Transcript William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
Simonetta Gatto
Istituto Comprensivo di Casella (GE)
Who was William Shakespeare? He was:
a poet
a playwright
an actor
His life
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in central England, in 1564 and he died there in 1616.
When William Shakespeare was 18 years old he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith.
Then Shakespeare went to London to work as an actor and a writer.
He wrote and acted for two important monarchs: Queen Elizabeth I and James I.
He had a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men which later was called the King’s men. He produced most of his work between 1589 and 1603.
Stratford-upon-Avon : Shakespeare’s house
Shakespeare’s plays
• • • Shakespeare wrote 38 plays These have been translated into every major language and are performed more than those of any other playwright in the world. His plays can be divided into three groups: Tragedies : for example Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet.
Comedies : for example A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Twelfth Nightand Much Ado About Nothing.
Historical plays : for example Richard III, Henry IV and Julius Caesar.
A tragedy is a play with a sad ending, in which someone suffers or dies.
A people laugh.
A comedy is a play of a light, amusing kind. It is intended to make historical play is about historical events and characters.
Shakespeare’s poems
Shakespeare has written 154 sonnets.
The Shakesperean or English Sonnet has 14 lines and is divided into three quartrains and a couplet.
The rhyming scheme usually is abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
Most of his sonnets are about love.
Sonnet 138
When my love swears that she is made of
truth,
I do believe her though I know she
lies, a b
That she might think me some untutor'd
youth, a
Unlearned in the world's false subtle
ties. b
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me
young,
Although she knows my days are past
the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking
tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth sup
pressed. d c c d
But wherefore says she not she is
unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am
old?
O! love's best habit is in seeming
trust,
And age in love loves not to have years
told:
Therefore I lie with her, and she with
me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd
be.
g g e f e f
Shakespeare Theatre: the Globe
• • • • It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company and was destroyed by fire in 1613. A modern copy of the Globe was built in 1997 The modern theatre is located in London on the banks of the river Thames.
Today it is possible to see Shakespeare’s plays at the Globe.
The globe is an open-air theatre because amphitheatres.
it took inspiration from the Roman
The audience
In the XVI – XVII centuries going to theatre was pure amusement. Everybody liked it, and poor people, too, went to see the most popular plays.
The poor did not have a seat; they stood “on the ground” in front of the stage and for this reason they were called “groundlings”. This tradition is still respected today.
THE ACTORS
In the Elizabethan Theatre women’s roles were played by young men or boys.
Today at the Globe both men and women interpret Shakespearean characters, but some works are played by men only to recreate the real atmosphere of that period .
Elizabethan age
Shakespeare lived and worked in the Elizabethan ge This period is called Elizabethan from Queen Elizabeth I who reigned between 1558 and 1603.
It is considered a golden age in the history of Britain because the country was healthy and powerful and it was a period of exploration and expansion abroad.
In this period art and literature were very important and most popular of all was drama, thanks to Shakespeare and other artists.
Shakespeare and his plays have inspired some modern films
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