Download William Shakespeare

William
Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
“All the
world’s a
stage, And
all the men
and women
merely
players…”
(from As You Like It)
William Shakespeare

“He was not of an age, but
for all time.” (Ben Jonson)

Shakespeare is considered the best
playwright who ever lived.

Understood “universal” themes (joy,
fear, hope, passion, hate, weakness)
William Shakespeare

Responsible for adding as many as
3,000 words to the English language.
Click here for a list!
Shakespeare’s Early Years
Birth: April 23 (?), 1564 ***
 Location: Stratford (-Upon-Avon)


John Shakespeare (his father) was a
shopkeeper and also a town official.

Mary Shakespeare (his mother) was
the daughter of a gentleman (a fairly
wealthy landowner).
Shakespeare’s Early Years

Schooling: William was allowed to go
to school until the age of 13 when his
father lost money (many think
because of “shady” dealings) and
William was taken out of school.

What then? Many
reports say he was
apprenticed to either
a butcher or a tanner
(worked with leather).
King Edward’s Grammar School
Shakespeare’s Early Years
Marriage & Family:

Wife: Anne Hathaway
(daughter of a nearby
farmer; she was 26 and
William was 18 when
married…Anne was pregnant!)

Children:
Susanna (born in 1583)
Hamnet and Judith (twins born in 1585)
(Hamnet dies at age 11, leaving
William without a male heir!)
Shakespeare’s Early Years
“The Lost Years”: 1585 to 1590

There is not much record of what
William was doing during this
period (some thought he stayed
home with children, some thought
he might have taught school)

By 1590, records show that William is living
in London (his family is still in Stratford).
Shakespeare’s Career

Theater Companies:
Lord Chamberlain’s Company:
(William was a shareholder in
this acting company and he was
both acting and writing plays)
The King’s Men: after the death of
Queen Elizabeth I, her cousin James
renames the company and makes it
the official company of the king
Shakespeare’s Career

Fame:
Shakespeare
wrote 37 plays
(*controversy still exists as to
whether he wrote them all)
Shakespeare
wrote 3
main types of plays…
Shakespeare’s Career

History Plays (often about famous
kings and leaders); he blended facts
from their lives with his own
imagination

Examples:
Henry V
Richard III
Shakespeare’s Career

Comedy Plays: a Shakespearean
comedy has a happy ending and
usually involves a marriage (also
mistaken identities, intertwining
plots, clever puns, etc.)

Examples:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
As You Like It
Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare’s Career

Tragedy Plays
(Shakespeare is
most famous for
these)
Examples:
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
Shakespeare’s Final Years

Shakespeare retired to Stratford (he
was very wealthy and well-honored)

Death:
April 23*,
1616
(his birthday)
The Elizabethan Era

Renaissance = “rebirth” (from French)

Dates: 1350 – 1600 (approximately)

Education: schools taught primarily
Latin and studied the Bible
The Elizabethan Era
Queen
Elizabeth I
*reigned from
1558 - 1603 (45 years!)
The Elizabethan Era
Under Queen Elizabeth’s reign, England
becomes the dominant world power:



exploration (power on the sea w/ navy)
the Arts flourished (literature, painting,
theater, music)
classical Greece and Rome were
rediscovered (“cultured” societies)
The
Wooden “O”
The Globe Theatre
Location and History:
 built in 1599
 competed against
several rival theatre
companies and closings
(because of the plague!)
The Globe Theatre
Characteristics:
 Shape: 8-sided frame with a central
yard open to the sky
 No curtain: scenes
flowed swiftly from
one to the other
without interruption
The Globe Theatre
Characteristics:
 No lighting:
plays were held
in the afternoon (any
darkness/night would
have to be imagined (and
often was cued by descriptions
Shakespeare put into his plays)
The Globe Theatre
Characteristics:
 Little scenery: there
was not enough time
to change any sets
 Expensive costumes: most
of the money was spent
on these for each play
The Globe Theatre
Characteristics:
 All women’s parts were
played by males: it
was considered
indecent and
scandalous for
any woman to
perform on a stage!
The Globe Theatre
Characteristics:
 Cost of admission:
 the “Groundlings” paid one penny but
had to stand in the open yard for the
entire play
 the first floor gallery paid either three or
six cents (the best seats)
 the second and third floor
galleries paid two
pennies for admission
Drama
Necessary elements for a play:
script (the play)
actors (the performers)
audience (the people to watch)
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
script/written form: which is not how
any play is meant to be experienced
(readers have to create scenes and
characters in their own
minds and imagine
costumes and emotions)
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
a lot of poetry:
unrhymed iambic pentameter
(blank verse) and a lot
of figurative language
may be difficult for
many students
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
age of works: (how old the play is);
language and meanings of words have
changed in the last
400 years (the
sidenotes in the play
will help you with
these “archaic”
words and expressions)
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
Romeo and Juliet: written in both
Prose (spoken mostly by common
people and occasionally Mercutio)
Poetry (spoken by the majority of
characters…a sign of higher status)
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
Reading the lines: we have all heard
people who ruin a good poem by
mechanically pausing at the end of
each line, whether or not the meaning
of the line called for a pause…
Drama
Difficulties and Suggestions for Reading:
Reading: lines of poetry are either:
end-stopped: has some form
of punctuation at its end
run-on: has no punctuation at
its end; the meaning is always
completed in the line(s) that follow
Drama
Dramatic “tragedy”
Definition: a literary work dealing with
very serious and important themes, in
which a dignified tragic figure meets
destruction, usually through some
personal flaw or weakness, or it may
result from forces beyond human
control
Drama
Dramatic “tragedy”
Shakespeare’s Play Plot Structure:
every Shakespearean play consists of 5
acts (divided into
smaller scenes)
which correspond
to the classic plot
structure studied
with short stories
Classic Plot Structure =
Shakespearean Play Plot Line
Act III
Act II
Act I
Act IV
Act V
Classic Plot Structure =
Shakespearean Play Plot Line
Act III
Act II
Act I
Act IV
Act V
Act III of a Shakespearean play will reveal
whether the play is a comedy or tragedy.
Drama
Play Notation: (references)
to reference lines of a play, use the
Act
Scene
Line
Sample: Act II, Scene ii, Line 35
2.2.35
Drama
Terms
There are 25 drama terms in your
packet that you are expected to know
and learn from this unit (they will be on
your semester test). We will cover
these as we progress throughout the
play. Some you will know already;
others will be new to you.