Shakespeare
I.
A Brief Biography
II.
III.
IV.
The Globe Theater
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols in
Romeo and Juliet
Dramatic Terms

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
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Born in April 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon
John Shakespeare (father)
◦ tanner, glover, dealer in grain
◦ town official (alderman, and later mayor)
Mary (mother)
◦ daughter of Robert Arden, a prosperous gentleman-farmer.

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
 Attended the Stratford Grammar School
 Did not go to Oxford or Cambridge

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
 Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
 Three children born: Susanna, Judith, and
Hamnet

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
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By 1590, he was an actor and playwright
Leader of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the King’s Men died April 23, 1616

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
 He was buried in Stratford; the inscription on his tombstone reads. . .

Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
“Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake, forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones
And curst be he that moves my bones.”

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Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
Author of 37 plays and 154 sonnets
Robert Greene, a critic, attacked Shakespeare, a mere actor, for writing plays.
He acted before Queen Elizabeth in 1594.
The exact year in which William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet is unknown, but it is definitely one of his earlier works, and one of only two tragedies written in the period from
1590 to 1595

The Globe Theater
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He wrote his plays to be performed in the Globe Theater.
The only account we have of the Globe is from a diary of a Swiss doctor who visited London and crossed the Thames
River to see a play in a theater with a thatched roof.

The Globe Theater
 It was built in 1599 and burned down 14 years later in 1613.
 It was an 8 sided building with a central yard.

The Globe Theater
 Spectators’ price of admissions was
◦ one penny - to stand in yard around stage
(these were called the groundlings)
◦ two pennies - to sit in 2nd and 3rd floor galleries
◦ three pennies - to sit in the first floor galleries

The Globe Theater
 Stage
◦
1/3 of yard was filled with 6ft high platform
◦ no curtain
◦ no artificial lighting
◦ back wall had at least two doors
◦ balcony was used for hilltops, walls of cities, or second story scenes.
◦ trapdoors were used to raise or lower actors and props.

The Globe Theater
 Take a tour of the new Globe Theater. . . .
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Shakespearian Drama
Tragedy: A drama that ends in catastrophe—most often death—for the main character and often for several other important characters as well
Tragic Hero: The main character, someone who is nobly born and has great influence in his or her society. This character has weakness or errors in judgment (Tragic Flaws) that lead to his or her downfall. Fate may play a role in the course that events take.

Shakespearian Drama
Comic Relief: A humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity in the play. Comic relief helps the audience absorb the tragic events in the plot of a play.

Shakespearian Drama
Allusion: A brief reference, within a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know.
Many of Shakespeare’s allusions are to mythology or the Bible.

Shakespearian Drama
Foil: A character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work. This highlights the other character’s traits

Shakespearian Drama
Soliloquy and Aside:
A Soliloquy is a speech made by an actor alone on stage to let the audience know what is on that character’s mind.
An Aside is a character’s remark to the audience or to another character that others on stage aren’t supposed to hear.
The purpose of an aside is to reveal that character’s thoughts.

Shakespearian Drama
Blank Verse: Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. Shakespeare wrote all of his plays in blank verse.

Shakespearian Drama
Example of Blank Verse
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
But soft.|What light| through yon|der win|dow breaks?
~ / ~ / ~ / ~~ / ~ /
It is| the east|, and Jul|iet is |the sun!