William Shakespeare
Download
Report
Transcript William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
The Man, His Writing Style, His Theater
Oh, and Romeo & Juliet, too
I. A little about Will…
Born April 23, 1564 (we think)
Lived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, a small
town NW of London
Attended school, studied Latin and
literature
Married Anne Hathaway at age 18 (she
was 26)
Daughter born in 1583, twins (one of
each) born in 1585
More about Will…
Was successful playwright in London by
1592
Wrote 37 plays
Romeo and Juliet written in 1594
Owned part of the Globe Theater and The
King’s Men acting troupe
Died April 23, 1616 (his birthday)
Buried in Holy Trinity Church
Shakespeare’s Grave
The slab over his grave reads:
Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blessed be the man that spares these
stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
So why do we bother reading him?
Huge contribution to the English language
His
vocabulary was 30,000 words (average
person is 15,000 words)
1/10 of the words he used had never been
used before – this means he gave us 3,000
words!
Popular culture – his plays are constantly
turned into movies = $$$
Universal themes & rich characters that
still work today
So what are some words he gave us?
academe
accused
addiction
advertising
amazement
arouse
assassination
backing
bandit
bedroom
beached
besmirch
birthplace
blanket
bloodstained
barefaced
blushing
bet
bump
buzzer
caked
cater
champion
circumstantial
cold-blooded
compromise
courtship
countless
Critical
dauntless
dawn
deafening
discontent
dishearten
drugged
dwindle
epileptic
equivocal
elbow
excitement
exposure
eyeball
fashionable
fixture
flawed
frugal
generous
gloomy
gossip
green-eyed
gust
hint
hobnob
hurried
impede
laughable
lonely
lower
luggage
lustrous
madcap
majestic
marketable
metamorphize
mimic
monumental
moonbeam
mountaineer
negotiate
noiseless
obscene
obsequiously
ode
olympian
outbreak
panders
pedant
premeditated
puking
radiance
rant
remorseless
savagery
scuffle
secure
skim milk
submerge
summit
swagger
torture
tranquil
undress
unreal
varied
vaulting
worthless
zany
Quoting Shakespeare
If you’ve ever said any of the following,
you speak Shakespeare already:
Forever and a day (As You Like It)
Flesh and blood, make your hair stand on
end (Hamlet)
The devil incarnate (Henry V)
Dead as a doornail (Henry VI)
Charmed life (Macbeth)
All that glitters is not gold (Merchant of
Venice)
The Epic Poems
We know Shakespeare wrote two
The
Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
Others exist, but their authorship is in
question
The Sonnets
He wrote 154 of these
No titles; identified by number or the first
line
Sonnets were THE way to express your
love to your girl; young men also wrote
them to entertain each other.
The Plays
Histories
Plays
about historical events
Richard II, Henry VIII
Comedies
Plays
that have happy endings
Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It
Tragedies
Plays
that have unhappy endings
Macbeth, Julius Caesar
Tragedy
Drama where the central character/s
suffer disaster or great misfortune
Downfall may be the result of
Fate
Fatal
character flaw
A combo of the two
II. Writing Style
The Sonnets
Follow
very strict form
Fourteen lines
Three quatrains
One couplet
Iambic pentameter
Rhyme Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Iambic Pentameter
One unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable
Iamb = U / such as pretend, annoy
When a line has 5 iambs, it is in iambic
pentameter
Penta
= 5; meter = rhythmic unit
But SOFT what LIGHT through YONder
WINdow BREAKS?
The Sonnets
Three quatrains
Qua
= 4, so three groups of four lines each
Main idea introduced and expanded
Couplet
Two,
a “couple” of lines
Signals a “turn” in the meaning of the poem
Sonnet 18
Look at rhyme scheme
Watch the main idea develop
The turn (couplet) at the end
Romeo & Juliet
Written in blank verse
Unrhymed
iambic pentameter
Parts are written in prose
Ordinary
writing that is not poetry or song
Characters of the lower social classes spoke in
prose in Shakespeare’s plays
Why do you suppose that is?
Why is it so hard to read?
Gigantic vocabulary
Weird syntax (word order)
We
say: The cow jumped over the moon.
He says: Over the moon jumped the cow.
We say: Why do you call for a sword?
He says: Why call you for a sword?
Words change in meaning over time
Soft
used to mean “wait a minute”
Nice used to mean “stupid”
III. His Theater: The Globe
Opened in 1599
Cost: 2 pennies to sit on a wooden bench,
1 penny to stand on ground in the pit
Plays produced for the general public
Roofless, open air theater with no
restrooms
Theater Design
A flag would fly to signify performances
Stage was raised so audience members
could not join in fight/battle scenes
Trap door in bottom of stage – characters
from hell.
Second level gallery, upper stage (balcony
scene in R&J)
The Globe
Much Different from Today!
Plays could only be presented during
daylight hours – no lighting!
No scenery
Very elaborate costumes
Male actors only – even for female roles
Audience members were active – yelling,
throwing food on stage, etc.
The Globe’s History
Burned down in 1613 during a
performance of Henry VIII when a cannon
fired and ignited the thatch roof. It was
burned to the ground in an hour.
Was rebuilt with a tile roof.
The Puritans closed all theaters in 1642
Globe was torn down in 1644.
