William shakespear

1. William shakespear

2. William was an English poet and playwright • He was born to an upper middle class family in Stratford-upon-Avon • baptised there on 26 April 1564( His actual birthdate remains unknown) • died on 23 April 1616 • widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

3. family • Mother-Mary Shakespeare (nee Arden) • Father-John Shakespeare • At the age of 18, Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway • Eight siblings- Joan, Margaret, William, Gilbert, Anne, Richard, Edmund • William Shakespeare was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son.

4. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor and writer • part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men(kings man) • Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.

5. William Shakespeare's plays • have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature • the 37 plays are divided into the genres of tragedy, history, and comedy

6. Shakespeare’s days • Shakespeare lived most of his life during the Elizabethan Age( Queen Elizabeth I ) • London was the heart of England, reflecting all the vibrant qualities of the Elizabethan Age. • a leading center of culture as well as commerce. • Its dramatists and poets were among the leading literary artists of the day. • In this heady environment, Shakespeare lived and wrote.

7. Source, material for shakespeare • based many of his plays on the work of other playwrights and recycled older stories and historical material • natural consequence of the speed at which playwrights of his era wrote • plays based on already popular stories appear to have been seen as more likely to draw large crowds • Hamlet may be a reworking of an older, lost play (the so-called Ur-Hamlet)and King Lear is likely an adaptation of an older play, King Leir.

8. Theaters • seasons of 1592 and 1593 an outbreak of plague struck London and shuttered its theaters • Caused Shakespeare to turn from the playwright's trade to the composition of poetry. • In 1594 the theaters of London, including the Theatre and soon the Swan Theatre reopened • Shakespeare emerged as the powerhouse of a revitalized and extraordinarily vibrant Elizabethan stage world

9. The globe theater • the theater that Cuthbert Burbage built for the Chamberlain's Men had a total capacity of between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators • There was no lighting, all of its stage was open air • performances at the Globe were conducted, weather permitting, during the day • changes of scene were indicated explicitly or implicitly in the speeches and narrative situations that Shakespeare wrote into the text of the play

10. Renaissance (rebirth) • a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century • flowering of literature, science, art, religion, and politics, and a resurgence of learning based on classical sources, the development of linear perspective in painting • gradual but widespread educational reform • a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era

11. Major events • Under the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547), the population of England increased, feudalism was "dead", and a counntrywide movement of the people to large cities and towns • The enclosure at the time provided impetus for the movement • invention of the printing press and better methods of manufacturing paper facilitated the expansion of knowledge

12. Major events • introduction of humanism into Oxford universities during the 1490s and 1500s • Not only did the higher education level gain importance, the lower educational levels also did too • Private schools were built to teach the "New Learning” • Power of churches and monarchy was lessen

13. Major events