William Shakespeare
Born April 23, 1564 in
Stratford upon Avon,
England
The best way to get people to like
Shakespeare is by getting them to
perform Shakespeare.
Shakespeare…the facts
Parents were
John—glovemaker,
local politician and
Mary—daughter of
wealthy landowner
Shakespeare had
7 brothers and
sisters
Shakespeare’s house
Shakespeare…the facts
Spelling not yet standardized, thus
name spelled in different ways
• Shakespeare, Shakspere, Shackspere,
Shaxper, Shagspere, Shaxberd, etc.
King’s New School – Shakespeare’s school
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Married Life
• Married in November, 1582, to Anne
Hathaway
• Anne was pregnant at the time
• First daughter Susanna born in May, 1583
• Twins (Hamnet and Judith) christened on
February 2, 1585
• No documentary evidence between 15851592
• Sometime in this period, he moved to
London and began working in the theatre.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/
Introduction
Throughout the Middle Ages plays were
performed by workers in towns and
were religious, often retelling stories
from the Bible.
Elizabethan writers introduced theatre
audiences to horror, the supernatural
and GORE…
Elizabethan Playwrights
The most well known playwright of
Elizabethan times was Shakespeare.
But there were also other writers who, in
their time, were just as, or even more
famous than the Bard (Shakespeare).
Bard = poet
Theater Career
• Member and later
part-owner of the
Lord
Chamberlain’s
Men
• Theaters in
London closed
from 1593-1594
due to the plague
Theater Career
• After the accession of James
I in 1603, the company was
granted permission to change
its name to the King’s Men.
Worked for London theatres:
Blackfriars, Rose, Swan,
Curtain, Globe
• Wrote during the reigns of
Queen Elizabeth (Elizabethan
period) and King James I
(Jacobean period)
Queen Elizabeth
The Globe Theatre
•Globe built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s
Men, with Shakespeare as a primary investor
•Burned down in 1613 during a production of
Shakespeare’s Henry VIII when a cannon
misfired and a spark landed on the thatched
roof
•It is a Theatre In the Round, which means the
audience sat on all sides of the stage.
The Globe Theatre
•There are 3 levels to the Globe and each level of
the audience was reserved for patrons based on
their wealth and/or status in Elizabethan society.
•The front of the stage was called the pit and the
ceiling below the roof was called the 'heavens'
Groundlings or Penny Standers stood around the
stage in the Yard or Pit. Middle Class patrons sat
in the Galleries. Lords Rooms (Elizabethan
Skyboxes) were reserved for the wealthiest
patrons.
The Globe Theatre
•The Globe was also an open-air theatre, both the
stage and pit were not covered by a roof.
•There were no stage lights expect for candle
lanterns placed on the edge of the stage, so most
plays took place around noon when there was the
most sun light.
•Also, all parts were played by men. Young boys
usually played women due to the fact that their
voices hadn’t changed yet.
The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London
The Performances
The theatres often had mechanisms that allowed “angels” and “gods”
to be lowered down onto the stage. Stages were also equipped with a
trapdoor leading to a “Hell” beneath the stage. The trapdoor was also
used as a grave in theatrical funerals.
There was very little scenery available for theatres, so the writers often
used to dialogue to explain to the audience where the scene was taking
place.
Costume was very important in Elizabethan theatre. Actors wore
colourful and elaborate costumes that would tell the audience the
characters status, family ties or profession.
The emphasis that was given to a character’s clothing made the theme
of disguise a common convention of Elizabethan theatre. In order to
exchange places with another character or conceal his identity, all an
actor needed to do was to change his costume.
The Elizabethan theatre also used a variety of sound effects. Music
played an important role in the setting the mood of the plays. Other
sounds created were thunder, running horses, falling rain, and cannon
blasts.
First Folio
The Plays
plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
• 14 COMEDIES – ends in marriage
 Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice,
Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about
Nothing…
• 10 HISTORIES – Richard III, Richard II, Henry
IV…
• 10 TRAGEDIES – ends in death
 Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello…
• 4 romances – Pericles, Cymbeline, Winter’s Tale,
Tempest
First Folio 1623
 Contains 36 plays out of the believed 37
plays Shakespeare wrote
 Published 7 years after Shakespeare died
 Half of the plays had not previously been
published, including Macbeth, Twelfth
Night and The Taming of the Shrew.
 Contains famous preface from Ben Johnson:
“He was not of an age, but for all time!”
 Only 232 copies of the book, which sold for
20 shillings (about $200 in 1623) are thought
to exist.
 Folger Shakespeare Library has 82 copies
 Kodama Library at Meisei University in
Tokyo has 12
 Closet copy to us is located at the University
of Chicago.
Taken with permission from March 2014 Shakespeare Set Free Workshop lead by Kevin Costa
Play Structure
Uses traditional 5-Act Play structure which was very popular to an Elizabethan
audience.
Act I -- Exposition. We meet the dramatis personae, and time and place are
established. We learn about the background and circumstances surrounding the
story. Attention given to building dramatic tension.
Act II -- Complications. The course of action becomes more complicated. Interests
clash, schemes are hatched, events accelerate in a definite direction. Tension
mounts, and momentum builds up.
Act III -- The Climax of Action. The development of conflict reaches its high point,
the Hero stands at the crossroads, leading to victory or defeat.
Act IV -- Falling Action. Reversals. The consequences of Act III play out,
momentum slows, and tension is heightened by false hopes/fears. In a comedy, it
looks all may be lost.
Act V -- Catastrophe. The conflict is resolved, whether through a catastrophe, the
downfall of the hero, or through his victory and transfiguration.
Adapted from Aristotle's Poetics and Frank Dies’s analysis of Five-Act Play Structure
The Poetry
• Two major poems
• Venus and Adonis
• Rape of Lucrece
• 154 Sonnets
• Numerous other poems
• Poetry usually dedicated to a patron
How to Read the Plays
• Do not pause at the end of a line unless the
punctuation calls for it
• Read it like prose
• Many of these plays have numerous
references to people, places, events, myths,
etc., that you might not be familiar with.
That’s what the notes are for—use them.
• Keep a dictionary handy
Shakespeare’s Language
•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 Spear-Danes 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,” except that it had some old holdovers.
•Beginning about 200 years before Shakespeare,
and largely complete by his day, long vowel
pronunciation shifted: ex: good, name, life
Subtext
the underlying or implicit
meaning, as of a literary work.
--The Oxford English
Dictionary
Tone
A particular quality, pitch, modulation,
or inflexion of the voice expressing or
indicating affirmation, interrogation,
hesitation, decision, or some feeling or
emotion; vocal expression.
--The Oxford English Dictionary
O
int. Expressing (according to intonation) surprise,
frustration, discomfort, longing, disappointment,
sorrow, relief, hesitation, etc.
Used mainly in imperative, optative, or
exclamatory sentences or phrases, as in “O take
me back again!”, “O for another glimpse of it!”,
“O the pity of it!”, “O dear!”; often also
emphatically in O yes, O no, O indeed, etc
The Oxford English Dictionary
surprised
Angry
afraid
exhausted
sad
suspicious
excited
awe
flirty
contempt
Stress
Relative loudness or force of vocal utterance; a
greater degree of vocal force characterizing one
syllable as compared with other syllables of the
word, or one part of a syllable as compared with
the rest; stress-accent. Also, superior loudness of
voice as a means of emphasizing one or more of
the words of a sentence more than the rest.
Oxford English Dictionary
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
I didn’t say he killed our King
Some lines from Shakespeare
O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
(flirty)
O, for a stone-bow, to hit him in the eye!
(angry)
O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!
(exhausted)
O, I am fortune’s fool!
(regret)
O, speak again, bright
angel!
(flirty)
O lamentable day!
(misery)
O, she doth teach the torches to burn
bright!
(excited)
O me, O me! My child, my only life.
(worried)
O, wilt thou leave me so
unsatisfied?
(disappointed)
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
(fear)
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
(horror)
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
(sorrow)
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
(anger)
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?
Shakespeare in Today’s
Language
Elizabethan theatre has had a very important effect on today’s
theatre, and other parts of every day life. For example:
Shakespeare coined over 1600 words still used today including
countless, critical, excellent, lonely, majestic, obscene and its.
Names coined by Shakespeare:
-
Imogen in the play Cymbaline,
Jessica in the play The Merchant of Venice
Miranda in the play The Tempest
Olivia in the play Twelfth Night
Cordelia in the play King Lear
For example…
“If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's
Greek to me", if your lost property has vanished into
thin air, if you have ever refused to budge an inch or
suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played
fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied,
hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your
brows, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink,
laughed yourself into stitches, if you have too much of
a good thing, if you have seen better days or if you think
it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if
you believe that the game is up and that truth will out
even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie
low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play,
if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop)
without rhyme or reason - it is all one to me, for you are
quoting Shakespeare!”
Shakespeare Today
Elizabethan theatre is still plays a part in our day to day lives, mostly
through the influence of Shakespeare. You can find references to his
work in films, novels, plays, musicals, songs, poetry, artwork,
satire…Even today his characters and storylines continue to inspire…
Died April 23, 1616 - 52
* Actor
* Poet
* Playwright
Introduction to Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Blake,
Oberon, Titania, and
Puck with the Fairies
Dancing
Introduction to William
Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s
Dream
The Meanings of
Midsummer Night’s
Dream
Brief examination of the
historical context of
Midsummer Night’s
Dream
A Play for a Royal Wedding?
