William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

• Widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in
  English Literature

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His Plays

• Comedies

• Tragedies

• Protagonists
• The main characters are usually a young couple(s)
  that must overcome an obstacle

• Protagonists
• The main character is an admirable hero, but he
  has one fatal flaw that will destroy him. In King
  Lear, for instance, the Kings flaw is arrogance.
  His ego actually topples his entire kingdom.

• Plot
• In the characters pursuit of love, they get
  mixed up in all sorts of complicated predicaments.

• Plot
• Tragedies often deal with revenge, murder, war,
  doomed love, and political conspiracies.

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His plays cont

• Comedies

• Tragedies

• Comedies treat heavy subjects lightly. The Bard
  (aka Shakespeare) used metaphors, insults, and
  puns to make the audience laugh and to make them
  think more deeply.

• The audience feels powerless because the tragedy
  is usually avoidable. For example, if only Romeo
  had received the Friars letter, he and Juliet
  could have lived happily ever after!

• Love Triangles
• A love triangle happens when two people have a
  crush on the same person. In A Midsummer Nights
  Dream, a love triangle starts a plot involving
  fairies, hasty getaways, magic, and a donkey
  seriously!

• Supernatural Beings
• Otherworldly creatures like witches and ghosts
  mean trouble. Hamlet, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar
  all have supernatural beings that spell
  catastrophe.

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His Plays Cont

• Comedies

• Tragedies

• Mistaken Identities
• Confusing one character for another leads to many
  mishaps. For example, in Shakespeares Twelfth
  Night, Viola pretends to be her twin brother in
  order to get a job. When her brother shows up,
  things get out of hand.

• Bad weather
• As a tragedy unfolds, society gets chaotic and
  so does the weather. Killer storms and creepy
  mists are a clue that something bad is happening.

Ending Most of the characters die. Including
the hero.
Ending A comedy always ends well, usually with a
marriage or two.
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The Play Plot
Act III Crisis or Turning Point
Act IV Falling Action
Act II Rising Action (complications)
Act V Climax and Resolution
Act I Exposition
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Act 1 - Exposition

• Establishes the setting, introduces some of the
  main characters, explains background, and sets up
  the characters main conflict.

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Act II - Rising Action

• Consists of a series of complications.

• These occur as the main characters take action to
  resolve their problems.

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Act III Turning Point

• The crisis, or turning point, is the moment in
  Act III when a choice is made by the main
  characters that determines the direction of the
  action upward to a happy ending in a comedy or
  downward to sadness in a tragedy.

• It can be the most dramatic and tense moment when
  the forces of conflict come together.

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Act IV Falling Action

• Presents events that result from the action taken
  at the turning point.

• In a Tragedy, these events push the characters
  deeper and deeper into disaster with each event
  we see the characters falling straight into
  tragedy.

• In a Comedy, things begin to clear up and a happy
  resolution is in sight.

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Act V Climax

• The final and greatest scene occurs at the end of
  the play in comedies a marriage will usually
  happen, while in tragedies the main characters
  usually die.

• The loose parts of the plots are all tied up.

• The play is over.

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Romeo and Juliet

• Written about 1595
• Considered a tragedy
• 17 movies, an opera, and a ballet have been
  created based on this play.

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Shakespeare

• Was born in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon on
  the date many believe is April 23, 1564.
• After Queen Elizabeth I died, the new King James
  I allowed Sh. his men to be called The Kings
  Men in return for entertaining the court.

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Shakespeare

• He died on April 23, 1616.

• His last direct descendant died in 1670.

• William Shakespeare is attributed with writing
  collaborating on 38 plays (of them 18 are
  comedies 10 are tragedies), 154 sonnets, 5
  poems between 1590 1613

• Two of his most famous plays were Romeo Juliet
  (based on the initial poem The Tragical Historye
  of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brook) and
  Hamlet.

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Stage Celebrity

• Actor for Lord Chamberlains Men (London theater
  co.)
• Also gt principal playwright for them
• 1599gt Lord Ch. Co. built Globe Theater where most
  of Sh. Plays were performed (Sh. Was 1/5 owner
  earned 10 of the total profit.

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The Theater

• Plays produced for the general public
• Rooflessgtopen air
• No artificial lighting
• Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries

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Spectators

• Wealthy got benches
• Groundlingsgtpoorer people stood and watched
  from the courtyard (pit)
• All but wealthy were uneducated/illiterate
• Wealthy women wore masks to disguise their
  identities
• Much more interaction than today

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Spectators

• Audience members behaved poorly in the theater.
• They laughed, flirted, and fidgeted.
• They gossiped to each other while waiting for the
  show to start.
• The audience didnt hesitate to show
  disappointment if they were not pleased with the
  performance.
• They would throw rotten fruit or say unkind words.

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Staging Areas

• Stagegtplatform that extended into the pit
• Dressing storage rooms in galleries behind
  above stage
• second-level gallerygt upper stagegt famous balcony
  scene in R J
• Trap doorgtghosts
• Heavensgt angelic beings

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Differences

• No scenery
• Settings gt references in dialogue
• Elaborate costumes
• Plenty of props
• Fast-paced, colorfulgt2 hours!

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Costumes

• Were very important to actors crucial to a
  performance because there were no scenery.
• More well-established actors/acing groups owned
  their own costumes that were appropriate for many
  roles.
• Audience could distinguish the more significant
  roles by what the actors wore.

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Costumes

• They used wigs, masks, different colored suits.
• They spent lots of money on costumes that was
  decorated with braid, embroidery, pearls, jewels,
  lace, artifical flowers.
• Props included flashing swords swirling banners.

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Actors

• Only men and boys
• Young boys whose voices had not changed play
  womens roles
• Would have been considered indecent for a woman
  to appear on stage

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Blank Verse

• Much of R J is written in it
• unrhymed verse
• iambic (unstressed, stressed)
• pentameter( 5 feet to a line)
• ends up to be 10 syllable lines

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Prose

• Ordinary writing that is not poetry, drama, or
  song
• Only characters in the lower social classes speak
  this way in Shakespeares plays
• Why do you suppose that is?

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Dramatic Foil

• A character whose purpose is to show off another
  character
• Benvolio for Tybalt
• look for others in R J

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Monologue

• One person speaking on stage gt may be other
  character on stage too
• ex gt the Prince of Verona commanding the
  Capulets and Montagues to cease feuding

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Soliloquy

• Long speech expressing the thoughts of a
  character alone on stage. In R J, Romeo gives
  a soliloquy after the servant has fled and Paris
  has died.

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Aside

• Words spoken, usually in an undertone not
  intended to be heard by all characters

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Pun

• Shakespeare loved to use them!!!
• Humorous use of a word with two meanings gt
  sometimes missed by the reader because of
  Elizabethan language and sexual innuendo

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Direct Address

• Words that tell the reader who is being
  addressed
• A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
• Ah, my mistresses, which of you all/ Will now
  deny to dance?

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Comic Relief

• Use of comedy within literature that is NOT
  comedy to provide relief from seriousness or
  sadness.
• In R J, look for moments of comic relief that
  help relieve the tragedy of the situation

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Dramatic Irony

• A contradiction between what a character thinks
  and what the reader/audience knows to be true

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Verbal Irony

• Words used to suggest the opposite of what is
  meant

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Situational Irony

• An event occurs that directly contradicts the
  expectations of the characters, the reader, or
  the audience

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The End