Shakespeares

Life
1564-1616

The man
behind
the
legend
ENGLAND
London
Boyhood in Stratford-
Upon-Avon
Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-
Upon-Avon
Parents John and Mary Arden
Shakespeare
Seven brothers and sisters
Grammar School from age 7 to 13
Stratford-Upon-Avon
William Shakespeares Home
Marriage and Life in
London
1582 at age 18 married Anne
Hathaway
1583-1592 ???
1592 (28 years old) went to
London
actor and playwright
first accused of borrowing from
other playwrights
1592-1594 Plague
Shakespeare Prospers
1598 built Globe Theatre
Owned shares in it
Father granted a coat-of-arms
Gentlemen
Recognized as a genius in his own
time
Honored as Actor and
Playwright
Queen Elizabeth dies in 1603
King James I takes the throne
Shakespeares Theatre company
becomes the Kings Company
Member of famous writers group
(Mermaid Tavern)
Death and Burial at
Stratford
1610 retired from theatre
1613 Globe theatre burns down
lost much money but still wealthy
helps rebuild Globe theatre
Dies on April 23, 1616 at age 52
Shakespeares Grave
Did Shakespeare really
write his plays?
Many believe it is impossible for
Shakespeare to have written his
plays
Lacks heights and depths of
passion
could not learn aristocratic sports
and manners
lacked schooling
Secrets of the Sonnets
154 Sonnets, 60 songs
Love, broken trust of friend,
loss of love, forgiveness
friend, dark lady, rival poet
Shakespeares Four Periods
First Period- Apprenticeship (Age 26-30)
Second Period- Mastered his art!
Favorite Romantic Comedy
Third Period- Problem of Evil in the World
Forth Period- Creates a new drama form
Tragicomedy or the dramatic romance
Shakespeare as an
Elizabethan
Queen Elizabeth reigned (1558-1603)
Emerging from the Middle Ages into the
Renaissance
Age was extravagant and brutal
elaborate, ornate clothing, language and
manners
language was growing fast
middle class (stern, moral, and
independent)
Elizabeth I Symbolizes
the Age
Queen Elizabeth Glory of England
To people, she represented beauty and
greatness
one of the most powerful countries in
the world
Queen Elizabeth
1558-1603
Drama in the
Elizabethan Age
After defeating the Spanish Armada,
England became intensely interested in
the past. (Patriotic) Historical plays
thrived.
Playwrights were practical men, bent on
making a living
Plays were written to be acted, not read.
Once a playwright sold his manuscript,
he had no personal right to it.
Shakespeares Plots and
Characters
First reading =quick
Second reading=more leisurely
Plots=romantic, poetic, farfetched,
imaginative, supernatural
Characters=realistic, alive, three
dimensional, powerful and
eternally true
The Elizabethian Theater
Round, wooden, roofless building
Three galleries of seats
Pit (no seats) cost a penny groundlings
Main stage
40 feet wide
27 feet projection into the pit
Recessed inner stage (curtains and balcony)
Music Room
Heaven and a Hell
The Stage Influences on
Shakespeares Methods
Open, free stage=quick changes, rapid action
Encourages speechmaking, passionate
soliloquies
No women actors
Only day time light= speeches about time,
season and weather
(Macbeth=40 such speeches
Closeness of different classes
Shakespeare as a Dramatist
Objective of Plays= give pleasure
Fanciful, imaginative plays
Audience= everyday people, uneducated,
wanted to escape
Wrote in verse=free use of words
His Poetic Greatness
Most quoted writer in the world
diversity of speech from common
men to philosophers
Examples of his Poetry
Critics Rank the Plays
Tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, King
Lear, Othello
Comedies- The Tempest, As You
Like It, The Winters Tale, The
Merchants of Venice, Much Ado
About Nothing, A Midsummer
Nights Dream
Histories- Henry IV, Henry V,
Richard II, Richard III, Henry VIII
Test of Greatness
A great play is one that affects the
audience deeply.
Reasons for his
Popularity
The Great Shakespeare
Collections
Folger Shakespeare Library in
Washington D.C.
Henry E. Huntington Library and
Art Gallery in San Marino,
California
British Museum in London,England
Bodleian Library in Oxford,
England
To be
or
not to be?
Whats the question
To be or not to be?
That is the question!
Wait a second!!!
Whats going on
Be quiet Will!
To my own self be true
And it must follow as the night and the day.
Then thou canst not be false to any man
Web cites for pictures and additional
information on William Shakespeare
http://daphe.palomar.edu/
shakespeare/timeline/genealogy. htm
http://www.shakespeare.com/link. Htm
www.stratford.co.uk/birthplace/
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/Data-
Base/Images/NewGlobe.htm
www.legends.dm.net/shakespeare/macb
eth.htm/
www.britishliterature.com


Tragedy
A serious play or drama typically
dealing with the problems of a
central character, leading to an
unhappy or disastrous ending
brought on, as in ancient drama,
by a fate and a tragic flaw in this
character, or in modern drama,
usually by moral weakness,
psychological maladjustment or
social pressures.
Tragic Hero
A person of high rank who is
brought to eventual ruin by a flaw
in his/her character.

Example: Macbeths tragic flaw is
his ambition which leads him into
a series of bloody and increasingly
indefensible acts.
Comedy
A drama or narrative with a happy ending
or non-tragic theme.
Comedy of manners- depicts and
satirizes the manners and customs of
fashionable society.
High comedy- appeals to and reflects the
life and problems of the upper social
classes, characterized by a witty, sardonic
treatment.
Low comedy- farce, slap stick,burlesque,
horse play
Catharsis
The purging or purifying of the
emotions or relieving of emotional
tension, especially by art. (This
concept was applied originally by
Aristotle to the effects of tragic drama
on the audience.)
Conflict
The struggle or interplay of forces,
that takes place within the story.

The main character may be in
conflict with another person, value
system, fate or with nature.

Plot
The sequence of events that
create and then resolve a conflict.

Plot movement:
Beginning of story
Rising action
Climax (peak tension) or
Crisis (dramatic turning point)
Falling action
(fall of tragic hero)
Resolution or Denouncement
(Point at which conflict ends and
outcome is made clear)
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