Shakespeare & Elizabethan Times

1. Shakespeare & Elizabethan Times

2. Why Shakespeare? • Shakespeare wrote about: • Universal themes • The ugly side of people—the messy inside part that we sometimes try to hide • For example…

3. Richard III • Richard III is a Duke. He’s extremely ticked at the world because, while he’s very intelligent, he’s horribly deformed. • What happens to him? • He decides to take it out on the world—or, at least, his world.

4. Queen Margaret to Richard III:“Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog,Thou that wast sealed in thy nativityThe slave of nature and the son of hell.Thou slander of thy heavy mother’s womb.Thou loathed issue of thy father’s loins.Thou rag of honour, thou detested—”

5. Richard III cont… • He has developed friends by pretending to be nice. • He will not let anything get in his way—he doesn’t care about others. He even says that he’s “determined to prove a villain.” • He kills two men, then marries their daughter/wife. • When the King is dying, he takes the King’s sons and locks them in the Tower of London.

6. The Tower of London • Has been used as a prison, castle, mint, and zoo.

7. While often used as a place for executions and beheadings, today it houses the crown jewels along with the Star of Africa.

8. Tower Guards • Tower guards’ official names are the Yeoman Warders, but they are more commonly known as “Beefeaters.” • Each night at 10pm, for 700 years, the Ceremony of the Keys takes place.

9. Life During Shakespeare’s Time • Shakespeare lived from 1564 – 1616. This time period is called the Elizabethan Age because Queen Elizabeth I was in power. • While Elizabeth had a peaceful reign, a LOT happened prior to her becoming queen.

10. Queen Elizabeth I • Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, caused a lot of upheaval in England. • Edward VI, Elizabeth’s half-brother, only lived until 16, so he wasn’t King for long. • Queen Mary took the throne. (She was the oldest half-sister to Edward and Elizabeth.)

11. Queen Mary…a.k.a. Bloody Mary • Queen Mary was a Catholic, and re-established the Catholic church as England’s church. • She then persecuted, tortured, and killed Protestants. • She had Elizabeth banished to the Tower, too.

12. Queen Elizabeth I • Queen Mary died in 1558. • Elizabeth, still in the Tower, was released and proclaimed queen. • She re-established the Church of England. • Life was a mess because of all of the upheaval. She helped to make things better.

13. Elizabethan Times—Crime and Punishment • There was no such thing as a police force in Elizabethan times. • Punishments ranged from public humiliation to hanging to beheading. • Public humiliation involved being put in the stocks for everyone in town to see. • Being convicted of high treason meant being drawn and quartered. The body pieces would be put on display in town as a warning. • Not going to church was punishable by stocks and fines.

14. Beliefs During Elizabethan Times • Earth was the center of the universe—not the sun. • Everything rotated around the earth. • The planets made musical notes. • Some combinations of planets were lucky, others were not. • Planets gave out an “ethereal fluid,” or influence, which affected humans. • Astrologers thought they could predict future events by knowing the stars.

15. Other beliefs during Elizabethan times… • Almanacs were used to determine the best days for certain things.

16. Other beliefs during Elizabethan times… • The Humors: everything was thought to be made of earth, air, fire, and water. • Since the human body was of this earth, it also consisted of these four things. • Too much of one thing would make someone off balance. • Earth = black bile • Air = blood • Fire = bile • Water = phlegm

17. Education during Elizabethan times • Schools reinforced the Church’s teachings • Boys attended a “petty” school at age 4 and learned basic reading and writing • Grammar school followed IF you could afford it • Only a few went to university—again, IF they had money • Girls were extraordinarily lucky if they learned how to read and write; mostly just learned how to cook, sew, and be social

18. English: a strange language • At the start of the 1500s, English citizens weren’t proud of their language. Even today, 98% of the words in our dictionaries are NOT truly English. • Most “serious” writing was done in Latin. • We added a lot of words to the English language because of translations.

19. By the end of the 1500s… • We had a lot of synonyms. • We could play with words. • Shakespeare liked to use puns, and used them ALL the time. • What’s a pun? • A man took his retriever to the vet for some tests and had to pay a lab fee.

20. The Theatre • Drama was the great art-form of the Elizabethan age. • In the early 16th century (1500s), theatrical companies toured and performed in the courtyards of inns or in homes of the nobility. • Playhouses, like the Globe, were built later on.

21. The Theatre cont… • Not everyone was a friend to the theatre. • People thought that the large groups would spread disease and dangerous ideas. • Puritans tried to close down the theatres, but were unsuccessful because the queen supported drama.

22. Clothing

23. William Shakespeare • Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated as April 23, 1564. There is no record of his birth—just his baptism (the 26th). • He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in England. • Shakespeare attended school—he studied Latin grammar, literature, and rhetoric.

24. Shakespeare cont… • At age 18, he married Anne Hathaway. • She was 8 years older than he was. • After the birth of their second and third child (twins), he left the family to pursue a job in London. • By 1592, he had become an actor and a playwright. • Romeo and Juliet was one of his earlier plays, written around 1592.

25. Shakespeare cont… • By 1594, he was a charter member of the theatrical company called Lord Chamberlain’s Men. • They were later called the King’s Men, because they depended on King James to finance the company. • In 1599, he joined Richard Burbage and several other actors and built the Globe Theatre. He was a shareholder in the Globe, and a part-owner of Lord Chamberlain’s Company. • In 1611, at the height of his popularity, he moved back to Stratford. His son died. He sold out his interests in London, but continued to write until his death in 1616.

26. The Globe

27. The Globe cont… • The Globe was a large, round, wooden building. It was 3 stories high, and had a large platform stage.

28. The Globe cont… • It had a curtained off inner stage for scenes as well as for quick changes. • Above the inner stage was an upper stage. • The stage floor had trapdoors. • There was no roof.

29. The Globe cont… • The stage was set by language, not props—but there were elaborate costumes. • Groundlings were the servant class who stood shoulder to shoulder around the stage for the ticket price of a penny.

30. Did he REALLY write all that? • Maybe, maybe not. • Because there are so few verifiable documents, it’s hard to prove what Shakespeare did or didn’t write. • Pen names were often used at that time. • Many of his contemporaries argued that he couldn’t have written things, that he plagiarized, and that he was a hack. • Sir Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere are the contenders for the Shakespeare title, if Shakespeare himself didn’t really pen the works.

31. Shakespeare’s Language • Dead as a doornail. • An eyesore. • Baggage. • Too much of a good thing. • Eaten me out of house and home. • What the dickens? • The apple of my eye. • Knock, knock. Who’s there? • For goodness sake. • Good riddance. • As luck would have it. • Wear my heart upon my sleeve. • For ever and a day. • Parting is such sweet sorrow. • It’s Greek to me. • Kill (them) with kindness.