William Shakespeare

1. William Shakespeare

2. Shakespeare’s Life 1564-1616 The man behind the legend

3. ENGLAND

4. London

5. Boyhood in Stratford-Upon-Avon • Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon • Parents John and Mary Arden Shakespeare • Seven brothers and sisters • Grammar School from age 7 to 13

7. Stratford-Upon-Avon

8. William Shakespeare’s Home

9. Marriage and Life in London • 1582 at age 18 married Anne Hathaway • 1583-1592 ??? • 1592 (28 years old) went to London • actor and playwright • first accused of borrowing from other playwrights • 1592-1594 Plague

10. Shakespeare Prospers • 1598 built Globe Theatre • Owned shares in it • Father granted a coat-of-arms • Gentlemen • Recognized as a genius in his own time

11. Globe Theatre

15. Honored as Actor and Playwright • Queen Elizabeth dies in 1603 • King James I takes the throne • Shakespeare’s Theatre company becomes the King’s Company • Member of famous writer’s group (Mermaid Tavern)

16. Death and Burial at Stratford • 1610 retired from theatre • 1613 Globe theatre burns down • lost much money but still wealthy • helps rebuild Globe theatre • Dies on April 23, 1616 at age 52

17. Shakespeare’s Grave

18. Did Shakespeare really write his plays? • Many believe it is impossible for Shakespeare to have written his plays • Lacks heights and depths of passion • could not learn aristocratic sports and manners • lacked schooling

19. Secrets of the Sonnets • 154 Sonnets, 60 songs • Love, broken trust of friend, loss of love, forgiveness • friend, dark lady, rival poet

20. Shakespeare’s Four Periods • First Period- Apprenticeship (Age 26-30) • Second Period- Mastered his art! • Favorite “Romantic Comedy” • Third Period- Problem of Evil in the World • Forth Period- Creates a new drama form • “Tragicomedy” or the dramatic romance

21. Shakespeare as an Elizabethan • Queen Elizabeth reigned (1558-1603) • Emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance • Age was extravagant and brutal • elaborate, ornate clothing, language and manners • language was growing fast • middle class (stern, moral, and independent)

23. Elizabeth I Symbolizes the Age • Queen Elizabeth Glory of England • To people, she represented beauty and greatness • one of the most powerful countries in the world

24. Queen Elizabeth 1558-1603

25. Drama in the Elizabethan Age • After defeating the Spanish Armada, England became intensely interested in the past. (Patriotic) Historical plays thrived. • Playwrights were practical men, bent on making a living • Plays were written to be acted, not read. • Once a playwright sold his manuscript, he had no personal right to it.

26. Shakespeare’s Plots and Characters • First reading =quick • Second reading=more leisurely • Plots=romantic, poetic, farfetched, imaginative, supernatural • Characters=realistic, alive, three dimensional, powerful and eternally true

27. The Elizabethian Theater • Round, wooden, roofless building • Three galleries of seats • Pit (no seats) cost a penny “groundlings” • Main stage • 40 feet wide • 27 feet projection into the pit • Recessed inner stage (curtains and balcony) • Music Room • Heaven and a Hell

28. The Stage Influences on Shakespeare’s Methods • Open, free stage=quick changes, rapid action • Encourages speechmaking, passionate soliloquies • No women actors • Only day time light= speeches about time, season and weather • (Macbeth=40 such speeches • Closeness of different classes

29. Shakespeare as a Dramatist • Objective of Plays= give pleasure • Fanciful, imaginative plays • Audience= everyday people, uneducated, wanted to escape • Wrote in verse=free use of words

30. His Poetic Greatness • Most quoted writer in the world • diversity of speech from common men to philosophers • Examples of his Poetry

31. Critics Rank the Plays • Tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello • Comedies-The Tempest, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, The Merchants of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream • Histories-Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, Richard III, Henry VIII

32. Test of Greatness • A great play is one that affects the audience deeply.

33. Reasons for his Popularity

34. The Great Shakespeare Collections • Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. • Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, California • British Museum in London,England • Bodleian Library in Oxford, England

35. To be or not to be? What’s the question

36. To be or not to be? That is the question! Wait a second!!! To my own self be true Then thou canst not be false to any man Be quiet Will! What’s going on And it must follow as the night and the day.

37. Web cites for pictures and additional information on William Shakespeare • http://daphe.palomar.edu/ shakespeare/timeline/genealogy. htm • http://www.shakespeare.com/link. Htm • www.stratford.co.uk/birthplace/ • www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/Data-Base/Images/NewGlobe.htm • www.legends.dm.net/shakespeare/macbeth.htm/ • www.britishliterature.com

38. Tragedy • A serious play or drama typically dealing with the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy or disastrous ending brought on, as in ancient drama, by a fate and a tragic flaw in this character, or in modern drama, usually by moral weakness, psychological maladjustment or social pressures.

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

40. Comedy • 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

41. Catharsis • The purging or purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tension, especially by art. (This concept was applied originally by Aristotle to the effects of tragic drama on the audience.)

42. Conflict • The struggle or interplay of forces, that takes place within the story. • The main character may be in conflict with another person, value system, fate or with nature.

43. Plot Plot movement: • The sequence of events that create and then resolve a conflict. 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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