shakespeare book.pdf

8/10/2019 shakespeare book.pdf

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Getting to

Know this GuyA L e a r n e r s G u i d e t o

W i l l i a m S h a k e s p e a r e

S e a s o n

2 0 0 3


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T o O r d e r C a l l : 1 8 0 0 . 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0


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ontents

Page 2

Pg.3 Letter to the Reader

Pgs. 4 Introduction

Pg.5Who Are Ya?: Early Life of William Shakespeare and the Rise to

his Career in Theatre.

Pg.6-8The Ins and the Outs of Shakespearean Theatre

Pg.9 Say What? Words to Know Wile Reading Shakespeare

Words that Shakespeare made up

Sonnets: Iambic Pentameter and sonnet form


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Dear Reader,

I hope that this book is helpful along the road to under-

standing William Shakespeares work. Shakespeare is more

than just some old stiff that wrote a bunch of stuff that your

teachers make you read. Think about it without him you

wouldnt be able to say things like as dead as a door nail,Eaten me out of house and home, and elbow room.

William Shakespeares work has carried on throughout

the centuries, and is still being read to this day. However his

work isnt always so easy to read. The contents of this guideshould help with being able to understand Shakespeares plays.

Happy Reading!

Sincerely,

Anonymous

PS: He is really funny when you look close enough


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Hello, Im William Shakespeare. You

may have seen me before...

I Sometimes

look like

this...

Or like

this.

And

like

this...


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Page 5

William Shakespeare was born

on April 23rd, 1564 in Stratford-on-

Avon. It is not known exactly when

he was born, so his birth date was

based off of church records which sayhe was baptized on

the 26th of April,

1564.

There is not

much known about

Shakespeares teen

years. He left school

when he was fourteen

because his Father got into some

trouble with politics, and lost his

position in society. At the age of 18

he got married to Anne Hathaway,

who was 26 years

old at the time

and pregnant with

their first child.

Shakespeare was

rather young when

he got married where as Anne was ofthe normal marrying age at the time.

William and Anne had three

children; Susanna, Judith, and

Hamnet. Susanna was the eldest, and

the two younger children were twins.

Hamnet died at the age of eleven.

Both daughters lived into old age.

There is a large gap in

Shakespeares life between the birth

of Susanna and becoming a

playwright where nothing is known

about what he did during that time.

There are possibilities of him being

part of a group of traveling players/

actors, being a school teacher, being a

soldier,

and

steeling

deer.

Shakespeare is first referenced

as a playwright around 1592 when a

fellow dramatist wrote a negative

review of one of his plays, most likelyHenry IV. He later became an actor

and playwright for Lord

Chamberlains menan acting

company. The company grew over

time and became widely known,

probably thanks to Shakespeare,

being one of the leading playwrights

in the company. Shakespeare acted

in a few small parts over his career in

the theatre. He stayed with the actingcompany until his retirement. In

1599 he obtained partial ownership

of the Globe Theatre-which hosted

the performances of many of

Shakespeares plays.

By the end of Shakespeares

career he had written 154 sonnets

and 38 plays that are still performed

to this day, almost 400 years later.William Shakespeare died on April

23rd, 1616 at the age of 52.

Fun Fact:

Babies were

baptized within

3-4 days of

their birth

Fun Fact: One third

of women who got

married were preg-

Who Are Ya?


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Page 6

S h a k e s p e a r e s P l a y s

1588-94 The Comedy of Errors

1588-94 Loves Labors Lost

1589-91 Henry IV part 21590-91 Henry IV part 3

1589-92 Henry IV part 1

1592-93 Richard III

1589-94 Titus Andronicus

1593-94 The Taming of the Shrew

1592-94 The Two Gentlemen of Verona

1594-96 Romeo and Juliet

1595 Richard II

1595-96 A Midsummer Nights Dream

1596-97 King John

1594-96 The Merchant of Venice

1596-97 Henry IV part I

1597 The Merry Wives of Windsor

1597-98 Henry IV part 2

1598-99 Much Ado About Nothing

1598-99 Henry V

1599 Julius Cesar

1599-1600 As You Like It

1599-1600 Twelfth Night1600-1601 Hamlet

1601-1602 Troilus and Cressida

1602-1604 Alls Well that Ends Well

1603-1604 Othello

1604 Measure for Measure

1605-1606 King Lear

1605-1606 Macbeth

1606-1607 Antony and Cleopatra

1605-1608 Timon of Athens

1607-1608 Coriolanus

1607-1608 Pericles

1609-1610 Cymbeline

1610-1611 The Winters Tale

1611 The Tempest

1612 Henry VIII

1613 The Two Noble Kinsmen

Fun Fact:

The Merry Wives of Windsor was written

at the request of Queen Elizabeth I because

she wanted to see the character Falstafffrom

Henry IV part I, appear in another one of


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Page 7

C o m e d i e s

Shakespeare wrote three types of

plays; Comedy, Tragedy, and History.

Shakespearean comedies will

generally have a descent amount of

word play. In other words there will be

a lot of insulting going on between the

characters in the form of metaphors.

