Introduction to Shakespeare

1. Introduction to Shakespeare

2. Some questions to ponder • Think and write about a time when… • Your desires have conflicted with those of your parents. • You liked someone who did not like you back. • You had a misunderstanding with your best friend. • You have been so involved in a movie that you temporarily forgot it was not real.

3. Biographical Information • Born: Stratford-Upon Avon, England April 23, 1564 – Died 1616 • Parents, John and Mary (Arden) • Wrote 37 plays • Wrote over 150 sonnets • Actor, poet, playwright • Married Anne Hathaway, November, 1582 • Three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith Shakespeare’s Birthplace

4. The Bard Playwright, Poet, Actor • Sometime in the 1580's William Shakespeare left his family to pursue a career as a playwright, poet, and actor in London. • His success was immense. Shakespeare is known to have written 154 sonnets and 37 plays. • In fact, so prolific was Shakespeare as a writer of sonnets, that a sonnet form has been named for him. The Shakespearean sonnet is 14 lines long with a rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef,gg.

5. Sonnet: Example A When my love that she is made of truth, B I do believe her, though I know she lies, A That she might think me some untutored youth, B Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties. C Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, D Although she knows my days are past the best, C Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue; D On both sides thus is simple truth supprest. E But wherefore says she not she is unjust? F And wherefore say not I that I am old? E Oh, love’s best habit is in seeming trust, F And age in love loves not to have years told: G Therefore I lie with her and she with me, G And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

6. The Globe Theatre • Built in 1599 • co-owned by William Shakespeare has become almost as famous as the playwright himself.” • Open ceiling • Three stories high • 2 large doors at the back of the stage: actors made entrances and exits in full view of audience • Trap doors also for entrances and exits • Built from oak, deal, and stolen playhouse frames • No sets, few props – WORDS set the scene • No artificial lighting • daytime performances

7. The Stage In Shakespeare’s Time • A show lasted about 2 ½ hours, usually in open air theatres during the afternoon. • There were no intermissions. • There was no scenery, but elaborate props and costumes to give reality. • Devices such as trap doors and scaffolds were used to make gods, witches, etc. disappear.

8. The Theatre

9. Actors • Not a respected profession! • Operated in repertory troupes (same people all the time) • Only men and boys • Young boys whose voices had not changed played the women’s roles • It would have been indecent for a woman to appear on stage • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha6-15TVQOM

10. Spectators • Wealthy people got to sit on benches • The poor (called “groundlings”) had to stand and watch from the courtyard called ‘the pit’. It cost 1 penny. • Audience was expected to talk back to the actors; they might even throw rotten fruit if they didn’t like the performance • Plays were composed with something for everyone – nobles to commoners (elevated language, comic relief) • Language trumped spectacle: You didn’t go to “see” a play, you went to “hear” a play • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBSmuTIozbs&feature=related

11. Types of Plays • Shakespeare wrote: • Comedies - light and amusing, usually with a happy ending • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing • Tragedies –serious dramas with disastrous endings • Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello • Histories – based on events or persons from history • Henry V, Richard III, Julius Caesar

12. Tragedies and Comedies • Five-act plays. (Modern plays have 1-3 acts.) • Written mostly in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter – 10 syllables per line).

13. Speaking Like Shakespeare • You are quoting Shakespeare if you say: • ‘Too much of a good thing’ (As You Like It) • ‘a method to his madness’ (Hamlet) • ‘eating me out of house and home’ (Henry IV) • ‘It’s all Greek to me’ (Julius Caesar) • ‘vanish into thin air’ (Othello) • ‘in a pickle’ (The Tempest) • ‘green-eyed monster’ (Othello)

14. Language • Used over 20,000 words in his works • The average writer uses 7,500 • The English Dictionary of his time had only 500 words • He’s credited with creating 3,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary • Some examples: suspicious, obscene, generous, lonely, majestic

15. Verse vs. Prose: Usage • Poetic style of verse used for high status characters, great affairs of war and state, and tragic moments. • Prose used for low status characters (servants, clowns, drunks, villains), proclamations, written challenges, accusations, letters, comedic moments, and to express madness.

16. Verse vs. Prose Verse: Poetic language that includes meter and sometimes rhyme; organized in lines with a consistent number of syllables Prose: Ordinary written language with no meter or rhyme; organized in sentences

17. “Sir, he’s rash and very sudden in choler, and haply may strike at you. Provoke him that he may, for even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny, whose qualification shall come into no true taste again but by the displanting of Cassio” (2.1.294-298). “Most potent, grave, and reverend signoirs, My very noble and approved good masters: That I have ta’en away this old man’s daughter, It is most true; true I have married her” (1.3.91-94). Prose Verse

18. Meter and Rhyme • METER • Two-SYLLABLE METRIC FEET • Iamb - Bah BOOM (unstressed/stressed) • Trochee – BOOM bah (stressed /unstressed) • FEET PER LINE • Five feet per line – pentameter • Four feet per line - tetrameter • RHYME • Blank verse: unrhymed, regular meter • Couplet: a pair of rhymed lines • VERSE vs. PROSE • Verse = poetry (lines) • Prose = “regular” speech (paragraphs)

19. Iambic Pentameter Iamb: unstressed syllable, stressed syllable ˘ / Pentameter: Lines of five iambic feet; 10 syllables Example: ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

20. Shakespeare's Usage of Language • Unusual word arrangement: In Shakespeare’s day, word order was not as fixed as it is today. Shakespeare could put adjectives after nouns, and verbs before their subjects. • To make sense of Shakespeare’s language, first locate the subject, verb, and object. Then, rearrange them in the order that makes most sense. • Subject/Verb/Object • Iatethe sandwich. • Object/Verb/Subject • The sandwichate I.

