Transcript Well-known Facts about Will

William Shakespeare,
London, Queen Elizabeth,
&
Julius Caesar
What you need to know
about Shakespeare
Well-known Facts about Shakespeare
• Born April 1564;
died April 1616
(52 years old)
• Great writer of England
• Plays translated into all languages,
musicals, ballets
• Born Stratford-upon-Avon
• Well-to-do, affluent while alive
• Most quoted, other than the Bible
Lesser-known Facts about Will
• Teen father: married pregnant
26 year old Anne Hathaway
when he was 18
• Deadbeat dad: Left wife and
children for London stage
career
• Father of twins
• Elizabethan rapper: uses
rhythm and rhyme
• “Plagiarism” ?
Shakespeare’s Career
• At 28, he was an actor and playwright (1592)
• 1594 - charter member of Lord Chamberlain's
Men
• 1603- Changed to King’s Men
• Retired in 1612 at 48 years of age
• Wrote 37 plays
• Julius Caesar written in 1599
What you need to know
about the Theatre
Theater in London
• Performed in courtyards of inns
• The Theater-first public theater1576
• Daytime/open air
• Limited set design
• Relied on music, sound,
costumes, props and great
description
The Globe
• Built in 1599
• Across the Thames- “Wrong side of town”
• King’s Players - Shakespeare’s company
Admission
•
•
•
•
1 shilling to stand
2 shillings to sit in the balcony
1 shilling was 10% of their weekly income
Broadway Today:
– $85 Orchestra
– $60 Balcony
– 10% of a teacher’s weekly salary
Actors
• All men
• Female parts played
by young boys
• No actual kissing or
hugging on stage
The Groundling
• Poor audience member;
sat in the cheaper seats
• Stood around stage in
“the pit”
• Women not allowed (had
to dress up as men to
attend)
• Threw rotten vegetables
at bad performances
The Competition: What’s there to
do on a Friday Night?!
Shakespeare fought to steal
audiences from…
– Bear-baiting
– Races
– Gambling
– Music
– Drinking/socializing
– Prostitution
– Public executions
What you need to know
about Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth
• Bastard daughter of King
Henry VIII
• And Ann Boleyn (2nd of 6
wives)
• Henry had Ann beheaded
for “treason”
• Younger sister of “Bloody
Mary.”
• “Virgin Queen”?
• A tease and a player
Her “loving” parents
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What you need to know
about London & the
Time Period
The Renaissance
• 1500-1650
• “Rebirth” of arts, culture,
science
• Discovery of “New
World”
• King Henry VIII =
renaissance man (ideal)
• Reformation of Catholic
Church
Conditions in London-BAD!
• Thames River
polluted with raw
sewage
• Poverty
Personal hygiene/health
•
•
•
•
•
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Bathing considered dangerous
Body odor strong
Childhood diseases
Children often died before 5 years
Small Pox
Plague
Living Conditions
• No running
water
• Chamber Pots
• Open Sewers
• Crowded
Clothes
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• One set used all year
long, rarely washed
• Underclothing slept in,
infrequently changed
• Clothes handed down
from rich to poor
What you need to know
about Elizabethan Beliefs
Elizabethan Beliefs
Life in Elizabethan England
could be cruel and hard. The
poor often went hungry,
disease was widespread,
medical remedies often felt
more like tortures, and many
women died in childbirth. But
through their beliefs, people
found ways of making sense of
their existence.
Elizabethan Beliefs
• People were, in general, much
more religious than people today.
• Almost everyone believed in
God and expected to go to
heaven or hell after death.
Elizabethan Beliefs
The Chain of Being
 God created everything in a strict hierarchy, or
chain, that stretched from God himself down to the
lowest things in existence.
 The monarch was the highest
 Nobles and churchmen below
 Gentlemen
 Commoners
 All women were considered to be inferior to men,
with the obvious exception of Elizabeth I.
Elizabethan Beliefs
Accepting one’s place in
the chain was a duty that
would be rewarded by
God in heaven.
Elizabethan Beliefs
Myths and Magic


Fairies, magic, witches, spells and
prophecies all formed part of their view of
life.
Folklore and superstition were often as
important to people as the official religious
beliefs taught by the Church.
What you need to know
about Julius Caesar
Background of Caesar
Opens in 44 BC – when Rome had
made conquests that allowed it to have
an empire in N. Africa, Britain, Persia,
and Spain.
Background of Caesar
City itself collapsing despite conquests
Military endeavours more ambitious
 generals stronger while senators
weaker and factionalized
Sharp class divisions
Most wanted a republic
Background of Caesar
Caesar emerged as most likely to
succeed
Remarkable general
Popular among lower classes at home
Background of Caesar
Caesar was believed to have and
proved he had
Ability
Charisma
Ambition
Good luck
Differing views
–
Assassination as act of heroism,
expediency, or villainy –
celebrate, excuse, or denounce
its perpetrators?
• Shakespeare saw Caesar and Roman
civilization not just as one that
precedes the future, but as one that
sets the pattern for future
civilizations.
• Shakespeare's England faced
concerns of a country about to
change leadership and centuries.
What Kind of Play is Julius Caesar?
Julius Caesar is both a
History and a Tragedy


Ends in the death of
one or more of the
main characters.
Involved historical
individuals and events
Tragic Hero
• Often a man of high rank, such as a king or
prince
• Creates, or is put into, a difficult situation
which he must try to resolve.
• A combination of bad luck and bad
decisions lead to his death.
• Has a tragic flaw (most commonly hubris)
• Often a relatively sympathetic figure. His
soliloquies show his feelings and motives,
and show the audience how easy it would be
to make similar mistakes.
Doom and Destiny
• Many people believed in fate, or destiny, and
in the power of the stars to foretell the future.
• Shakespeare uses the idea of fate or destiny to
add excitement and anticipation to the
tragedies
 Uses a prophecy as a way of holding the
audience’s interest, because everyone wants
to see if it will be fulfilled.
The Roman Tragedies

Two Themes
• Politics and Power – shows how hard it is to be a
political leader. The hero has power, but has a weakness
which makes him vulnerable to being attacked or
overthrown
• Love
and Duty – people often have to make
difficult choices between their emotions and their
responsibilities
Key Themes
Honor
Ambition
Envy
Power
Look for Rhetoric
• “The art or study of using language
effectively and persuasively”
• Make sure to look for persuasion and
the use of language throughout the play
(note the characters techniques to win
public and political support)
Language of Shakespeare
• Early Modern
English (NOT
Middle English, like
Chaucer)
• Lack of standardized
spelling
• Puns and references
to current events of
his time make it
difficult
• You know more than
you think you do!
• Poetry of the sonnets
and plays:
• Iambic Pentameter (lines
of five metrical feet, each
one an iamb)
• Not perfect, or it would
be sing-songy
• Blank Verse (unrhymed
Iambic Pentameter)
• Lower Classes’ speech,
or that of characters in
emotional extremis, is in
prose