INTRODUCTION
TO
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
ABOUT
THE
MAN
Born April 1564, died April 1616
 Wrote 37 plays
 Wrote over 150 sonnets
 Director, Producer, Actor, poet,
playwright

TYPES
OF
PLAYS
Shakespeare wrote:
•Comedies - light and amusing, usually
with a happy ending revolving around love
•Tragedies –serious dramas with
disastrous endings
•Histories – involve events or persons
from the past
ABOUT
COMEDY
• The main action is about love
• The lovers must overcome obstacles and
misunderstandings
• Eventually united in harmonious union (wedding)
• Twelfth Night has 3 couples
• Frequently contains elements of the improbable,
fantastic, supernatural or miraculous
• Sometimes contains a philosophical aspect
involving issues and themes
THE
THEATRE
The Globe Theatre:
•Open
ceiling
•Three
•
stories
high
No artificial lighting
Plays were shown during daylight hours only
THE
AUDIENCE

Wealthy people got to sit on benches

The poor
(called “groundlings”)
had to stand and watch
from the courtyard

There was much more
audience participation
than today
THE
ACTORS
Only men and boys
 Young boys whose
voices had not changed
played the women’s
roles
 It would have been
indecent for a woman to
appear on stage

THEATRICAL
TERMS
Act: a unit of action, or sequence of
incidents
 Scene: A unit of place and time (setting)
 Action: The sequence of events between
the introduction and the conclusion of a
play
 Climax: The point at which the rising
action begins falling towards a resolution.
In Shakespeare usually in Act 3

SHAKESPEARE’S
WORDS

Obsolete words: Words that were once
common to the English language but are
now out of general use.


Example: Thou wilt perish presently.
Archaic words: Words that were once
common to the English language but are
now considered old-fashioned and rarely
used.

Example: Thou shalt pierce yonder quat with a sharpened rood.
*ACTIVITY*