Download William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare
The Man, His Writing Style, His Theater
Oh, and Romeo & Juliet, too
I. A little about Will…
Born April 23, 1564 (we think)
 Lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, a small
town NW of London
 Attended school, studied Latin and
literature
 Married Anne Hathaway at age 18 (she
was 26)
 Daughter born in 1583, twins (one of
each) born in 1585

More about Will…
Was successful playwright in London by
1592
 Wrote 37 plays
 Romeo and Juliet written in 1594
 Owned part of the Globe Theater and The
King’s Men acting troupe
 Died April 23, 1616 (his birthday)
 Buried in Holy Trinity Church

Shakespeare’s Grave
The slab over his grave reads:
Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blessed be the man that spares these
stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
So why do we bother reading him?

Huge contribution to the English language
 His
vocabulary was 30,000 words (average
person is 15,000 words)
 1/10 of the words he used had never been
used before – this means he gave us 3,000
words!
Popular culture – his plays are constantly
turned into movies = $$$
 Universal themes & rich characters that
still work today

So what are some words he gave us?
academe
accused
addiction
advertising
amazement
arouse
assassination
backing
bandit
bedroom
beached
besmirch
birthplace
blanket
bloodstained
barefaced
blushing
bet
bump
buzzer
caked
cater
champion
circumstantial
cold-blooded
compromise
courtship
countless
Critical
dauntless
dawn
deafening
discontent
dishearten
drugged
dwindle
epileptic
equivocal
elbow
excitement
exposure
eyeball
fashionable
fixture
flawed
frugal
generous
gloomy
gossip
green-eyed
gust
hint
hobnob
hurried
impede
laughable
lonely
lower
luggage
lustrous
madcap
majestic
marketable
metamorphize
mimic
monumental
moonbeam
mountaineer
negotiate
noiseless
obscene
obsequiously
ode
olympian
outbreak
panders
pedant
premeditated
puking
radiance
rant
remorseless
savagery
scuffle
secure
skim milk
submerge
summit
swagger
torture
tranquil
undress
unreal
varied
vaulting
worthless
zany
Quoting Shakespeare
If you’ve ever said any of the following,
you speak Shakespeare already:
Forever and a day (As You Like It)
Flesh and blood, make your hair stand on
end (Hamlet)
The devil incarnate (Henry V)
Dead as a doornail (Henry VI)
Charmed life (Macbeth)
All that glitters is not gold (Merchant of
Venice)

The Epic Poems

We know Shakespeare wrote two
 The
Rape of Lucrece
 Venus and Adonis

Others exist, but their authorship is in
question
The Sonnets
He wrote 154 of these
 No titles; identified by number or the first
line
 Sonnets were THE way to express your
love to your girl; young men also wrote
them to entertain each other.

The Plays

Histories
 Plays
about historical events
 Richard II, Henry VIII

Comedies
 Plays
that have happy endings
 Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It

Tragedies
 Plays
that have unhappy endings
 Macbeth, Julius Caesar
Tragedy
Drama where the central character/s
suffer disaster or great misfortune
 Downfall may be the result of

 Fate
 Fatal
character flaw
 A combo of the two
II. Writing Style

The Sonnets
 Follow
very strict form
 Fourteen lines
 Three quatrains
 One couplet
 Iambic pentameter
 Rhyme Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Iambic Pentameter
One unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable
 Iamb = U / such as pretend, annoy
 When a line has 5 iambs, it is in iambic
pentameter

 Penta

= 5; meter = rhythmic unit
But SOFT what LIGHT through YONder
WINdow BREAKS?
The Sonnets

Three quatrains
 Qua
= 4, so three groups of four lines each
 Main idea introduced and expanded

Couplet
 Two,
a “couple” of lines
 Signals a “turn” in the meaning of the poem
Sonnet 18
Look at rhyme scheme
 Watch the main idea develop
 The turn (couplet) at the end

Romeo & Juliet

Written in blank verse
 Unrhymed

iambic pentameter
Parts are written in prose
 Ordinary
writing that is not poetry or song
 Characters of the lower social classes spoke in
prose in Shakespeare’s plays
 Why do you suppose that is?
Why is it so hard to read?
Gigantic vocabulary
 Weird syntax (word order)

 We
say: The cow jumped over the moon.
 He says: Over the moon jumped the cow.
 We say: Why do you call for a sword?
 He says: Why call you for a sword?

