What everyone should
know about Shakespeare
“He was not of an age but for all
time.”- Ben Jonson (First Folio)
Who was William Shakespeare?
 Probably the world’s most
famous playwright.
 A writing genius.
 His understanding of people,
his skill with words and his
sense of drama are the key
elements that would please an
audience.
 The English theatre and
language have never been the
same since.
 Everyone should know about
William Shakespeare!
Where did Shakespeare live?
He lived in and around London, England.
Around 1600, London was a busy, bustling,
walled city.
It was having a Renaissance (RE-BIRTH) of arts
and sciences under two monarchs who loved the
theatre.
The only major disasters in Shakespeare’s time
were the plagues of 1592-94 and 1613, which
closed the theatres.
Queen Elizabeth I and King James I
Queen Elizabeth I. reigned
from 1558 to 1603.
Shakespeare gave 32
performances at her court
during her reign.
King James I. reigned
from 1603 to 1625.
William Shakespeare’s Life
He was born April 23rd,
1564 in Stratford-on-Avon
(94 miles from London).
His father was a glove
maker, shop keeper and
land owner.
He also had 7 brothers and
sisters.
He probably attended free
grammar school until the
age of 15, mainly studying
in Latin.
He read much mythology.
Shakespeare’s Life (continued)
He married Anne
Hathaway.
She was 8 years older.
They had 3 children:
Susanna, Hamnet and
Judith.
He lived in London most
of his life, although he
later became Stratford's
third largest landowner
and eventually retired
there.
Shakespeare’s Life (continued)
By 1592 he was recognized as a successful actor
on the London stage- as well as a leading poet.
He wrote at least 36 plays as well as sonnets, and
other poems.
He retired from the theatre to his native Stratford
sometime between 1611 and 1613.
He died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616 in
Stratford.
Shakespeare the poet
First of all–
Shakespeare became
famed as a poet!
He wrote 154 sonnets
Shakespeare the poet (continued)
He wrote “Venus and
Adonis” which was a
romantic poem in the
Classical Tradition
dedicated to the Earl
of Southampton.
He wrote the “Rape of
Lucrece”, which was a
narrative poem.
He also wrote
“Phoenix and the
Turtle”.
Shakespeare used “blank
verse” (unrhymed
iambic pentameter).
Shakespeare the actor
For 20 years from 1585
to 1605 Shakespeare
was a member and part
owner of a repertory
group called the King’s
Men.
Shakespeare probably
made most of his
money as an actor and
producer, not as a
playwright.
An Elizabethan Actor
An Elizabethan actor
had to be an expert in :
Fencing
Tumbling
Dancing
Elocution
Acting
Music
Shakespeare the playwright
He got his ideas from
other plays– from the
works of Seneca, Plautus,
Ovid, and Plutarch’s
Lives.
Shakespeare wrote at least
36 plays.
All were written for his
company– the “KINGS
MEN”
They paid him about $40
per play.
Shakespeare's Plays
Shakespeare wrote:
13 Comedies
13 Historical Plays
6 Tragedies
4 Tragicomedies
Comedies
Comedy of Errors
Love’s Labor’s Lost
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Merry Wives of Windsor
The Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentlemen of Verona
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Troilus and Cressida
All’s Well that Ends Well
Measure for Measure
Histories
Henry VI Parts I, II,III.
Richard III
King Henry IV Parts I,II
Henry VIII
King Henry V
Julius Caesar
Richard II
Anthony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
King John
Tragedies
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Romeo and Juliet
Macbeth
Titus Andronicus
Tragicomedies
Timon of Athens
Cymbeline
The Winter’s Tale
Tempest
Famous Elizabethan Theatres
Some of the most famous
Elizabethan theatres were:
“The Theatre”
“The Swan”
“The Globe”
“The Black friars”
“The Whitehall”
“The Rose”
“The Fortune”
“The Curtain”
A play was being
performed when a flag
was up.
Shakespeare’s theatre
The Elizabethan Theatre
A show lasted about 2 ½ hours.
No intermissions.
No curtain. End of “scenes” was indicated by
“rhymed tags” (couplets) or a change of actors.
No “scenery” or “set”.
Many “devices” such as trap doors and scaffolds.
No actresses– men or boys took parts of women,
clowns, ghosts and witches.
Groundlings
What the Audience Wanted
(AND GOT!)
Lots of ACTION.
Puns, wit, asides,
“conceits”.
Evil overcome.
Noise, music,
shouting, sound
effects.
Shakespeare’s Style
Use of “PUNS” (humorous play on words indicating
different meanings).
Use of “METAPHORS
Use of “BLANK VERSE
Use of “Conceits” (whimsical, extravagant, fanciful ideas)
Use of “SOLILOQUIES” (somebody talking to himself)
Use of “ASIDES” (saying something to audience that other
players can’t hear).
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Sonnets
XVIII.
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 sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
THE END
.