History and Artistry

Shakespeare Born in 1564 in England. Married at 18 to Anne Hathaway (26) and had three children. Worked in London as an actor, writer, producer and poet. (Wrote and produced six plays within two years) Supported by Queen Elizabeth Died in I. Elizabeth I.

Elizabethan England Named for Queen Elizabeth, during the English Renaissance (1500’s and early 1600’s) She supported the arts London: crowded and dirty, plagues Public executions, bear baitings ol/supplemental.pdf ol/supplemental.pdf

Theaters disliked by many royal/civic officials Contagious environment Antagonistic/immoral crowds Dangerous content that could weaken foreign relations

Globe Theater 1599 Just outside city limits (jurisdiction of authorities)

Plays Majority of plays performed in the Globe Theater. Wrote three types of plays: – Comedy – Tragedy – History

Tragedies Includes the rise and fall of a tragic hero, usually a high-ranking person with admirable traits. This character has a tragic flaw, a weakness that leads to his downfall or destruction.

Audiences Nobility: generally secluded because public plays were not considered a dignified form of entertainment. Common man: “Groundlings”– stood in the open yard in front of the stage. Gentlemen, scholars, lawyers, young students, etc. sat in the galleries.

Audience Expectations--Rich Poetry/Elevated language Complicated plot Romance Ballroom Scenes (formal gatherings) Happy Endings

Audience Expectations—Poor (Groundlings) Low (common, sometimes vulgar) language Tragedy Common characters (not royalty) Fight scenes Bloodshed Death

Iambic Pentameter unrhymed lines (blank verse) of ten syllables broken into five feet (sets of stressed and unstressed syllables) Iambic pentameter has one unaccented syllable followed by an accented one: “de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM” In Macbeth, the upper class usually speaks in IP.

Trochaic Tetrameter Four feet made up of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable (the opposite of an iamb). BAboom / BAboom / BAboom / BAboom. The witches speak in this pattern.

Prose Anything in non poetic form: - Porter (gatekeeper)—common man - Lady Macbeth reads a letter - Sleepwalking scene Altered patterns mark changes/differences: rank, state of mind, spoken/written language, etc.

Heroic Couplets iambic pentameter lines with each pair of lines rhyming 19 of 28 scenes end with these rhymed couplets

Aside and Soliloquy Similarities: Only the audience hears these words Reveals inner thoughts and emotions of the speaker Creates dramatic irony

Aside and Soliloquy Differences: Soliloquies are longer and the actor is alone on stage. The actor turns or moves away from other characters when making an aside.

Dramatic Irony When the audience knows something the characters do not Result of soliloquies and asides Creates suspense

Motif A repeated image throughout a work of literature Helps unify the work Helps develop theme

Source The play is based on the life of a man, named Macbeth, written about in The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. Shakespeare altered events, reshaped personalities, added some characters and situations.