shakespeare

HamletRomeo and Juliet

Julius Ceasar

Influence and Importance• Influence and Importance• William Shakespeare ranks as the most popular authors in the English

language.

• In 2000 British citizens voted him the Man of the Millennium —the most important person since 1000 A.D.

• He is credited with 37 of the world’s most heralded pieces of drama and literature, including:– Romeo and Juliet– Julius Caesar– Hamlet– Othello– King Lear– Macbeth

Give Shakespeare his due: he is the greatest writer of all time

Influence and Importance• Influence and Importance• His poems and plays are the most quoted pieces of writing other than the

Bible

• Shakespeare is credited with 37 of the world’s most heralded pieces of drama and literature, including:– Romeo and Juliet– Julius Caesar– Hamlet– Othello– King Lear– Macbeth

Influence and Importance• Influence and Importance• Besides his plays, he is also credited with penning 154

sonnets that are often considered some of the finest poetry ever written

• His plot dynamics, characters and ability to write comedies, tragedies and histories has never been duplicated by any other scribe

Shakespeare’s Plays• Shakespeare’s Plays – Comedies: light and amusing,

usually with a happy ending• All's Well That Ends Well• As You Like It• Comedy of Errors• Love's Labour's Lost• Measure for Measure• Merchant of Venice• Merry Wives of Windsor• Midsummer Night's Dream• Much Ado about Nothing• Taming of the Shrew• Tempest• Twelfth Night• Two Gentlemen of Verona• Winter's Tale

Shakespeare’s Plays• Shakespeare’s Plays – Tragedies: serious dramas with

disastrous endings• Antony and Cleopatra• Coriolanus• Hamlet• Julius Caesar• King Lear• Macbeth• Othello• Romeo and Juliet• Timon of Athens• Titus Andronicus• Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare’s Plays• Shakespeare’s Plays – Histories: involve events or

persons from history• Cymbeline• Henry IV, Part I• Henry IV, Part II• Henry V• Henry VI, Part I• Henry VI, Part II• Henry VI, Part III• Henry VIII• King John• Pericles• Richard II• Richard III

• 10 Famous Shakespearean Quotes

1. "This above all: to thine own self be true." (Hamlet - Act 1, Scene 2).

2. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." (Hamlet - Act II, Scene II).

3. "It's not enough to speak, but to speak true." (Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 5, Scene 1).

4. "Et tu, Brute?" (Julius Caesar - Act 3, Scene 1).

5. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend." (Hamlet - Act 1, Scene 3).

6. "The course of true love never did run smooth." (Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 1, Scene 1).

7. "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them." (Twelfth Night - Act 2, Scene 5).

8. "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players." (As You Like It - Act 2, Scene 7).

9. "There's daggers in men's smiles." (Macbeth - Act 2, Scene 3).

10."All that glisters is not gold." (Merchant of Venice - Act 2, Scene 7).

• 10 Famous Shakespearean Quotes on LOVE

1. Love looks not with eyes, but with the mind." (Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 1, Scene 1).

2. “When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. “(Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2).

3. "A heart to love, and in that heart, courage, to make love known“ (Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3)

4. “Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” (Twelfth Night Act 3 Scene 1).

5. “Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? “ (As You Like It - Act 3, Scene 5).

6. “If music be the food of love, play on.” (Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene I)

7. “Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves commit” (Merchant of Venice - Act 2, Scene 6)

8. "The course of true love never did run smooth." (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act I, Scene I).

9. "When you depart from me sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave.“ (Much Ado About Nothing - Act 1, Scene 1).

10."They do not love that do not show their love." (The Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act 1, Scene 2)

Shakespeare’s Continuing Presence• Shakespeare in His Time

• Shakespeare in Our Time

• Shakespeare presented his plays at inns, courtyards, royal palaces, private residences and playhouses such as Blackfriars and the Globe Theatre, built in 1599.

• Shakespeare’s plays continue to be produced even today. Over 250 film adaptations of his plays have been made.

