William Shakespeare: The Greatest Figure in English
Literature
Background
• 1564: – Shakespeare born on April 23, at Stratford Upon
Avon, England– Baptized on April 26– Parents, John and Mary; father was butcher and
glover maker. • Education:
– Stratford Grammar School, a local free public school in Stratford
– Never attended a university
• 1582: – married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer
in Shottery (only a mile from Stratford), she was 26 or 27; he was only 18.
• 1583: – First child Susanna was born May 26, six months
after the wedding. • 1585:
– Anne gave birth to twins, Judith and Hamnet; Hamnet died Aug. 11, 1596 at age 11.
– Both girls grew up and were married.
Seven Dark Years
• 1585-1592: – No more information about his life until 1592
when he is working as an actor and playwright in London.
• jail for poaching• headmaster at a private school• military service
London Years
• 1593-1594: – The London plague forced the theaters to close.– Wrote no plays– Patron: the Earl of Southhampton
• wrote two long poems: “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece.”
• 1598: – Theater work confined to district northeast of
London—The Theatre and The Curtain
• 1599:– Lord Chamberlain’s Men built and owned The Globe Theater in
Southwark, across the Thames in London, Julius Caesar first performed
• 1603: – Queen Elizabeth died; James I becomes King of England and
James VI of Scotland; Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.– The Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men become the King’s Men.– Performed at court 11 times, 7 plays by Shakespeare
• 1613: – During the first performance of Henry VIII, a stagehand lit the
fuse of a cannon, and the theater was burnt to the ground.– Retired and moved back to Stratford wealthy and respected.
• 1616: – Died April 23, on his fifty-second birthday, buried at Stratford’s
Holy Trinity Church; Anne died Aug. 6, 1623 and is buried next to her husband.
His Epitaph
Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbearTo dig the dust enclosed here:Blessed be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones.
Works and Reputation
• Plays– 37 plays: comedies, histories, and tragedies
Works and Reputation Cont.
• Sonnets– 154– speaker is male– chief subject is love
Anti-Stratfordians• Sigmund Freud• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)• Charlie Chaplin• Ralph Waldo Emerson• Walt Whitman• Supreme Court justices:
– John Paul Stevens– Sandra Day O'Conner
• Possible Authors:– Francis Bacon– Christopher Marlow
Language
• About 20,000 different words in his works• Added 1700 words unknown to Medieval England• Average vocabulary usage
– Elizabethan: 500 words– John Milton: 8000 words– Shakespeare: plays-15,000 + sonnets-6000=21,000– Average 16 year old today: 10,000-12,000
• Contributions to the English language New Words
The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original. Below is a list of a few of the words Shakespeare coined, hyperlinked to the play and scene from which it comes. When the word appears in multiple plays, the link will take you to the play in which it first appears.
academe accused addiction advertising amazement
arouse assassination backing bandit bedroom
beached besmirch birthplace blanket bloodstained
barefaced blushing bet bump buzzer
caked cater champion circumstantial
cold-blooded
compromise courtship countless critic dauntless
dawn deafening discontent dishearten drugged
dwindle epileptic equivocal elbow excitement
exposure eyeball fashionable fixture flawed
frugal generous gloomy gossip green-eyed
gust hint hobnob hurried impede
impartial invulnerable jaded label lackluster
laughable lonely lower luggage lustrous
madcap majestic marketable metamorphize mimic
monumental moonbeam mountaineer negotiate noiseless
obscene obsequiously ode olympian outbreak
panders pedant premeditated puking radiance
rant remorseless savagery scuffle secure
skim milk submerge summit swagger torture
tranquil undress unreal varied vaulting
worthless zany
Tragedy
• A drama in which the central character(s) suffer(s) disaster or great misfortune
• The central character’s downfall is usually the result of:– fate– a serious character flaw– a combination of the two
• A great tragedy is not depressing; rather it uplifts the audience by showing what greatness of spirit human beings are capable.
Though the tragic hero has a flaw, he/she is usually noble and good; therefore, the downfall always seems worse than the character deserves.
“A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that a man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.”—George Orwell
Plot Structure for a Shakespearean Tragedy
• Exposition: general setting, atmosphere, time, place, main characters, and conflict
• Exciting Force: something happens that starts the real action of the play
• Rising Action: series of events usually covering more than one act (The protagonist encounters the antagonist.)
• Climax: turning point, protagonist reaches height of his/her power; from that point things start turning against him/her.
Plot Structure for a Shakespearean Tragedy Cont.
• Falling action: covers several scenes, shows all the ways things are going against the protagonist/rise of antagonist
• Moment of Final Suspense: Act IV usually, a moment when things seem to be going the protagonist’s way and he/she believes momentarily the tragedy must be averted.
• Catastrophe: complete downfall of the protagonist
• Resolution: conflict ends and outcome of the play is known (Usually everyone dies.)
Plot Diagram
Act III Turning Point
Act IExposition
Act II Rising Action
Exciting Force
Act IV Falling Action
Moment of Final Suspense
Act VResolution/Denouement
Catastrophe
Types of Speeches• Soliloquy: a speech delivered alone on stage
expressing his/her thoughts directly to the audience– lengthy– spoken while alone
• Aside: a brief remark, unheard by most of the other characters on stage, from a character to the audience or to another character– short – spoken with others on stage
• Monologue: a lengthy speech addressed to other characters not the audience
Globe Theater
Globe Theater
Globe Theater
Globe Theater
The Globe Theater Cont.
Does Shakespeare still matter? Consider the following statement
regarding Shakespeare's impact on every day English speech by
journalist Bernard Levin:
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.