Shakespeare 1558-1603

1. Shakespeare1558-1603 By Brandon Pyle and Logan O’bryan

2. Hidden gems from the Shakespeare period: phrases • “A countenance more in sorrow than anger.” • “A fool’s paradise.” • “All of a sudden.” • “A sorry sight.” • “All’s well that ends well.” • “As dead as a doornail.” • “But, for my own part, it was Greek to me.”

3. Historical events • 1588 – English Navy defeats the Spanish Armada. • 1593- London Theater is closed because of bubonic plague. • 1599 – The Globe Theater is built. • 1600 – First production of Julius Ceaser. • 1603 – Queen Elizabeth dies. • 1604 – First performance of Othello. • 1644 – Globe Theater demolished by the Puritans.

4. Conventions of the time • Women could not act in plays; if there was a woman’s role, it was played by a man. • Women could not enter professions, but could do domestic work. • Women could not vote. • Society was patriarchal.

5. Discoveries • Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe. • Martin Frobisher explored the Arctic. • The abandoned colony Roanoke Island was established in 1587. • William Gilbert published his seminal study on magnetism, De Magnete, in 1600.

6. Important People • Queen Elizabeth • William Shakespeare • Francis Bacon • Sir Francis Drake • Walter Raleigh • John Dee • Mary Queen of Scots

7. Major Writers and Texts • John Lyly (Euphues and His Anatomy of Wit) • William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, etc) • Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queene) • Christopher Marlowe (The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus)