William Shakespeare1564-1616

First folio cover

Funerary Monumenet

Shakespeare

Early Years

• Born April 23, 1564 (date is disputed) baptized on April 26

• Name- Sarpere,Shakespear ( 5 spellings)

• No defined grammar rules

• Father- Mayor, Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford –upon-Avon

Shakespeare’s birth place

Education

• From 6-13 Shakespeare received a classical education centered on:– Religion-Bible– Greek mythology– Rhetoric-how to use words– Memorization– Favorite subject was history

Move to London

• By 1592 we know Shakespeare had written a play– Greene in 1594 called Shakespeare an upstart

crow in a review.– Marlowe-29 died– 1594- the Puritans shut down the theaters

because of plague.

Shakespeare Sonnets

• 1592-1594 Shakespeare wrote for:– Count of Southampton– Duty to royalty– Affection for a friend– Love poems to “Dark Lady”– Pain of losing the one you love– Anger-rejection by a friend– Break away form count

Henry Wriothesley- 3rd Earl of South Hampton

Sonnet 18• Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair some time declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Plays

• From 1594-1611 Shakespeare wrote the famed plays.

• He was master of :– Histories- Julius Caesar– Romance-Comedies- Taming of the Shrew– Tragedies- Hamlet, MacBeth

Taming of the Shrew

Julius Caesar

Banqo-MacBeth

What made him a Genius?

• Simple themes- Universal Themes

• Imaginative language- Diction, Imagery

• Humor

• Sensitivity- he was a master psychologist

• Mater historian, tragedian, and comedian

Words Shakespeare Coined

• Cool

• Assassination

• Bachelorship (bachelorhood)

• Eyeball

• Generous

• Majestic

• Puppy-dog