Shakespeare has been seen in current media from The Simpsons to modern adaptations of his works like Hamlet

Shakespearean Myth• Myths About Shakespeare• Many scholars have asserted that a man of Shakespeare's pedigree

lacked the sophistication to produce a great body of brilliant work (despite the probability he was educated at the respected King’s New School in Stratford).

• As a result, some tried to give credit for his works to other great authors of his time.

• These thoughts have mostly been discredited due to historic dates not matching

Shakespeare Timeline

• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events• Estimated Birth in 1564– Born in Stratford, England, about ninety miles

northwest of London.

• 1582 at the age of 18, married Anne Hathaway

Shakespeare Timeline• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events

– The Lost Years • Between the middle 1580s and 1592 there is little information about Shakespeare’s activities

• In 1592 he emerged in London and began his legacy as the world’s most famous writer

Shakespeare Timeline• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events• 1592 theatre were closed

due to plague. The result was the beginning of Shakespeare’s poetic career

• 1594 the theatres reopened and Shakespeare joined a newly formed drama group called the Lord Chamberlain's Men– Shakespeare served as

both a writer and actor for the company

Shakespeare Timeline• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events• 1597 Shakespeare’s success as a writer and

businessman resulted in him owning the second-biggest house in Stratford, for himself and his family.

• 1599 Shakespeare became a major shareholder in the Globe Theatre, which housed many of his most famous plays 

Shakespeare Timeline• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events• 1603 Queen Elizabeth

died and shortly after Shakespeare’s acting company was elevated to the title of the ''King's Company'' or "King's Men".

• 1604 Shakespeare participated in the coronation of King James I and Shakespeare and the other members of his company became officers of the royal household.

Shakespeare Timeline

• Important Shakespeare Dates and Events• 1616 Shakespeare died on the same date on which he was believed to have been born, April 23. – The cause of his death is the subject of

conjecture.

Shakespeare’s Role• Shakespeare’s Role• William Shakespeare was, of course, the main dramatist

of the Globe Theatre.

• Most of Shakespeare’s plays were held in the Globe, and he owned 12% of the theatre.

• Shakespeare himself sometimes performed in his plays as an actor.

General InformationGeneral Information• Architecture and Look• The original Globe Theatre was a wood-framed building angled to

form a circle or an oval.

• The interior resembled that of a modern opera house, with three galleries protected from rain and sunlight by a roof.

• The stage was raised four to six feet from ground level and had a roof supported by pillars.

General InformationGeneral

Information• Attendance

• Between 2,000 and 3,000 playgoers paid to sit in the covered galleries

• Directly in front of the stage was a roofless yard for up to 1,000 "groundlings,“ who stood during performances

Groundlings gather in front of the stage

Admission• Admission • Those sitting under

the cover of rooftop paid two or more pennies to sit in the galleries, depositing them in a box.

• Groundlings paid a "gatherer" a penny to stand through a performance under a hot sun or threatening clouds.

The GroundlingsThe Audience• Groundlings

• Groundlings were uneducated and not refined

• Many of Shakespeare's dialogue would be difficult for them to understand

The GroundlingsThe Audience• Groundlings • In fact, Shakespeare

himself belittled them in Hamlet as being incapable of comprehending anything more than dumbshows.

• The groundlings were attracted to the globe because of the spectacle and glamour

Atmosphere• Atmosphere• The productions in the Globe were not unlike those of

current day concert or sporting events• When the audience grew bored, they could buy food and

drink from roving peddlers, exchange the news of the day, and boo and hiss the actors. 

Staging and Props• Staging and Props• Props and backdrops were few.

• Sometimes a prop used for only one scene remained onstage for other scenes because it was too heavy or too awkward to remove.

Staging and Props

• Staging and Props• Shakespeare had to write descriptions of settings into his dialogue.

• There was no curtain that opened or closed at the beginning or end of plays.

CostumesCostumes • Costumes were often the

company’s most valuable asset

• Costumes were made by the company, bought in London, or donated by courtiers

ActorsActors • In Shakespeare's time,

males played all the characters, even Juliet,

• It was forbidden for a woman to set foot on an Elizabethan stage.

• Female parts were mostly played by prepubescent boys whose voices had not yet changed and had female features

In the film Shakespeare in the Love the script was flipped: woman dressed up as man!

