Shakespearean

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Shakespearean English Renaissance History
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Exploration Colonisation

• The reign of Elizabeth was a great age of English
  exploration and expansion led eventually to the
  foundation of the British Empire in the C17th
  C18th but brought England into conflict with
  Spain.

• The later years of Elizabeth's reign also saw a
  long and expensive war in Ireland.

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English Renaissance History

• Dates approximately 1500-1650
• Renaissance literally means rebirth. This term
  was chosen because the Renaissance was a time
  when classic literature, art, music, and
  philosophy were being reborn.

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History of the Printing Press

• During the 15th century, books were relatively
  scarce and had to be copied by hand
• Between 1440-1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed
  the printing press
• Within 20 years, the printing press had
  revolutionized information dissemination, fueling
  the start of the English Renaissance

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Religion

• As a result of growing intellectual curiosity,
  humans began to question the rules and tenets of
  the Catholic Church
• On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95
  Theses to the door of the Castle Church, sparking
  the Protestant Reformation
• Soon after, the Catholic Church launched a
  Counter-Reformation, filled with heavy propaganda
• Elizabeth I promoted tolerance to all religions,
  although the Anglican Church was the official
  Church of England

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Humanism

• The central tenet of humanism was that learning
  would make humans more just
• Humanism emphasized the power of the individual
  to influence both himself and those around him
• Famous humanists Sir Thomas More, Erasmus

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Shakespeare His Life and Times
Adapted from http//www.public.asu.edu/muckerrm/E
nglish_321_S2005/Introduction.ppt
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Shakespeares Language

• Shakespeare did NOT write in Old English.
• Old English is the language of Beowulf
• Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum
• Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunon
• Hu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!
• (Hey! We have heard of the glory of the
  Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes,
  how noble princes showed great courage!)

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Shakespeares Language

• Shakespeare did not write in Middle English.
• Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the
  Gawain-poet, and Malory
• Whan that aprill with his shoures sooteThe
  droghte of march hath perced to the roote,And
  bathed every veyne in swich licourOf which vertu
  engendred is the flour
• When April with his showers sweet with fruitThe
  drought of March has pierced unto the rootAnd
  bathed each vein with liquor that has powerTo
  generate therein and sire the flower

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Shakespeares Language

• Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English.
• EME was not very different from Modern
  English,

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Shakespeares Language

• A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest peasant and the
  highest noble

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Early Life

• Born 1564died 1616
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Parents John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
• Marydaughter of wealthy landowner
• Johnglovemaker, local politician

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Location of Stratford-upon-Avon
From http//www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps
.html
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Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeares Time
As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the
Boy (1896).
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Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From Stratfords web site http//www.stratford-up
on-avon.co.uk/index.htm
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Shakespeares Birthplace
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
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Education

• Probably attended Kings New School in Stratford
• Educated in
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• History
• Latin

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Kings New School
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
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Married Life

• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was
  pregnant at the time with their first daughter
• Had twins in 1585
• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved to London
  and began working in theatre.

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Anne Hathaways Cottage
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
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Theatre Career

• Member and later part-owner of the Lord
  Chamberlains Men, later called the Kings Men
• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with
  Shakespeare as primary investor
• Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeares
  plays

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The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
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The Globe Theater
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The Globe
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The Plays

• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
• 14 comedies
• 10 histories
• 10 tragedies
• 4 romances
• Possibly wrote three others
• Collaborated on several others

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The Poetry

• 154 Sonnets
• Numerous other poems

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Elizabethan Theatrical Conventions
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Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre

• A theatrical convention is a
• suspension of reality.
• No electricity
• Women forbidden
• to act on stage
• Minimal, contemporary
• costumes
• Minimal scenery

These control the dialogue.
Audience members must have a willing suspension
of disbelief.
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Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre

• Soliloquy
• Aside

Types of speech
Audience loves to be scared.

