William Shakespeare

1563-1616

Stratford-on-Avon, England

wrote 37 playsabout 154 sonnetsstarted out as an actor

Shakespeare

(AP Photo/ Martyn Hayhow)

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

People line up waiting to visit Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, Monday May 8, 2000. The wife of William Shakespeare's

home is one of the most popular tourist spots in the English countryside. (AP Photo/Dave Caulkin)

Actor for Lord Chamberlain’s Men (London theater co.)

Also principal playwright for them

1599: Lord Ch. Co. built Globe Theater where most of Sh.’s plays were performed

Stage Celebrity

Shakespeare was buried on April 23 or 25 (?), 1616 in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, where he had been baptized just over 52 years earlier.

On his tombstone:

◦ Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here!Blest be the man that spares

these stones,And curst be he that moves

my bones

ComediesHistoriesTragedies

Shakespeare wrote:

Plays produced for the general public. Most of Shakespeare’s plays Were performed at The Globe Built 1599 Fit 2,500 to 3,000 people Roofless--open air No artificial lighting. Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of

galleries. A flag flying from the peak=performance

that day

The Theater

Blackfriars Theatre

Theatre Interior

s

Sketch of the Swan Theatre

inner room

tiring house Play

today

Wealthy got benches, seats.“Groundlings”: poorer people stood and watched from the courtyard (“pit”). Paid 1 penny.

All but wealthy were uneducated/illiterate.

Much more interaction with audience than today.

Spectators

Scaffolding surrounds the stage area of the new Globe Theatre being constructed using original methods and materials on the south bank

of the River Thames in London Aug. 7, 1995. After a long intermission - 383 years - a blare of trumpet music Wednesday, August 21, 1996 ushers in the first performance at a $45 million

reconstruction of William Shakespeare's circular, open-air theater. The original burned down in 1613. Above at left is St. Paul's

Cathedral in the City of London financial district. (AP Photo/Max Nash)

Stage: platform that extended into the pit

Tiring house: Dressing & storage rooms in galleries behind & above stage.

Second-level gallery: upper stage: famous balcony scene in Romeo & Juliet

Trap door : ghosts

“Heavens”: Angelic beings could descend.

Staging Areas

A general view of the Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of William Shakespeare's London Playhouse, made out of hardwood, is seen during its inauguration ceremony in Rome's Villa Borghese gardens, Monday, Oct. 13,

2003. The replica of William Shakespeare's London Playhouse opens Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2003 with a performance of Romeo and Juliet (AP Photo/Isidoro

Pitera`)

Sparse scenery: ex: a few bushes or trees

Settings: references in dialogueElaborate costumesPlenty of props: ex: Pig’s bladder filled with blood

Singing, music

Scenery, Props,Costumes

Only men and boys.Young boys whose voices had not changed play women’s roles.

Would have been considered indecent for a woman to appear on stage.

Actors

◦unrhymed iambic pentameter

Blank Verse

Written about 1595Based on a 3,000-line poem written in 1562 by Arthur Brooke; based on a French version written in 1559

A tragedy

Romeo and Juliet

Drama involving descent of a tragic hero—a character who falls from a high place in society to defeat and death

◦In many tragedies, the tragic downfall results from fate, or supernatural occurrences a tragic flaw: makes a choice based on this

a combination of the two

Tragedy (Shakespearean)

To gain the greatest possible response from the audience: pity, sympathy, horror, fear

Tragic ending provides a catharsis (release of emotions) for the audience

Object of tragedy

The sequence of events in a literary work Freytag’s Pyramid (based on Aristotle’s plot triangle)

Plot

exposition

rising action

Climax (turning point)

falling action

resolution (catastrophe)

ACT 1

ACT 2

ACT 3

ACT 4

ACT 5

Introducessettingcharactersbasic situationthings that may have already occurred

Exposition

◦the first bit of action or “inciting moment” that sets the plot in motion

◦grows in intensity as the conflict develops

Rising Action

TP:The point where the protagonist’s

situation will either get better or worse.

Climax: point of greatest tension

Turning Point/Climax

depicts protagonist’s failure to resolve the conflict.

may contain moment of final suspense

Falling Action

The end of the central conflict

Sometimes contains a reversal or discovery.

Resolution

Long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage (said to the audience).

Monologue A lengthy speech but is addressed to others on stage.

Soliloquy

Words spoken, usually in an undertone, not intended to be heard by all characters

Aside

Rhyme Tag

A rhyming couplet --usually used to mark the end of a scene

Shakespeare loved to use them…◦Humorous use of a word with two meanings

Pun

A discrepancy between expectation and reality

Verbal irony: the speaker/writer says one thing but means another

Dramatic irony: the audience or reader knows something that the characters do not

Situational irony: what happens contradicts what is expected

Irony

Use of comedy in literature that is NOT comedy

Used to provide “relief” from seriousness or sadness.

Comic Relief