Words change in meaning over time
 Soft
used to mean “wait a minute”
 Nice used to mean “stupid”
III. His Theater: The Globe
Opened in 1599
 Cost: 2 pennies to sit on a wooden bench,
1 penny to stand on ground in the pit
 Plays produced for the general public
 Roofless, open air theater with no
restrooms

Theater Design
A flag would fly to signify performances
 Stage was raised so audience members
could not join in fight/battle scenes
 Trap door in bottom of stage – characters
from hell.
 Second level gallery, upper stage (balcony
scene in R&J)

The Globe
Much Different from Today!
Plays could only be presented during
daylight hours – no lighting!
 No scenery
 Very elaborate costumes
 Male actors only – even for female roles
 Audience members were active – yelling,
throwing food on stage, etc.

The Globe’s History
Burned down in 1613 during a
performance of Henry VIII when a cannon
fired and ignited the thatch roof. It was
burned to the ground in an hour.
 Was rebuilt with a tile roof.
 The Puritans closed all theaters in 1642
 Globe was torn down in 1644.
 Has been rebuilt in London and you can
see performances there today.

Acting Profession

Repertory theater
 Several
plays running at the same time
 Actors had to know more than one part

Several skills required
 Singing
 Playing
instruments
 Dancing
 Fencing
Theater Terminology
Pit – uncovered courtyard in front of the
stage
 Groundlings – people who paid 1 penny to
stand in the pit and watch the play
 Galleries – areas of seating for wealthy
 Tiring House – area behind stage used for
dressing rooms and storage

IV. Romeo and Juliet
One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays,
along with Hamlet and Richard III
 Story came from a poem by Arthur Brooke
titled “The Tragicall Historye of Romeus
and Juliet”

 First
published in 1562, two years before
Shakespeare’s birth
 Reprinted in 1587
Romeo & Juliet

Story also from Greek mythology – Pyramus and
Thisbe
“…they would have married, but their parents forbade
it” (Humphries 83).
 “…they would fool their guardians…come outdoors,
run away from home, and even leave the city” (83).
 A lion scares Thisbe off and she drops her veil.
Pyramus, seeing the bloody veil, kills himself thinking
Thisbe is dead.
 So Thisbe “…fell forward on the blade, still warm and
reeking with her lover’s blood” (86).

Romeo & Juliet
Explores the effects of fate, secrecy,
revenge, tragedy and love at first sight
 THEMES (insight about life or human
nature):

 There
are forces in life over which people
have no control (fate)
 Even well intended deceptions and secrets
can be destructive
 Revenge can destroy the avenger and victim
Dramatic Terms

You will need to know the following terms
before we begin our study of the play:
Flat character, comic relief, dramatic foil,
pun, metaphorical language, dramatic
irony, situational irony, verbal irony, direct
address, aside, soliloquy, monologue.
Flat Character
One dimensional, embodying a single trait
 Often used by Shakespeare in a tragedy to
provide comic relief

Comic Relief
Use of comedy in literature that is NOT
comedy to provide “relief” from the
seriousness or sadness of the story.
 Creates an emotional rollercoaster that
deepens tragic feelings in audience

Dramatic Foil

A character whose traits contrast with and
highlight those of another character
 Benvolio
to Tybalt
 Look for other examples in the play
Puns
Humorous use of a word with two
meanings
 Shakespeare loved to use these but we
often miss them due to the Elizabethan
language.

Metaphorical Language

Comparison of two unlike things to
describe one of those things
 “Sweet
flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I
strew” Paris standing over Juliet’s “lifeless”
body
Dramatic Irony

A contradiction between what a character
thinks and what the reader/audience
knows to be true
 We
know Juliet is not really dead
 Romeo believes she is really dead
 Dramatic irony is created when he sees her in
the tomb and kills himself
Situational Irony

An event occurs that directly contradicts
the expectations of the character, reader
or audience
 For
example, a fire house burning down
 R&J do end up together forever, just not alive
Verbal Irony

Words are used to suggest the opposite of
what is meant
 In
the Prologue the families are described as
“Alike in dignity” but we soon realize they do
not behave with dignity; thus, they are
similarly undignified
Direct Address

Words that tell the reader who is being
addressed
 “A
right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.”
 “Ah, my mistresses, which of you all/Will now
deny to dance?”
Aside
Words spoken in an undertone, not
intended to be heard by all characters
 Used to let the audience in on the
character’s thoughts in the moment

Monologue
One person speaking on stage, others
may be present as well
 Lengthy speech

 Mercutio’s
Queen Mab speech
 Prince of Verona commanding the families to
cease feuding
Soliloquy
Long speech expressing thoughts of a
character
 That character is alone on stage

The End!
Keep these notes in your R&J
folder (formerly your short story
unit folder!)