1. William Shakespeare

2. Shakespeare’s Birth
Shakespeare was born in in Stratford-upon-Avon in April of 1564

3. Shakespeare…the facts
Parents were John—glovemaker, local politician and Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
Shakespeare had 7 brothers and sisters   

4. King’s New School – Shakespeare’s school  
From:

5. Married Life Married in November, 1582, to Anne Hathaway
First daughter Susanna born in May 1583
Twins (Hamnet and Judith) christened on February 2, 1585
Hamnet died from the plague at age 11
No documentary evidence between – known as “The Lost Years”
Sometime in this period, he moved to London and began working in the theatre.

6. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
From:

7. Elizabethan Playwrights
Christopher Marlowe
Thomas Kyd
And William Shakespeare was the original “New Kid on the Block”

8. The Plays
Throughout the middle ages plays were performed by workers in towns and were religious based, often retelling stories from the Bible.
 Elizabethan writers introduced theatre audiences to horror, the supernatural and GORE

9. Theater Career
Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Theaters in London closed from due to the plague

10. Theater Career
After the succession of James I in 1603 to the throne, the company was granted permission to change its name to the King’s Men
London theatres: Blackfriars, Rose, Swan, Curtain, Globe
Wrote during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I
Queen Elizabeth

11. The Globe Theatre
Globe built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, with Shakespeare as a primary investor
Burned down in 1613 during a production of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII when a cannon misfired and a spark landed on the thatched roof

12. The Globe
The most expensive seats were directly behind the stage, called the gallery. Though the people sitting there could only see the actors from behind, they themselves could be seen by everyone in the audience.

13. The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

14. The Globe Theater

15. The Plays 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
Possible wrote three others
14 COMEDIES – ends in marriage
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing…
10 HISTORIES – Richard III, Richard II..
10 TRAGEDIES – ends in death
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello…
4 romances – Pericles, Cymbeline, Winter’s Tale, Tempest

16. The Poetry Two major poems 154 Sonnets Numerous other poems
Poetry usually dedicated to a patron

17. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare did NOT write in “Old English”
Old English is the language of Beowulf:
Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum
Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunon
Hu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!
Hey! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes, how noble princes showed great courage!

18. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English”
Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Malory: We redeth oft and findeth y-write—
And this clerkes wele it wite—
Layes that ben in harping
Ben y-founde of ferli thing… (Sir Orfeo)

19. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern English”
EME was not very different from “Modern English,” except that it had some old holdovers.
Beginning about 200 years before Shakespeare, and largely complete by his day, long vowel pronunciation shifted: ex: good, name, life

20. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare coined many words we still use today:
Critical
Majestic
Dwindle
And quite a few phrases as well:
One fell swoop
Flesh and blood
Vanish into thin air
See

21. Shakespeare’s Death Shakespeare died on April 23rd, 1616
He is buried in Holy Trinity Church in his birth village of Stratford
His grave is covered by a flat stone that bears an epitaph warning of a curse:
"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the bones enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones."

23. Shakespeare Today
Elizabethan theatre still plays a part in our day to day lives, mostly through the influence of Shakespeare You can find references to his work in films, novels, plays, musicals, songs, poetry, artwork, satire…Even today his characters and storylines continue to inspire…

24. The End
Died April 23,
* Actor
* Poet
* Playwright