Transcript Slide 1

William Shakespeare
His Life and Times
J. Fink & K. Marsh
Glenforest Resource Centre
April 2009
The latest discovery …
A typical family scene during
this time period.
Shakespeare's Family
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Joan, born 1558, died before 1569.
Margaret, born 1562, died 1563 (aged 5 months).
(William, born 1564, died 1616.)
Gilbert, born 1566, haberdasher, died 1612. (A
haberdasher sells hats, clothes, thread, ribbons etc.)
Joan, born 1569, married William Hart, died 1646.
Anne, born 1571, died 1579.
Richard, born 1574, occupation unknown, died 1613.
Edmund, born 1580, "player," died 1607.
There are no known living relatives of William
Shakespeare
Formal schooling was for boys
but not girls.
William & Anne, sitting in a tree
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Country Life was traditionally
divided into two parts:
1. Activities inside the house and yard
which were the responsibility of:
The Housewife.
2. And, activities outdoors which
were the responsibility of:
The Husbandman.
The husband was the head of the
household; the wife and children were
subordinate and expected to obey.
City Life:
London in the 1600s.
The London Bridge
The River Thames was considered
"the great highway of London"
Labour was differentiated in the
city as well.
War, warfare & soldiering were
very prominent during this time.
A typical pub scene
(tavern)
Violence (blood & gore) was a
part of everyday life.
And so was sickness and death.
Discoveries in science and
medicine were emerging.
It was widely believed that the
Earth was round and at the
centre of a spherical universe.
At the centre of the universe were the four
elements: earth, water, air, fire. Then the 7
planets.
Religion provided stability.
Here we see the depiction of the
Story of Creation.
King Henry VIII
Father of Elizabeth I,
April 1509 – 28 January 1547
King Edward,
Elizabeth's half brother
1547 - 1553
Henry's elder daughter, Queen Mary
Known as "bloody Mary". When Mary died she was succeeded by
her Protestant half-sister, Elizabeth.
1553 - 1558
When Mary died she was succeeded by
her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I
1558-1603
Year: 1564
Shakespeare's birth
• English and Scottish statues against witchcraft.
• Plague in London.
• Potatoes are introduced to England from
America by John Hawkins, slave trader.
• John Shakespeare is listed among Stratford
capital burgesses, and gives money for relief of
plague victims. John Hawkins begins second
voyage to the New World.
• Galileo is born
Potatoes are introduced to England from America by John
Hawkins, known as Elizabeth's
slave trader.
And so, exploration to the New
World emerges ….
which brings many new & exciting riches
to Elizabethan society …
Mary Queen of Scots
Queen Elizabeth 1
Did you know?
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Elizabeth I ate so many sweets that her teeth just rotted away and turned
black!
As she grew older, servants kept mirrors away from her. It’s a good thing
that people back than didn’t usually show their teeth when they smiled! I
in most of Elizabeth I’s portraits, she is wearing enormous dresses with
puffy sleeves. Although it wasn’t the fashion, she wore them to make her
look big and powerful so that people didn’t take advantage of her being a
woman.
Playing cards came into existence when people in the Elizabethan Era put
miniature portraits of royalty on playing cards? The most popular kind was
the queen of hearts- it symbolized love for Queen Elizabeth I.
Elizabeth I always had a young looking face in her portraits because she
created a face pattern—when she found a portrait of her that she liked very
much, all other artists painted her face like the “face pattern".
The Globe Theatre is built
1599-1601
• 1599 Feb. 21: land for The Globe Theatre is
leased to the Lord Chamberlain's Men;
Shakespeare is listed as one of the leading
shareholders.
• The Chamberlain's Men permanently occupy
The Globe.
• The population of England and Ireland is
estimated at 5 1/2 million; the population of
London and its suburbs reaches about 250,000.
James I of England
1576–1621
Shakespeare's Death
1616 - 1619
• Apr. 23. Shakespeare dies.
• Apr. 25. Shakespeare is buried in Holy
Trinity Church, Stratford.
The First Folio
The Globe Theatre:
Present Day
The Stage
Physical Nature of the Stage
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Projected (people stood on 3 sides of it)
Elevated stage
Three levels (stage, inner stage, balcony)
Two trap doors (depicting heaven & hell)
Two doors at side (led to dressing rooms)
Pit for groundlings
Lower aristocracy in galleries or on stage
How the stage differs from
today's
Modern day has:
– Elaborate props
– Revolving stages
– Backdrops
– Curtain
– Lighting
– Sound
– Orchestra
– All members of audience are seated
The Modern Day Stage
Princess of Wales & The Royal Alex
Actors & Props
(back in the day)
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Men or boys only
1 or 2 major characters
Very little stage furniture
Major actions indicated by a few people
Stage hung in black for tragedy, bright colours
for comedy
• Flag atop theatre indicated performance
(blue for comedy, black for tragedy)
• Costumes were expensive and elaborate
Examples of Costumes
Audience
Rabble (commoners) for the pit
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Held about 800
Stood
Ate
Gossiped
Threw fruit and insults
Illiterate
Lower Aristocracy
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Women only if disguised or under male protection
Seats for 1500
Mire educated
Those seated on stage were often seeking attention
Social meeting point
No upper aristocracy (had private theatres in their own homes)
Why did people attend?
