1. Shakespeare & Elizabethan Drama

2. Origins
Queen Elizabeth I (reigned )

3. Origins Source of popular, secular entertainment
Began in courtyards of inns and taverns

4. Origins
Represented microcosm of Elizabethan society

5. Theaters
Theaters were globe-shaped
Open-air
Reliant on natural light

6. Theaters
This video was shot at the Globe Theatre; this is how Shakespeare's audiences would have experienced his plays.

7. Conventions
Proximity of audience and actors led to soliloquy and aside
Soliloquy: speech spoken by character to themselves, sharing their thoughts and feelings with the audience
Aside: speech spoken by
a character to the audience
& unheard by other
characters

8. Shakespeare’s Language
Written in verse
Musicality + imagery = emotion

9. Shakespeare’s Language
Theatres were open air & dependent on natural light so atmospheric conditions were conveyed via language
“Night’s candles are burnt out
and jocund day/Stands
tiptoe on the misty mountain
tops.” ~Romeo & Juliet

10. Shakespeare’s Language
Women’s roles were played by young boys so romantic passion had to be conveyed via language
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till
this night.” ~Romeo & Juliet

11. Shakespeare’s Language
Written in Iambic pentameter (line= 5 feet of stressed & unstressed syllables
Mimics human heartbeat
Necessitated combining, shortening, rearranging, mispronouncing, and omitting words

12. Shakespeare’s Language
The beginning of this scene demonstrates the iambic pentameter beat.

13. Shakespeare’s Language
Thou’rt = thou art
‘Tis = it is
Ne’er = never
Movéd = move-ed (2 syllables)

14. Imagery in Shakespeare
Metaphor creates visual images and emotion
Life as a stage
Political strife as disease
Love as a game or
trial

15. Shakespeare’s Themes Illusion Lovers’ deceptions Secret actions
Carefully-crafted
personas