Shakespeare

1. Shakespeare Bard to the Bone!

2. William Shakespeare: His Life • 1564-1616 • Birthplace: Stratford-Upon-Avon • Married Anne Hathaway • November 1882 – she was 26; he was 18 • 3 children: Susanna and twins Hamnet, and Judith • By 1592 he was living in London as a well-known playwright

3. William Shakespeare: His Work • Wrote 37 plays • Plays divided into three categories: comedies, tragedies, and histories • Wrote many poems, including many well-known sonnets • Contributed more words, phrases, and expressions to the English language than any other writer.

4. England in Shakespeare’s Day • Lived during The Renaissance: a time of renewed interest in science, commerce, philosophy, and the arts • Queen Elizabeth I • The Elizabethan Age (1558-1603) • England’s first theater was built in 1576

5. The Globe Theatre • 1599 • Lord Chamberlain’s Men • three stories high, 100 feet in diameter • could seat 3,000 spectators • Burned in 1613 • Rebuilt in 1996

6. The Globe Theatre

7. The Globe Theatre • Actors were male • Actors played several roles • Few props were used

8. The Globe Theatre • Plays were advertised by colored flags • Ferry would transport playgoers across the Thames • Admission was dropped in a box by the door • Vendors sold nuts, beer, oranges, water, gingerbread, apples, and seat cushions • There was a new play every day • Rehearsals were usually less than two weeks

9. Shakespearean Tragedy • Drama that ends in catastrophe—often death—for the main character as well as several other important characters • Often life is controlled by a pattern of fortune and fate • Poetic in nature (iambic pentameter) • Moves the audience to feel pity and fear • Involves a tragic hero—noble figure who suffers a reversal of fortune and faces uncommon suffering with uncommon dignity • Tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy • Shakespeare wrote 10 tragedies

10. Elements of Drama

11. Aside • A remark made by an actor either to the audience or another actor that other characters on the stage are not supposed to hear • These are usually marked in the text and are spoken to the audience unless otherwise noted. Abram: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sampson: [aside to Gregory] Is the law of our side if I say ay? Gregory: [aside to Sampson] No. Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir. Romeo and Juliet, Act I, scene i

12. Allusion • A brief reference to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know • Examples: historical events, other works of literature, biblical references, mythology Should in the farthest East begin to draw The shady curtains from Aurora’s bed. Romeo and Juliet Act I, Scene i

13. Comic Relief • A humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity Thou tickleth thy funny bone with thine words of humor!

14. Foil • A character whose qualities contrast with those of another character • The differences help emphasize the characteristics of each character

15. Dramatic Irony • The audience is aware of something that the characters are not

16. Situational Irony • Situational irony is defined in literature when one's actions lead to a result which is the opposite of what was intended or expected. • A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets. • While situational irony can be used in comedy, it is used to profound effect in drama and is often associated with tragedy. • In Romeo and Juliet, situational irony occurs when Romeo attempts to prevent a fight later in the play.

17. Monologue • A long speech which is spoken to other characters on stage

18. Soliloquy • A long dramatic speech in which a character expresses his or her feelings • The character is usually alone on stage

19. Paradox • A statement that seems to contradict itself but is actually true and holds a deeper truth. “So fair and foul a day I have not seen.” Macbeth “Cowards die many times before their deaths.” Julius Caesar

20. Oxymoron • A specialized paradox -- a fusing of opposite or contradictory words to suggest a paradox in a few words – • a paradox is different from an oxymoron because it contains contradictory words that are separated by one or more intervening words. In an oxymoron, the words are next to one another)

21. Juxtaposition • The placing of two ideas, characters, or events in close proximity to one another so that their differences and similarities become clear – or come more sharply into focus. • In Romeo and Juliet, juxtapositions include • peasants and aristocrats; • romantic Romeo and blazing Tybalt; • the dreamy Romeo and the more practical Juliet • romance and purity of the balcony scene with Romeo's friend Mercutio’s lewd sexual jokes in the previous scene

22. Double entendre • a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. • Typically one of the interpretations is rather obvious whereas the other is more subtle. • The more subtle of the interpretations may have a humorous, ironic, or risqué purpose

23. Motif • a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature • Stars in Romeo and Juliet • Light and dark • Love being blind

24. Pun • A play on words Math teachers have a lot of problems. To write with a broken pencil is pointless. I wondered why the baseball was getting closer. Then it hit me.

25. Resources • www.folger.edu • www.swainkids.com • www.howardcollege.edu • www.enotes.com • www.punoftheday.com • Standard Deviants School of Shakespeare • The Language of Literature textbook