SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIMES

HIS BIRTH

born in 1564. We know this from the earliest record: his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564

celebrate birthday three days earlier

born and grew up in Stratford upon Avon

From: http://www.where-can-i-find.com/tourist-maps.html

LOCATION OF STRATFORD-UPON-AVONLOCATION OF STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

HIS PARENTS AND SIBLINGS

third child of John and Mary Shakespeare

seven siblings

John, a glove maker, was also a prominent man in Stratford

William's mother was Mary Arden, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, who married John Shakespeare in 1557

From: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/danielle.esposito/

SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACESHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE

HIS FAMILY

November 28, 1582

eighteen year old William married the twenty-six and pregnant Anne Hathaway

barely seven months later, they had his first daughter Susanna

twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592

Anne never left Stratford, living there her entire life

Hamnet dies at age 11

• Member and later part-owner of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men

• Globe Theater built in 1599 by L.C.M. with Shakespeare as primary investor

• Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays

THEATRE CAREERTHEATRE CAREER

At the end of his life, Shakespeare returned to Stratford-upon-Avon to retire. He died in 1616.

Shakespeare was alive during the late Renaissance, which in England is referred to as the Elizabethan Era.

This Era is named after Queen Elizabeth I, who was Britain's first female monarch. She was the daughter of Henry VIII, who

had her mother's head chopped off for not producing a male child.

THEATRE IN THE ELIZABETHAN ERA

Shakespeare and his fellow theatre colleagues were fortunate that the Queen enjoyed

theatre because the theatres were constantly closed because of the Bubonic Plague and the

queen was good about having the theatres reopened.

Otherwise, some would have liked to see these theatres, such as the Globe, which held about 2,500 to 3,000 spectators, closed for good.

THEATRE IN THE

ELIZABETHAN ERA

THE GLOBE THEATER

THE GLOBE THEATER

constructed in 1599.

was three-stories high and had no roof.

could together hold more than 1,500 people.

First play there was Shakespeare’s Julius Ceasar

In 1613 the theatre burned down during a performance of

Henry VIII. A canon was accidentally shot into the

thatched roof and the whole theatre was set ablaze.

The theatre was rebuilt in 1614 without Shakespeare, for he had retired. About 30 years later, Puritans assume power in

England and have the theatre torn down.

THE GLOBE THEATRE

THE GLOBE THEATER

1 Penny: roughly 10 % of a worker’s daily wage (main floor, groundlings)

2 Pennies: first balcony3 Pennies: second balcony

Because there was no artificial lighting, plays typically occurred in the early

afternoon, lasting from 2 pm until roughly 4 or 5 pm.

People called “Groundlings” sat in the cheap seats.

Like all other theaters in Elizabethan England, it had only Men perform on stage because women were not allowed to act. Most Female roles were played by adolescent boys.

THE GLOBE THEATRE

HIS WORKS

estimated that roughly fifteen of his 37 plays would have been written and performed by 1597.

37 plays; wrote comedies, histories, and tragedies

154 sonnets

During the years of the plague, he would write poetry since the theaters were often closed. It was considered

by the Elizabethans to be more important to write poetry than to write plays.

After the plague he wrote about 2 plays a year. Shakespeare wrote a total of 37 plays. This made William

a wealthy man.

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNET

Wrote 154

1-120: to W.H.

121-154: to Dark Lady

14 lines

Iambic pentameter

Set rhyme scheme

Abab, cdcd, efef, gg

SONNET 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course un-

trimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his

shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Romeo and Juliet, however, is not an original story.

Shakespeare retells a story that can be dated back to as early as fourth

century Greece.

Shakespeare uses a narrative poem called "Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet," which is written by Arthur Brook, to get most of his information for his

play. Shakespeare sets his Romeo and

Juliet in Verona, Italy.

ROMEO AND JULIET