The Man, the Myth, the Legend William Shakespeare The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Introduction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geev441vbMI

Early life Born in 1564 in a town northwest of London called Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-avon

marriage In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway He was 18 She was 26

No, not that anne hathaway!

Anne hathaway’s cottage

London calling Moved to London to work in the theatre (actor and writer)

Conditions in london Thames River polluted with raw sewage Open sewers everywhere Chamber pots Extreme poverty Crowded No running water

Clothes One or two outfits used all year long, rarely washed Slept in underclothing, infrequently changed

Personal hygiene/disease Bathing considered dangerous Strong body odor Childhood diseases (children often died before 5) Small Pox BUBONIC PLAGUE!!!

The Globe Theatre Also called the “Wooden-O” because it was round and made of wood. Queen Elizabeth loved to watch plays. Shakespeare became a partial owner of the Globe Theatre Owned 10% of the shares

The GLOBE

Groundlings Groundlings were the poor audience member who stood around the stage in “the pit” Paid 1 shilling to attend Threw rotten vegetables at bad performances

plays After the plague, he wrote around 2 plays a year Wrote a total of 37 plays

Acting in shakespeare’s london All of Shakespeare’s female characters were originally played by young boys. So, Juliet would have been played by a boy!

Romeo & Juliet Set in Verona, Italy. Based on a poem and an even older story. Romeo and Juliet are “star cross’d lovers” Romeo belongs to the Montague family Juliet belongs to the Capulet family

sonnets When the theatres began to close because of the plague, Shakespeare wrote sonnets and poetry Wrote a total of 154 sonnets.

Sonnets A sonnet has 14 lines. Each line has 10 syllables.

Sonnets The rhyme scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet is ababcdcdefefgg. The last two lines which rhyme in a Shakespearean sonnet are called a couplet.

language Iambic Pentameter: five beats of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables; ten syllables per line Blank Verse:  unrhymed iambic pentameter

language For the sake of his poetry, Shakespeare often left out letters, syllables, and whole words. We do that too! “Been to English yet?” “No. Heard Ms. Foreman made a pretty sweet PowerPoint, though.” “Wha’supwi’that?” “Dunno, but I sure ain’t takin’ notes.” “YOLO!”

Examples of omissions/contractions ‘tis ope o’er gi’ ne’er i’ e’er oft e’en

Other Words for Ye to know Thou Thee Thine/thy Art Whence Wherefore Nay Aye Yon/yonder

pun a play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings (ex. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”)

aside Dramatic convention by which an actor directly addresses the audience but is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on stage.

Monologue a dramatic conversation in which a speech is given by a single character, either alone or to others.

soliloquies a dramatic convention in which a speech is given by a character while or as if alone; literally, “talking to oneself.”

Words he coined Invented over 1,700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising original words http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html

Phrases he coined Flesh and blood Seen better days Full circle Dead as a doornail For goodness sake Green-eyed monster A sorry sight

Reading Shakespeare Difficult because of the unusual word arrangements Example: (I ate the sandwich.) I the sandwich ate. Ate the sandwich I. Ate I the sandwich. The sandwich I ate. The sandwich ate I.