William Shakespeare and His Time Elizabethan Era (1558–1603)

Shakespeare’s Time Conditions in London—BAD! Thames River polluted with raw sewage Streets filled with rotting garbage Animals permitted to defecate anywhere Trees used up for fuel Poverty

Personal hygiene/health Bathing considered dangerous Body odor strong Children often died before 5 years Bubonic Plague or “Black Death Example of home-made recipes to cure Bubonic Plague: "Take yarrow, tansy, featherfew, of each a handful, bruise them well together, let the sick urinate on the herbs, strain them, and drink the mixture."

Living Conditions No running water Chamber Pots Open Sewers Crowded

Life Expectancy Adult male: 47 years London: 35 years (wealthy), 25 years if poor 40% died before middle teenage years

Average Age of Marriage 25 for women, 27 for men A bit younger for the aristocracy The “age of consent” was 12 for a girl, 14 for a boy Early Marriage=undesirable

Clothes One set used all year long, rarely washed Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed Clothes handed down from rich to poor Peasants Wealthy

Queen Elizabeth Bastard daughter of King Henry VIII And Ann Boleyn (2nd of 6 wives) Henry had Ann beheaded for “treason” Younger sister of “Bloody Mary.” “Virgin Queen”? A tease and a player

Elizabethan Period The Elizabethan Period was the age of the Renaissance, of new ideas and new thinking. The introduction of the printing press during the Renaissance, one of the greatest tools in increasing knowledge and learning, was responsible for the interest in the different sciences and inventions - and the supernatural! The new ideas, information and increased knowledge about science, technology and astrology led to a renewed interest in the supernatural including witches, witchcraft and ghosts which led to belief in superstitions and the supernatural.

The Theater Plays produced for the general public Roofless>open air No artificial lighting Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries

The Globe The sign over the entrance shows Hercules (or possibly Atlas) carrying the globe on his shoulders -- an allusion to the name of the house as well as to the Elizabethan theater's claim to present a mirror image of the world Basic entrance fee is a penny, entitling the spectator to use the standing room in the open 'Yard'.

Staging Areas Stage>platform that extended into the pit Trap door>ghosts or “hell” “Heavens”> angelic beings

Spectators Wealthy got benches “Groundlings” or poor people stood and watched from the courtyard (“yard”) All but wealthy were uneducated/illiterate Much more interaction than today

Differences No scenery Settings > references in dialogue Elaborate costumes Plenty of props Fast-paced, colorful>2 hours!

Actors Only men and boys Young boys whose voices had not changed play women’s roles Would have been considered indecent for a woman to appear on stage

Shakespeare “The Bard” Widely regarded as the greatest writer in English Literature Stratford-on-Avon, England wrote 37 plays about 154 sonnets Writing: intellectual AND bawdy The word ‘bard’ means poet.

Shakespeare wrote: Comedies Histories Tragedies

Language and Shakespeare The audiences represented a broad cross-section of English society, so successful writers like Shakespeare had to write on at least two levels: they had to appeal to the best—and least—educated people in the audience; they had to know how to use both rude’n’crude humor and refined classical allusions. Allusions are a sort of literary ‘name-dropping’; you mention a name from Greek mythology or a phrase from a famous poem, and the truly refined reader ‘gets’ it.

Three Cool Things About Shakespeare’s English 1.When Shakespeare began his career; the English language was flexible and still developing. Shakespeare made the most of the situation, displaying dazzling innovations like a great jazz improviser: Shakespeare turns nouns into verbs, links adjectives together to form new combinations, and borrows words from other languages.

2 nd Cool Thing About Shakespeare’s English Shakespeare’s vocabulary is big; 21,000 words plus. Not only can’t a modern audience ‘understand’ every word, Shakespeare’s audience couldn’t understand every word! Shakespeare often chose his words to take advantage of their newness, to make us look at a new situation in a new way, and to get the meaning from the context. In other words, he wants you to loosen up and follow him, not sit on each line with a dictionary.

3 rd Cool Thing About Shakespeare’s English Shakespeare often uses what poets call personification—giving human characteristics to non-humans. In Shakespeare, a tree may be angry, the moon may blush, the morning may have eyes…in most cases, that is not meant to be taken literally—it is as if the moon blushed, or as if the morning had eyes.

OK, maybe he was cool, but he is still hard to understand. Why do teachers make us read Shakespeare? On Quoting Shakespeare Timeless themes Literary Devices

Elizabethan Words an,and: if anon:soon aye: yes but:except for ere:before e’en:even e’er: ever

QE1 Words (contin.) haply:perhaps happy:fortunate hence:away, from her hie:hurry thence:from there or that circumstance thither:to or toward there

QE1 Words (contin.) whence:where wilt:will, will you withal:in addition to would:wish WHEREFORE:why