Shakespeare

The life and times of the bard

A Quick Review

• What is going on?– Queen Elizabeth and King James– Bubonic Plague– Renaissance

• Literature & Theatre– Religiously Stable– Life Expectancy is 30 yrs. (1/2 of all kids

die by 15)– People have become more urban and less

rural– 1 in 8 live in London

William Shakespeare’s Family

• Grandfather: Richard Shakespeare

– Owned land in Snitterfield– Near the Avon river– 95 miles north of London– Farmer– Relatively Poor– Catholic

William Shakespeare’s Parents

• John Shakespeare– Moved to Stratford– Jobs

• Glover/Leatherman• Moneylender

– Important Governmental Posts• 1556: Ale Taster• 1558 Constable• 1561 Burgess then Chamberlain• 1564 Alderman• 1567 Mayor

John and Mary with a Baby Carriage

• John meets his distant relative Mary Arden

• They marry in 1557• They have 8 kids

– 4 daughters– 4 sons

• Tries to get a Coat of Arms to prove legitimacy– Lots of money– Catholic past?– A year before his death he gets the coat

of arms

Shakespeare Coat of Arms

William Shakespeare’s Family Tree

Richard Shakespeare Robert Arden

Mary ArdenJohn Shakespeare

Joa

n

Ma

rga

ret

William

Joa

n

An

ne

Gilb

ert

Ric

ha

rd

Edmun

d

Joan #1 and Margaret died as babies. William and Edmund were both actors

Shakespeare’s Immediate Family

William Shakespeare Anne Hathaway

Susanna Hamnet and Judith

William Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Shakespeare’s Early Years

• Baptized April 26th 1564• Born in Stratford-upon-Avon• Not much is known about

Shakespeare’s childhood• He grew-up as the oldest child of

John and Mary Shakespeare• Attended King’s New School aka

King Edward VI grammar school– Decent education for the time– Age 7-14

The K

ing

’s N

ew

S

chool

What is next for Willie Shakespeare?

• The next record of William is his marriage to Anne Hathaway

• ODD!!!• She was 26 and he was 18• Most marriages at this time men

were 15 years (on average) older than the woman

• Anne had Susanna 6 months after marriage!

Does the math add up???

The Beginning of a Career

• 1585-1592: The Lost years• 1592: William joined a London

based theatre company.• First record is a critic making fun

of Shakespeare’s writing and accusing him of reaching beyond his station.

• 1594 Shakespeare wrote solely for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men

• 1599 The Globe was built

The Globe was a theatre in England

A view of The Globe stage

The Globe: looking down from the top

A diagram of the old Globe

An old drawing of the old Globe

Let’s Talk About The Globe

• Home of The Lord Chamberlain’s Men• The theatre company owned the

theatre but not the land• When the lease ran out there were

disputes• The men took the building apart and

reassembled it across the river.• It resided there until it burned down

during a production of Henry VIII

• They rebuilt the Globe before Shakespeare’s death.

• The Puritans leveled it to build tenements

• The Theatre foundation was discovered in 1989

• A modern day Globe was built and opened by Elizabeth II. 394 years after the first Elizabeth reigned

Let’s Talk About The Globe

Parts of The Globe

• The Pit or Yard• The Galleries

– The Lord’s Rooms

– The Gentlemen’s Rooms

• The Heavens• The Tiring

House• The Stage• Scenery

The Pit/Yard

• The area around the stage• There were no seats• The audience stood• Commoners also known as

groundlings were here• These were the penny seats• Summer=Stinkards

• This is the three leveled covered seat around the stage

• They had one entrance.• The second level above the stage is

known as the Lord’s room. It was above the stage wall and were the best seats. This area was for the upper class

• The rest of the second level was used for actors to act

The Galleries

The Galleries Cont…

• The rest of the area on the second level were known as the Gentlemen’s rooms

• This was for the rich patrons that were not royal

• The bottom level had a poor view • The top level often rained on• Sitting in the gallery cost more but

you got a seat and you had some cover.

