Introduction to Shakespeare

1. Introduction to Shakespeare

2. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE An Introduction to the Playwright and his Play, Romeo & Juliet

3. Biographical Information • Born: Stratford-Upon Avon, England April 23, 1564 • Parents, John and Mary (Arden) • Married Anne Hathaway, November, 1582 • Three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith Shakespeare’s Birthplace

4. William Shakespeare • Born 1564, died 1616 • Wrote 37 plays • Wrote over 150 sonnets • Actor, poet, playwright

5. 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.

6. Types of Plays • Shakespeare wrote: • Comedies - light and amusing, usually with a happy ending • Tragedies –serious dramas with disastrous endings • Histories – involve events or persons from history

7. Performing a Shakespearean Play • Protestant Church, City officials opposed theaters due to crime, bawdy subject matter, fighting, drinking, and up to 3,000 people in one place to spread Bubonic Plague • Theaters also used for bear-baiting and gambling • 1596 Plague caused London to ban all public plays and Theatres within the City limits • All actors were men because theaters too disreputable for women • Little emphasis on scenery, more attention on costumes, though most were contemporary due to cost • Much of the audience watched from the ‘pit’ as groundlings - poor workers who went for the entertainment of alcohol, fights, prostitution, and lewd subject matter of the plays. Often threw food at the actors onstage.

8. Shakespeare’s Theatre • “The Globe Theatre, also known as the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, was not only one of most famous playhouses of all time, but the play house where Shakespeare performed many of his greatest plays. Built from oak, deal, and stolen playhouse frames, the 3 story, 3000 capacity Globe Theatre, co-owned by William Shakespeare has become almost as famous as the playwright himself.” ( Absolute Shakespeare)

9. The Theatre • The Globe Theatre: • Open ceiling • Three stories high • No artificial lighting • Plays were shown during daylight hours only

10. The Stage In Shakespeare’s Time • A show lasted about 2 ½ hours, usually in open air theatres during the afternoon. • There were no acts, but frequent 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.

11. The Stage In Shakespeare’s Time (continued) • There were no actresses. All parts were played by men or boys. • There were no programs. • The closeness of stage to the audience led to use of "asides" and "soliloquies“. • In front of stage was a big open area where the "penny-public" stood to watch as they could not afford seats.

12. Spectators • Wealthy people got to sit on benches • The poor (called “groundlings”) had to stand and watch from the courtyard • There was much more audience participation than today

13. Actors • 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

14. Importance to English • Over 12,000 words entered English between 1500 - 1650 • Shakespeare’s plays show the first recorded use of 2,035 new English words • Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear have one ‘new’ word every 2.5 lines • He created: “antipathy, critical, frugal, dwindle, extract, horrid, vast, hereditary, critical, excellent, eventful, assassination, lonely, leapfrog, indistinguishable, well-read, and countless others (including countless)” (Bryson loc. 1396-1406).

15. Understanding Shakespearean English • Read through the insults and compliments and try some of your own • What do you think some of them would have looked like? Draw a picture of your meanest insult or your nicest compliment and explain what it is you’ve called your friend (or enemy)

16. Shakespeare’s EnglishContinued The following phrases were coined by Shakespeare. What do they mean and how do we use them today. Choose at least four of them to use in your own creative story: A laughing stock (The Merry Wives of Windsor) A sorry sight (Macbeth) As dead as a doornail (Henry VI) Eaten out of house and home (Henry V, Part 2) Fair play (The Tempest) I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello) In a pickle (The Tempest) In stitches (Twelfth Night) In the twinkling of an eye (The Merchant Of Venice) Mum's the word (Henry VI, Part 2) Neither here nor there (Othello) Send him packing (Henry IV) Set your teeth on edge (Henry IV) There's method in my madness (Hamlet) Too much of a good thing (As You Like It) Vanish into thin air (Othello)

17. Points of Shakespeare's Style: • Use of metaphors– comparing something in terms of something else, i.e. "That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder". • Use of soliloquies– usually longer speeches given by characters when alone on stage– e.g. a person talking to himself out loud. • Use of asides– when a character says something to the audience, but the other characters on stage cannot hear it, e.g. like muttering to himself.

18. Points of Shakespeare’s Style:(continued) • Use of sonnets– a very rigid poetic style of writing. Fourteen lines consisting of three sets of four line quatrains and a two line rhyming couplet at the end. Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, e.g. • Use of puns– humourous plays on words indicating different meanings. • i.e. the Cobbler says, "A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed a mender of bad soles.” A cobbler is a mender of shoes or a bungler.

19. Romeo and Juliet • Considered a tragedy • Tells the story of two teenagers who risk everything for love • Shakespeare is exploring which is stronger: love or hate

20. The Montagues Lord Montague – father of Romeo Lady Montague – mother of Romeo Romeo Montague – in love with Juliet Benvolio – nephew of Montague and friend of Romeo Balthasar – servant to Romeo Abram – servant to Montague

21. The Capulets Lord Capulet – father of Juliet Lady Capulet – mother of Juliet Juliet Capulet – in love with Romeo Tybalt – nephew of Lady Capulet Nurse – takes care of Juliet Peter – servant to Juliet’s Nurse

22. Other Characters Prince Escalus – ruler of Verona Mercutio – kinsman of the Prince and friend of Romeo Friar Laurence – a Franciscan priest Friar John – another Franciscan priest Count Paris – a young nobleman

23. Things to think about… • What would you do if your parents did not approve of someone you were dating? • How important is the opinion of your family in decisions that you make? • Does violence solve problems?