Transcript Shakespeare & Elizabethan Times

Shakespeare
&
Elizabethan Times
Why Shakespeare?
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Shakespeare wrote about:
 Universal
themes
 The ugly side of people—the messy inside
part that we sometimes try to hide
 For example…
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.
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Queen Margaret to Richard III:
“Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog,
Thou that wast sealed in thy nativity
The 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—”
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.
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The Tower of London
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Has been used as a prison,
castle, mint, and zoo.
While often used as a
place for executions and
beheadings, today it
houses the crown jewels
along with the Star of
Africa.
Tower Guards
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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.
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.
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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.)
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Queen Mary…a.k.a. Bloody Mary
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Queen Mary was a
Catholic, and reestablished the Catholic
church as England’s
church.
She then persecuted,
tortured, and killed
Protestants.
She had Elizabeth
banished to the Tower,
too.
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.
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Elizabethan Times—Crime and
Punishment
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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.
Beliefs During Elizabethan Times
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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.
Other beliefs during Elizabethan
times…
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Almanacs were used to determine
the best days for certain things.
Other beliefs during Elizabethan
times…
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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
Education during Elizabethan times
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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
English: a strange language
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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.
By the end of the 1500s…
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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.
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.
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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.
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Clothing
William Shakespeare
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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 Stratfordupon-Avon in England.
Shakespeare attended
school—he studied Latin
grammar, literature, and
rhetoric.
Shakespeare cont…
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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.
Shakespeare cont…
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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.
The Globe
The Globe cont…
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The Globe
was a large,
round,
wooden
building. It
was 3 stories
high, and had
a large
platform
stage.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Shakespeare’s Language
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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.