1. His Life, London, Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
His Life, London, Romeo and Juliet

2. Shakespeare’s Birth/Early Life
Baptized 4/26/1564
No official B-day
Stratford-Upon-Avon
One of eight children
Working class family
Attended local grammar school; no university
Married Anne Hathaway in 1582

3. Married & Professional Life
Susanna born in 1583
Twins Hamnet and Judith born in 1585
“Lost Years”
his first plays are performed
Henry VI, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors

4. Shakespeare: Actor and Playwright
Theaters close in 1593 because of the plague.
1594 he becomes a shareholder in Lord Chamberlain’s Men
1599 construction of the Globe Theater
Groundlings, Theater setup

6. Rulers of England
Queen Elizabeth I

7. King of England
King James I

8. In The Reign of King James I
Lord Chamberlain’s Men becomes The King’s Men
Plays concerning the power of court
Retires by 1612 to Stratford-Upon-Avon
Life during retirement is unknown

9. The Death of Shakespeare
Died on April 23, 1616
Wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems
First Folio published in 1623; most plays
Today--$25,000 per week in royalties just on Othello alone

11. Information about Romeo and Juliet
Approximate 1st performance date:
Not printed until 1597
Direct source for Shakespeare’s R&J is Arthur Brooke’s Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562)
Based on a prose piece from Pierre Boistuau (1559)
Based on a version from an Italian Bandello (1554)
Based on a version from Luigi da Porto (1525)
Based on a version from Masuccio Salernitano (1476)

12. Romeo and Juliet is filled with language games
Paradox: Statement or situation that seems to be a contradiction but reveals the truth
Oxymoron: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms are combined to produce an epigrammatic (a neat, witty, often paradoxical remark)effect
Rhyming Tricks
Verbal Echoings
Puns: Play on the multiple meanings of a word or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings.
Try to catch these “games” Shakespeare plays