Download Introduction to William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare
Life and Works
Ms. Met
English 10
Shakespeare
Shakespeare Myths
One of the great mysteries of English
drama is that so little is known for sure
about one of its most famous playwrights.
 Fact became mingled with legend in the
100 years after Shakespeare’s death, and it
was not until then that any biographical
information was recorded.
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Shakespeare’s Birth and Family
Shakespeare’s exact birthday is unknown,
but he was baptized on April 26th, 1564, in
Stratford-on-Avon, England.
 His father, John, was a prosperous wool,
leather, and grain merchant as well as a
town official.
 His mother, Mary, was the daughter of a
gentleman farmer.
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Youth and Marriage
 It
is known that young William
attended school and studied Latin
and literature.
 In 1582, he married Hathaway, a
woman eight years his senior. They
had three children: a daughter,
Susanna, and twins Hamnet and
Judeth.
Working with Actors
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In 1586, Shakespeare left
Stratford to become the
stage manager of The
Theatre in London, so
named because it was the
only theatre in town.
He soon joined the acting
company of The Theatre,
and with Richard
Burbage and William
Kemp he performed at
court in many plays.
Earliest works
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Shakespeare’s earliest works were produced in 1591-1592, including
several of the histories and Love’s Labour’s Lost, Two Gentlemen of
Verona, and Comedy of Errors.
In 1592, he wrote Romeo and Juliet.
It was followed in quick succession by The Merchant of Venice, A
Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Taming of
the Shrew, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Strategic Move
Shakespeare made an important business
move in 1599 when he joined Richard
Burbage and several other actors and built
the Globe Theatre.
 He was a shareholder in the Globe and a
part-owner of a company of actors called
Lord Chamberlain’s Company, later
known as The King’s Men.
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The Globe
 Many
of Shakespeare’s plays were
produced at the Globe, where he
had both financial security and a
first-rate acting company to
produce his plays.
 This was his greatest writing
period.
Greatest Writing Period
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In 1599-1600 he wrote
Much Ado About Nothing,
As You Like It, and
Twelfth Night.
Between 1600-1611, he
wrote tragedies for which
he is so well
remembered: Julius
Caesar, Hamlet, Othello,
Macbeth, King Lear, and
Antony and Cleopatra,
among others.
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During this time he also
wrote 154 sonnets which
were published in 1609.
Late in 1608 or 1609,
Shakespeare and his
partners purchased the
Blackfriars Theatre to use
as a winter location for
play production.
Height of Fame and Popularity
In 1611, at the height of his fame and
popularity, Shakespeare moved back to
Stratford.
 His son died at this time.
 He sold out his interests in London,
although he did continue to write and
travel to the city until his death in 1616.
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Interesting Facts
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Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity
Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. He put a curse on
anyone daring to move his body from that final
resting place. His epitaph was:
Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Though it was customary to dig up the bones
from previous graves to make room for others,
Shakespeare's remains are still undisturbed.
The Matter of Suicide
Suicide occurs an unlucky thirteen times in
Shakespeare's plays.
 It occurs in Romeo and Juliet where both Romeo
and Juliet commit suicide, in Julius Caesar where
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both Cassius and Brutus die by consensual stabbing, as well as Brutus' wife Portia,
in Othello where Othello stabs himself, in Hamlet
where Ophelia is said to have "drowned" in
suspicious circumstances, in Macbeth when Lady
Macbeth dies, and finally in Antony and
Cleopatra where suicide occurs an astounding
five times (Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Charmian,
Iras and Eros).
In a Nutshell
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Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of 52. He wrote on
average 1 . 5 plays a year since he first started in 1589.
His last play The Two Noble Kinsmen is reckoned to have
been written in 1613 when he was 49 years old.
While he was writing the plays at such a pace he was
also conducting a family life, a social life and a full
business life, running an acting company and a theatre.
And he was practicing his profession as an actor he was
also writing poems.
If he wrote at night he was doing it in poor lighting and
using a quill and ink.
The Globe Theatre
Physical Aspects
The Globe had three levels open to the sky
and set on a large platform. The stage
jutted out into the audience on three sides.
 The building itself was octagon-shaped (8
sides). A cross section of the London
population attended.
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How Much Does it Cost?
For one cent, a theatre-goer could stand or
sit on the group and would be referred to
as a “groundling.”
 Two cents would buy a seat in the
galleries and elsewhere.
 The noblemen paid nothing, and were
seated in the lord’s rooms near the stage.
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http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-audience.htm
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Globe Audience Capacity - the Globe theatre could hold
1500 people in the audience and this number expanded to
3000 with the people who crowded outside the theatres
Royalty - Queen Elizabeth I loved watching plays but
these were generally performed in indoor playhouses for
her pleasure. She would not have attended the plays
performed at the amphitheatres such as the Globe
The Nobles - Upper Class Nobles would have paid for the
better seats in the Lord's rooms paying 5d for the
privilege
The Lower Classes, the Commoners, were called the
Groundlings or Stinkards, and would have stood in the
theatre pit and paid 1d entrance fee. They put 1 penny in
a box at the theatre entrance - hence the term 'Box Office'
When Are Plays Performed?
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Plays were always performed during the
day, as there were no lights.
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A flag was flown on top of the theatre on
days when a play would be given.
Setting/Staging
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The plays performed at the Globe Theatre had little or
no interruption. There were no curtains to signal the end
of an act, although there was a tiring house, a room
where actors could change costumes or stay out of view
when they were not on stage.
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The settings were given through action and dialogue.
The actors’ soliloquies made the audience feel
particularly involved, as the actors seemed to be talking
directly to the audience.
Actors’ entrances and exits were seen openly by the
audience through two doors on either side of the stage.
Who are the actors?
Senior actors got the major parts in plays.
The were experienced and often held
shares in the theatre company.
 Hired men, who were paid weekly and
held no shares, held backstage jobs and
played minor parts in the plays.
 Boy actors played the roles of women and
children.
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The Stage at the Globe
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Here's the stage.
The design for the stage is
based upon what scholars
know about staging in
Elizabethan plays.
There is the balcony, of
course, which occurs in so
many of Shakespeare's plays.
The painting on the underside
of the roof is called "the
heavens" and represents the
sky. There are three entrance
doors below and two above.
The stage sits up about 5 feet
off the ground
Side View of the Stage
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Here is the stage from the side.
It gives a great view of the
actors as well as the audience
and allows people to sit under
shelter which, considering if it
rains, is a good thing.
Sitting here also allows you to
watch the audience which is
interesting.
The Globe does one traditional
performance a season. This
means traditional everything
right down to having males
portray the female characters.
The seats on either side of the
stage on the second level are
where the Queen sat and are
considered the best seats in the
house (therefore the most
expensive).
The Gallery During Performance
Here you see the gallery as
it fills up for the
performance.
 The Globe can seat 1500
people. 1000 of these are in
the gallery seats and 500
can stand in the
groundlings section.
 The Globe is the first
building in London to be
built with a thatched roof
since the great fire of
London in the 1600s. The
thatch is sprayed with fire
retardant chemicals, as is
the wood in the theatre, but
otherwise is just as it would
have been in Shakespeare's
day.
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The Groundling Area
Special thanks goes to:
http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakesp
eare-facts.htm
 Novel Units, Inc. 1971. Student Packet William
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
 http://www.wfu.edu/~tedforrl/shakespeare/inpics.htm
 http://www.fotosearch.com/photosimages/shakespeare.html
 http://media.photobucket.com/image/shakespeare/little_
flowerfaerie/williamshakespeare.jpg?o=2
 http://download-freepictures.com/fiction/shakespeare.html
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