Shakespeare and His Times

1
Shakespeare and His Times
2
His Birth

• Shakespeare was born in 1564 in
  Stratford-on-Avon, 80 miles from London.
• We know this from the earliest record his
  baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the
  26th, 1564.

3
His Parents and Siblings

• He was the third (of 8) children of John and Mary
  Shakespeare
• Seven siblings, but he was the oldest surviving
  child.
• He attended grammar school, where he studied
  Latin.

4
His Family

• On November 28, 1582, when he was 18, he married
  Anne Hathaway (who was 26!)
• Only 6 months later, (oops!) they had his first
  daughter Susanna.
• In 1585, twins Hamnet (sounds like?) and Judith
  (sounds like?) were born.
• From 1585 1592, little is known about him.
  These are known as THE LOST YEARS!

5
Rise to Fame

• By 1592, he had become well-known in London
  Theatrical circles, foremost as an actor, but
  also a playwright.

6
The Globe Theater

• He joined Lord Chamberlains Men, a Repertory
  Company, in 1594.
• From time to time plagues closed the theater, so
  he used that time to write plays and poetry.
• In 1599, they built the Globe Theater.

7
The Kings Men for James I

• In 1603, Queen Elizabeth died. She had been the
  monarch of his childhood!
• The Company became The Kings Men to honor the
  new monarch, King James I

8
The Globe Theater

• Constructed in 1599, it was three-stories high
  and had no roof.
• It could together hold more than 1,500 people.
• In 1613, during a performance of Henry VIII, a
  misfired canon ball set the Globe's thatched roof
  on fire and the whole theatre burned down!

9
LOOK AT YOUR HANDOUT
Flag type of play The Heavens ceiling over
stage Tiring Rooms dressing storage Upper
Stage bedroom balcony Galleries covered
seating sections Main Stage main action Inner
Stage curtained off area The Pit open yard
standing area Support Pillars looked like
marble actors often hid behind to give
asides to audience. Trap Door ghosts or
witches could rise or descend (hell) Entrance
Gatherers stood to collect a penny for the
box. Brick Foundation was built on marshy
land by the Thames River.
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The Globe Theater Today
11

• 1 Penny roughly 10 of a workers daily wage
• (2 Pennies and 3 Penny seats)
• The PIT was the cheapest.
• It was here the GROUNDLINGS sat (stood).
• It had no roof and no artificial lighting, so
  plays typically occurred in the early afternoon,
  lasting from 2 pm until roughly 4 or 5 pm.

12
The Globe Theater

• The stage projected toward the audience and the
  audience could see all sides! Dead bodies had to
  be carried off!
• All roles had to be played by men and boys!
• The first play we know of that was performed at
  Shakespeare's famous playhouse was Julius Caesar
  in 1599.

13
Shakespeares Nickname?

• THE BARD
• Shakespeares nickname was The Bard and he is
  most well-known for writing plays and sonnets.

14
His Works

• It is estimated that roughly fifteen of his 37
  plays would have been written and performed by
  1597.
• He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets

15
His Death

• William Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616, at
  his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. It is often
  said that he died on his birthday, but there is
  no official record of his birth and the exact
  date of his birth is not known. There is a
  record of his baptism on 26th April 1564 and it
  was customary for a baptism to take place a few
  days after birth.
• Born 1554
• Died 1616
• Age? 52

16
Shakespeares Sonnet

• Wrote 154 Sonnets.
• 14 lines
• Iambic pentameter
• Set rhyme scheme
• Abab, cdcd, efef, gg

17
Sonnet 73

• When ye-llow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
  Up-on those boughs which shake a-gainst the
  cold, Bare ru-in'd choirs, where late the sweet
  birds sang. In me thou seest the twi-light of
  such day As af-ter sun-set fa-deth in the west,
  Which by and by black night doth take away,
• (read the rest emphasizing the
  correct syllables on your own)
• Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
  In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire That
  on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the
  death-bed whereon it must expire Consumed with
  that which it was nourish'd by.This thou
  perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,To
  love that well which thou must leave ere long.

18
Sonnet 18

• Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art
  more lovely and more temperateRough winds do
  shake the darling buds of May, And summer's
  lease hath all too short a dateSometime too hot
  the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold
  complexion dimm'd And every fair from fair
  sometime declines, By chance, or nature's
  changing course un- trimm'dBut thy eternal
  summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of
  that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou
  wander'st in hisshade,When in eternal lines to
  time thou grow'st So long as men can breathe,
  or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this
  gives life to thee.

19
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM

• Written in the mid-1590s (shortly before Romeo
  and Juliet) A Midsummer Nights Dream is one of
  his strangest and most delightful creations.

20
Sources of characters

• THESEUS
• Is based on the Greek Hero of the same name and
  the play is peppered with references to Greek
  gods and goddesses

21
Character Sources

• PUCK
• Is based on English Country Fairy Lore Puck (or
  Robin Goodfellow), was a popular figure in 16th
  century stories)

22
Titania and Oberon

• Titania comes from Ovids Metamorphoses
• Oberon may have been taken from the mideval
  romance of Huan of Bordeaux.

• In Shakespeares London, men played the roles of
  women
• But the story itself is an original straight
  from Shakespeares imagination.

23
A Midsummer Nights Dream is (mostly) Written
inBlank Verse of Iambic Pentameter

• Blank verse is unrhymed lines of iambic
  pentameter
• Iambic pentameter is a fixed pattern of rhythm in
  which most lines contain 5 unstressed syllables
  each followed by a stressed syllable
• Ay me! For aught that I could ever read,
• Could ever hear by tale or history,
• The course of true love never did run smooth
• But either it was different in blood.

24
Terminology

• Soliloquy Aside

25
Dramatic IronyA contrast between appearance and
reality

• In Dramatic Irony, the audience knows something
  that one or more characters do not know.
• Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
• All the power this charm doth owe.