1 Introduction to Shakespeare

Introduction to Shakespeare

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Amrita UniversityFDP in Use of ICT in Online & Blended Learning, IIT Bombay

Biographical Details

Born 1564, Startford upon Avon

Died 1616

Spouse: Anne Hathaway

Shakespeare's company- the Lord Chamberlain's Men

Theatre: The Globe

37 plays

Poems: Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece, A Lover’s

Complaint, Phoenix and the Turtle, 154 sonnets

FDP in Use of ICT in Online & Blended Learning, IIT Bombay

Dramatic Career4 Stage Classification (Prof Dowden)


•The Comedy of Errors

•Taming of the Shrew

•The Two Gentlemen of Verona

•Love’s Labour’s Lost

•A Midsummer Night’s Dream

•The Merchant of Venice

Comedies

•Titus Adronicus

•Romeo and Juliet

Tragedies

•Henry VI part 1,2,3

•Richard III

•King John

•Venus and Adonis(poem)

•Rape of Lucerce (poem)

•Richard II

•Henry IV part 1

Histories

Stage 1 : In the Workshop (1584-92)


• Merry Wives of Windsor

• Much Ado About Nothing

• As You Like It

• Twelfth Night

• Troilus and Cressida

Comedies

• Henry IV part 2

• Henry V

Tragedies

• Julius Caeser

• Hamlet

Histories

Stage 2 : Life in the World (1594-99)


• Measure for Measure

• All’s Well That End’s Well

• Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Comedies

• Othello

• Timon of Athens

• King Lear

• Macbeth

• Antony and Cleopatra

• Coriolanus

Tragedies

• Henry VIII

Histories

Stage 3 : Out of Depths (1599-1608)


• Cymberline

• The Winter’s Tale

• The Tempest

Comedies

• Nil

Tragedies

• Nil

Histories

Stage 4 : On the Heights (1608- 13)


Shakespeare’s Writing Style


Penetrative sensibility

No distinct Shakespearean philosophy exists

Diverse topics

Unique style and versification

Tragic characters better than comic characters

Humour- broad and sunny

Disregarded classical unities of time and place

Strong women characters

Intermixing of tragic and comic elements


Dramatic Devices


Soliloquy: as a device for telling story; as a means for

analysing the psychology of a character; for creating

humour; creating tragic effect

Use of rhythm

Use of blank verse

Use of prose- to lower the dramatic effect


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QUIZ


I. How many plays have been written by Shakespeare?a) 36 b) 37 c) 38 d) 39

II. Name the theatre in which Shakespeare was a shareholder.a) The Red Lion b) The Theatre c) The Swan d) The Globe

III. Identify a Tragedy among the following:a) Titus Adronicus b) Henry IV c) Love’s Labour’s Lost d)Twelfth Night

IV. Which is the classical unity that Shakespeare mostly follows?a) Time b) action c) place

V. Plays of Shakespeare are in a) Heroic couplet b) terza rima c) ottava rima d) blank verse


ANSWERS

I. b) 37

II. d) The Globe

III. a) Titus Adronicus

IV. b) action

V. d) blank verse


Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, 2016

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1 Introduction to Shakespeare