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TRANSCRIPT
Shakespeare: His Life and Times
Adapted from
http://www.public.asu.edu/~muckerrm/English_321_S2005/Introduction.ppt
Early Life
Born 1564—died 1616
Stratford-upon-Avon
Parents: John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
• John—glovemaker, local politician
From: http://www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps.html
Location of Stratford-upon-Avon
As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).
Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time
From Stratford’s web site: http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm
Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
• Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford
• Educated in:
• Rhetoric
• Logic/Mathematics
• History
• Latin
Education
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
King’s New School
• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter
• Had twins in 1585
• Between 1585-1592, he moved to Londonand began working in theatre.
Married Life
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
• Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men
• The Globe Theater was built in 1599 with Shakespeare as the primary investor.
• The theatre burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays.
Theatre Career
The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
The Globe Theater
The Plays
38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
14 comedies
10 histories
10 tragedies
4 romances
Possibly wrote three others
Collaborated on several others
• 154 sonnets
• Numerous other poems
The Poetry
Shakespeare’s 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!
(Translation: 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!)
Shakespeare’s Language
• Shakespeare did NOT write in Middle English.
• Middle English is the language of Chaucer 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)
Shakespeare’s Language
• Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern
English. (Sonnet 116)
• EME was not too different from Modern
English.
Shakespeare’s Language
• A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest peasant and
the highest noble
Elizabethan
Theatrical
Conventions
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.
Audience
loves to be
scared.
Soliloquy
Aside
Types of
speech
Blood
Use of supernatural
Use of disguises/mistaken identity
Multiple marriages (in comedies)
Multiple murders (in tragedies)
Last speaker—highest in rank (in tragedies)
Let`s play Shakespeare
Antony and CleopatraCoriolanusHamletJulius CaesarKing LearMacbethOthelloRomeo and JulietTimon of AthensTitus Andronicus
“All the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women
merely players.”
Shakespeare: actor, playwright, poet, and so, so much more. . . .