Shakespeare: His Life and Times
Adapted from
http://www.public.asu.edu/~muckerrm/English_321_S2005/Introduction.ppt
Early Life
• Born 1564—died 1616
• Stratford-upon-Avon
• Parents: John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
• John—glovemaker, local politician
Location of Stratford-uponAvon
From: http://www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps.html
Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time
As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).
Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From Stratford’s web site: http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Education
• Probably attended King’s New School in
Stratford
• Educated in:
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• History
• Latin
King’s New School
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Married Life
• Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who
was pregnant at the time with their first
daughter
• Had twins in 1585
• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved
to London and began working in theatre.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Theatre Career
• Member and later part-owner of the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men
• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with
Shakespeare as primary investor
• Burned down in 1613 during one of
Shakespeare’s plays
The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
The Globe Theater
The Plays
• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
• 14 comedies
• 10 histories
• 10 tragedies
• 4 romances
• Possibly wrote three others
• Collaborated on several others
The Poetry
• 154 Sonnets
• Numerous other poems
• Shakespeare did NOT write in “Old English.”
• Old English is the language of Beowulf:
Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum
Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunon
Hu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!
(Hey! We have heard of the glory of the SpearDanes in the old days, the kings of tribes, how
noble princes showed great courage!)
Shakespeare’s Language
• Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English.”
• Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the
Gawain-poet, and Malory:
We redeth oft and findeth y-write—
And this clerkes wele it wite—
Layes that ben in harping
Ben y-founde of ferli thing… (Sir Orfeo)
Shakespeare’s Language
• Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern
English.”
• EME was not very different from
“Modern English,”
Shakespeare’s Language
• A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest
peasant and the highest noble
Shakespeare’s Language
Elizabethan
Theatrical
Conventions
A theatrical convention is a
suspension of reality.
 No electricity
 Women forbidden
to act on stage
 Minimal, contemporary
costumes
 Minimal scenery
These
control the
dialogue.
 Soliloquy
 Aside
 Blood
 Use of supernatural
Types of
speech
Audience
loves to be
scared.
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Let`s play Shakespeare
 Use of disguises/
mistaken identity
 Last speaker—highest in
rank (in tragedies)
 Multiple murders
(in tragedies)
 Multiple marriages
(in comedies)
“All the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women
merely players.”
So…..
Let’s dramatize
Shakespeare!!!
Dramatic
Vocabulary
1. The line “What light through yonder window breaks? It
is the East, and Juliet is the sun.” BEST illustrates what
type of figurative language?
A. Hyperbole
B. Metaphor
C. Simile
D. Personification
Let’s Review some terms we
already know!
2. The line “Rise fair sun and kill the jealous moon, who is
sick and pale with grief.” BEST illustrates what type of
figurative language?
A. Hyperbole
B. Metaphor
C. Simile
D. Personification
• Dramatic Literature: Drama is the specific mode of
fiction represented in performance. The term comes from
a Greek word meaning "action“.
• Act: a main division of a play, ballet, or opera.
• Scene: a sequence of continuous action in a play, movie,
opera, or book.
Dramatic Literature
Terms
• Verbal irony occurs when speakers say the opposite of
what they mean. For example, a man may say loudly to a
manifestly unattractive woman, “You are more than
beautiful!”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81c44-CDP7E
Verbal Irony
• is a situation in which the audience knows more than
the character onstage.
• A character does or says something of greater
importance than he or she knows.
• The audience, however, is aware of the meaning and
importance of the act or speech.
Dramatic
irony
• Texts--Romeo and Juliet: the other characters
in the cast think Juliet is dead, but the audience
knows she only took a sleeping potion.
• Music/Audio: The sound effects in horror
movies: Jaws, Halloween, Friday the 13th,
“Renee” by Lost Boyz
• Visual Images: Take a look at the next slides…
What are some examples
we can think of?
• "Situational irony, sometimes called irony of events, is
most broadly defined as a situation where the outcome is
incongruous with what was expected, but it is also more
generally understood as a situation that includes
contradictions or sharp contrasts. . . . An example would
be a man who takes a step aside in order to avoid getting
sprinkled by a wet dog, and falls into a swimming pool”
(Lars Elleström, Divine Madness. Bucknell Univ. Press,
2002).
Situational Irony
•
•
•
•
Alanis Morissette “Ironic”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnec6SmjHP0
Isn’t it Ironic, now it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ1dPJt1K1g
Situational Irony
Examples
Saved by the Bell
examples
• A soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a
character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself
and to the audience without addressing any of the other
characters
Romeo’s Soliloquy-Act 2 Scene 2:
• He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
Soliloquy
Soliloquy
Another Soliloquy Example
• An aside is a dramatic device in which
a character speaks to the audience. By convention the
audience is to realize that the character's speech is
unheard by the other characters on stage. It may be
addressed to the audience expressly (in character or out)
or represent an unspoken thought.
Aside
An example of an Aside
• is a speech presented by a single character, most often to
express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to
directly address another character or the audience.
Monologues
The Monologue Song
3. Which of the following is not a
characteristic of a soliloquy?
A.
B.
C.
D.
It is heard by the audience
It is heard by another character
The character relates a thought or feeling
It is not heard by another character
Let’s Review Figurative
Language