Shakespeare

Shakespeare

Life in Elizabethan Times

Filling the timeThere is nothing as dangerous as a bored nobleman.

These are some of the ways a courtier at Court might fill his or her time.

• Gossip.• Attend the Theatre.• Have players in.• Take lessons.• Embroider.• Play board or card games.• Sing.• Prepare a presentation.• Visit Tailor.• Sit for a portrait.• Visit Bear pit.• Practice riding and other Tourney sports.

Form of address for non-nobles

• Gentry• Gentles• Yeoman• Tradesmen• Craftsmen• Peasants• Knights

Patronage• Young men go to Court to find a Patron

Patron

Young Man

Woman• A noble lady has waiting

woman.• Helps unmarried girls find

suitable husbands.• Take care of the household

and children with the help of gentlewomen.

RanksThe ordinary ranking of the English Court, disregarding various offices, parents, patents, or orders of knighthood is as follows:

Men WomenDuke DuchessMarquis (MAR-kwis) Marchioness

(MAR- shon-ess)

Earl CountessViscount (vEYE-count) Viscountess

(vEYE- count-ess)

Baron BaronessKnight Knight's lady

Honour and Duelling

Tempers were short and weapons easy to hand. The basic characteristics of the nobility, like those of the poor, were ferocity and childishness and lack of self control.

-Lawrence Stone in “Crisis ofThe Aristocracy.”

In homesNames Marriage and Family

• Boys may marry at 14, and girls at 12.

• A brides parents must give her husband a dowry.

• Englishmen do not have a middle name.

• The most common for girls are those of Henry VIII's wives and daughters: Katherine, Anne, Jane, Mary, and Elizabeth.

• Rather than waste a name when a child dies, the next child may be given the same one

In general• Children are the property of their

parents.• Wives are the property of their

husbands.• Widows can own and run their own

businesses.• Divorce is very difficult as a Protestant.• Male primogeniture is the rule.• A bastard is a child born out of wedlock

and is deemed illegitimate.

Ingatestone Hall – latter 1500’s

England

London• The river Thames ran through

the city and had only one bridge across it.

• Criminals were chained to the banks of the river.

• Houses were crammed together and the streets were slimy with the contents of chamber pots that were thrown out windows.

• The city was full of loud noises.• No one drank water. Ale was

the standard drink and the better sort drank wine.

Food• In general people ate 2 meals a day;

• Dinner around midday• Supper in the evening

• Those who woke early would eat in the morning as well.

• Wine was sweet and heavy and would have to be strained before being drunk. Beer was made without hops and was usually flat.

Religion• The official religion was the Church of

England.• Being Roman Catholic was not a crime,

but there was a fine for not attending Protestant services.

• It was illegal to be a Catholic Priest in England.

Schooling• Only boys went to school.• Girls education was at home.• Richer families hired private tutors.

Time Activity

6:00am School Starts

9:00am Breakfast

9:15am Back to work

11:00am Dinner

1:00pm Afternoon session

5:00pm School Ends

MonarchyMost of Shakespeare's career unfolded during the monarchy of Elizabeth I, the Great Virgin Queen from whom the historical period of the Bard's life takes its name as the Elizabethan Age.

The man himself

William Shakespeare

Born: 23rd April 1564

Died: 23rd April 1616

Place: Stratford-on-Avon

England in the 16th Century• Was mainly

rural.• Pop: 3 million• Economy was

mainly agricultural

• Time of fear and upheaval

ParentsMother:Mary Arden –

daughter of a local gentry.

Father:John

Shakespeare – a glover and tenant farmer of yeoman class.

Shakespeare's eventual fame and success spilled over to his parents in the form of both money and title. On the eve of John Shakespeare’s death in 1601, Queen Elizabeth granted the Bard's father a "gentleman's" family coat-of-arms.

Family Tree

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Education• Probably attended Stratford Grammar

School where he would have learnt:• Greek and Latin Literature• Rhetoric• Christian ethics

• Left school in 1579 at the age of 15.• Did not attend university and was not

considered to be a truly learned man.

After school• In 1582 (18yrs) he married Anne Hathaway who

was 8yrs his senior.• 6 months later their daughter Susanna was born.

2yrs after that, twins Hamnet and Judith arrived.• Speculation has that Shakespeare was not happy

in his marriage.• There is a period of 7 years (1585- 1592) from

which there is no primary source materials about Shakespeare.

• During this time he travelled back and forth between London and Stratford, and by the time sources can be found again he was living almost full-time in London.

Life in London• Before he took up a career as a

playwright Shakespeare had many and varied other jobs.

• He most probably worked with his father in commercial trade, as a law clerk and served as a soldier or sailor as England was threatened by Spain.

His plays• Between the early 1590’s and 1620’s

Shakespeare composed the most extraordinary body of works in the history of world drama.

• He moved roughly from comedies to histories to tragedies.

• His farewell to the stage was The Tempest.

Title Date Written Date Range First PublishedThe Comedy of Errors 1590 ? - 1594 1623Titus Andronicus 1590 ? - 1594 1594The Taming of the Shrew 1591 ? - 1594 16232 Henry VI 1591 ? - 1592 15943 Henry VI 1591 ? - 1592 15951 Henry VI 1592 ? - 1592 1623Richard III 1592 1592 - 1597 1597Love's Labor's Lost 1593 ? - 1597 1598Two Gentlemen of Verona 1593 ? - 1598 1623A Midsummer Night's Dream 1594 1594 - 1598 1600Romeo and Juliet 1595 ? - 1597 1597Richard II 1595 1595 - 1597 1597King John 1596 ? - 1598 1623The Merchant of Venice 1596 1594 - 1598 1600Henry IV Part 1 1597 1595 - 1598 1598The Merry Wives of Windsor 1597 1597 - 1602 1602Henry IV Part 2 1598 1596 - 1598 1600As You Like It 1598 1598 - 1600 1623Henry V 1599 1599 1600

Much Ado About Nothing 1599 1598 - 1600 1600

Julius Caesar 1599 1598 - 1599 1623

Twelfth Night 1600 1600 - 1602 1623

Hamlet 1601 1599 - 1601 1603

Troilus and Cressida 1602 1601 - 1603 1609

All's Well That Ends Well 1603 1598 - ? 1623

Measure For Measure 1604 1598 - 1604 1623

Othello 1604 1598 - 1604 1622

King Lear 1605 1598 - 1606 1608

Macbeth 1605 1603 - 1611 1623

Antony and Cleopatra 1606 1598 - 1608 1623

Timon of Athens 1606 1598 - ? 1623

Pericles Prince of Tyre 1607 1598 - 1608 1609

Coriolanus 1608 1598 - ? 1623

Cymbeline 1609 1598 - 1611 1623

A Winter's Tale 1610 1598 - 1611 1623

The Tempest 1611 1610 - 1611 1623

Henry VIII 1613 1612 - 1613 1623

Personal Tragedy• As Shakespeare’s success and

popularity were on the rise, his son Hamnet died in 1596 from drowning.

The Globe Theatre• The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by

Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.

• A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 230 metres from the site of the original theatre.