Shakespeare

Why Teach Shakespeare?

- The English Speaking world is saturated in Shakespeare

- English movies and texts heavily draw upon Shakespeare

Contemporary Interpretations of Shakespeare from

Hollywood

Baz Lurman’s Romeo And Juliet

Ten Things Hate About You

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the

Shrew

“O”

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s

Othello

Brannaugh’s Play’s

ShakespeareIn

Comics!

Shakespeare's Contributions to English

Shakespeare created many words and phrases which are still used today.

What do you think the following phrases mean?

1. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

2. All that glitters is not gold

3. Eaten out of house and home

4. Wear your heart on your sleeve

5. In a pickle

6. My mind's eye

7. Up in arms

8. Wild Goose Chase

Shakespeare's Bio.

• 1564-1616 (52 years)

• He married at the age of 17. (His wife Anne Hathaway was 26 and pregnant)

• He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets

• Part owner of The Globe Theatre in London

• He owned 12.5% of The Globe, which made him a rich man

• He was not thought of as a great artist

Shakespeare owned part of The Globe, so it was important for him to write as many plays as possible. More plays = more $$

He worked as an actor as well as a writer He must have been very busy, running a

business, writing plays, writing sonnets, and having a full farm in the countryside

The cause of his death is unknown, but he was ill with something

His plays were not published until seven years after his death

Theatre at the time• Women could not be actors

• Theatre was not thought of as “high art”

• There were no copyright laws so plays were copied, stolen and re-written all the time.

• Flags outside the theatre would indicate which type of play was being shown that day (black=tragedy, white=comedy, red=history

• Theatre was so popular that a law was created prohibiting performances on Thursdays so other entertainers could make money.