The Globe’s Stage area

• Above the stage was a roof supported by columns

• This area was known as the heavens

• Actors would use this to hide from the audience

• This was symbolic of God(s)• The Tiring House: backstage

storage area

• The stage itself was a frons scenae • It jutted out into the audience• The groundlings were all around the

stage• The scenery was very minimal• There was some rigging• No electricity so all plays were during

the day• The plays went on rain or shine

The Globe’s Stage

Elizabethan Theatre

• The Theatre houses were often closed due to the plague outbreaks

• Men played Women’s parts• Unics• Had to please the Queen/King• Very Interactive

Shakespeare’s Career

• Elizabeth I dies• Her Cousin’s Son, James I becomes

King.• Shakespeare’s theatre troupe becomes

known as The Kings Men• He bought a large home in Stratford

called “New Place”• He becomes FAMOUS as a writer• Still acts…including in peers plays• Playwriting slowed down in 1606

Shakespeare’s Later Life

• His last play was The Tempest• He died in Stratford on April 23rd

1616 at the age of 52He wrote 37 plays and 154

sonnets survivedHe created nearly 2,000 words in

the English Language

How Shakespeare Wrote

• Iambic pentameter is the meter that Shakespeare wrote in

• Characters almost ALWAYS spoke in iambic pentameter

• The only exception is people of “low station”

Iambic Pentamter Break Down

• An iamb is a foot of poetry• It is unstressed/stressed (iambus)• Iambic pentamter is 5 of those feet

together– ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-

BUM

• Example:– If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on

What Shakespeare the TRUE author

• Why is there a question?– Places– Nobility/Court– Education

• Who could of written them?– Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, the Earl

of Derby, the Earl of Rutland, the Earl of Southampton, the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh and of course, Francis Bacon

• Why is the answer not conclusive?– Plays were published well after

“Shakespeare’s” PlaysCommedies

All's Well That Ends WellAs You Like ItComedy of ErrorsLove's Labour's LostMeasure for MeasureMerchant of VeniceMerry Wives of WindsorMidsummer Night's DreamMuch Ado about NothingTaming of the ShrewTempestTwelfth NightTwo Gentlemen of VeronaWinter's Tale

• TragediesAntony and CleopatraCoriolanusHamletJulius CaesarKing LearMacbethOthelloRomeo and JulietTimon of AthensTitus AndronicusTroilus and Cressida

“Shakespeare’s” Plays

• HistoriesCymbelineHenry IV, Part IHenry IV, Part IIHenry VHenry VI, Part IHenry VI, Part IIHenry VI, Part IIIHenry VIIIKing JohnPericlesRichard IIRichard III

“Shakespeare’s” Plays

Shakespeare’s legacy

Shakespeare contributed over

2,000 words to the English

Language!!!

• accused, addiction, alligator, amazement, anchovies, assassination, backing, bandit, bedroom, bump, buzzers, courtship, critic, dauntless, dawn, design, dickens, discontent, embrace, employer, engagements, excitements, exposure, eyeball, fixture, futurity, glow, gust, hint, immediacy, investments, kickshaws, leapfrog, luggage, manager, mimic, misgiving, mountaineer, ode, outbreak, pageantry, pedant, perusal, questioning, reinforcement, retirement, roadway, rumination, savagery, scuffles, shudders, switch, tardiness, transcendence, urging, watchdog, wormhole, zany

• besmirch, bet, blanket, cake, cater, champion, compromise, cow, denote, deracinate, dialogue, dislocate, divest, drug, dwindle, elbow, enmesh, film, forward, gossip, grovel, hobnob, humour, hurry, impedes, jet, jig, label, lapse, lower, misquote, negotiate, numb, pander, partner, petition, puke, rant, reword, secure, submerge, swagger, torture, unclog

• aerial, auspicious, baseless, beached, bloodstained, blushing, circumstantial, consanguineous, deafening, disgraceful, domineering, enrapt, epileptic, equivocal, eventful, fashionable, foregone, frugal, generous, gloomy, gnarled, hush, inaudible, invulnerable, jaded, juiced, lackluster, laughable, lonely, lustrous, madcap, majestic, marketable, monumental, nervy, noiseless, oscene, olympian, premeditated, promethean, quarrelsome, radiance, rancorous, reclusive, remorseless, rival, sacrificial, sanctimonious, softhearted, splitting, stealthy, traditional, tranquil, unmitigated, unreal, varied, vaulting, viewless, widowed, worthless, yelping

Pictures From

• http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/education-of-william-shakespeare.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare• http://www.davidclaudon.com/Elizabethan/globe.html• http://www.werkes.com/ThingsWeLike/Architecture/England

/TheGlobeTheatreInterior.jpg• http://kellyheng.pbworks.com/f/Globe%20Theatre.jpg• http://virtual.clemson.edu/caah/shakespr/vrglobe/images/Hll

rglbd.jpg• https://mswrede0708.wikispaces.com/file/view/images.jpg/3

1251719/images.jpg