William Shakespeare:
Life During the
Elizabethan Age
Who Was Shakespeare?
 William
Shakespeare was a
playwright and poet
who lived in the
late 1500’s and
early 1600’s
(around 400 years
ago)
The Great Mystery
 One of the greatest mysteries of
English drama is that so little is
known for sure about one of its most
famous playwrights-Shakespeare
 S’s biographical info was not recorded
for about 100 years after his death-by
then, fact was mingled with legend
How Popular Is Shakespeare?
 His plays are
performed all
over the world
in hundreds of
languages, and
he is known as
one of the
greatest writers
of all time
Why Is Shakespeare So Popular?
 The reason his work is so
popular is that he wrote about
human nature and how people
behave.
 That is why, although his words
can be hard to understand, his
ideas are as relevant now as
they were four centuries ago.
Shakespeare’s Works
 At least 2 of Shakespeare’s
plays have been lost, but 38
survive
 They are divided into comedies,
tragedies, and histories
 Shakespeare also wrote poems,
including a series of sonnets (a
type of short poem)
Shakespeare’s Works
 Comedies: plays that begin with
trouble and end with peace,
solutions provided by last act
 Tragedies: plays that begin
calmly, but end in death
 Histories: based on historical
facts, but added to; comic relief
also added
Shakespeare in
Stratford
 Shakespeare came
from Stratfordupon-Avon, a
quiet market town.
 Although he made
his name in
London, he often
went back home
to see his wife and
children.
 Later, he bought a
big house in
Stratford and
retired there
himself.
The Family
 Shakespeare’s father was a glover
(maker of gloves and leather goods),
also became mayor of the town
 John was married to Mary Arden, a
wealthy landowner’s daughter
 They had 8 children, but 3 died
young (flu, measles, scarlet fever)
 William
Shakespeare
with his
parents,
John and
Mary.
 Shakespeare went
to grammar schoolstudied mostly
Latin-left at 15 and
didn’t go to college
 One schoolmaster
taught 12 boys
 Boys usually only
went to school if
their family could
afford it (girls were
taught at home and
often didn’t learn to
read and write)
Shakespeare’s
Schooldays
Shakespeare’s Schooling
 Acquired insight into nature
of man by reading classics,
Bible
 Studied humankind, trying to
gain a better understanding
of how people think, feel,
and suffer
William
would have
attended the
King
Edward's
Grammar
School in
Stratford.
 After leaving school at around 15 it is
likely that Shakespeare went to learn
his father's trade in his father's shop.
A Hasty Marriage
 Shakespeare
married Anne
Hathaway in
1582, when he
was 18
 She was 8 years
older than him
 By the time he
was 20, he had
a daughter and
twins to
provide for
Shakespeare’s New Life
 Because he had a family to
provide for, Shakespeare had
to quickly find work
 Fate brought
William into
contact with a
traveling
theatre
company, and
he joined it as
an actor.
 This picture shows
the Earl of
Southampton, a very
rich young gentleman,
to whom Shakespeare
dedicated two of his
earliest works, and
who was an early
patron of
Shakespeare.
 Little is
known of
Shakespeare's
early years in
London. He
must have
pursued his
writing after
his day's
By 1592, when he was aged 27,
work, in the
Shakespeare had established
taverns where
himself as both an actor and
he was
writer.
lodging.
Shakespeare’s Personality
 Friends described him as
gentle
 Took minor roles in his plays
 Did not promote himself
apart from fellow actors
London Life-Capital City
 The traveling company of actors
took Shakespeare to London in
1586.
 His first impressions would have
been of teeming crowds, the squalor
of poverty, and the extravagance of
the wealthy
City of London
 Bordered by the River Thames in the
south and a 2 mile wall to the north
 Beyond these boundaries were
London’s suburbs, areas outside the
strict control of City authorities
Elizabethan Age
“Golden Age of English Literature”
 The time period during which Shakespeare
lived and wrote his plays
 The time period during the reign of
Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
 This was an age of great nationalistic
expansion, commercial growth, and
religious controversy
 outburst of lyric poetry
 development of English drama
Elizabethan Beliefs
 Life in Elizabethan England could
be cruel and hard (time during
which S. lived and wrote)
 The poor often went hungry,
disease was widespread, medical
remedies often felt more like
tortures, and many women died in
childbirth
 Through their beliefs, people found
ways of making sense of the
universe
Religion
 Almost everyone believed in
God and expected to go to
hell or heaven after death
 Hamlet-In his play, Hamlet
won’t kill his stepfather,
Claudius, while Claudius is
praying, because he doesn’t
want him to go to heaven
Social Classes in England at the
Time of Shakespeare
 Distinct social roles and functions (each
class was distinctly based on education,
dress, occupation, and income)
 The bulk of playgoing audiences
included:
 large urban artisan class (mostly in
London)
 class of merchants and manufacturers
 increasingly literate class of scholars
and clergy
The Chain of Being
 A concept the Elizabethans
inherited from the Middle Ages
 An attempt to give order to the
vastness of creation
 The idea was that God created
everything in a strict hierarchy,
or chain, that stretched from
God himself down to the lowest
things in existence
Chain of Being continued...
 Monarchs
 Nobles, churchmen
 Gentlemen
 Commoners
 Women inferior to men, with the
exception of Elizabeth I (her
position as monarch outweighed
the fact that she was a woman)
Chain of Being continued…
 Accepting one’s place in the
chain was a duty that would
be rewarded by God in
heaven. Disrupting the chain
was thought to lead to chaos,
but of course many people
still did challenge their
position in society.