Beyond the element of word play is

love. One of the reoccurring themes in

Shakespeares comedies is romance be-

tween characters, and their struggle toovercome obstacles in order to main-

tain their love for one another. A dis-

tinct characteristic of a comedy is that

the play with generally end with a wed-

ding.

One of the obstacles that rela-

tionships in these plays will have is the

case of mistaken identity. Characters

will either elect to change their identi-

ty, or be mistaken as someone else.

Some characters chose to disguise

themselves throughout the play. Fe-

male characters, in the comedies,

have also been known for dressing up

as men...a bit of gender identity mix-

ups.

Plots will sometimes seem a bit

complicated. Shakespearean come-

dies are sometimes like a traffic inter-

section. There are multiple characters

with individual story lines that willintersect with one another in the

length of the play. There are also a

great deal of twists and turns that

keep the audiences attention. Its

sometimes hard to predict what will

happen next. However, there is al-

ways one thing you canexpect...a

happy ending.

The Ins and the Outs of Shakespeares

Plays


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Page 8

PaintingbyEdwinHenryLandseer(184

8-1851)ScenefromAMids

ummerNight'sDream.T

itaniaand


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Histories

History plays were named af-

ter the monarch in which the play

takes place, so the play doesnt al-

ways necessarily revolve around the

monarch. For example: Henry IVis

not actually about Henry IV.

History plays are generally set

during different points in Medieval

English History. Some of the char-

acters will sometimes be important

members of English history like

King John, Richard II, Richard III,

etc. Because the plays take placeduring different points in English

history doesnt mean that the events

that occur in the play are historically

accurate. Shakespeare didnt write

for historical accuracy, but rather for

the entertainment of the audience.

He was more concerned with the

opinions of the people watching his

plays. He would write certain events

into the play, not necessarily being

historically correct, in order to suit

the opinions and the views of the

time period.

History plays would some-

times be used to reflect political

opinions during that time. Shake-

speare wrote during the reign of

Elizabeth I, who would sometimes

attend his plays, so propaganda

would occasionally make its way into

the performances. Some plays

would show the negative appearanc-

es of civil war, and praise the found-

ing members of the Tudor Family

Elizabeth Is family.

All sorts of members of soci-ety would appear in histories.

Shakespeare would include beggars

all the way up to royalty. He would

also incorporate a balance of trage-

dy and comedy along with his wide

arrange of characters. Characters

from different sections of society

would interact with one another in

scenes through out the play.


Plays

Page 9


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PaintingbyJohnCawse(1779-186

2)Falstaffandtherecruits,from"HenryIV,PartII"

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Tragedies

Shakespeares tragedies tend to

have more dramatic plots than the

rest of his other plays. Most if not

all the main characters meet a tragic

end by the closing of the play. The

social structure slowly breaks downthrough out the duration of the

play.

The play is filled with all sorts

of conflict and drama. The catas-

trophes follow each other one after

the other as the play goes on, and it

sometimes looks as if all theseproblems in the plot are unavoida-

ble.

The plot tends revolve around

one particular character, the tragic-

hero. Each tragic-hero has a flaw

that will lead to their downfall by

the end of the play. Tragic-heroeswill tend to be a bit self-absorbed,

and irresponsible. In turn they have

no real grasp as to what is going on

around them, thus setting up their

downfall.

Some aspects that can play a

role in a characters flaws are fate,

omens and/ or evil spirits, and other

characters. Most of these tragic-

heroes are members of the upper

class whether it be nobleman or roy-

alty. These characters, because they

are so high up in society, will have a

larger downfall because they have

such a long way to fall in the eyes of

the people that they rule.

By the end of the play a large

number of the cast is dead as a re-

sult of the catastrophes and/ or themistakes of the tragic-hero. The

tragic-hero will often reflect after

their fall, and realize their wrong do-

ings, and sometimes die as a result

of their previous actions.


Plays

Page 11


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Painting by John William Waterhouse (1894) Ophelia

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a= He

Abuse= deceive

Accident=occurrence

Advertise= inform

An, and= if

Annoy= harm

Appeal= accuse

Artificial= skillful

Brave= fine, splendid

Censure= opinion

Cheer= face, or frame of mind

Chorus= a single person who

comments on the events

Competitor= partner

Conceit= idea, imagination

Cunning= skillful

Disaster= evil astrological in-

fluence

Doom= judgment

Entertain= receive into service

Event= outcome

Excrement= outgrowth of hair

Fact= evil deed

Free= innocent

Imp= child

Intelligence= news

Natural= fool, an idiot

Naughty= wicked, worthless

Silly= innocent

Shrewd= sharp

Vagabond= drifting, meander-

ing, wandering

Will= lust

Wink= close both eyes

Wit= mind, intelligence

Sa y Wh a t ?

Wo r d s t o K n o w W h i l e R e a d i n g S h a ke s p e a r e

Did you know that Capons

is another way to say

chickens!!!!!

Page 13


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Painting by John William Waterhouse (1894) Ophelia

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