1. Shakespeare: His Life and Times
Adapted from

2. Early Life Born 1564—died 1616 Stratford-upon-Avon
Parents: John and Mary Arden Shakespeare
Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
John—glovemaker, local politician

3. Location of Stratford-upon-Avon
From:

4. Stratford-on-Avon in Shakespeare’s Time
As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).

5. Shakespeare’s Birthplace
From:

6. Education Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford
Educated in:
Rhetoric
Logic
History
Latin
From:

7. Married Life
Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter, Suzanna
Had twins in 1585: Hamnet and Judith
Hamnet died at age 11.
Sometime between , he abandoned his wife and children and moved to London to begin working in theatre.

8. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
From:

9. Where did he go? Abandoned wife & children
Became a member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men, an acting company in London.
Started writing plays while acting.
First play was Romeo and Juliet in 1596
Became rich (from theatre)
Retired in Returned to Stratford to live with oldest daughter.

10. Shakespeare’s Theatre Career
Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men
Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with Shakespeare as primary investor
Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays

11. Conditions in London-BAD!
Thames River polluted with raw sewage
Trees used up for fuel
Poverty

12. Personal hygiene/health
Bathing considered dangerous
Body odor strong
Childhood diseases
Children often died before 5 years
Small Pox
Bubonic Plague

13. Living Conditions
No running water
Chamber Pots
Open Sewers
Crowded
                  

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

15. The Renaissance 1500-1650 “Rebirth” of arts, culture, science
Discovery of “New World”
Copernicus: Sun-centered Universe (1543)
King Henry VIII = renaissance man (ideal)
Reformation of Catholic Church

16. 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”

17. The Competition Bear-baiting Races Gambling Music Drinking/socializing
Prostitution
Public executions

18. Theater in London Performed in courtyards of inns
The Theater-first public theater-1576
Daytime/open air
Limited set design
Relied on music, sound, costumes, props and great description

19. Actors All men Female parts played by young boys
No actual kissing or hugging on stage
Women were not allowed to act

20. The groundling Poor audience member Stood around stage in “the pit”
Women not allowed (had to dress up as men to attend)
Threw rotten vegetables at bad performances

21. The Globe Built in 1599 Across the Thames- “Wrong side of town”
King’s Players - Shakespeare’s company
Penny admission

22. The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

23. The Globe Theater

24. 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!)

25. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English.”
Middle English is the language of Chaucer:
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)

26. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern English.”
EME was not very different from “Modern English,”

27. Shakespeare’s Language
A mix of old and very new
Rural and urban words/images
Understandable by the lowest peasant and the highest noble
Contributed more words, phrases, and expressions to the English language than any other writer- some were his own invention: “bump” & “lonely”, “laughingstock” and “for goodness sake”

28. Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre
Use of disguises/
mistaken identity
Last speaker—highest in
rank (in tragedies)
Multiple murders
(in tragedies)
Multiple marriages
(in comedies)

29. The Plays 14 comedies 10 histories 10 tragedies 4 romances
38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
14 comedies
10 histories
10 tragedies
4 romances
Possibly wrote three others
Collaborated on several others

30. The Poetry
154 Sonnets
Numerous other poems