Transcript An Introduction to Shakespeare

Meet The Bard and Understand his Time Period
The Elizabethan Era
 London a very busy, walled city
 A time of internal peace in the country
 Exploration of the world was growing
 The New World
 Gold, spices, and other resources
 Trade
 Piracy
 Re-birth of arts and sciences
 Poetry and literature
 Theatre very popular
 Bear baiting also popular
 Plagues 1592-1594 and 1613, closed the theatres
Elizabethan Fashion
"She must be stifling in that thing"
Fit on your farthingales!
Smooth your stomachers!
Don your Doublet
Tighten your trussing!
Get on your galligaskins!
Remember your ruffs!
Slip on your shoes!
And grab your gloves!
Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen
• Daughter of Henry VIII
• reigned from 1558 to 1603
• never married
• liberal minded
• enjoyed theatre
• wrote plays for special performances
• sponsored explorers, like Sir Frances
Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh
• was a very strong and positive ruler
James VI & I
• son of Mary Queen of Scots (who Elizabeth had
executed for attempting to overthrow her)
• Was king of Scotland at 1 year old (James VI of
Scotland)
• was named king of England after Elizabeth’s
death (James I of England)
• first king of both Scotland and England
• Wrote poems and plays
• Wrote Daemonology and The Trew Law of Free
Monarchies
• Was a frequent theatre goer
• Had a huge impact on Shakespeare’s Macbeth
• A romantic
• sailed from Leith with a three-hundredstrong retinue to fetch Anne of Denmark
personally
William Shakespeare: The Man
 Born April 23rd , 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon
 Family was wealthy
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Probably attended free grammar school until 15
 Married Anne Hathaway November 27th, 1582
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She was 8 years older than him!
They had 3 children
 Susanna, & twins Hamnet and Judith
 Died on his 52nd birthday in Stratford-on-Avon
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Prize if you can tell me what year that was!
Stratford-on-Avon
William and Anne’s House in Stratford
Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried
Shakespeare: The Poet
 He first gained fame as a poet
 Probably wrote many of his poems during the London
plague when the theatres were closed
 Wrote long romantic narrative poems and Sonnets
 Shakespearian Sonnets are named after him because
he created that style (form) of Sonnet
 Dedicated many of his poems to the Earl of
Southampton – he was Shakespeare’s patron
Shakespeare: The Actor
 From 1585 to 1605 he was an actor in London
 Member of the acting company the Lord Chamberlain’s Men
(which became the King’s Men when James became king)
 During the plagues this company travelled around the country
and in Europe to perform
 Made most of his money as an actor and a producer, not a
playwright
 As an actor he had to be an expert in
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Fencing
Tumbling
Dancing
Elocution
Acting
Music
Shakespeare: The Playwright
 Wrote about 36 plays
 Number is not clear because they were not published until after his
death and “bootlegged” version appeared in various theatres
Shakespeare was not associated with
 Probably wrote in taverns, to save on the cost of candles
 Which gave him rousing inspiration in the form of the people who
frequented taverns
 Genius:
 Understood people
 Skilled with words
 Used classical works as his inspiration, but made it personal and
local
 Sense of drama
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Approached writing from an actor’s point of view
He knew what would please his audiences
His Contribution to English
 He invented 32,000 words.
 We use about 5,000 today.
 He invented phrases:
 I couldn’t sleep a wink.
 He was dead as a doornail.
 She’s a tower of strength.
 They hoodwinked us.
 I’m green-eyed with jealousy.
 We’d better lie low for awhile.
 Keep a civil tongue in your head.
 Leapfrog is an example of a compound word invented by
Shakespeare.
The Stage
• No curtain
• Afternoon performances
to use natural lighting
• End of scenes were
indicated by rhyming
couplets or a change of
actors
• No scenery: actors relied
on costumes and elaborate
props
• Used trap doors,
scaffolding, etc as special
effects
• Most of the audience paid
a penny to stand in the
courtyard
• “The Gentry” sat in the
galleries (more expensive)
• Food and drink sold
The Globe Theatre
The Globe Theater 1599
Burned in 1613
The New Globe Theater 1999
Terms
 Aside:
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a speech made by a character revealing his/her true thoughts or intentions
spoken in the presence of other characters, but directed to the audience (the other
characters can’t hear it)
 Blank Verse:
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5 feet to a line (each beat consists of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented
one
also called Iambic Pentameter
 Dramatis Personae:
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cast of characters in the play
 Exeunt:
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a stage direction that means “they go out”
several characters leave the stage
 Pun:
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a play on words of similar sound, in which one word is used with 2 or more different
meanings
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What do you do when your wheels wear out? Retire.
What did the boss say when he sold the carnival? It was a fair deal.
 Soliloquy:
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a speech made by a character alone on stage which reveals his/her innermost thoughts