• Blood
• Use of supernatural

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Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre

• Use of disguises/
• mistaken identity

• Last speakerhighest in
• rank (in tragedies)

• Multiple murders
• (in tragedies)

• Multiple marriages
• (in comedies)

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Background to Elizabethan Drama

• Links back to medieval miracle and morality
  plays linked to church
• Early 16th century the relationship between state
  and church changed different sects had varying
  views, theatre was supported by the court
• Contemporaries included Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nashe
  and Christopher Marlowe importance of Dr
  Faustus

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Aristotle and his Principles of Tragedy The
Poetics

• Tragedy is a representation of an action, which
  is serious, complete in itself and of a certain
  length
• Acted and not narrated
• Excites pity or fear and allows catharsis - a
  healthy release for such emotions
• Tragic heroes are virtuous and good men whose
  misfortune is a tragic flaw in character and not
  a vice
• Tragic plot is from happiness to misery fall
  from a great height

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Chaucer on tragedy

• Tragedie is to seyn a certeyn stories, As
  olde bookes maken us memorie, Of hym that
  stood in greet prosperitee, And is yfallen
  out of heigh degree Into myserie, and endeth
  wrecchedly GEOFFREY CHAUCER, The Monk's Tale
  (late 14th century)

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Tragedy

• Injustice of life trials and death of a hero
  who was an important person (courtly). Their
  death leads to the downfall of others
• Hero falls due to weakness in character fatal
  flaw
• Revenge Tragedy
• Melancholy hero is called upon to punish an
  evildoer for a crime that has been committed
• Ghost cannot rest until avenged (traditional
  figure)
• Private revenge for family honour
• Ends with death

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Elizabethan Theatre

• Drama became secularised
• First theatre was built in 1576 similar in
  design to an Elizabethan courtyard
• Audience consisted of a range of social classes
  defined by positioning in theatre
• No curtain or scenery indication of where scene
  occurred was built into the words of the play
• Women did not perform on the stage
• Shakespeares plays were not original plots
  borrowed from contemporaries and histories

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Staging

• Awning above stage was called the heavens
  painted with zodiac symbols and stars
• Area below the stage was hell
• Middle area was the world of the living
• Created a metaphorical universe good characters
  enter from or into heaven, bad characters enter
  from or exit into hell
• Scenery was symbolic and not realistic
• Performances were in daylight always!

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Sketch of the Swan Theatre c. 1596
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The Globe
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Vocabulary Review Create a Crossword Puzzle

• RULES
• Use all 10 words
• Provide hints (but NOT definitions)
• Provide a blank puzzle AND an answer key

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Hamlet
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The Story

• A revenge tragedy
• Hamlet is the story of a Danish prince whose
  uncle murders the prince's father, marries his
  mother, and claims the throne. The prince
  pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle
  off guard, then manages to kill his uncle in
  revenge.

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• Traditionally, Shakespeare himself is said to
  have played the Ghost in the original production!
  

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Whos Who

• Hamlet - Prince of Denmark. A student at the
  University of Wittenberg, Hamlet returns to
  Denmark on his father's death. He is unhappy
  because his mother has remarried quickly to his
  uncle, Claudius
• Ghost - The ghost of the old king Hamlet. He
  returns from Purgatory to tell his son he has
  been murdered and asks him to revenge his death.

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Whos Who

• Claudius - King of Denmark, the late king's
  brother and Hamlet's uncle. Soon after the old
  king's death, Claudius marries his sister-in-law
  Queen Gertrude.
• Gertrude - Hamlet's mother, the old king's widow,
  now married to Claudius.

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Whos Who

• Polonius The Lord Chamberlain, Claudius's chief
  counsellor. He is the father of Laertes and
  Ophelia.
• Ophelia - Polonius's daughter, in love with
  Hamlet.
• Laertes - Polonius's son who goes to France with
  permission from Claudius and his father

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Whos Who

• Voltimand -A courtier, sent as ambassador to
  Norway.
• Osric - A courtier.
• Francisco, Barnardo Marcellus officers of the
  watch

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Whos Who

• Horatio -A scholar and friend of Hamlets from
  the University of Wittenberg.
• Rosencrantz and Guildernstern - Old friends of
  Hamlet paid by the new king, Claudius, to spy on
  the prince.

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Whos Who

• Player King, queen other actors in the company
  - Who agrees to perform a play Hamlet calls The
  Mousetrap Player Queen
• First gravedigger - The man who digs Ophelia's
  grave Second gravediggerThe gravedigger's
  assistant
• PriestThe priest at Ophelia's funeral

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Whos Who

• Fortinbras - Prince of Norway, whose father was
  killed in single combat by old King Hamlet.
  Fortinbras wants to regain the lands Norway lost
  to Denmark when his father died.
• Norwegian Soldiers

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(No Transcript)
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All the world 's a stage, And all the men and
women merely players. So.. Lets dramatize
Shakespeare!!!