Myths and
Magic
 Fairies, magic, witches,
spells, and prophecies all
part of life
 Diseases and disasters
often blamed on witches
(women accused of
working for the devil)
 Astrology-the belief that
the position of the stars
can foretell and
influence life on Earthwas respected and
popular
St. Paul’s Cathedral
 For many Londoners, it was
more of a meeting place than
place of worship
 Deals were struck, goods were
bought and sold, and thieves,
prostitutes, and beggars
operated within its walls
 Over 100,000
people died of
plague
 Crowded
conditions and
poor sanitation
made London an
ideal breeding
ground for
plague, a fatal
disease carried
by fleas on rats
Plague
Entertainment in London
 inns, taverns
 cockfighting,
public
beatings,
executions
 theater
Elizabethan Theatre
 In Shakespeare’s lifetime,
theatre became hugely popular
 At first it was not considered to
be a respectable pastime, and
most theaters were in rougher
parts of town
 Until the mid 16th century,
most plays were performed
outside London
Theatre Companies
 In London, plays were put on
by theatre companies (groups of
professional actors)
 By law, a company had to have
a patron, a rich friend who
would support it financially
 Companies were named after
their patrons
Traveling Theatre Companies
 Traveling companies of
actors would perform at
market fairs, or at great
country houses. Each
company was under the
patronage of some wealthy
nobleman.
The Theatre
 1586-Shakespeare became the stage
manager of The Theatre in London
(only theater in town)
 also joined the acting company
 earliest works produced in 1591-92
(Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream)
Shakespeare’s Theatre Company
 Shakespeare spent much of his
career with a company called Lord
Chamberlain’s Men
 Its patron was Lord Chamberlain
 In 1603, James I became King-he
wanted to become a patron so he
started supporting the
Chamberlain’s Men. From then on,
they were known as the King’s
Men.
The Audience
 Theatre in Elizabethan England was an
entertainment for everyone
 Cheapest tickets cost one penny, which
most ordinary people could afford
(workers earned about 12 pence a
week)
 Most expensive tickets were 6 pence
and bought by rich merchants and
nobles
London Playhouse Audience
 Majority of audience educated and well off
 The social range of the audience did include
other types of people:
Queens/Earls>rogues/unemployed
 Some wives attended-but their playgoing
created a worry that they either were
harlots (prostitutes) or would be assaulted
if not. Most men expected only harlots to
be regular playgoers.
 Women were seen as respectable if
accompanied by a man to a theatre.
The Audience continued...
 Foreign traders and tourists
often made a visit to the
theater as part of their visit to
London
 With so many people
crowded together, the theaters
were also popular with
thieves and pickpockets
Stage Craft
 Special effects and
scenery did not
play a big part in
theatre
 Musicians
provided sound
effects with drums
and trumpets, and
actors wore
extravagant showy
costumes
Shakespeare’s Players
 Shakespeare is thought to have
joined the theatre as an actor, or
“player”, and become a writer in
later life
 probably started gradually writing
more and acting less
 it was normal for actors to help
write plays, or change them a lot
during rehearsals
The Globe Theater
 1599-Shakespeare joined other
actors and built the Globe Theatre
 he was a shareholder in the Globe
and a part-owner of a company of
actors called Lord Chamberlain’s
Company, later known as The
King’s Men
The Globe Theater
 From 1599 onwards, Shakespeare’s
plays were usually performed at the
Globe, a huge, open-air circular theater
in Southwark London
 could hold 3,000 people
 2 performances a day
 Shakespeare owned a share in the Globe
and made a lot of money from it
Performing Conditions
 To get to playhouse on south side of
Thames: Globe, etc.
 flag, trumpet or drum summoned
them from “suburbs”
 ferried across the river
 coach
Performing Conditions...
 The play would be affected by:
 weather (plays held in
afternoon)
 food/drink
 smells
 thieves
 occasional riots
Performing Conditions...
 Galleries would shelter 2/3 of
audience
 Stage covered
 All open-air theatres aligned
stages so that character had
backs to sun in mid-summer
and a shadowed stage
Performing Conditions...
 Groundlings: usually lower class, stood
in front of stage
 Food/drink/need for toilets>constant
distraction
 passed around/carried around, mostly
apples and nuts (often used as
ammunition to show displeasure at
play)
 for solids/Thames River
 for urine/they passed buckets
 no privacy
Performing Conditions...
 Regarding smell:
 occupational smell
 tobacco
 it was recommended to eat
onions to take away smell of
leeks; it was recommended to eat
garlic to take away smell of
onions
 much tobacco spit
Performing Conditions...
 The audience was an active participant in
the collective experience of playgoing,
and it was not in the habit of keeping its
reactions private.
 They threw items to hasten progress
and/or stop it.
 great crowds/packed masses of
standing-room crowd
 Authority of any kind was absent-self
regulation (pickpockets-dealt with by
mob rule-tied to stage pillars)
Shakespeare and His Plays
 Shakespeare wrote his plays for the
educated, who financed the plays.
 Groundlings didn’t seem to mind if it
went over their heads, especially in
language.
 Candles used, wooden structure, thrust
stage-intimacy between actors and
audience, no women in acting company
Retirement
 In 1610
Shakespeare
returned to
Stratford
permanently to
manage his
investments and
properties.
 Shakespeare’s
family upon
retirement
 Shakespeare died in Stratford on
23 April 1616, and now lies in
Holy Trinity Church Stratford.