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Shakespeare, alias the Bard EQ: How can I apply Shakespeare to today’s world or the world of early America?. Shakespeare. EQ: How can I understand Shakespeare & apply it to my life?. Times.
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Shakespeare, alias the Bard EQ: How can I apply Shakespeare to today’s world or the world of early America? Shakespeare EQ: How can I understand Shakespeare & apply it to my life?
Times • Elizabethan Age (era of peace after 100 Years War with France & the War of Roses, a civil war in England) . . . Time & money for the arts • Renaissance . . . Revival of learning and the arts . . . Mythological allusions . . . Greek unities . . . Many languages known to the learned
Theater: Finance • Sponsors, or patrons (Lord Chamberlain’s Men to the King’s Men) • Business savvy (Queen Elizabeth & King James I – witches/demons/obedience to king) . . . Same King James as KJV of Bible • Groundlings paid 1 penny & stood for 3 hrs. (wanted violence, bawdiness, & humor) • People in balconies paid far more.
Theater: Details • Times: 2 p.m. (flag/light) • Suspension (plague) • Lay-out (thrust stage surrounded by open floor & tiers of balconies) pit – musicians belltower – sound effects 8 or 16-sided called the Globe or “The Big O” outer stage = outside inner stage = inside balcony = bedroom trapdoors in stage = demon/witch drop down from air = angel/fairy
Flags • Black: tragedy • White: comedy • Red: history
Suspension of Disbelief • Def’n = when a reader doesn’t believe but chooses not to disbelieve in order to enter into a story • Required in fantasy and sci-fi, perhaps in adventure/action • Examples: THE TERMINATOR, SPIDERMAN, JAMES BOND
Dramatic Conventions = non-realistic techniques that we accept in order to enter into the story • Verse drama (iambic pentameter) vs. prose (Prose indicated commoner, stupidity or strong emotion usually.) Shakespeare’s view of commoners • Costumes: anachronistic • Actors: men played all parts; acting = disreputable career • Cues: couplet to signal end of scene • Props: minimal!! A viewer had to use his/her imagination. 1 twig = forest; 1 candle = night • Stage
Name a modern-day dramatic convention in movies. Telescoping Bird’s eye view
Shakespeare’s Legacy • Theater • Universal characters, conflicts, & themes • Vocabulary (assassination, bump, and lonely) & aphorisms/quotes (“What’s done is done.” “Sweets for the sweet.” “Dead as a doornail.” “For goodness’ sake.”) • Shakespearean words/phrases • Shakespearean insults