Shakespeares Life 1564-1616

The man behind the legend

ENGLAND

London

Boyhood in StratfordUpon-Avon

Born April 23, 1564 in StratfordUpon-Avon Parents John and Mary Arden Shakespeare Seven brothers and sisters Grammar School from age 7 to 13

Stratford-Upon-Avon

William Shakespeares Home

Marriage and Life in London

1582 at age 18 married Anne Hathaway 1583-1592 ??? 1592 (28 years old) went to London
actor

and playwright first accused of borrowing from other playwrights

1592-1594 Plague

Shakespeare Prospers

1598 built Globe Theatre

Owned

shares in it

Father granted a coat-of-arms

Gentlemen

Recognized as a genius in his own time

Honored as Actor and Playwright

Queen Elizabeth dies in 1603 King James I takes the throne

Shakespeares

Theatre company becomes the Kings Company

Member of famous writers group (Mermaid Tavern)

Death and Burial at Stratford

1610 retired from theatre

1613

Globe theatre burns down

lost

much money but still wealthy helps rebuild Globe theatre

Dies

on April 23, 1616 at age 52

Shakespeares Grave

Did Shakespeare really write his plays?

Many believe it is impossible for Shakespeare to have written his plays

Lacks

heights and depths of passion could not learn aristocratic sports and manners lacked schooling

Secrets of the Sonnets

154 Sonnets, 60 songs Love, broken trust of friend, loss of love, forgiveness friend, dark lady, rival poet

Shakespeares Four Periods

First Period- Apprenticeship (Age 26-30) Second Period- Mastered his art!
Favorite

Romantic Comedy

Third Period- Problem of Evil in the World Forth Period- Creates a new drama form
Tragicomedy

or the dramatic romance

Shakespeare as an Elizabethan

Queen Elizabeth reigned (1558-1603) Emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance Age was extravagant and brutal
elaborate,

ornate clothing, language and

manners language was growing fast middle class (stern, moral, and independent)

Elizabeth I Symbolizes the Age

Queen Elizabeth Glory of England

To

people, she represented beauty and greatness one of the most powerful countries in the world

Queen Elizabeth 1558-1603

Drama in the Elizabethan Age

After defeating the Spanish Armada, England became intensely interested in the past. (Patriotic) Historical plays thrived. Playwrights were practical men, bent on making a living Plays were written to be acted, not read. Once a playwright sold his manuscript, he had no personal right to it.

Shakespeares Plots and Characters

First reading =quick Second reading=more leisurely Plots=romantic, poetic, farfetched, imaginative, supernatural Characters=realistic, alive, three dimensional, powerful and eternally true

The Elizabethian Theater

Round, wooden, roofless building Three galleries of seats Pit (no seats) cost a penny groundlings Main stage
40

feet wide 27 feet projection into the pit

Recessed inner stage (curtains and balcony) Music Room Heaven and a Hell

The Stage Influences on Shakespeares Methods

Open, free stage=quick changes, rapid action Encourages speechmaking, passionate soliloquies No women actors Only day time light= speeches about time, season and weather
(Macbeth=40

such speeches

Closeness of different classes

Shakespeare as a Dramatist

Objective of Plays= give pleasure Fanciful, imaginative plays Audience= everyday people, uneducated, wanted to escape Wrote in verse=free use of words

His Poetic Greatness

Most quoted writer in the world diversity of speech from common men to philosophers Examples of his Poetry

Critics Rank the Plays

Tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello Comedies- The Tempest, As You Like It, The Winters Tale, The Merchants of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Nights Dream Histories- Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, Richard III, Henry VIII

Test of Greatness

A great play is one that affects the audience deeply.

Reasons for his Popularity

The Great Shakespeare Collections

Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, California British Museum in London,England Bodleian Library in Oxford, England

To be or not to be?

Whats the question

To be or not to be? That is the question!

Wait a second!!!

To my own self be true

Then thou canst not be false to any man Be quiet Will! Whats going on

And it must follow as the night and the day.

Web cites for pictures and additional information on William Shakespeare

http://daphe.palomar.edu/ shakespeare/timeline/genealogy. htm http://www.shakespeare.com/link. Htm www.stratford.co.uk/birthplace/ www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/DataBase/Images/NewGlobe.htm www.legends.dm.net/shakespeare/macb eth.htm/ www.britishliterature.com

Tragedy

A serious play or drama typically dealing with the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy or disastrous ending brought on, as in ancient drama, by a fate and a tragic flaw in this character, or in modern drama, usually by moral weakness, psychological maladjustment or social pressures.

Tragic Hero

A person of high rank who is brought to eventual ruin by a flaw in his/her character.
Example:

Macbeths tragic flaw is his ambition which leads him into a series of bloody and increasingly indefensible acts.

Comedy

A drama or narrative with a happy ending or non-tragic theme.

Comedy

of manners- depicts and satirizes the manners and customs of fashionable society. High comedy- appeals to and reflects the life and problems of the upper social classes, characterized by a witty, sardonic treatment. Low comedy- farce, slap stick,burlesque, horse play

Catharsis

The purging or purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tension, especially by art. (This concept was applied originally by Aristotle to the effects of tragic drama on the audience.)

Conflict

The struggle or interplay of forces, that takes place within the story. The main character may be in conflict with another person, value system, fate or with nature.

Plot

The sequence of events that create and then resolve a conflict.

Climax (peak tension) or Crisis (dramatic turning point) Falling action

Plot movement:

Rising action

(fall of tragic hero)

Resolution or Denouncement Beginning of story

(Point at which conflict ends and outcome is made clear)

THE END