Introduction to

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Introduction to
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William Shakespeare

• Born April 23, 1564
• in the town of
• Stratford-on-Avon FAMILY
• Father was John
• Mother was Mary

glove maker, inherited shopkeeper, land
she landowner, left to bailiff(mayor) William
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Shakespeare Married Life

• Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27 or 28, 1582
• She was eight years older than William
• Note the date of their first child

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Shakespeares Personal Life

• CHILDREN -
• Susanna born May 26, 1583
• Twins- Hamlet Judith he died at the turn
  of the century

• SHAKESPEARES EDUCATION
• studied Latin Mythology
• reading, writing, speaking, as well
• attended school until he was 15

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Shakespeares Occupations
POET Romantic Poems Venus Adonis
Narrative Poems Rape of Lucrece Sonnets
14 line love poems Blank Verse used in
plays
ACTOR 20 years (1585- 1605) Kings Men
(Chamberlains Men) Producer Made most
PLAYWRIGHT 36 Plays Ideas from Seneca Plaits,
Ovid, Plutarch Lives, Holinsheds
Chronicles Italian Plays 13 comedies 13
histories 6 tragedies 4 tragicomedies
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Shakespeares Death

• Died April 23,1616
• William Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of
  the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford. A
  stone slab - a reproduction of the original,
  which it replaced in 1830 marks his grave

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Poets Corner

• It was not until l740 that a memorial statue to
  him was erected in Poets Corner in Westminster
  Abbey, London.
• Shortly after Shakespeares death there was much
  talk about removing his remains from Stratford to
  the Abbey but the idea was quickly abandoned.
  This idea gave rise to the poet Ben Jonsons
  lines
• " My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by
  Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie a little
  further on to make thee room ".

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Renaissance -(rebirth) late 1500s-early 1600s

• Queen Elizabeth I King James
  I
• (1558-1603) (1603-1625)
• Major Disasters PLAGUES 1592-1594 1613
• Theaters were closed!

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DRAMA

• An art form that tells a story through the SPEECH
  and ACTIONS of characters. Actors impersonate
  characters before an audience.
• DRAMA PLAY
• It is meant to be performed

Types of Drama Comedy, Tragedy Melodrama,
History, Farce
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HISTORY OF DRAMA

• Greece Fifth Century
• Rome Expanded the Greek drama by adding
  scenery and props
• Middle Ages (10th century) Mystery Plays
  scenes from Bible Miracle Plays
  scenes from lives of the saints Morality
  Plays scenes showing GOOD overpower evil
• Renaissance(15th-17th century)

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Shakespeares Works

• TWELFTH NIGHT, MACBETH, AS YOU LIKE IT, RJ,
  MERCHANT OF VENICE, HENRY V, HAMLET, JULIUS
  CAESAR, TAMING OF THE SHREW

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DIVISIONS OF A PLAY

• ACTS (5 in a Shakespearean play)
• SCENES
• LINES

Climax Act III
Falling Action Act IV
Rising Action Act II
Resolution Act V
Exposition Situation Act I
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Blank Verse unrhymed iambic pentameter
/
(

• IAMBIC unstressed syllable stressed
  syllable

PENTAMETER - FIVE feet per line
EXAMPLE
/
(
/
/
(
(
(
(
/
/
But soft
what light
through yon
der win
dow breaks
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HEROIC COUPLET

• two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter
• used to end a scene or to indicate change in
  subject matter

• EXAMPLE-

/
(
(
(
/
/
/
(
/
(
Hence will
I to
ly fath
my ghost
ers cell
/
(
/
(
(
/
/
(
/
(
His help
to crave
and my
to tell
dear hap
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SONNET

• fourteen lines of iambic pentameter a particular
  rhythm and rhyme often about love but not always
• RHYME SCHEME IS

E F E F
A B A B
quatrain
quatrain
C D C D
G G
couplet
quatrain
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The Theaters of Shakespeares Time
flag flew when plays were performed

• The Theatre
• The Swan
• The Globe
• The Blackfriars
• The Whitehall
• The Rose
• The Curtain
• The Fortune

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ACTORS (no actresses!!!)

• .FENCING - duels, battles, contests
• .TUMBLING - being able to disappear
• .DANCING
• .ELOCUTION - words were important
• .ACTING - playing many roles
• .MUSIC - singing, playing an instrument

LOTS OF ACTION
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The Globe

• The Globe in Shakespeares life
• The Globe today

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Global Theater
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The Globe Theater

• performed during afternoon
• no actresses
• shows lasted 2.5 hours
• no programs
• no acts but frequent intermissions
• no scenery

LOTS OF ACTIONS PUNS, ASIDES NOISE!!!
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Globe Interior View
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The Globe Theater
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THE STAGE
corridor
inner stage
actors room
dressing room
actors stairs
curtain
trap door
stairs
Front Stage
stairs
food drink
OPEN COURT
galleries
galleries
Penny Public stood here
Entrance for Audience
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The New Globe Layout
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Important Terms

• Monologue In drama, a long extended speech
  made by one character in the presence of other
  characters Example Act I, scene 4, lines
  58-100
• Pun A play on words. Puns involve words that
  sound the same but that have different
  meanings. Example Act III, scene 1, line 85

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• Allusion A reference to a person, place, or
  thing
• with which the reader is expected to be familiar
• Classical refers to something in mythology
• Biblical refers to something in THE BIBLE
• Aside In a play, a remark spoken by one
  character to another that other characters on
  stage are NOT supposed to hear. Sometimes an
  aside may be directed not to another character,
  but to the audience.

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• Soliloquy In drama, a speech in which a
  character utters thoughts aloud. Generally,
  the character is on stage alone, not speaking to
  other characters and perhaps not even
  consciously addressing the audience.
  (Members of the audience feel as though
  they are overhearing a character talking to
  himself or herself.
• EXAMPLE Act II.scene 5, lines 1-20
  Act II, scene 3 lines 1-30

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• Prose - the ordinary form of written or
  language without rhyme or meter. In
  Shakespeares drama, the servants speak in
  prose.
• Paradox - a statement that seems to
  contradict itself but is, nonetheless, true.
• In bed asleep while they do dream things true
• Juxtaposition- to place two seemingly different
  scenes next to each other
• Oxymoron- two words placed side by side that seem
  to be contradictory EXAMPLE jumbo shrimp

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Terms you already know

• Metaphor - a figure of speech in which one
  thing is spoken of as though it were something
  else
• Simile - a figure of speech which uses like or as
  to compare to unlike things.
• Personification - figurative language in which
  a nonhuman subject is given human
  characteristics.
• Foil - a character who is contrasted with another

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More Familiar Terms

• Dramatic Irony - there is a contradiction
  between what a character thinks and what the
  reader or audience knows to be to true.
• Apostrophe - a figure of speech in which the
  speaker directly addresses an absent person or a
  personified quality, object, or idea.