Actors• Actors, Continued• The illusion of females being on stage was further

enhanced by the following:– wigs – neck-to-toe dresses – makeup

• After an actor reached early adulthood, he could begin playing male parts.

Actors• Actors, Continued• All actors had to memorize their lines exactly and did not

rely on cue cards

• Popular actors earned more money–and received more praise

• Actors who played clowns and jesters were celebrities, and often were popular with the “Groundlings”

Special Effects• Special Effects • Shakespearean actors had to

perform their own stunts, such as falling or tumbling.

• They also had to do the following:– wield swords– perform popular dances – Project their voices to

thousands without any kind of microphone

Special Effects• Special Effects • Some “special effects”

used in the plays included:– Trap Doors (for the

appearance of ghosts and supernatural)

– Sound Effects (from sheets of metal, etc).

– Fireworks (to create omens, meteors, etc)

– Music – Blood (hidden pouches

popped to release animal blood--perhaps a pig's bladder--beneath an actor’s shirt  

Demise and Rebirth• Demise and Rebirth• In 1613, the Globe Theatre burned down after booming

canon fire

• A second Globe was closed and later destroyed 1644 • Modern recreations of the first and second Globe

theatres are based on 17th Century descriptions and drawings.

London During Elizabethan Era Elizabethan Era• London During Elizabethan

Era • London in 1600 was one of the great crossroads of the world.

• It was the center of business, work, the royal court, sport and entertainment

London During Elizabethan Era• London During Elizabethan

Era • Greater London at that time had more than 200,000 residents

• London was William Shakespeare his second home great portions of his life because the thriving city hosted his numerous plays

London During Elizabethan Era

• London During Elizabethan Era• London’s streets were narrow thoroughfares filled and crowded. These streets would be occupied by the following:– Animals: dogs, cats, pigs, and ducks– Noises: from rolling wheels, boisterous merchants, children at play,

church bells, pounding hammers, hogs, sheep, cattle, grouchy dogs–. – Workers: milkmaids, blacksmiths, jugglers, sailors, chimney sweeps,

wheelwrights, magicians, stool-makers, government spies, perfumed ladies, bejeweled gentlemen

London During Elizabethan Era

• London During Elizabethan Era• A variety of commerce would be taking place as well, including:– Merchants and Companies: clothworkers, drapers, fish

merchants, goldsmiths, grocers, haberdashers, ironmongers, mercers (dealers in textiles and dry goods), salters, and skinners

– Shopping: perfume, wigs, jewelry, hats, shirts, shoes, breeches, feathers, ruffles, ribbons, silks, tweeds, wine, drugs, spices, toys, paper, ink, candles. 

Entertainment During Elizabethan Era

• Entertainment During Elizabethan Era• Bloodsport rings and arenas • Spectators paid to see cockfighting or snarling dogs

attack chained bears or bulls. • Queen Elizabeth was among the aficionados of

bearbaiting and bullbaiting, as these brutal contests were called

Entertainment During Elizabethan Era

• Entertainment During Elizabethan Era• The population during this time relied heavily on alcohol

• Ale and wine were more plentiful than filtered water, and people would often be drunk from morning to night

Personal Hygiene and Health

• Personal Hygiene and Health• Poor sewer system that resulted in disease and a lack of filtered water

• As a result:

– Bathing was considered dangerous

– Body odor strong

Personal Hygiene and Health• Personal Hygiene and Health• Additionally, people often would rely on

one set of clothing throughout the year, which they rarely washed

• Underclothing slept in and infrequently changed

Personal Hygiene and Health

• Personal Hygiene and Health• These conditions resulted in outbreaks, including:

– Childhood diseases: Children often died before 5 years

– Small Pox

– Bubonic Plague

London’s Beauty• London’s Beauty • London, despite it

flaws, did have some wonders to behold: – Flower gardens of

spectacular beauty– Over 100 churches

built with soaring spires, ornate facades, and stained glass

– Huge sailing ships with huge masts and armed against piracy

London and Shakespeare• London and

Shakespeare– Stratford to London

• Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford is locate about 90 miles to the northwest of London.

