1. William Shakespeare

2. Shakespeare’s Stats
Born: April 23, 1564 in Stratford–upon-Avon, England
Middle Class Family:
Father – glove maker, who later became the town’s mayor
Mother- distantly related to wealth
Education:
- Local grammar school (common for middle class children)
- Studied Latin + Ancient Roman Writers
Married Life:
- Married Anne Hathaway at 18 years-old
- 3 children: daughter and twins (boy+girl)

3. Career in Theater By 1592- successful playwright in London
1596: Romeo + Juliet first performed
Part-Owner of “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”
Later dubbed “King’s Men” because of King James’ support
Traveling acting group; earned solid income

4. The Globe Theater

5. The Globe Theatre Could fit up to 3,000 people
Open-air arena called “the pit” surrounded the stage on three sides. In the middle are the “groundlings,” who paid the cheapest ticket price and were not protected by the roof.

6. Special Features Smoke Machine Gun Fire Trap-doors Flying Across Stage
Fireworks
Actors- no Actresses!
“Cue Acting”

7. An Inside Perspective!

8. Why Did It All End? Bubonic Plague Puritan Religion Fire
– slowed productions; Shakespeare focused on poetry (started up again in 1594 until 1613)
Puritan Religion
Anti-theater, excessive waste of both time + money
Entertainment
Fire
1613: Fire burned down the original Globe Theater
Hidden for 394 years- foundation discovered in 1989 – rebuilt in London

9. Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Specialty!
Fourteen-line Lyric Poems
“Sonetto” – Italian for “little song”
1609: Shakespeare’s Sonnettes published
Sonnet’s three main groupings:
Sonnets address or reference concern about a young man
Sonnets address or reference concern about a dark lady (hair, facial features + character)
Sonnets are adaptations of Greek mythological poems

10. Shakespearean Sonnet Format
Three Quatrains (four line stanza) + Rhyming Couplet = 14 lines total
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
GG = Rhyming Couplet
Wrap-up of the sonnet
Each Line = 10 Syllables
(Iambic Pentameter)
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

11. The End Is Drawing Near…
Moved from London back to Stratford-upon-Avon; retired with wife and kids
Due to enormous popularity of plays + poems, earned a coat of arms and lived like a gentleman
No definitive record of death, but most records state his death as April 23, 1616
(52 years old, exactly!)