Title: Shakespeare: His Life and Times
1Shakespeare His Life and Times
Adapted from http//www.public.asu.edu/muckerrm/E
nglish_321_S2005/Introduction.ppt
2Early Life
- Born 1564died 1616
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Parents John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
- Marydaughter of wealthy landowner
- Johnglovemaker, local politician
3Location of Stratford-upon-Avon
From http//www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps
.html
4Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeares Time
As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the
Boy (1896).
5Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From Stratfords web site http//www.stratford-up
on-avon.co.uk/index.htm
6Shakespeares Birthplace
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
7Education
- Probably attended Kings New School in Stratford
- Educated in
- Rhetoric
- Logic
- History
- Latin
8Kings New School
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
9Married 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.
10Anne Hathaways Cottage
From http//perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
11Theatre 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
12The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
13The Globe Theater
14The Plays
- 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
- 14 comedies
- 10 histories
- 10 tragedies
- 4 romances
- Possibly wrote three others
- Collaborated on several others
15The Poetry
- 154 Sonnets
- Numerous other poems
16Shakespeares 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!)
17Shakespeares Language
- Shakespeare did not write in Middle English.
- Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the
Gawain-poet, and Malory - We redeth oft and findeth y-write
- And this clerkes wele it wite
- Layes that ben in harping
- Ben y-founde of ferli thing (Sir Orfeo)
18Shakespeares Language
- Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English.
- EME was not very different from Modern
English,
19Shakespeares Language
- A mix of old and very new
- Rural and urban words/images
- Understandable by the lowest peasant and the
highest noble
20Elizabethan Theatrical Conventions
21Theatrical 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.
22Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre
Types of speech
Audience loves to be scared.
- Blood
- Use of supernatural
23Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre
- Use of disguises/
- mistaken identity
- Last speakerhighest in
- rank (in tragedies)
- Multiple murders
- (in tragedies)
- Multiple marriages
- (in comedies)
24All the world 's a stage, And all the men and
women merely players.