William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare
The Renaissance
•The Renaissance lasted from about 1300 –
1650 A.D.
•The word means “rebirth”- or a return
to ancient Greek and Roman ideas.
•Began in Italy and moved its way to
England.
• Some consider this period a continuation of
the culture and achievements before this
time.
Science
•Major changes and innovations were coming
about during the Renaissance.
•The study of the universe, anatomy, disease
and mechanics became prevalent.
• The study of anatomy, especially, had been
taboo before, many considering it against
the beliefs of the Church.
Science
• Copernicus
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Scientia + Philosophia = knowledge and
love of wisdom
• Human reason
Humanism
• This period allowed for the expression of
the individual as a person, not just as a
messenger of God. It allowed a new
intellectual freedom from the medieval
traditions.
• By Shakespeare’s time (16th Century), this
thinking had reached England.
Erasmus - Humanism
• Belief in developing the “whole man” – the
body and spirit
• Belief in the “perfectibility” of man, the
pleasures of the world here and now, and in
personal freedom.
• Emphasis was placed on free inquiry,
rational examination of religious practices
and a critical attitude toward the church.
Elizabethan Life
• There is a set social order, and people know their
places.
• Large households would have servants:
Grooms/serving men
Serving maids/ladies’ maids
• Sense of dignity: master does not “fetch and
carry”, servant does not allow the master to fetch
and carry.
• A good master is paternalistic but stern
(displaying honorable behavior toward servants).
Country Life
• Very difficult life, like slaves to their landowners
• Could not marry or travel without their landlord’s
permission
• Required to pay a percentage of earnings or profits
back to the landlord
• Lived only to their 30s
• Many diseases, little medicine
• Babies and children often died
Elizabethan Entertainment
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Drinking in pubs/gambling (bear baiting/dog fighting)
Town fairs, contests, sports and games
(peasants needed their masters’ permission to attend).
Minstrels, jugglers, acrobats were popular
Sunday afternoons: bladder ball (soccer), rounders (kind of
like baseball), archery, wrestling
• Nobles: played at tennis (an indoor sport), battledores,
shuttlecocks (badminton), fencing and horse riding (jousts)
Elizabethans and Strangers
• England was wary of strangers or outsiders.
• Black: worked in brothels or were hired as “exotic
servants”. They were regarded with curiosity and
suspicion.
• Black color was associated with ugliness, savagery and sin.
• Jews: In 1290, England deported the Jews en masse to
France. It was another 430 years before they could
establish Jewish communities. Many stayed but hid their
beliefs.
• Amsterdam and Venice flourished at this time, however,
because of their open communities of Jews.
• Money lending was the only job they were legally able to
do.
King Henry and His Wives
• Catherine of Aragon – Divorced
– Mary (Bloody Mary)
• Anne Boleyn – Beheaded
– Elizabeth I
• Jane Seymour – Died
– King Edward
• Anne of Cleves - Divorced
• Catherine Howard - Beheaded
• Catherine Parr - Survived
Henry VIII – 1509-1547
The Tudor Monarchy
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Edward – 1547-1553
Elizabeth I – 1558-1603
James I
Mary – 1553 -1558
During Shakespeare’s time,
Queen Elizabeth I was
queen. She was a
controversial queen in
many ways, primarily
because her father had
gained a divorce and broke
with the Catholic Church in
order to marry her mother,
Anne Boleyn. She was
also controversial because
she never married nor did
she produce an heir.
Shakespeare’s Life
• Very enigmatic – not very reliable or detailed records
kept about his life.
• Born on April 23rd (guess) 1564 – died April 23, 1616
• Baptized April 26th (usually done 3 days after a baby’s
birth).
• Notion was common at the time that great men were
born and died on the same day.
• Questions exist about the actual spelling of his last
name: Shakespeare, Shackerpeare, Shaxpeare?
Shakespeare’s Life
b. 1564 – d. 1616
••Grew up in Stratford-on-Avon, a market town of about 1500
inhabitants
•Son of a well to do tradesman
•Had only a grammar school education
•Marries Anne Hathaway at 18 (she was 26) in November
1582. Their first child was born in May 1583.
•By 21, he had a wife and three children.
•There is no record of him from 1585-1592. In 1592 he
appeared as an actor on the London stage.
His Plays
• Shakespeare wrote 37 plays that spanned a
career of about 20 years.
• He also wrote many long poems and was
well known for his sonnets.
• His most mature plays came after 1598 –
including As You Like It, Twelfth Night,
Othello, Macbeth,Hamlet and King Lear.
Comedy
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Shakespeare wrote many comedies.
In comedy, the protagonist does not die
Main characters usually end up married.
The comedy arises from the situations the
characters are placed in.
• Most of the comedies are love stories and deal in
confusion.
• Very often, the comedies involved identity
swapping and gender disguises.
Tragedy
•Protagonist dies
•Ideals of the “tragic hero” apply
•There is always a villain, usually
who takes advantage of the hero’s
flaw and brings it out into the open
•Villains are almost always caught
and punished.
•There is a belief in “Divine Justice”
– In other words, God would punish
them.
The Plots
• Shakespeare stole most of his plots from other
sources and then added and changed them. He
borrowed from well known myths, other plays and
stories, often of Italian origin.
• Though the plots were often known, it was his use
of language that kept the audience coming back
for more.
• His focus was always on the development of his
characters.
Main Themes
• Main themes include were about the human
condition, showing all sides of people.
Shakespeare believed in discussing people
and their problems.
• Love – forbidden, misguided, disguised and
unrequited
• Revenge
• Fate and destiny
The Playhouse
• Outdoor, plays were done
during daylight hours.
• 3000 person capacity
• No lights, mics or electricity.
• Round theatre.
• No real scenery, curtained
back.
• Lots of great costumes – often
donated by the Royal Family
The Playhouse
• Playhouses (not theaters), were located outside the city
walls (where people went to do “bad things”) on the other
side of the river.
• First theater was called “The Theater” owned by James
Burbage. It opened in 1576.
• Shakespeare’s theater was called “The Globe.” It opened
in 1599.
• It burned down in 1613, but was rebuilt in 1614.
• All theaters in England were demolished in the 1640s by
the Puritans, because acting/theaters were considered
sinful.
Actors
• In 1572, Queen Elizabeth branded all actors
as vagrants and delinquents.
• The only way you could “legally” act was
to have a “noble patron.” This is how
Shakespeare’s troupe came to be known as
the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
Actors
• Acting companies had a maximum of two
weeks to prepare a brand new play.
• Most actors played several roles.
• All actors were male, even for female parts.
• There were no copyright laws, so there was
almost never a full printed copy of the
script.
• Cue scripts were used. (A rolled up script
with just your part and the line before it.)
The Playhouse
•The wealthy sat in the balcony.
•The poor or working class
stood for the entire performance
(3 hours – no intermissions).
They were called
“Groundlings.”
•Refreshments were served
before the show. Usually people
bought beer, nuts and oranges.
These were often thrown at the
actors if the performance was
bad.
•No bathrooms!
Shakespeare in Film
Shakespeare for Teens