• The trip would have taken two to four days by horseback or wagon

London and Shakespeare• London and

Shakespeare– Stratford to London

• These roads would have had a different feel than our modern highways.

• They would have been filled with robbers, messengers, itinerant merchants, minstrels, farmers, and soldiers marching to or from service.

Inside Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre• Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre• Shakespeare staged plays at the Globe

Theatre, built in 1599 • The Globe was not the only theatre house

of its time. • Some others included the Newington Butts

Playhouse (1580), the Rose (circa 1587), and the Swan (1595). 

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre• Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre• The Globe location was in a rowdy are infested with

drunks, prostitutes, con men, gamblers, and thieves. • The area was also filled with many inns and taverns.

– Most notably on of the inns, The Tabard Inn, was made famous in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Shakespeare and Society• Shakespeare and Society• Shakespeare spent a great deal of time in taverns, as

historical records and scenes in his plays suggest.

• These taverns became a creative house of ideas where famed thinkers and writers such as Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson gathered

Shakespeare and Society• Shakespeare and Society• Shakespeare also made the acquaintance of high and

mighty courtiers, even purchasing the title of “Gentleman” for himself.

• Among his noble acquaintances was Henry Wriothesley,

the Third Earl of Southampton, a supporter of writers and a court favorite of Queen Elizabeth.

Shakespeare and Society

• Shakespeare and Society• After his plays earned him widespread acclaim during the Elizabethan Era

• Shakespeare even staged them before Queen Elizabeth at the royal residence, Whitehall Palace.

The play tells of the scandalous affair between the Roman general Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

  Chronicles the life of the mighty warrior Caius Marcius Coriolanus.

Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The

ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge.

Julius Caesar is a highly successful but ambitious political leader of Rome and his goal is to become an unassailable dictator. Caesar's eventual assassination sparks even more conflict.

King Lear is an aging monarch who is headstrong. The old man is blind to his weaknesses, and decides to divide his

kingdom amongst his three daughters.

Three witches conclude a meeting. They decide to confront the great Scottish general Macbeth on his victorious return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The witches predict that he will one day become king.

Othello is a highly esteemed general in the service of Venice. When he doesn’t promote his ambitious friend Iago, conflict ensues.

Arguably the most famous love story of all time, this play tells the tale of a boy and a girl from warring families who meet and fall in love.

Timon of Athens is a man who enjoys to please his friends, and he does this by lavishing gifts on them. Many of these friends, however, turn out to be no friend at all.

Shakespeare's blood thirsty drama of Titus Andronicus is a sordid tale of revenge and political turmoil, overflowing with bloodshed and unthinkable brutality including countless

murders.

• The play's central romantic figures are a young nobleman called Bertram and an orphaned commoner called Helena. The problems with their romance are due to their different backgrounds and that it is at first a one sided affair with Helena falling in love with Bertram.

• Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke falls in love with Orlando the disinherited son of one of the duke's friends. When she is banished from the court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick comedy, gender swaps, and Observations on life and love follow.

• The Comedy of Errors relies heavily on mix-ups and witty dialogue. The characters include two sets of twins. Farcical mix-ups occur when all the twins converge in the same location. 

• Cymbeline, King of Britain, takes a new wife who has an arrogant son called Cloten. Cymbeline's lovely daughter Imogen is expected to marry Cloten. Instead Imogen marries the brave, but poor Posthumus Leonatus and conflict and comedy ensues.

• The Princess of France and her company of ladies Rosaline, Maria and Katherine tell the men wooing them (Ferdinand the King of Navarre, Biron, Longaville and Dumain) that they must wait and undergo tests to prove that their love is not simply infatuation.  

• The plot centers on Angelo, the righteous deputy empowered by the Duke of Vienna, to rule whilst he wanders about disguised as a friar to investigate the moral decay of his dukedom. Resorting to an archaic law against fornication to enforce his strict standards of morality, Angelo proceeds to condemn fornicators to death.

• The plot involves a vengeful, greedy creditor, Shylock seeks a literal pound of flesh from his Christian opposite, the generous, faithful Antonio.  

