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. Stratford-upon-Avon Today
From Stratford’s web site:

6. Shakespeare’s Birthplace
From:

7. Education Probably attended King’s New School in Stratford
Educated in:
Rhetoric
Logic/Mathematics
History
Latin

8. King’s New School
From:

9. Married Life
Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant at the time with their first daughter
Had twins in 1585
Between , he moved to London and began working in theatre.

10. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage
From:

11. Theatre Career
Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men
The Globe Theater was built in 1599 with Shakespeare as the primary investor.
The theatre burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays.

12. The Rebuilt Globe Theater, London

13. The Globe Theater

14. 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

15. The Poetry
154 sonnets
Numerous other poems

16. 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!
(Translation: 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!)

17. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare did NOT write in Middle English.
Middle English is the language of Chaucer 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)

18. Shakespeare’s Language
Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English. (Sonnet 116)
EME was not too different from Modern English.

19. Shakespeare’s Language
A mix of old and very new
Rural and urban words/images
Understandable by the lowest peasant and the highest noble

20. Elizabethan Theatrical Conventions

21. A theatrical convention is a
Theatrical Conventions
of Shakespeare's Theatre
A theatrical convention is a
suspension of reality.
No electricity
Women forbidden to act on stage
Minimal, contemporary costumes
Minimal scenery
These control the dialogue.

22. Theatrical Conventions of Shakespeare's Theatre
Soliloquy
Aside
Types of speech
Blood
Use of supernatural
Audience loves to be scared.

23. 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)

24. Let`s play Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Hamlet Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus

25. Shakespeare: actor, playwright, poet, and so, so much more. . . .
“All the world 's a stage,
And all the men and women
merely players.”
Shakespeare: actor, playwright, poet, and so, so much more

26. Holy Trinity Church, Stratford Upon Avon