William Shakespeare 1564-1616

1
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
All the world 's a stage, / And all the men and
women merely players.
2

• Born in Stratford
• The 3rd of 8 kids
• Married at age 18
• (his wife was 26)
• Worked as an actor
• By 1594 at least 6
• plays had been
• published

3
Queen Elizabeth
What do you think she was like?
4
Elizabethan Fashion
"She must be stifling in that thing"
5
The Globe Theater 1599
Burned in 1613
6
The New Globe Theater 1999
7
The Plays

• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Historica

Which plays have you heard of?
8
Comedies

• The Taming of the Shrew
• Much Ado About Nothing
• As You Like I
• Twelfth Night
• Midsummer Nights Dream

9
Tragedies

• Hamlet
• Romeo and Juliet
• Othello
• King Lear
• Macbeth

10
The Sonnets

• Originated in thirteenth-century Italy
• 14 lines long
• Rhyme scheme is abbaabba cdecde

11

• 18
• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
• And summers lease hath all too short a date.
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• By chance or natures changing course untrimmed
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst
• Nor shall death brag thou wanderst in his shade
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
• So long lives this, and this gives life to
  thee.

12
Shakespeares World and Society

13
Legal Status of Women

• Though England was ruled for over forth years by
  a powerful woman, the great majority of women in
  the kingdom had very restricted social, economic,
  and legal standing.
• Why do you think this would happen??

14
English women actually had less restraints than
other women in Europe at that time. Respectable
women could even venture unchaperoned into the
streets and attend the theatre

15
Single Women vs. Married Women

• Single Women
• Whether widowed or unmarried, could, if they were
  full age, inherit and administer land, make a
  will, sign a contract, possess property, sue and
  be sued, without a male guardian or proxy.

• Married Women
• Had no such rights under the common law.

16
Women in Plays

• Young boys would play the roles of females in
  Shakespeares plays.

17
The Enemies of the Stage

• Why should what we now regard as one of the
  undisputed glories of the age have aroused so
  much hostility?

18
Why the hostility?

• 1) The traffic- Plays drew large audiences
• 2) The crowds- Theatre could hold thousands
• 3) The noise
• 4) The crush of carriages
• 5) Public health and crime- Pickpockets and
  prostitutes were common
• 6) Drew a young population- Plays were held
  during the day which drew young people away from
  work

19
Queen Elizabeth takes action

• She drafted a proposal that for the first time
  envisaged a system for the prior review and
  regulation of plays throughout her kingdom.

20

• Could be thought of as the greatest love story in
  all world literature

21
Attributes of Romeo and Juliet

• Trickery, scandal, coincidence, mischance, and
  accident led the play to its climax and
  resolution.
• Romeo and Juliet is built around the well-meaning
  rulers attempt to stop the civil brawls at the
  beginning of the play.

22
Lets get going and read some Shakespeare!!

• Things to remember when reading Shakespeare
• 1) Be patient
• 2) Look up words you do not know
• 3) Stop reading when you are confused
• 4) Dont give up!!!!
• Good Luck and have fun