Transcript A Crash Course on Shakespeare:

A Crash Course on Shakespeare:
His Life, His Times, His Theater
Shakespeare’s World: The
Elizabethan Age
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1558-1603
Poet
Musician
Linguist
Patron of the Arts
Invited artists to palace
to entertain her court,
including William
Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s World: The
Renaissance 14th-17th century
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French for “Rebirth”
Rebirth of art, music,
science
Began in Italy and
spread throughout
Europe
Break away from
Roman Catholic Church
Famous Renaissance Artists
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Michelangelo
Leonardo da Vinci
Donatello
…and all the other
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles (j/k)
Famous Renaissance Musicians
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Music of Shakespeare =
Baroque
Vivaldi (Italy)
Bach (Germany)
Handel (Germany)
The Other Monarchs
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King James I: 1603-1625
Tragedies increasingly
popular; was drama hungry
king
1625 – James I dies
Charles I ascends throne –
not interested in drama
Lets Puritans and Parliament
influence him to close
theaters in 1642
His Life: Birth
Born April 23, 1564
 Born in Stratfordupon-Avon, England
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His Life: Family
Dad = John, a
glovemaker and local
politician
 Mom = Mary,
daughter of wealthy
landowner
 Had 7 brothers and
sisters
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His Life: Schooling
Thought to have
attended Stratford
Grammar School
 Left school at 15
 No formal education
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His Life: Marriage
Married Anne
Hathaway in 1582
 He was 18, she was
26
 Had one daughter
and twins
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His Life: The “Lost” Years
1585-1592
 Undocumented
period of
Shakespeare’s life
 Theories:
Shakespeare could
have been tutor or
joined traveling
acting companies
during this time
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His Life: London
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1592 = 1st mention of Shakespeare in London
Competition = Marlowe, Peele, Nashe
Performs early plays at Rose Theatre
Theatre closes due to plague, so he starts to write
poetry
Patron = Earl of Southampton
Writes “Venus and Adonis” and “Rape of Lucrece”
His Life: The Globe
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1599: Globe opens
Opens under the reign
of Queen Elizabeth I
Burns down in 1613
but rebuilt in 1614
Closes in 1642 under
King Charles I.
Reconstruction of
Globe built in 1997.
His Life: Retirement and Death
Returns to Stratford in
1616
 Dies April 23, 1616
(Birthday?)
 Buried at Holy Trinity
Church
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His Life: His Legacy
Collection of his
works published in
what is known as First
Folio
 Published in 1623
 Has 36 of 38 plays
 Includes comedies,
histories, and
tragedies
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His Legacy (cont)
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plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
 14 comedies – ends in marriage
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Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth
Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing…
 10
histories – Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV…
 10 tragedies – ends in death
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Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello…
romances – Pericles, Cymbeline, Winter’s Tale,
Tempest
His Legacy - Today
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Shakespeare coined over 1600 words still used today
including countless, critical, excellent, lonely, majestic,
obscene and its.
Names coined by Shakespeare:
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Imogen in the play Cymbaline,
Jessica in the play The Merchant of Venice
Miranda in the play The Tempest
Olivia in the play Twelfth Night
Cordelia in the play King Lear
And finally…
“If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek
to me", if your lost property has vanished into thin air, if you
have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from greeneyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you
have been tongue-tied, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you
have knitted your brows, insisted on fair play, slept not
one wink, laughed yourself into stitches, if you have too
much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or if
you think it is high time and that that is the long and short
of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will
out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie
low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if
you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop)
without rhyme or reason - it is all one to me, for you are
quoting Shakespeare!”