William Shakespeare The World's Most Influential Writer

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William William ShakespeareShakespeare

The World's The World's

Most Influential Most Influential WriterWriter

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Shakespeare is considered the world's greatest dramatist.

LIFE

Much of Shakespeare's life is shrouded in mystery due to the lack of record keeping at that time in England

Born – April 23, 1564…Died – April 23, 1616

Stratford-upon-Avon, EnglandMiddle-Class parents

Shakespeare was 3rd of 8 children

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Great Britain, including England, Shakespeare’s home

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England

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Stratford-Upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born and grew up

London, where Shakespeare’s reputation was born (and where the Globe was located)

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Father was poor, but through ambition and work made something of himself. He married into land (land=money) and later became bailiff (mayor) of the town

1571 – Shakespeare probably (records lost) began attending the King's New School, a grammar school of good quality in Stratford

Teachers at the school were graduates of Oxford University and were very strict with students

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By modern standards school would have been routine and dull

Students spent 9 hours a day at school

School was taught year-round, except for 3 brief holidays

Studies were mainly in Latin

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1575 – The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, visited a nearby town.

Shakespeare might have seen her walk through the street, because a scene very similar to this appeared in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream

• Stratford was a popular spot for traveling acting troupes.

• Kettleworth Castle hosted a huge play festival very near Stratford while Shakespeare was a child.

• It can be assumed Shakespeare was exposed to theater at a young age.

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1582 – Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway – he was 18, she was 26. She gave birth to a daughter the next year.

Little is known about the next 8-10 years of Shakespeare's life – few records exist (Scholars call this period The Lost Years)

Most likely he was in London trying to succeed in the theatre

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Anne HathawayAnne Hathaway’’s Homes Home

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1592 – First evidence that Shakespeare had moved to London and was working in the theater

mid-1592-1594 – outbreak of plague closed the London theaters, so…..

Shakespeare began to write poetry

Became well known for a 14 line poem called a sonnet

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ShakespeareShakespeare’’s Sonnet 18s Sonnet 18Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexionAnd often is his gold complexion dimm'ddimm'd ;;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing courseBy chance or nature's changing course untrimm'duntrimm'd ;;

But thy eternal summer shall not fadeBut thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thouNor lose possession of that fair thou owestowest ;;

Nor shall Death brag thouNor shall Death brag thou wander'stwander'st in his shade,in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thouWhen in eternal lines to time thou growestgrowest ::

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this and this gives life to thee.So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

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1594 – Shakespeare was part of a group that founded the company of players called Lord Chamberlain's Men (later called the King's Men)

Lord Chamberlain's Men was a very successful company of players (actors) – by the turn of the century, they had the:

best actor, Richard Burbagebest theater, The Globebest playwright, W. Shakespeare

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1594-1608 – Shakespeare worked in London as a playwright and actor.

This is the period when he solidified himself as the most popular playwright in London.

He did not gain recognition as an unrivaled genius until later generations studied his works more closely.

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1599 – Shakespeare and his partners built a new theater in a suburb of London. It was called The Globe - his 10% ownership in this theater helped Shakespeare make his fortune

The Globe was one of the largest in the London area – held 3000 spectators (for reference our auditorium holds 1025 people)

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The Globe (outside)

(This is a modern recreation of the theater.)

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Note the open air design. The original Globe would have had a roof made of thatch.

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Note the round shape – all spectators were facing the stage

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The Globe Theater was an ______________ (no roof). Wealthier spectators would sit on benches in the _____________, and those with lesser financial resources (poorer people) would stand in the _________, or the floor of the stage

open air theateropen air theater

galleriesgalleries

pitpit

21Inside view of stage, upper stage, galleries, and the pit.

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pit

Upper stagegalleries

stage

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The first play ever performed at The Globe was Shakespeare’s own “Julius Caesar.”

The Globe would later burn down during a performance of “Henry VIII”. A cannon was fired for special effect in one of the scenes. Some of the sparks landed on the thatch of the roof and created a monstrous fire.

It’s eerie that a Shakespeare play was the first and last performed at The Globe…

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1599-1608 – Period in which Shakespeare wrote the plays which made him famous: comedies Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night; the history Henry V, and great tragediesAntony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello

1608-1616 – Shakespeare most likely split his time between Stratford and London

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Shakespeare wrote only 4 plays during the last 8 years of his life

April 23, 1616 – Shakespeare died and was buried inside the Stratford parish church

Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, which have been divided into comedies, histories, and tragedies

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Trinity Church, burial site of ShakespeareTrinity Church, burial site of Shakespeare

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Burial site, inside the churchBurial site, inside the church

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Scholars have placed his plays into one of four periods:

First Period 15901590--15941594Second Period 15951595--16001600 (This is the

period Romeo and Juliet would have been written.)

Third Period 16011601--16081608Fourth Period 16091609--16131613

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The Theater in Shakespeare ’s Day

Plays were fast paced, lively productions.

A show would normally take _________ minutes

______________ was key, because the plays did not use _________________ as today’s plays do

9090--120120

DialogueDialogue

sets or scenerysets or scenery

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The Theater in Shakespeare ’s Day

Audiences of the time loved wordplay, so Shakespeare’s plays contained lots of ______, ________ and _________

______________ were not allowed to perform on stage, so roles of women would have been played by ______ of ______ whose voices had not changed yet

jokesjokesquipsquips punspuns

WomenWomen

1212--1414boysboys

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Reason for his appeal?

1) understanding of human nature

2) knew people's motivations, desires, fears – still valid 400 years later

3) had to make great use of language because of the conditions of the theater at that time: no lights, no scenery

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4) produced characters that have meaning beyond the time and place of his plays (timeless)

5) created remarkably individual characters for his plays. Kings, pickpockets, drunks, generals, hired killers, shepherds, and philosophers all mingle in Shakespeare's plays

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Significance today

Shakespeare's plays are still extremely popular today

Many of his plays have been made into movies – some several times

Shakespeare "invented" many words that are still used today:lonely academe leapfrog assassin

most serious actors still consider performing Shakespearean plays to be the toughest test of an actor

plays are still read, debated, discussed, made into movies: 400 years after he wrote them

• Have you seen these Shakespeare movies?

“West Side Story” – (Romeo and Juliet)

“10 Things I Hate About You” – (Taming of the Shrew)

“She’s The Man” – (Twelfth Night)

“Much Ado About Nothing”

“The Lion King” – (Hamlet and Richard III)

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