William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

• Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English
  Literature

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What play does it come from?

• To be, or not to be that is the question
• -Hamlet

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What play does it come from?

• "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by
  any other name would smell as sweet
• -Romeo Juliet

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What play does it come from?

• "Et tu, Brute!
• -Julius Caesar

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What play does it come from?

• "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle
  us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not
  die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
• -Merchant of Venice

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What play does it come from?

• "All the world 's a stage, and all the men and
  women merely players. They have their exits and
  their entrances And one man in his time plays
  many parts"
• -As you like it

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Shakespeares Life

• 1564-1616
• Stratford-on-Avon, England
• wrote 37 plays
• Also wrote 154 sonnets
• started out as an actor

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Marriage and Life in London

• 1582 at age 18 he married Anne Hathaway (not the
  actress) who was 8 years older than he.
• Had a daughter born 6 months after they were
  married (do the math) also had twin sons, one of
  whom (Hamlet) died at age 11
• 1592 (28 years old) went to London
• actor and playwright
• accused of borrowing from other playwrights
• 1592-1594 Plague

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Globe Theatre

• Built by Shakespeare's theatre company in 1598
• Could hold several thousand people
• Used flags to let the people know the days and
  genres of the plays to be shown
• Black tragedy
• White comedy
• Red history
• Burnt to the ground in 1613 when a special
  effects cannon caught the roof on fire
• Rebuilt (globe 2 ) in 1614

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The Theater

• Plays produced for the general public
• Roofless (open air)
• No artificial lighting
• Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries

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Spectators

• Wealthy had benches
• Groundlings poorer people stood and watched
  from the courtyard (pit)
• All but wealthy were uneducated and illiterate
• Much more interaction than today

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Staging Areas

• Stage platform that extended into the pit
• second-level gallery upper stage (famous
  balcony scene in R J)
• Trap doors were for the ghosts to appear from

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Differences

• No scenery
• Setting was just references in dialogue
• Elaborate costumes
• Plenty of props
• Fast-paced, 2 hours!

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Actors

• Only men and boys
• Young boys whose voices had not changed play
  womens roles
• Would have been considered indecent for a woman
  to appear on stage

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Elizabethan (QE1) Words

• An,and If
• Anon Soon
• Aye Yes
• But Except for
• Een Even
• Eer Ever

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QE1 Words (contin.)

• Haply Perhaps
• Happy Fortunate
• Hence Away, from her
• Hie Hurry
• Marry Indeed

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QE1 Words (contin.)

• Whence Where
• Wilt Will, will you
• Withal In addition to
• Would Wish

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Shakespearean Terms/definitions

• Some of these you already know

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Shakespeare wrote 3 genres of plays

• Comedies
• Histories
• Tragedies

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Comedy(Shakespearean)

• A drama or narrative with a happy ending or
  non-tragic theme.
• Comedy of manners- depicts and satirizes the
  manners and customs of fashionable society.
• High comedy- appeals to and reflects the life and
  problems of the upper social classes,
  characterized by a witty, sardonic treatment.
• Low comedy- farce, slap stick, burlesque, horse
  play

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History (Shakespearean)

• Plays based on the lives of English kings.
• Shakespeare's source for most of these historical
  plays was Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of
  English History.
• Other plays such as King Lear and Macbeth are
  commonly regarded as tragedies instead, because
  they are either
• not English (Macbeth was Scottish)
• older historical figures.

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Tragedy (Shakespearean)

• Drama where the central character (s) suffer
  disaster/great misfortune
• In many tragedies, downfall results from
• Fate
• Character flaw/Fatal flaw
• Combination of the two

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Tragic Hero

• A person of high rank who is brought to eventual
  ruin by a flaw in his/her character.
• Example Macbeths tragic flaw is his ambition
  which leads him into a series of bloody and
  increasingly indefensible acts.

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Plot

• The sequence of events that create and then
  resolve a conflict.

Plot movement
Climax (peak tension) or Crisis (dramatic turning
point)
Falling action (fall of tragic hero)
Rising action
Resolution or Denouncement (Point at which
conflict ends and outcome is made clear)
Beginning of story
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Exposition

• The plot usually begins introducing
• setting
• characters
• basic situation

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Inciting Moment

• Often called initial incident
• the first bit of action that occurs which begins
  the plot
• Romeo and Juliet lock eyes at the party

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Conflict

• The struggle that develops
• man vs. man
• man vs. himself
• man vs. society
• man vs. nature

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Crisis

• The point where the protagonists situation will
  either get better or worse

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Climax

• The turning point of the story
• Thus begins the falling action

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Resolution

• The end of the central conflict

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Denouement

• The final explanation or outcome of the plot
• If this is included in literature, it will occur
  after the resolution.

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Static Characters

• Characters within a story who remain the same.
  They do not change. They do not change their
  minds, opinions or character.
• Example Caesar

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Dynamic Character

• Characters that change somehow during the course
  of the plot, generally for the better.
• Example Antony or Cassius

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Monologue

• One person speaking on stage (not necessarily
  alone on stage)
• Example Antonys funeral speech

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Soliloquy

• Long speech expressing the thoughts of a
  character alone on stage.
• Well, Brutus, thou art noble yet I see thy
  honorable mettle may be wrought from that it is
  disposed Therefore it is meet That noble minds
  keep ever with their likes for who so firm that
  cannot be seduced? Caesar doth bear me hard, but
  he loves Brutus. If I were Brutus now and he were
  Cassius, He should not humor me. Cassius
  soliloquy about Brutus Act 1 Sc 2

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Aside

• Words spoken, usually in an undertone not
  intended to be heard by all characters
• Example Cassius speaking to Brutus about Antony
  during Act 3 scene 1

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Pun

• Humorous use of a word with two meanings
• Examples
• ACT 1 Scene 1 I am a mender of soles (souls)
• ACT 3 Scene 1 Oh world you were a forest to
  this deer, and this deer, oh world, was your
  dear.

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Dramatic Irony

• A contradiction between what a character thinks
  and what the reader/audience knows to be true
• Example Caesar thinking that the Senate is going
  to give him a crown on March 15th

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Situational Irony

• An event occurs that directly contradicts the
  expectations of the characters, the reader, or
  the audience
• Example Antony planning to go against the
  Senate after he told them he was on their side.