William Shakespeare 1564 - 1616

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born and died on the same day. One happened in 1564, the other in 1616. I’ll let you figure out which happened when. His father was a businessman, and William was the third oldest child with seven brothers and sisters. His family lived in Stratford Upon Avon.

William Shakespeare In 1582 Shakespeare, then 18, married 26 year old Anne Hathaway. The eight year age gap was unusual for the time. At the time they were married Hathaway was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. Shakespeare did not like his wife.

William Shakespeare Anne and William had two other children, twins Judith and Hamnet. At the age of eleven Hamnet passed away. Shakespeare was very distraught by the death of his son and paid tribute to him in the play Hamlet.

Shakespeare’s Poetry Shakespeare is known for his invention of the Shakespearean sonnet. These sonnets are 14 lines long. Have an ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG rhyme scheme. All are written in Iambic Pentameter. Iambic Pentameter has 10 syllables per line and follow an unstressed/stressed pattern. The last two rhyming lines are called a Heroic Couplet

A B A B U / U / U / U / U / C 2 4 6 8 10 D Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee. C D E F E F G G

Shakespeare’s Poetry Shakespeare wrote 154 Shakespearean Sonnets Shakespeare also wrote poetry that didn’t follow the Shakespearean sonnet format however he is most famous for his sonnets.

Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare wrote three main types of plays: Comedies (12th Night, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew) Histories (Henry V, Richard III) Tragedies (Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello, King Lear) Shakespeare began his career with the comedies and ended with the tragedies, often considered his best works. Note to kids that they will probably read King Lear in the 11th grade and Hamlet in the 12th. We focus on the tragedies in HS b/c they are his most prominent and, as stated above, best works.

Shakespeare’s Comedy Traits of Shakespeare’s comedy: A romantic folly where mismatched romantic pairings create comedy. Nobody dies. Shakespeare’s comedy has a dark side; characters will often go through a dramatic series of events (The Tempest). The play ends happily in marriage. Highlight: Romantic folly; Nobody dies; End happily in marriage

Shakespeare’s Tragedy Shakespeare’s tragedy involves always includes: A main character who is a prominent figure in his/her society. (Macbeth-war hero; R&J-rich; Lear-king; Othello-high-ranking military official) A tragic flaw in this person’s character that he/she doesn’t recognize. The main character(s) always falls from power and always die. Shakespeare’s writing got darker as he aged, which is when most of his tragedies were written. Highlight: about Macbeth; tragic flaw (define for kids, have them write definition on the lines to the side and make a card for their rings; always falls from power and always dies Ask: so, what What do you think is the point of a tragedy? Looking at these characteristics, what makes a tragedy? (person’s flaw leads to tehir own destruction; add that a tragedy is meant to inspire “pity and fear”—ask what this means, have kids take notes on side of PPT)

Shakespeare’s History Shakespeare’s histories are both a comment on previous rulers as well as current rulers. Shakespeare would often point out what he thought was wrong with the government in his plays. (satire) Because he was sponsored by the queen and/or king, he needed to hide this fact, which he did by writing about fictional or past rulers. What do you think “satire” is? What examples of satire do we have today? (SNL; Dave Chappel; etc.)

Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare’s plays typically have five acts. All his plays are written in blank verse. Typically a character of lower class sees through all of the confusion in the play and tells the audience what is really going on. Shakespeare also relies on soliloquies and asides to inform the audience of plot. Highlight “blank verse”, define as: unrhymed verse in iambic pentameter Highlight “soliloquy” and “aside”, defined in next slides

Soliloquy A soliloquy is anytime a character is alone on stage and talking to the audience. The character will break the fourth wall and tell the audience what he/she is thinking. Typically in tragedy this is when we learn the main character’s tragic flaw. Ask kids to highlight key words/phrases in definition What ROOT do you see in this word, which relates to its definition? How?

Aside An aside is similar to a soliloquy but the character is not alone on the stage—this can be information related to the audience, or to one other character. Again the fourth wall is broken, but only the audience knows what is going on. This creates … ? Highlight key words/phrses again. Ask: what is the difference between a soliloquy and an aside? Have students WRITE the difference on the side of the PPT.

Shakespeare’s Professional Life Shakespeare was a wealthy man for his time. He owned part of his theatre, The Globe, so he received a portion of the profits from his plays. Shakespeare became the official playwright of the queen/king. His performance group was originally Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later became The King’s Men. Highlight “The Globe”

Shakespeare’s Theatre The Globe Theatre was built outside of London, and theatre was performed here due to the Puritan stranglehold on the city’s moral codes. The original Globe burned down during Shakespeare’s time. During a performance of Henry the VIII in 1613 an errant cannon shot caught the thatch roof on fire.

Shakespeare’s Work Shakespeare did not write down any of his plays. Actors memorized the lines as they performed the plays. After Shakespeare’s death The King’s Men recorded all of his plays on paper to pay tribute to Shakespeare. Because of this there are slight differences in the various copies of his plays.

Just for fun Here are some fun Shakespeare websites: http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=588 http://www.petelevin.com/shakespeare.htm http://www.insults.net/html/shakespeare/ Extra credit: Go to the Folger’s website, play some of the games, and give a report about what you have learned to the class. Be creative. Go to the Pete Levin website and construct 3-5 insults, accompanied by a comic-strip story. Translate the insults from Macbeth on the insults.net website