WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

• April 23, 1564 April 23, 1616
• Stratford-Upon-Avon

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Hell never amount to anything

• Not from a noble family
• Not from a wealthy family
• Did not continue education at University
• Did not mentor with a senior artist
• Did not marry into wealth or prestige
• Acting talent only moderate
• BUT

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Shakespeare is the most widely read and
performed playwright IN THE WORLD
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A FEW RELEVANT FACTS
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Grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon 100 miles from
London
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• Attended newly established public Grammar school
  - studied Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient
  history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, Greek (600
  a.m./700 a.m. 500 p.m.)
• Some ancient stories basis for his plays

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• Age 18 - married Anne Hathaway - she was 26
• Susanna 1583 , Hamnet Judith 1585

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The Lost Years

• 1585 - 1592
• Incomplete, contradictory, unreliable info
• Was in London by 1592 as a writer/actor

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1593 - Theaters closed because of the plague
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1594 became a shareholder in the Lord
Chamberlains Men

• Most popular acting company in London
• Often played before court of Queen Elizabeth

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• Money and fame - returned to Stratford and bought
  2nd largest home in town but still lived in
  London - New Place
• 
  
• 
  Visited family once a year

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1599

• Established Globe Theater
• Polygonal
• Outskirts of London

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1596 son Hamnet died

• Left bulk of his estate to Susanna and Judith
• Left the familys second best bed to his wife,
  Anne

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1603 - King James gave a royal license to
Shakespeare and the company

• They are now known as The Kings Men

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Shakespeares Legacy

• 38 plays
• 154 sonnets
• 2 narrative poems
• The greatest playwright in the English language

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And.

• Invented 1,700 words and phrases
• Provides readers with a handbook for living
  through his plays - TO SEE OURSELVES, TO SEE THE
  WORLD, AND TO ACT
• -a parallel to our world
• -commit ourselves to action
• -awaken our imaginations
• -be generous and assume others are, as well
• -speak out
• -know when we are being manipulated
• -express ourselves

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So what do we have in common with Shakespeares
characters after 400 years?

• We are all-too-human - we are flawed
• We want the same things
• -to feel love and compassion
• -to be loved in return
• -to eat, drink, sleep in peace and safety
• -to survive in a larger world
• -to live a life with meaning that serves the
  greater good

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He was not of an age, but for all time.
Ben Johnson
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ELIZABETHAN THEATER
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• Actors and writers were NOT very respected -
  Puritans felt they fostered immorality
• Regulated by the Office of Revels - no
  politically or socially sensitive material
• All parts were played by males - young boys
  played female parts

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• All plays during the day - 2 hours long
• A flying flag announced the production
• No scenery
• No front curtain - no scene breaks
• No period costumes - only upper-class
  Elizabethan clothing
• Trumpet sounded 3 times to signal beginning

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Shakespeares Theaters
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• Rectangular stage - 70 ft diameter - extended
  into pit
• Stage - 5 ft above pit
• Cover - heavens - equipment to raise and lower
  actors
• Trapdoor - for graves / ghosts
• Tiring house - dressing rooms

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Commoners

• Entrance for the pit 1penny (60cents today)
• Around 3 sides of stage
• Open air
• 800 groundlings stood

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Middle and upper class

• 3 tiers of galleries
• Higher levels higher entrance price
• Best seats 1 shilling (7.00 today)
• Galleries were covered
• Seated _at_1500 spectators

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Gentry

• 12 seats were reserved for gentry
• ON STAGE
• Gentry often got in the way of the actors and
  certainly made obvious their opinion of the play!

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http//www.shakespeares-globe.org/virtualtour/lowe
rgallery/
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More like a rowdy football game than a play!

• Groundlings talked, played cards, drank
• Freely expressed opinion of play
• Threw rotten fruit and vegetables at the
  actors
• Shouted praise - or dislike
• Gentry interacted while seated on the stage

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QUEEN ELIZABETH

• Supported arts and sciences
• Actors gained respect
• Theater performances became more and more popular

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Shakespeare died in Stratford-Upon-Avon on April
23, 1616
He is buried in Holy Trinity Church