• Falstaff first deceives the wives. The wives, Mr. Ford and Mistress Quickly and then deceive Falstaff. Falstaff gets into trouble because he is insincere, pretending to be love struck when all he is really interested in is money. The ladies turn the tables on Falstaff, and he gets his just deserts. 

• The main plot of Midsummer is a complex farce that involves two sets of couples (Hermia & Lysander and Helena & Demetrius) whose romantic intrigues are confused and complicated still further by entering the forest where Oberon,

the King of the Fairies and his Queen, Titania, preside.

• The story of two very different sets of lovers, Beatrice and Benedick and Claudio and Hero. The main plot of Much Ado revolves around obstacles to the union of two young lovers (Claudio and Hero), and the "merry war" of the sexes between Beatrice and Benedick.

• As we first meet Pericles a riddle thrusts him onto the horns of a dilemma. Pericles responds to his dilemma by starting on a tour that includes pirates, births and burials at sea, and the waking of the dead and a lengthy visit to a brothel.

• A battle between the sexes is waged that ultimately leads to a wager between male characters on who has the most obedient wife.

• King Alonso and his entourage sail home for Italy after attending his daughter Claribel's wedding in Africa. They encounter a violent storm, or Tempest. Everyone jumps overboard and are washed ashore on a strange island inhabited by a magician named Prospero.

• The setting for the story is the long running Trojan War. The plot covers the heroes from Greek mythology including Ulysses, Achilles and Ajax and their plans to try to end the war.  

• Viola embarks on a scheme to allow her to make her way in a world of men. Dressed as a man, Viola, now calling herself Cesario, finds herself in the services of the Duke of Illyria. This begins a domino effect of confusion,

jealousy, mistaken Identity and fights and duels.

• Shakespeare's plot centers around Valentine and Proteus, two gentlemen of Verona, who travel to Milan and learn about the world of courtship. They are best friends. But love for the same woman comes between them.

• Complications arise between King Leontes' and his Queen because of her friendly attentions to the visiting King of Bohemia. Despite a trial at which the Oracle from Delphi declares the queen guiltless, the King banishes her. There's a time lapse of sixteen years between the Queen's banishment and

the story's long-delayed happy ending and with a few  surprises.

• The plot shifts back and forth between the troubled realm of Henry IV's court and the vulgar world of the tavern in which Sir John Falstaff presides over his group of rascals and is joined by the fun-loving Prince Henry or Hal. The play concludes with King Henry and Hal leaving for Wales to confront rebels. At the same time, Prince John of Lancaster, Hal's younger brother, heads toward York to do battle with rebel forces led by the Earl of Northumberland (Hotspur's father). 

• Hal becomes King Henry V. Hal realizes he must change and becomes a sober and solemn person. Falstaff is banished from Hal's court and is lectured to also change his wayward ways.

• King Henry IV has died and his son Prince Hal reigns. It's war with France and all England rises up to back the King and create peace. However, after King Hal dies and his son becomes Henry VI, war again looms on the horizon. 

• The story unfolds with the death of King Henry V and his young son takes the throne as Henry VI.

• The boy King Henry returns from his victory in France with his new bride, but plots and schemes swirl around his court.

• A battle for the thrown drives the plot as Henry VI is ousted from power and a new king is crowned

• Many believe Henry VIII to be Shakespeare's last play, but others firmly believe that the Bard had little, if anything, to do with its creation. Queen Katherine of Aragon is upright and virtuous and married to King Henry VIII. Henry was a proud and willful monarch who defies Rome's ban on divorce to marry Ann Bullen (Boleyn).

• Nearly all of the conflicts in the play result from unresolved disputes involving family members. Power hungry individuals eye the thrown and England and France engage in battle. King John is poisoned. and John's son Henry becomes king. 

• Richard II was a king by virtue of the divine right of kings and thus God's elected deputy. He is intelligent but weak and eventually deposed by his cousin and rival, Henry Bolingbroke.  

• The play is dominated by Richard the hunchback Duke of Gloucester who becomes King Richard III but only through a series of horrible acts, killing off his enemies, his kinsmen, his wife and most of his supporters.