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The Man • Born – 1564 Died – 1616 • Not much is known about Shakespeare’s early life. He was the son of a tanner (a person who made leather) who belonged to the middle class. He grew up in a small town outside of London called Stratford-upon-Avon, and he probably attended the grammar school there. • In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children. • By 1592, Shakespeare is known to have moved to London and to have established himself as an actor and a playwright. Note that he wrote plays in order to make a living! • Shakespeare was known to be a shareholder in a prominent theater troupe with close ties to the court of Elizabeth I. Shakespeare and others established the Globe Theater. • After he died, his works were collected by and published by John Hemming and Henry Condel. Without them, we may not have had any of his works passed down!
The Globe • The first theatre in London was named The Theatre. • In 1599, The Theatre was torn down and the wood was used to build The Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's plays were preformed. • During a performance of Henry VIII in 1613, the Globe burned down when a spark from a cannon caught the roof on fire. • Like all the other theatres in London, the Globe was closed down by the Puritans in 1642 after it was rebuilt in 1614. It was destroyed in 1644 to make room for tenements. Its exact location remained unknown until remnants of its foundations were discovered in 1989 beneath the car park of Anchor Terrace on Park Street (the shape of the foundations is replicated in the surface of the car park).
His Works • Traditionally, the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories: tragedies, comedies, and histories. Some critics have argued for a fourth category, the romance.
Tragedies Shakespearean tragedies include: • The tragic story leads up to, and includes, the downfall of the traditional tragic hero • The suffering and calamity are exceptional • They befall a conspicuous person • The effect of the events that befall the one person ripple out to include almost all involved • The tragedy is unexpected • The tragedy is contrasted with previous happiness and/or glory
Most Famous Tragedies • Romeo and Juliet • Macbeth • King Lear • Hamlet • Othello • Julius Caesar • Antony and Cleopatra
Comedies Shakespearean comedies tend to include: • A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders • Separation and re-unification • Mistaken identities • A clever servant • Multiple, intertwining plots • Frequent punning • marriages between the unmarried characters for a happy ending
Most Famous Comedies • All's Well That Ends Well • As You Like It • Measure for Measure • The Merchant of Venice • A Midsummer Night's Dream • Much Ado About Nothing • Taming of the Shrew • The Tempest • Twelfth Night
Histories • Histories are normally described as those based on the lives of English kings. • The plays that depict older historical figures such as Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Julius Caesar, and the legendary King Lear are not usually included in the classification. Macbeth, which is based on a Scottish king, is also normally regarded as a tragedy, not a history. • Even though these plays are loosely based on a real ruler, they are so loosely based that they do not qualify as a real history play or are not based on an English ruler.
Most Famous History Plays • Henry IV, Part 1 • Henry IV, Part 2 • Henry V • Henry VI, Part 1 • Henry VI, Part 2 • Henry VI, Part 3 • Henry VIII