21. Shakespeare’s Usage of Language • Omissions: For the sake of poetry, Shakespeare often left out syllables, pieces of words, and sometimes even whole words. • We do this in language today! • "Been to class yet?""No.  Heard Ulen's givin' a test.""Wha'sup wi'that?" • "Have you been to class yet?""No, I have not been to class.  I heard that Mrs. Ulen is giving a test today.""What is up with that?“ • Shakespearean Omissions • oft ~ often • ‘tis ~ it is • “Steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night -- “

22. Shakespeare’s Usage of Language • Deceptive words: words that are still used today but have much different meanings than when Shakespeare used (or invented!) the words. • Shakespeare’s vocabulary included 30,000 words • Today, our vocabularies average between 6,000 – 15, 000 words

23. Figurative Language • Simile: a direct comparison between two things that aren’t really alike. A simile uses the words LIKE or AS to make the comparison. • She fought fiercely, like a lioness protecting her cub. • Metaphor: an indirect comparison between two things that aren’t really alike. A metaphor links two things in a sentence without using like or as. (a symbol) • “All the world’s a stage.” - Shakespeare • Personification: writing about ideas or inanimate things as though they are living creatures. • The moonlight danced on the ocean waves. • Hyperbole: exaggeration • We waited an eternity to get our lunch order. • Idiom: a common phrase made up of words that can’t be understood by their literal, or ordinary meaning. • Break a leg.

24. Creating Rhythm • Alliteration: the repetition of a particular sound or letter. • Sheila sold seashells by the sea shore. • Assonance: repeated vowel sounds • Breathe and sneeze and wheeze please.

25. Aside, Monologue, and Soliloquy Aside: a character’s remark, either to the audience or another character, that other characters on stage are not supposed to hear Monologue: an extended speech by a single character that is uninterrupted by others Soliloquy: a speech a character gives when s/he is alone on stage

26. Foil A character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work

27. Allusion • Allusion: reference to an event, person, place, or another work of literature • Shakespeare’s work contains numerous allusions to Greek and Roman mythology.

28. Top 10 reasons why you should read it… • Shakespearean insults can be very useful. • Walt Disney’s fairy characters are probably derived from the fairies in MSND. • Felix Mendelssohn’s famous “Wedding March” music comes from his musical rendition of MSND. • Even though it was written over 400 years ago, the themes are still relevant today. • Nine out of ten 8th graders surveyed say the like reading and acting out the play. • It is has funny characters and a humorous plot. • Shakespeare introduced about 3,000 new words into the English language! • Shakespearean English is not that different from the English we speak today. • There are some books that you just have to read. • Because I know you will enjoy it!

29. A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written in 1594, early in Will’s career • This is a play about “poets, lovers, and madmen,” all of whom live in their imaginations. Shakespeare’s audiences assumed that: • On Midsummer Night …. • Fairies and sprites were especially powerful • People had especially vivid dreams • People were more susceptible to both love and insanity (perhaps because love was considered a form of insanity!) • A dream could be … • A fantasy • A nightmare • The work of fairies • A way to work through problems

30. Four Groups of Characters Intersect in the Play • Two Rulers and an Angry Father • Theseus, Duke of Athens, engaged to • Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons • Egeus, father of Hermia • Four Lovers • Hermia and Lysander are in love • Helena loves Demetrius, who loves Hermia (oh-oh) • Six Mechanicals – common tradesmen • Bottom, Quince, Flute, Snug, and others • Three Fairies, along with their courts & an Indian boy • King Oberon, feuding for custody with the boy with • Queen Titania • Oberon’s right-hand sprite, Robin Goodfellow (also called Puck)

31. Athens Daytime Order Reason Law Theseus & Hippolyta are characters in ancient Greek legend Magic Forest Nighttime Chaos Passion Anarchy Robin Goodfellow is a character in Renaissance English fairy lore The Two Worlds of the Play

32. The main themes of the play • What is love? • How and why do people fall in and out of love? • Are lovers in control of their destinies? • What is more real, the “daylight” world of reason and law or the “nighttime” world of passion and chaos? • From Study Guide for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Glencoe-McGraw-Hill

33. There are three basic sub-plots • Sub-plot A: The Lovers • Hermia loves Lysander, but is being forced to marry Demetrius. • Demetrius loves Hermia, but she does not love him. • Helena loves Demetrius, but he no longer loves her. • Helena tells Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander plan to meet in the forest and run away together, hoping this will make him favor her. • Demetrius heads into the forest to find them. • Helena follows Demetrius into the forest.

36. Sub-plot B: The Fairies Meanwhile, in the forest… Oberon (King of the Fairies) is arguing with Titania (the Fairy Queen), because he wants to adopt the orphan child she has raised from infancy. He devises a plan to use a magic flower to trick Titania into giving him the child. When the nectar from the flower is placed in someone’s eyes while sleeping, they fall in love with the first person they see upon waking. He sends his servant, Puck, to find the magic flower and use it on Titania. While Puck is obtaining the flower, Oberon overhears Helena and Demetrius arguing and decides to help them resolve their dispute with the powers of the magic flower. He instructs Puck to find Demetrius and place some flower nectar in his eyes too.

37. Sub-plot C: The Mechanicals Finally, the play! No, not the play, but the play "Pyramus and Thisbe", being performed by a group of morons, most notably the town Weaver, Bottom. He, apparently, is the veteran actor, or so they seem to think. Rather, so he seems to think, because he also seems to think that he could play any and all of the parts.

38. Character GroupsChoose one (or maybe two) boxes– your group is responsible for the character/characters throughout the play