1. Upper-Intermediate Lesson 31
Shakespeare
Upper-Intermediate Lesson 31

3. Today we are going to learn:
About William Shakespeare
His influence on the modern English language and culture

4. William Shakespeare
wrote at least 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a number of poems! that we know of.
is the second most quoted English writer after the writers of the Bible.
Shakespeare wrote an average 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589.
Vocabulary 17,000 – 29,000 words
7,000 words he used only once

5. William Shakespeare 26 April 1564 – baptized in Stratford
27 Nov 1582 Married Ann Hathaway
1592 mentioned as an actor and playwright in London
1594 founder of The Chamberlain’s Men, performed in front of Queen Elizabeth I

6. William Shakespeare 1603 bought a large house in Stratford
1603 company became The King’s Men under the patronage of James I
1611 retired to Stratford
25 April 1616 buried, Stratford

7. Works

8. Influence on modern English
introduced almost 3,000 words to the English language.
HOT-BLOODED
DISHEARTEN
EVENTFUL
ADDICTION
EYEBALL
ARCH-VILLAIN
FASHIONABLE
ASSASSINATION
INAUDIBLE
BELONGINGS
MANAGER
COLD-BLOODED
UNCOMFORTABLE

9. Influence on modern English
Love is blind
You’ve got to be cruel to be kind
In my mind’s eye
I haven’t slept a wink
Brevity is the soul of wit
It’s Greek to me
Tell the truth and shame the devil
As dead as a doornail

10. Influence on modern English
He is also credited with inventing the given names Olivia, Miranda, Jessica and Cordelia, which have become common over the years (as well as others, such as Nerissa and Titania, which have not).

11. Less known facts
There are more than 80 variations recorded for the spelling of Shakespeare’s name. In the few original signatures that have survived, Shakespeare spelt his name “Willm Shaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,” “William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare”. There are no records of him ever having spelt it “William Shakespeare”.

12. Less known facts
It’s likely that Shakespeare wore a gold hoop earring in his left ear
Shakespeare’s parents were probably illiterate, and his children almost certainly were.
Nobody knows what Shakespeare did between 1585 and 1592.
Some scholars think that he was a fraud

13. Authorship Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (Oxfordian theory)
Francis Bacon,
Christopher Marlowe
Mary Sidney Herbert
Several group theories 

14. Actor
Shakespeare was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as those of other playwrights. There is evidence that he played the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It.

15. The Globe theatre

16. The Globe theatre 1599 built
Thomas Platter saw a production of Julius Caesar there, he also watched a session of bear-baiting. Commented on the stench from dogs and bears
1613 burnt to the ground

17. Shakespeare’s Globe Sam Wanamaker Elizabethan plan
opened in 1997 under the name "Shakespeare's Globe Theatre“
stages plays every summer (May to October).
225 yards (205m) from the original site

18. Royal Shakespeare Company
Stratford-upon-Avon
Since 1961
3 permanent theatres
Plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries
Modern plays

19. Today we have learned: About William Shakespeare
His influence on the modern English language and culture