Download Elizabethan Era - Wando High School

Written by:
Jonnettt
Hay-Rivenbark
English Renaissance
• Cultural and
artistic movement
in England
• 16th century
through early 17th
century
• Associated with
European
Renaissance
• Believed to have
begun in Italy
English Renaissance
• Contrast: English and Italian Renaissance
English Renaissance
• Often called “Age of
Shakespeare” or
“Elizabethan Era”
• Names are incorrect
English Renaissance
• Important playwrights:
– William Shakespeare
– Ben Jonson
– Christopher Marlowe
English Renaissance
• Important poets of the
period:
– Edmund Spenser
– John Milton
Important philosophers:
– Sir Francis Bacon
– Sir Thomas More
Elizabethan Era
• Period in England
associated with rule
of Queen Elizabeth I
(1558-1603)
• Relatively peaceful
time
Elizabethan Era
• Considered Golden Age of English history
Elizabethan Era
• Height of fashion in England
• Influenced by French and Spanish styles
Elizabethan Era
• Annual festivities broke
up daily life
• People looked forward to
celebrations
• Many still celebrated
today
Elizabethan Era
• Other celebrations
include:
– Valentine’s Day
– April Fool’s Day
– Christmas
Season (13 days
celebrated from
Christmas Eve
through Epiphany
Eve)
The Plague
• Bubonic and
pneumonic
plagues caused
14th century
“Black Death”
• Spread through
Europe, Middle
East and Asia
• Recurred every
generation for
centuries
The Plague
• Known as bubonic and
pneumonic plagues
• Believed to be caused
mainly by fleas
• Symptoms included fever,
chills, muscle pain,
hemorrhaging,and
buboes
The Plague
• Occurred again in
England during 1592-1593
• Caused all theaters in
London to close
• Shakespeare wrote long,
narrative poems
Shakespeare Biography
• Born in 1564 in
Stratford-uponAvon
• Actual date of
birth uncertain
Biography
• Father was John Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Mother - Video
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Biography
• At 18: married Anne
Hathaway
• At 19: had daughter
• 1585: had twins
Biography
• Believed to have left for
London 1585-1586
• 1594: became member of
Lord Chamberlain’s Men
• Troupe became King’s
Men in 1603
Shakespeare’s London - Video
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Biography
• Wrote and performed in
plays
• Most widely-read
playwright
• Also wrote poetry
Shakespeare’s Plays
• Shakespeare wrote or
collaborated on 39 plays
• Plays divided into three
categories
– Comedies
– Tragedies
– Histories
Shakespeare’s Plays
• His plays remain popular today
• Have been made into films and other plays
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The Comedies
• All’s Well That
Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy
of Errors
• Cymbeline
• Love’s Labor’s Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
The Comedies
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles
• The Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Troilus and Cressida
The Comedies
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
• The Winter’s Tale
The Comedies
• Most popular include
– All’s Well That Ends Well
– The Merchant of Venice
– A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
– The Taming of the Shrew
– The Tempest
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The Comedies: Themes
• Characteristics of the
comedies include:
– False/mistaken identities
– Toils of love and marriage
– Good versus Evil
• Songs written for
comedies
• Only text exists
The Comedies
• Famous characters include:
– Oberon and Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
– Rosalind and Orlando (As You Like It)
– Petruchio and Katherine (Taming of the Shrew)
The Tragedies
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• Hamlet
• Julius Caesar
• King Lear
• Macbeth
The Tragedies
• Othello
• Romeo and Juliet
• Timon of Athens
• Titus Andronicus
The Tragedies
• Most popular tragedies:
– Hamlet
– Julius Caesar
– Macbeth
– Romeo and Juliet
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The Tragedies: Themes
• All Shakespearean
tragedies: protagonist
falls from grace and dies
• Tragic hero, tragic flaw
• An unhappy ending
The Tragedies
• Usually many secondary
characters die
– Mercutio and Tybalt
(Romeo and Juliet)
– Polonius, Ophelia, King
Claudius, Queen Gertrude,
Laertes (Hamlet)
– Calpurnia, Portia, Cassius
(Julius Caesar)
The Tragedies
• Protagonist is admirable
but flawed
• Protagonist is capable of
good and bad
• Famous tragic characters:
– Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
– Macbeth, Thane of Glamis
– Marcus Brutus
The Histories
• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part 2
• Henry V
The Histories
• Henry VI, Part 1
• Henry VI, Part 2
• Henry VI, Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII
The Histories
• Easier to recognize
than define
• Arose as patriotism
formed in England
• Tied closely to real
historical events
The Histories: Themes
• All focus on tensions
between public and
private values
• Have character
preoccupied with
power
• Julius Caesar, Antony
and Cleopatra
considered Roman
histories
Shakespeare’s Poetry
• Wrote two narrative poems during plague years
• Dedicated to Earl of Southampton
Earl of Southampton- Video
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Poetry
• Other narrative
poems:
The Phoenix
and the Turtle
and A Lover’s
Complaint
• Sonnets are most well-known
• Form is fourteen lines of
iambic pentameter
Poetry
• Published 154 sonnets
• First 17 thought written to
young man
• Advises young man to
marry, have a child
Poetry
• Sonnets 18-126
written to young man
• Celebrate speaker’s
love for young man
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Poetry
• Sonnets 127-154 present
the Dark Lady
• Woman presented as
treacherous
• Speaker seems sexually
obsessed with her
Sonnet Video
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The Globe Theatre
• Theater associated with Shakespeare
• Built in London in 1599
• Owned by the Burbage
brothers, Shakespeare
and three others
The Globe Theatre
• The Heavens
– False ceiling over the stage
– Housed actors and
costumes during bad
weather
– Designed with trap doors—
actors could “fly”
– Good for creating sound
effects
The Globe Theatre
• Hell
– Trapdoors within the stage
area (thought to be two)
– Used for special effects
with actors
– Good for creating sound
effects
The Globe Theatre
• Women prohibited from performing
The Globe Theatre
• Open to audiences
during summer
months
• Daytime
performances only
• Audiences came
from all classes
• Men and women
attended
performances
Performance Video
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The Globe Theatre
• “Groundlings” paid one
cent to stand
• Gentry paid more for
seats in galleries
• Nobles sat in chairs on
side of stage
The Globe Theatre
• Style similar to Coliseum
• Sometimes used for
gambling
• Closed due to plague
The Globe Theatre
• Flags used to indicate
type of play
• Burned by cannonball
landing on roof
• Destroyed by Puritans
• Motto: Totus mundus agit
histrionem
Concluding Thoughts
• Enduring Globe
• Enduring
Shakespeare
• “He was not of
an age, but for
all time.”