedy
Renaissance Drama

Often called “Elizabethan”
 Named
after Queen Elizabeth I
 Strong
financial supporter of
the theater and of Shakespeare’s plays

Actors of the Age
 Only
male actors; no females allowed
 actors
were thought to be vulgar and
inappropriate
The Plays

Engaging the audience
Extravagant costumes
 Intense fight scenes
 Sound effects
 Strong dialogue and
choreographed gestures
 ***not very many props, not
elaborate setting

The Globe





Built in 1599
Most of Shakespeare’s plays were
performed here
Held 2500-3000 people
Made of wood
Burned down in 1613



Rebuilt
Torn down by Puritans in 1640s
Reconstructed in 1988
Theater Layout

Three levels or galleries
 Rich
at top
 Poor, called “groundlings,” stood in the “pit”

Stage jutted out into the courtyard
http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/virtualtour/
Shakespearean Drama Terms
 Blank
Verse
 unrhymed
iambic pentameter
 Fatal
Flaw
 Tragic Hero
 Acts and Scenes
 Plebeian
 townsperson
Julius Caesar Background

Setting: Rome, 44 BC

Opens after Caesar’s
victory over Pompey’s army


Pompey was former military
leader, widely loved by the
people
Caesar is not yet crowned

Senate runs government of
Rome
Important Characters

The Conspirators




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Brutus
Cassius
Cinna
Casca
Trebonius
Legarius
Decius
Metellus
Characters, cont.

The Triumverate
 Antony
 Octavius
 Lepidus

The Women
 Portia
(Brutus’ wife)
 Calphurnia (Caesar’s wife)