Random Facts about Shakespeare

None of Shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting exist today. We only have several of his signatures on some documents, but some scholars believe this passage from the play, The Book of Sir Thomas Moore, is in his handwriting.

Shakespeare wrote 37 or 38 plays They are divided by modern editors into four categories: 13 Comedies 10 Tragedies 10 Histories 5 Romances

The Quartos Shakespeare’s plays began to be printed in 1594 as small, cheap pamphlets called quartos because of the way they were printed. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had appeared in quarto editions by the time of his death in He had nothing to do with their publication.

The first Folio was published in 1623, 7 years after Shakespeare died. It contained 35 plays. Three more (Pericles, Two Noble Kinsmen, and Troilus and Cressida were attributed to him later. Some of what modern editors now call Romances were listed under the either Comedies or Tragedies in the First Folio.

More than 80 spelling variations are recorded for Shakespeare's name, from “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.

In the few signatures that have survived, Shakespeare spelled his name: “Willm Shaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,” “William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare” —but never “William Shakespeare

Almost four hundred years after Shakespeare's death there are 152 million pages referring to him on Google.

Macbeth is thought to be one of the most produced plays ever, with a performance beginning somewhere in the world every four hours.

Words, Words, Words Shakespeare’s plays have a vocabulary of some 17,000 words, four times what a well-educated English speaker would have. Shakespeare used 27,870 different words out of 936,443 words in all. The average educated person today uses between 7,500 and 10,000 words. Scholars have speculated that Shakespeare coined somewhere around 1,500 words.

A.advertising B.bandit C.critic D.dickens E.epileptic F.film G.gossip H.hush I.investment J.jig K.kissing L.luggage M.manager N.numb O.obscene P.puke Q.quarrelsome R.rant S.shooting star T.torture U.undress V.varied W.wild-goose chase X.Xantippe Y.yelping Z.zany A to Z: Some words first used by Shakespeare

Some great words used by Shakespeare  ambuscado  barber-monger  boiled-brains  chop-fallen  clodpole  facinerious  flibbertigibbet  hobby-horse  kicky-wicky  logger-headed  maltworm  nuthook  onion-eyed  pestiferous  pickthank  rampallion  sheep-biter  skimble-skamble  slug-a-bed  thought-sick  thwack  tittle-tattle  whirligig  zounds

Shakespeare used over 75 different words for sexual intercourse including:  backtrick  business  juggling  husbandry  night-work  sport  tillage  tick-tack  tumble  voyage

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life

He was a schoolteacher.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew. He helped write the King James Bible.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew. He helped write the King James Bible. He was unhappily married.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew. He helped write the King James Bible. He was unhappily married. He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew. He helped write the King James Bible. He was unhappily married. He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition. During the “lost years” he visited Italy.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life He was a schoolteacher. He was a deer poacher. He was a Catholic. He was a Jew. He helped write the King James Bible. He was unhappily married. He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition. During the “lost years” he visited Italy. He was an Arab named “Sheikh Speare.”

Folger Making Shakespeare Editions Text Available Free for Non-Commercial Use

Some Random Thoughts about Teaching Shakespeare

It is more important to get kids to like Shakespeare than it is to get them to understand every word.

The best way to get kids to like Shakespeare is by getting them to perform Shakespeare.

Performing Shakespeare does not mean having students sit at their desks reading out loud, or having students stand in front of the room reading out loud, or the teacher acting out scenes for the class.

Acting out a scene is a form of close reading on your feet.

Sometimes it is better to do just part of a play rather than the whole play.

There are wonderful plays to teach other than the Big 4

The best way to use video may not always be showing the tape or DVD from the beginning to the end.

A few tricks and gimmicks are not enough to make a Shakespeare learning experience significant.

Studying Shakespeare’s life doesn’t really help students understand the plays.

Designing Globe Theaters out of sugar cubes and Popsicle sticks, making Elizabethan newspapers, designing costumes, doing a scavenger hunt on the Internet, or doing a report on Elizabethan sanitary conditions has nothing to do with a student’s appreciation of Shakespeare’s language.

O

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

Subtext sub ⋅ text /ˈ–noun the underlying or implicit meaning, as of a literary work.

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

surprised

angry

awe

suspicious

excited

sad

exhausted

lusty

contempt

afraid

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 shall, in all my best, obey you, Madam. Hamlet 1.2

Some lines from Shakespeare

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! (lusty)

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! (lusty)

O lamentable day! (misery)

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! (excited)

O me, O me! My child, my only life. (distraught)

O day! O day! O day! O hateful day! Never was seen so black a day as this: O woeful day, O woeful day! (hysterical)

O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? (disappointed)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (fear)

O, he's a lovely gentleman! (lusty)

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent To set against me for your merriment (rage)

O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. (fear)

O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead. (horror)

O me! you juggler! You canker-blossom! (loathing)

O, I am slain! (despair)

O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds! (grief)

O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die. (grief)

O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully (joy)

O, if I thought that I'd beat him like a dog! (annoyed)

I'll cudgel him, and make him cry O! (vengeful)

O time! thou must untangle this, not I (confused)

O weary night, O long and tedious night, (exhausted)

O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! (adoring)

O, how ripe in show thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow! (lusty)

O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. (frightened)

O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee! (horror)

O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou mayst revenge. O slave! (fear)

O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop? (distraught)

O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit. (exhausted)

The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right! (angry)

O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure? (sad)

O, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't! (awe)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (horror) ( afraid )

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (shocked) (anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (happy) (sorrow)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (mournful) (anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? (furious) (anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

Our play is done! (relief)

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