Elizabethan Age and Shakespeare Notes

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Elizabethan Age and Shakespeare Notes
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• Era is named after Elizabeth I, monarch of
  England (1558-1603)
• During her reign, a Renaissance (French for
  re-birth) of the arts and sciences was occurring.
  
• The Renaissance (1350-1600) marked a transition
  from the medieval to the modern world in Western
  Europe.
• English drama produced during this time is known
  as Elizabethan Drama

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• In general, there was not much scenery in
  Elizabethan drama costumes were quite elaborate
  and there were many props
• For example, a pig bladder full of blood was used
  for Juliets death scene in Romeo and Juliet.
• All roles were played by men. Sometimes actors
  had to learn as many as six parts at a time.
• Young boys played the female parts. That is why
  there are few romance scenes on stage.

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Shakespeares Early Life

• Born April 23, 1564
• Birthplace Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon,
  not far from London
• Parents John Shakespeare Mary Arden, from a
  wealthy family
• inherited land to William because he was the
  oldest of eight children

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• Married Anne Hathaway on November 27, 1582 (he
  was 18, she was 26)
• Oldest daughter, Susanna, was born six months
  later
• 1585- twins born - Hamnet and Judith
• Hamnet died at age 11 (profoundly affected
  Shakespeare Hamlet is a variation of that name)

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Shakespeares Career

• He wrote 154 sonnets and two long poems
• He wrote 37 plays.
• Most of his sonnets were written between
  1592-1594 because the theaters were closed due to
  the Black Plague
• By the time he was 32, he was considered the
  best writer of comedy and tragedy
• He died on his 52nd birthday (April 23,1616)

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Public Theaters

• The Globe was the most important of the public
  theaters
• Groundlings, - paid a penny for admission,
  stood in the open court
• Usually from the lower class
• liked to throw food
• yelled at the actors on stage
• and sometimes even sat on the stage, especially
  if they didnt like what they were seeing.
• The higher priced tickets were two and three
  cents.

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History of The Globe

• built in 1599
• seated 2,100 people
• Shakespeare was one of ten owners
• 1613burnt down (waterproof thatch roof caught on
  fire during a performance of Henry VIII--- cannon)

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Background to Romeo and Juliet

• written about 1595
• probably his 13th play
• idea taken from The Tragical History of Romeo
  and Juliet, a poem by Arthur Brooke (1562)
• Unlike his other tragedies, Shakespeare allows
  chance, or fate, to determine the destiny of the
  hero and heroine (Romeo and Juliet) more than
  their tragic flaws do.

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Shakespearean Style and
Figurative Language
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Freytags Pyramid
Act 3 Climax
Ac t 4 Falling Action
Act 2 Rising Action
Act 5 Resolution
Act I Exposition
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Blank Verse

• The chief poetic form Shakespeare used was blank
  verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter.
• Examples Shall I compare thee to a summers
  day?

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• Soliloquies a speech made by an actor who is
  alone on stage, intended to reveal his thoughts
• Asides remarks made by a character that are
  meant to be heard by the audience and perhaps one
  other character on stage, but no one else.
• Asides are usually ironic because they inform the
  audience about something of which the other
  characters are ignorant.

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• Conventions agreements between the artist and
  the audience.
• For example, it was assumed that all characters
  spoke in poetic form unless they were commoners
  the dialogue was meant to be blunt or the
  dialogue was relating serious information (as in
  a royal document or letter).
• Anachronisms out of place objects, customs or
  beliefs.
• For example, the Romans in the play Julius Caesar
  didnt wear Roman attire. Rather they wore
  elaborate Elizabethan costumes.

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• Tragic flaw a flaw, or error, in the tragic
  hero that is the cause of his downfall.
• Foil two contrasting characters, used to
  highlight the differences between the two.

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Simile

• A comparison of two different things or ideas
  through the use of the words like or as.
• It is a stated comparison, where the author says
  one thing is like another
• e.g., The warrior fought like a lion.

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Metaphor

• A direct comparison of two seemingly unlike
  objects
• The author states the one thing is another.
• It is usually a comparison between something that
  is real or concrete and something that is
  abstract.
• e.g., Life is but a dream.

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Personification

• A kind of metaphor which gives inanimate objects
  or abstract ideas human characteristics.
• e.g., The wind cried in the dark.

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Hyperbole

• A deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous
  exaggeration.
• It may be used either for serious or comic
  effect.
• e.g., The shot that was heard round the world.

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Understatement (Meiosis)

• The opposite of hyperbole.
• It is a kind of irony which deliberately
  represents something as much less than it really
  is.
• e.g., I could probably manage to survive on a
  salary of two million dollars per year.

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Paradox

• A statement which contradicts itself. It may seem
  almost absurd.
• Although it may seem to be at odds with ordinary
  experience, it usually turns out to have a
  coherent meaning, and it reveals a truth that is
  normally hidden.
• e.g., The more you know, the more you know you
  dont know.

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Oxymoron

• A form of paradox which combines a pair of
  contrary terms into a single expression.
• This combination usually serves the purpose of
  shocking the reader into awareness.
• e.g., sweet sorrow

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Pun

• A play on words which are identical or similar in
  sound but which have sharply diverse meanings.
• Puns may have serious or humorous uses.
• In Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio is dying, he
  says, Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me
  a grave man.

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Irony contradiction between what is real and
what is expected

• Verbal irony when what is said has a different
  meaning than what is normally intended.
• It is simple to stop smoking. Ive done it many
  times.

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• Situational Irony - When what happens contradicts
  what is expected.
• For example, Romeo tries to make peace with the
  Capulets, ends up killing Tybalt, and is
  banished.
• Dramatic Irony When the audience knows
  something the characters do not.
• For example, we know Juliet is not dead. Romeo
  believes she is dead and stabs himself (dummy).

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Sarcasm

• A type of irony in which a person appears to be
  praising something while he is actually insulting
  it.
• As I fell down the stairs head-first, I heard her
  say, Look at that coordination.

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Antithesis

• A direct contrast of structurally parallel word
  groupings generally for the purpose of contrast
• sink or swim

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Apostrophe

• A form of personification in which the absent or
  dead are spoken to as if present
• Oh William Shakespeare, What dost thou mean by
  thy ramblings?
• Or
• The inanimate is spoken to as if it is animate
  (alive).

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Allusion

• A reference to a mythological, literary,
  historical, or Biblical person, place, or thing.
• Hey Romeo, cool your jets and get your hands off
  my daughter!

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Synecdoche (Si-neck-da-key)

• A form of metaphor
• A part of something is used to signify the whole.
• Also, the reverse can be true where the whole can
  represent the part.
• Canada played the U.S. in the hockey finals. (In
  reality, the Canadian team, played the U.S. team,
  not the entire country.)

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Synecdoche (contd)

• Another form involves the container representing
  the thing being contained.
• the pot is boiling. (In reality, the pot isnt
  boiling, just the water in it).
• Also, it can involve the material from which an
  object is made standing for the object.
• The quarterback tossed the pigskin.

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Metonymy

• The name of one thing is applied to another thing
  with which it is closely associated
• I love Shakespeare.
• (A person doesnt really love the man he really
  means he loves to read Shakespeares plays.)