Shakespeare’s
Life 1564-1616
The man
behind
the
legend
ENGLAND
London
Boyhood in StratfordUpon-Avon
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Born April 23, 1564 in StratfordUpon-Avon
Parents John and Mary Arden
Shakespeare
Seven brothers and sisters
Grammar School from age 7 to 13
Stratford-Upon-Avon
William Shakespeare’s Home
Marriage and Life in
London
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1582 at age 18 married Anne
Hathaway
1583-1592 ???
1592 (28 years old) went to
London
 actor
and playwright
 first accused of borrowing from
other playwrights
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1592-1594 Plague
Shakespeare Prospers
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1598 built Globe Theatre
 Owned
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shares in it
Father granted a coat-of-arms
 Gentlemen
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Recognized as a genius in his own
time
Honored as Actor and
Playwright
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Queen Elizabeth dies in 1603
King James I takes the throne
 Shakespeare’s
Theatre company
becomes the King’s Company
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Member of famous writer’s group
(Mermaid Tavern)
Death and Burial at
Stratford
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1610 retired from theatre
 1613
Globe theatre burns down
 lost
much money but still wealthy
 helps rebuild Globe theatre
 Dies
on April 23, 1616 at age 52
Shakespeare’s Grave
Did Shakespeare really
write his plays?
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Many believe it is impossible for
Shakespeare to have written his
plays
 Lacks
heights and depths of
passion
 could not learn aristocratic sports
and manners
 lacked schooling
Secrets of the Sonnets
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154 Sonnets, 60 songs
Love, broken trust of friend,
loss of love, forgiveness
friend, dark lady, rival poet
Shakespeare’s Four Periods
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First Period- Apprenticeship (Age 26-30)
Second Period- Mastered his art!
 Favorite
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“Romantic Comedy”
Third Period- Problem of Evil in the World
Forth Period- Creates a new drama form
 “Tragicomedy”
or the dramatic romance
Shakespeare as an
Elizabethan
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Queen Elizabeth reigned (1558-1603)
Emerging from the Middle Ages into the
Renaissance
Age was extravagant and brutal
 elaborate,
ornate clothing, language and
manners
 language was growing fast
 middle class (stern, moral, and
independent)
Elizabeth I Symbolizes
the Age

Queen Elizabeth Glory of England
 To
people, she represented beauty and
greatness
 one of the most powerful countries in
the world
Queen Elizabeth
1558-1603
Drama in the
Elizabethan Age
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After defeating the Spanish Armada,
England became intensely interested in
the past. (Patriotic) Historical plays
thrived.
Playwrights were practical men, bent on
making a living
Plays were written to be acted, not read.
Once a playwright sold his manuscript,
he had no personal right to it.
Shakespeare’s Plots and
Characters
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First reading =quick
Second reading=more leisurely
Plots=romantic, poetic, farfetched,
imaginative, supernatural
Characters=realistic, alive, three
dimensional, powerful and
eternally true
The Elizabethian Theater
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Round, wooden, roofless building
Three galleries of seats
Pit (no seats) cost a penny “groundlings”
Main stage
 40
feet wide
 27 feet projection into the pit
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Recessed inner stage (curtains and balcony)
Music Room
Heaven and a Hell
The Stage Influences on
Shakespeare’s Methods
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Open, free stage=quick changes, rapid action
Encourages speechmaking, passionate
soliloquies
No women actors
Only day time light= speeches about time,
season and weather
 (Macbeth=40
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such speeches
Closeness of different classes
Shakespeare as a Dramatist
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Objective of Plays= give pleasure
Fanciful, imaginative plays
Audience= everyday people, uneducated,
wanted to escape
Wrote in verse=free use of words
His Poetic Greatness
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Most quoted writer in the world
diversity of speech from common
men to philosophers
Examples of his Poetry
Critics Rank the Plays
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Tragedies-Hamlet, Macbeth, King
Lear, Othello
Comedies- The Tempest, As You
Like It, The Winter’s Tale, The
Merchants of Venice, Much Ado
About Nothing, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream
Histories- Henry IV, Henry V,
Richard II, Richard III, Henry VIII
Test of Greatness
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A great play is one that affects the
audience deeply.
Reasons for his
Popularity
The Great Shakespeare
Collections
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Folger Shakespeare Library in
Washington D.C.
Henry E. Huntington Library and
Art Gallery in San Marino,
California
British Museum in London,England
Bodleian Library in Oxford,
England
To be
or
not to be?
What’s the question
To be or not to be?
That is the question!
Wait a second!!!
To my own self be true
Then thou canst not be false to any man
Be quiet Will!
What’s going on
And it must follow as the night and the day.
Web cites for pictures and additional
information on William Shakespeare
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http://daphe.palomar.edu/
shakespeare/timeline/genealogy. htm
http://www.shakespeare.com/link. Htm
www.stratford.co.uk/birthplace/
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/DataBase/Images/NewGlobe.htm
www.legends.dm.net/shakespeare/macb
eth.htm/
www.britishliterature.com
Tragedy
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A serious play or drama typically
dealing with the problems of a
central character, leading to an
unhappy or disastrous ending
brought on, as in ancient drama,
by a fate and a tragic flaw in this
character, or in modern drama,
usually by moral weakness,
psychological maladjustment or
social pressures.
Tragic Hero
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A person of high rank who is
brought to eventual ruin by a flaw
in his/her character.
 Example:
Macbeth’s tragic flaw is
his ambition which leads him into
a series of bloody and increasingly
indefensible acts.
Comedy
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A drama or narrative with a happy ending
or non-tragic theme.
 Comedy
of manners- depicts and
satirizes the manners and customs of
fashionable society.
 High comedy- appeals to and reflects the
life and problems of the upper social
classes, characterized by a witty, sardonic
treatment.
 Low comedy- farce, slap stick,burlesque,
horse play
Catharsis
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The purging or purifying of the
emotions or relieving of emotional
tension, especially by art. (This
concept was applied originally by
Aristotle to the effects of tragic drama
on the audience.)
Conflict
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The struggle or interplay of forces,
that takes place within the story.
The main character may be in
conflict with another person, value
system, fate or with nature.
Plot
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Plot movement:
The sequence of events that
create and then resolve a conflict.
Climax (peak tension) or
Crisis (dramatic turning point)
Falling action
Rising action
(fall of tragic hero)
Resolution or Denouncement
Beginning of story
(Point at which conflict ends and
outcome is made clear)
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