180 likes | 416 Vues
Well-known Facts about Will. Great writer of England 37 Plays translated into all languages, musicals, ballets Born Stratford-upon-Avon Well-to-do, affluent while alive Most quoted, other than the Bible. Lesser-known Facts.
E N D
Well-known Facts about Will • Great writer of England • 37 Plays translated into all languages, musicals, ballets • Born Stratford-upon-Avon • Well-to-do, affluent while alive • Most quoted, other than the Bible
Lesser-known Facts • Teen father: married pregnant 26 year old Anne Hathaway when he was 18 • Deadbeat dad: Left wife and children for London stage career • Father of twins • Elizabethan rapper: uses rhythm and rhyme • “Plagiarism” ?
Conditions in London-BAD! • Thames River polluted with raw sewage • Trees used up for fuel • Poverty
Personal hygiene/health • Bathing considered dangerous • Body odor strong • Childhood diseases • Children often died before 5 years • Small Pox • Bubonic Plague
Living Conditions • No running water • Chamber Pots • Open Sewers • Crowded
Clothes • One set used all year long, rarely washed • Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed • Clothes handed down from rich to poor
Theater in London • Performed in courtyards of inns • The Theater-first public theater-1576 • Daytime/open air • Limited set design • Relied on music, sound, costumes, props and great description
The Globe • Built in 1599 • Across the Thames- “Wrong side of town” • King’s Players - Shakespeare’s company • Penny admission
Actors • All men • Female parts played by young boys • No actual kissing or hugging on stage
The groundling • Poor audience member • Stood around stage in “the pit” • Women not allowed (had to dress up as men to attend) • Threw rotten vegetables at bad performances
Queen Elizabeth • Bastard daughter of King Henry VIII • And Ann Boleyn (2nd of 6 wives) • Henry had Ann beheaded for “treason” • Younger sister of “Bloody Mary.” • “Virgin Queen”? • A tease and a player
The Renaissance • 1500-1650 • “Rebirth” of arts, culture, science • Discovery of “New World” • Copernicus: Sun-centered Universe (1543) • King Henry VIII = renaissance man (ideal) • Reformation of Catholic Church
Elizabethan Comedy • A Shakespearean comedy is one that has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's other plays.
Other Elements in Shakespearean Comedy: • A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it laughable) • A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders • Separation and re-unification • Deception among characters (especially mistaken identity)
Other Elements of Shakespearean Comedy Continued: • A clever servant • Disputes between characters, often within a family • Multiple, intertwining plots • Use of all styles of comedy (slapstick, puns, dry humour, earthy humour, witty banter, practical jokes)
Elements of Shakespearean Comedy: • Pastoral element (courtly people living an idealized, rural life), originally an element of Pastoral Romance, exploited by Shakespeare for his comic plots and often parodied therein for humorous effects • Happy ending