Has been rebuilt in London and you can
see performances there today.
Acting Profession
Repertory theater
Several
plays running at the same time
Actors had to know more than one part
Several skills required
Singing
Playing
instruments
Dancing
Fencing
Theater Terminology
Pit – uncovered courtyard in front of the
stage
Groundlings – people who paid 1 penny to
stand in the pit and watch the play
Galleries – areas of seating for wealthy
Tiring House – area behind stage used for
dressing rooms and storage
IV. Romeo and Juliet
One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays,
along with Hamlet and Richard III
Story came from a poem by Arthur Brooke
titled “The Tragicall Historye of Romeus
and Juliet”
First
published in 1562, two years before
Shakespeare’s birth
Reprinted in 1587
Romeo & Juliet
Story also from Greek mythology – Pyramus and
Thisbe
“…they would have married, but their parents forbade
it” (Humphries 83).
“…they would fool their guardians…come outdoors,
run away from home, and even leave the city” (83).
A lion scares Thisbe off and she drops her veil.
Pyramus, seeing the bloody veil, kills himself thinking
Thisbe is dead.
So Thisbe “…fell forward on the blade, still warm and
reeking with her lover’s blood” (86).
Romeo & Juliet
Explores the effects of fate, secrecy,
revenge, tragedy and love at first sight
THEMES (insight about life or human
nature):
There
are forces in life over which people
have no control (fate)
Even well intended deceptions and secrets
can be destructive
Revenge can destroy the avenger and victim
Dramatic Terms
You will need to know the following terms
before we begin our study of the play:
Flat character, comic relief, dramatic foil,
pun, metaphorical language, dramatic
irony, situational irony, verbal irony, direct
address, aside, soliloquy, monologue.
Flat Character
One dimensional, embodying a single trait
Often used by Shakespeare in a tragedy to
provide comic relief
Comic Relief
Use of comedy in literature that is NOT
comedy to provide “relief” from the
seriousness or sadness of the story.
Creates an emotional rollercoaster that
deepens tragic feelings in audience
Dramatic Foil
A character whose traits contrast with and
highlight those of another character
Benvolio
to Tybalt
Look for other examples in the play
Puns
Humorous use of a word with two
meanings
Shakespeare loved to use these but we
often miss them due to the Elizabethan
language.
Metaphorical Language
Comparison of two unlike things to
describe one of those things
“Sweet
flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I
strew” Paris standing over Juliet’s “lifeless”
body
Dramatic Irony
A contradiction between what a character
thinks and what the reader/audience
knows to be true
We
know Juliet is not really dead
Romeo believes she is really dead
Dramatic irony is created when he sees her in
the tomb and kills himself
Situational Irony
An event occurs that directly contradicts
the expectations of the character, reader
or audience
For
example, a fire house burning down
R&J do end up together forever, just not alive
Verbal Irony
Words are used to suggest the opposite of
what is meant
In
the Prologue the families are described as
“Alike in dignity” but we soon realize they do
not behave with dignity; thus, they are
similarly undignified
Direct Address
Words that tell the reader who is being
addressed
“A
right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.”
“Ah, my mistresses, which of you all/Will now
deny to dance?”
Aside
Words spoken in an undertone, not
intended to be heard by all characters
Used to let the audience in on the
character’s thoughts in the moment
Monologue
One person speaking on stage, others
may be present as well
Lengthy speech
Mercutio’s
Queen Mab speech
Prince of Verona commanding the families to
cease feuding
Soliloquy
Long speech expressing thoughts of a
character
That character is alone on stage
The End!
Keep these notes in your R&J
folder (formerly your short story
unit folder!)
Quiz Time!
Grab the CPS clicker assigned to you.
Click in your answers for the following
questions.
Yes, this is for a grade!
1. Shakespeare was born in the
United States.
A.
B.
True
False
2. Shakespeare was a playwright,
actor and poet.
A.
B.
True
False
3. Shakespeare lived during the
1700s.
A.
B.
True
False
4. Many women acted in
Shakespeare’s plays.
A.
B.
True
False
5. Avon is the name of a river.
A.
B.
True
False
6. Queen Elizabeth I ruled during
Shakespeare’s lifetime.
A.
B.
True
False
7. Shakespeare wrote plays only
for the noble and rich.
A.
B.
True
False
8. Blank verse has a rhyme
scheme.
A.
B.
True
False
9. Shakespeare died on his
birthday.
A.
B.
True
False
10. A line of iambic pentameter
has five syllables.
A.
B.
True
False
Shakespeare was part owner of
the ________ Theater.
A.
B.
C.
King’s Men
Globe
Elizabethan
People that paid a penny to stand
and watch the plays were called:
A.
B.
C.
peasants
troupes
groundlings
Which of the following is NOT a
Shakespeare play?
A.
B.
C.
Marc Antony
Richard II
Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare married ________ in
1582.
A.
B.
C.
His cousin
Anne Hathaway
Anne Shakespeare
How many plays did Shakespeare
write?
A.
B.
C.
15
37
137
Shakespeare died in ________.
A.
B.
C.
1616
1516
1656
Shakespeare wrote in:
A.
B.
C.
[Option 1]
[Option 2]
[Option 3]