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Topical allusions
No language barriers
Bloodlust & violence
Intellectual overtones
Patronage of court (snobbery)
Few other amusements available
Nature of characters in the plays
Three types of plays
• Comedies
– Play ended happily for the protagonist
• Histories
– Chronicles (a narrative of events in the order which they
appeared)
– A political guide
• Tragedies
– Protagonist dies; tragic hero
– This always occurs when the essential good is wasted (through
disaster or death) in the process of driving out evil
The next slide is dedicated to:
Mr. E. Gerner

Why do we study the works of
William Shakespeare today?
• Timeless stories
• He was a literary and dramatic genius and
was considered this as early as 1598
• It is the dramatic presentation of his works
that reveal its true value
• Shakespeare is a master of plot
• Shakespeare is LOGICAL (he presents a
knot and then he unties it)
Willie is alive & well today
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All corners of the world
All’s well that ends well
As dead as a doornail
As pure as the driven snow
Come what come may
Eaten out of house and home
Good riddance
Love is blind
Make your hair stand on end
Too much of a good thing
Romeo and Juliet
• Phrases we still use:
– Wild goose chase
– Parting is such sweet sorrow
• Words that originated in the play:
– alligator
• (before R & J, Spanish"aligarto“ was used)
– bump (1st attestation of onomopoeic word)
– inauspicious
– uncomfortable
– worn out
Origin of our phrases in
Elizabethan times ...
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The 'rule of thumb' has been said to derive from the belief that English law
allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker
than his thumb.
It’s raining cats and dogs derives from the fact that cats and dogs were
washed from thatched roofs during heavy weather.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May
Brides/groomsmen buy flowers to mask the body odour
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence
the saying "dirt poor."
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was
a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut
off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the
next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
And there’s more ...
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Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would
sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along
the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were
laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather
around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up--hence
the custom of holding a "wake.”
England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury
people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bonehouse" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25
coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized
they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string
on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the
ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard
all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be
"saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
People who have studied
Shakespeare …
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Have a broader view of the world in general.
Have little trouble in other language classes.
Do well in logic and philosophy.
Appreciate other art forms as well: music, drama, art, costume,
writing.
Have an easier time grasping the concepts of character, plot, irony,
universal truth, advanced vocabulary, etc.
Usually go on to post secondary studies; can better judge what is a
good book.
Understand concepts in clear speaking.
Have a broader view of important historical events.
Have a greater understanding of human nature (greed, faithfulness,
love, power, gentleness, poor choices, honesty, integrity, popularity,
danger, patriotism, selfishness, self-sacrifice, etc.)
Are way better looking.
Star-cross'd
The appeal and universality of
Romeo and Juliet
"Fair Verona…
…where
we lay
our
scene"
Why did Shakespeare choose Italy
as the setting of this play?
He didn't, really. The play came from an old story, which
was originally Italian and appeared in several versions…
Mariotto and Giannozza (1476)… Istoria
novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti (early
1500's)…. ….. The Tragical History of
Romeus and Juliet (1562)
What did Italy represent to the
Elizabethans?
Learning
Sophistication
Culture
How different is that
from today?
So….
What is this play about?
Young love…
…a theme common across
cultures and time…
Conflict…
internal…
and external…
Within families…
…and between them
Passion!
Fate!
Order…
and disorder…
The Theatre in England's
"Golden Age"
No one traveled, except for a tiny
minority of soldiers, sailors,
diplomats and adventurers.
Playwrights like Shakespeare
relied on vivid language and
elaborate costumes to create vivid
scenes and colourful characters.
Underneath a grove of sycamore…
That westward rooteth from this city
side
So early walking did I see
pour son…
"But soft…
What
light
from
yonder
window
breaks"
Along with language, theatre relied heavily
on costumes in creating character.
Costumes accounted for a large proportion
of an acting company's budget, were well
cared for and were used many times.
List of Sources
An Introduction to A Midsummer’s Night Dream
http://www.chatt.hdsb.ca/~siudag/FOV1000FC7CD/S0BF89905.0/A%20Midsummer%20Night's%20Dream%20Pwr%20Pt..ppt
Shakespeare's Life & Times
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
Google Images
http://images.google.com
History of London
http://www.britainexpress.com
Kings and Queens of England
http://www.historic-uk.com
Toronto Theatres
http://www.torontolivetheatre.com
National Post
http://www.google.com
Encyclopedia of Children & Childhood
http://www.faqs.org/childhood/So-Th/Swaddling.html
Ross Farrelly – Why Study Shakespeare?
http://rossfarrelly.blogspot.com/2003/08/why-study-shakespeare.html
Thank you.