Written by: Jonnette Hay-Rivenbark

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Written byJonnette Hay-Rivenbark
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English Renaissance

• Cultural and artistic movement in England
• 16th century through early 17th century
• Associated with European Renaissance
• Believed to have begun in Italy

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English Renaissance

• Contrast English and Italian Renaissance

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English Renaissance

• Often called Age of Shakespeare or Elizabethan
  Era
• Names are incorrect

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English Renaissance

• Important playwrights
• William Shakespeare
• Ben Jonson
• Christopher Marlowe

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English Renaissance

• Important poets of the period
• Edmund Spenser
• John Milton

• Important philosophers
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Sir Thomas More

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Elizabethan Era

• Period in England associated with rule of Queen
  Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
• Relatively peaceful time

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Elizabethan Era

• Considered Golden Age of English history

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Elizabethan Era

• Height of fashion in England
• Influenced by French and Spanish styles

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Elizabethan Era

• Annual festivities broke up daily life
• People looked forward to celebrations
• Many still celebrated today

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Elizabethan Era

• Other celebrations include
• Valentines Day
• April Fools Day
• Christmas Season (13 days celebrated from
  Christmas Eve through Epiphany Eve)

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The Plague

• Bubonic and pneumonic plagues caused 14th century
  Black Death
• Spread through Europe, Middle East and Asia
• Recurred every generation for centuries

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The Plague

• Known as bubonic and pneumonic plagues
• Believed to be caused mainly by fleas
• Symptoms included fever, chills, muscle pain,
  hemorrhaging,and buboes

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The Plague

• Occurred again in England during 1592-1593
• Caused all theaters in London to close
• Shakespeare wrote long, narrative poems

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Shakespeare Biography

• Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Actual date of birth uncertain

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Biography

• Father was John Shakespeare

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Biography

• At 18 married Anne Hathaway
• At 19 had daughter
• 1585 had twins

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Biography

• Believed to have left for London 1585-1586
• 1594 became member of Lord Chamberlains Men
• Troupe became Kings Men in 1603

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Shakespeares London - Video
Single click screen to view video
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Biography

• Wrote and performed in plays
• Most widely-read playwright
• Also wrote poetry

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Shakespeares Plays

• Shakespeare wrote or collaborated on 39 plays
• Plays divided into three categories
• Comedies
• Tragedies
• Histories

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Shakespeares Plays

• His plays remain popular today
• Have been made into films and other plays

Single click for audio clip gtgtgtgt
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The Comedies

• Alls Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Cymbeline
• Loves Labors Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice

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The Comedies

• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Nights Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles
• The Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Troilus and Cressida

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The Comedies

• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
• The Winters Tale

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The Comedies

• Most popular include
• Alls Well That Ends Well
• The Merchant of Venice
• A Midsummer Nights Dream
• The Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest

Single click for audio clip gtgtgtgt
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The Comedies Themes

• Characteristics of the comedies include
• False/mistaken identities
• Toils of love and marriage
• Good versus Evil
• Songs written for comedies
• Only text exists

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The Comedies

• Famous characters include
• Oberon and Titania (A Midsummer Nights Dream)
• Rosalind and Orlando (As You Like It)
• Petruchio and Katherine (Taming of the Shrew)

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The Tragedies

• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• Hamlet
• Julius Caesar
• King Lear
• Macbeth

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The Tragedies

• Othello
• Romeo and Juliet

• Timon of Athens
• Titus Andronicus

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The Tragedies

• Most popular tragedies
• Hamlet
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth
• Romeo and Juliet

Single click for audio clips gtgtgtgt
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The Tragedies Themes

• All Shakespearean tragedies protagonist falls
  from grace and dies
• Tragic hero, tragic flaw
• An unhappy ending

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The Tragedies

• Usually many secondary characters die
• Mercutio and Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet)
• Polonius, Ophelia, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude,
  Laertes (Hamlet)
• Calpurnia, Portia, Cassius (Julius Caesar)

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The Tragedies

• Protagonist is admirable but flawed
• Protagonist is capable of good and bad
• Famous tragic characters
• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
• Macbeth, Thane of Glamis
• Marcus Brutus

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The Histories

• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part 2
• Henry V

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The Histories

• Henry VI, Part 1
• Henry VI, Part 2
• Henry VI, Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII

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The Histories

• Easier to recognize than define
• Arose as patriotism formed in England
• Tied closely to real historical events

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The Histories Themes

• All focus on tensions between public and private
  values
• Have character preoccupied with power
• Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra considered
  Roman histories

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Shakespeares Poetry

• Wrote two narrative poems during plague years
• Dedicated to Earl of Southampton

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Earl of Southampton- Video
Single click screen to view video
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Poetry

• Other narrative poems The Phoenix and the
  Turtle and A Lovers Complaint

• Sonnets are most well-known
• Form is fourteen lines of iambic pentameter

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Poetry

• Published 154 sonnets
• First 17 thought written to young man
• Advises young man to marry, have a child

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Poetry

• Sonnets 18-126 written to young man
• Celebrate speakers love for young man

Single click for audio clip gtgtgtgt
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Poetry

• Sonnets 127-154 present the Dark Lady
• Woman presented as treacherous
• Speaker seems sexually obsessed with her

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The Globe Theatre

• Theater associated with Shakespeare
• Built in London in 1599
• Owned by the Burbage brothers, Shakespeare and
  three others

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The Globe Theatre

• The Heavens
• False ceiling over the stage
• Housed actors and costumes during bad weather
• Designed with trap doorsactors could fly
• Good for creating sound effects

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The Globe Theatre

• Hell
• Trapdoors within the stage area (thought to be
  two)
• Used for special effects with actors
• Good for creating sound effects

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The Globe Theatre

• Women prohibited from performing

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The Globe Theatre

• Open to audiences during summer months
• Daytime performances only
• Audiences came from all classes
• Men and women attended performances

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Performance Video
Single click screen to view video
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The Globe Theatre

• Groundlings paid one cent to stand
• Gentry paid more for seats in galleries
• Nobles sat in chairs on side of stage

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The Globe Theatre

• Style similar to Coliseum
• Sometimes used for gambling
• Closed due to plague

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The Globe Theatre

• Flags used to indicate type of play
• Burned by cannonball landing on roof
• Destroyed by Puritans
• Motto Totus mundus agit histrionem

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Concluding Thoughts

• Enduring Globe
• Enduring Shakespeare
• He was not of an age, but for all time.