Fairies in Midsummer
Night’s Dream
History of Puck
The Many Meanings of MSND
A romantic comedy
a fast-moving, action-packed
romantic comedy demonstrating
that “the course of true love never
did run smooth.” (I.i.134)
A play of illusions
the effect of the mysterious or
supernatural on humans
A play of ideas or themes
A psychological study of
Dreams
for example, “appearance
versus reality”
A traditional comedy
A play of political and
social realism
how oppressive and hierarchical
society can corrupt individuals
The strange happenings of 4
lovers, one royal couple, and
the King and Queen of Fairies
Historical Context of MSND
Shakespeare was a
playwright, not an
historian. However,
he knew that history
provided great
material for plays:
war, conflict,
ambition, the downfall
of great rulers.
King Theseus and Queen
Hippolyta based on Greek
mythology
Combines classical
mythology with English
country lore
Takes classical tales
(Huan of Bordeaux and
Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
and adds their plots to the
plot of the play
A Midsummer Night's Dream –
Sources
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has no
single source.
Unlike many of Shakespeare’s plays,
it’s not an adaptation of another work.
Pyramus and Thisbe comes from
Ovid’s The Metamorphosis.
Wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta
comes from Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales.
Other aspects of the play are derived
from Roman comedic tradition and
English folk tales.
Thisbe, John Waterhouse (1909)
Theseus and Hippolyta
Theseus was declared
King of Athens after
defeating the Minotaur
Hippolyta was Queen of
the Amazons and given to
Theseus as a war prize
Their wedding was
supposed to end the war
between Athens and the
Amazons – bringing peace
to Greece.
Martin, Theseus and Hippolyta
Oberon and Titania
Oberon and Titania come
from Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales.
Oberon is the King and
Titania is the Queen of all
Fairies.
They are unable to have
children.
They are both considered to be
Pagan gods of love and nature.
History of Fairies
Fairy-mania characterized
the Elizabethan era.
Most people believed in
fairies and circulating
pamphlets containing tales
of fairies and magic were
the equivalent of today’s
popular newspapers.
Henry Andersen, Fairie Face
Puck
Half man half goat
Not sure if he is good or evil
Servant to Oberon
Is actually a hobgoblin
Based off of Celtic
myths and folklore
Fairies (Fae) and Magic
Fairies were said to have “diabolical” powers. They could:
predict the future
bring on night in the daytime
cause fogs and tempests
transform themselves and others
curse enemies with fatal, wasting diseases
cause nightmares and sterility
take demonic possession of any individual
fly
teleport
manipulate and control nature
grant the gift immortality with a blood sacrifice
King James’s Daemonlogie
King James wrote Daemonlogie in 1597. In which he created a list of
‘evidence’ said to determine if the accused was indeed a true fairy:
They are almost always women.
They are often young.
They have a ‘familiar’ (an animal that follows them around,
usually a bird – often a dove or crow).
They have a ‘mark of the devil’ (a birth mark or mole) on their
skin.
Possess tokens (items that belong to) of their victims and cast spells
on them.
They hold strange ceremonies.
They celebrate the rain (play in it)
However, by 1607, King James became skeptic of all magical beings
and actually would attend trails trying to prove that these things
didn’t exist.
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
What would you do if you were forced to marry someone you
didn’t love…
and it was
someone your
best friend
loved?
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
Suppose the king is forcing you to marry them…
Would you do as the King
commands?
Or would you run away with
the man you loved never to
return home?
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
As Midsummer Night’s Dream opens, Theseus’s army has just
defeated the Amazons and he takes Hippolyta to be his bride
Hippolyta
(Amazon)
King
Theseus
(Athenian)
and they are to be married in four days – under the full moon.
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
What is a wedding without entertainment?
6 “mechanicals” or “rustics” (basically working class men)
are preparing to perform a play for the wedding of Theseus
(Duke of Athens) to Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons), but
they keep fighting over the casting.
They decide to go to woods to rehearse…
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
But in those same woods…
Oberon (King of the Fairies) argues with his wife, Titania,
over a young changeling boy (Oberon wants him for a knight
whilst Tytania wants to keep him as his mother was one of
her servants).
Refusing to give the boy up, Titania leaves. Oberon calls
Puck and sends him to find a magical flower. The juice of this
flower has the power to make anyone fall in love with the
next person they see.
Oberon plans to sprinkle this juice on Titania’s eyes as she
sleeps, and then take the boy for himself…
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
So now everyone is the woods:
•The four lovers
•6 Mechanicals
•Oberon and Titania
The woods seem to hold a strange
power over all of them…
Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Introduction
Will Hermia get to marry Lysander… Will the mechanicals ever
figure out their play… Will Oberon take the boy away from his
wife…
Or will it all fall apart?