Who is William Shakespeare?

1. Who is William Shakespeare?

2. It’s this guy…..

3. Bio • He was born April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, during the Elizabethan era in England • He died April 23, 1616 at the age of 52

4. As a boy he attended a grammar school of good quality, and the education there was free. • The boy's education would consist mostly of Latin studies—learning to read, write, and speak the language fairly well and studying some of the Classical historians, moralists, and poets. • Shakespeare did not go on to the university

5. At age 18 he married Anne Hathaway who was 26. • His daughter Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. • On February 2, 1585, twins were baptized, Hamnet and Judith. (Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died 11 years later.)

6. - After the birth of the twins, there are few historical traces of Shakespeare until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. How Shakespeare spent the next eight years or so, until his name begins to appear in London theatre records, is not known -Because of this gap, scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare's "lost years".

7. Why Read Shakespeare today? • He wrote 37 plays, 154 Shakespearean sonnets and 5 other poems and used about 21,000 different words. • Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 2,000 words into the language.

8. Why is Shakespeare so great? • Shakespeare is probably the best because his writing marks the great turning-point in English literature. His characters are among the first to show their internal thoughts, their 3-dimensional conflicts, and express them in some of the most eloquent speeches and language ever written. The stories he wrote weren't new, but the understanding he brought to the people in them has rarely been surpassed. His characters come alive on the page and on the stage and screen.

9. Plus he created so many words and expressions that we still use today, that he told interesting stories in an interesting way. • There's about a hundred phrases in everyday use that he invented 400 yrs ago

10. Elizabethan Dress

11. The play's the thing • Were plays popular? Who went to plays? Who played female roles? How did Shakespeare introduce comic relief?

12. Yes, plays were VERY popular with some groups of people during the Elizabethan Era but not with local merchants, the Puritans, or the Church • Local merchants were not happy because they lost business because all performances were at 2:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday

13. The Puritans felt that it was necessary for plays to show only the good and holy. • The church was dissatisfied with the theater because it kept people from prayer.

14. Who Attended the theater? • 1. The Nobles (paid to see the plays) • 2. The Merchants (sometimes raised money for theaters) • 3. General Audience (people with low paying jobs) 80% of them paid ½ a penny to stand and watch the play. • The Puritans stood outside the theater (they only wore black, brown or white) and protested holding up signs saying “You are going to hell”.

16. The plays were staged in the afternoons, using the light of day, and the audience surrounded the stage on all sides. • No scenery was used, except for occasional devices such as a throne or a bed. • It was almost impossible not to see the other half of the audience standing behind the players.

17. Women were not allowed to act in plays so boys played the female roles