SHAKESPEARE
ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE….
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
THE ELIZABETHAN AGE
• Shakespeare lived during a remarkable period of English
history, a time of relative political stability that followed
and preceded eras of extensive upheaval. Elizabeth I
became the Queen of England in 1558, six years before
Shakespeare's birth. During her 45-year reign, London
became a cultural and commercial center where learning
and literature thrived.
• The golden age of English history.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(26 APRIL 1564 – 23 APRIL 1616)
• William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely
regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.
• Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion
and conflict.
• His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,
154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of
uncertain authorship.
• His plays have been translated into every major living language and are
performed more often than those of any other playwright.
WRITING STYLE
• Shakespeare's Writing Style: Shakespeare used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed
iambic pentameter, called blank verse. His plays were composed using blank verse, although there are
passages in all the plays that deviate from the norm and are composed of other forms of poetry and/or
simple prose.
• Romeo and Juliet – example of blank verse
Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
(Prologue.1-6)
WRITING STYLE
• Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme
in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs
or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed
syllable. An example of an iamb would be good BYE. A line of iambic pentameter flows like this:
baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM / baBOOM.
Here are some examples from the sonnets:
When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12)
When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men’s EYES
I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE (Sonnet 29)
Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer's DAY?
Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE (Sonnet 18)
THE GLOBE THEATRE
THE GLOBE THEATRE
• The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare.
• It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
• It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.
• A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.
• A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997
approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre.
• Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre#/media/File:Hodge%27s_conjectural_Globe_reconstructi
on.jpg
THE GLOBE THEATRE
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1wMfOwlAZ8
• Written between 1590 and 1597
• Portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus,
and Hippolyta. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers
and a group of six amateur actors, who are controlled and manipulated by the
fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set.
• The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is
widely performed across the world.
ROMEO AND JULIET HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=DRRVQ1VZXCG
• Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young starcrossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's
most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed
plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
• Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based
on an Italian tale translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in
1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567. Shakespeare borrowed
heavily from both, but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters, particularly
Mercutio and Paris. Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published
in a quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality, however, and later
editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare's original.
• Tristan and Iseult is a tale made popular during the 12th century through French medieval poetry,
inspired by Celtic legend and possibly the 11th century Persian story Vis and Rāmin. It has become an
influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with many variations. The tragic story is of
the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan (Tristram) and the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde,
Yseult, etc.). The narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and
Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art, the idea of romantic love, and literature
since it first appeared in the 12th century. While the details of the story differ from one author to
another, the overall plot structure remains much the same.
ROMEO AND JULIET……TODAY