Welcome to England in the

sixteenth century

This is where we are going to start our journey

More precisely in a little town southeast of Birmingham. There we are going to look closer on one of the greatest authors of all time

We are going to..

And we are going to find who William Shakespeare was and what time he lived in.

•William Shakespeare's parents lived in Stratford-on-Avon. This means the city named Stratford and is placed by the River Avon.

The River Avon

• His mother’s name was Mary Arden and she came from a landowning family in the neighbourhood of Stratford.

• His father owned some land. In 1590 he is known to have owned two houses in Henely Street. One of them is shown to visitors as William Shakespeare’s birth place.

• There are civic documents that tell us that the father seems, on more than one occasion, to have been in debt.

• We don’t know exactly when Shakespeare was born. There are no document which tell us the date. What we do know is the fact that he was baptised on the 26th of April 1564. There is a mark in the register of Trinity Church at Stratford-on-Avon.

• We do not know so much more about his childhood. There are no records that he attended any of the schools in Stratford. But it seems likely, in view of his fathers position in town, that William attended the Stratford grammar school.

• His marriage, to a woman called Ann Hathaway, was contracted in haste, a special licence having obtained from the Bishop of Worchester on the 27th of November 1582.

• Seven months later, on the 26th of May 1583 the eldest daughter Susanna was born. She married a doctor in 1607, John Hall. He had been in practice at Stratford since 1600, it seems quite possible that Shakespeare got some knowledge of medicine, shown in Shakespeare’s plays from him

• In 1585 two other children were born to them, The twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died as a small boy in 1596. Judith died in 1662.

• William and his wife probably lived apart during the years Shakespeare was active as an actor and dramatist, but he went back to live with his wife in 1611

• His career started around (roughly) 1590 and he was producing until 1610.

• When he stopped writing he had done2 long poems150 sonnetsa few other poems37 plays

• Some of his famous plays are

Romeo and JulietA Midsummer Night’s dream

HamletKing LearMacbeth

As you like itThe Merchant of Venice

Othello

• There are few of the plays where the original manuscript is preserved. Most of the plays have been published after Shakespeare’s death.

• At the same time as he was writing his works, he was an actor and a part-owner of a theatrical company.

• At this time it was not so common with large theatres. Instead small companies travelled around the country and performed plays and read poems.

• The plays that these companies performed was often satires of the persons who ruled the country. Not always mentioned with his or her name. Instead the writers of the plays used synonyms. They could also use descriptions so that no one could miss who they referred to.

• The companies were also often owned by a wealthy man. One example is The Earl of Leicester’s company.

• These wealthy families showed their fortune by having actors employed. They were there to entertain the wealthy family and their guests.

• One of these companies visited Stratford in 1587. Maybe it was then Shakespeare took his chance and followed them to London

Queen Elizabeth

She succeded her sister Mary Tudor in 1588. She ruled England to her death in 1603. She was never married and had no children. This was very uncommon at that time.

Queen

Elisabeth

• Some critics have since the middle of the nineteenth century tried to ascribe Shakespeare’s works to Francis Bacon and a number of other authors.

• These theories are not true. Today most people really believe that is was Shakespeare himself who wrote all the plays that bear his name.

• In the whole world there are only 8 original signatures from William Shakespeare left.

• The famous theatre in London where Shakespeare is said to have performed his plays is called the Globe Theatre. The original building was placed on the banks of the River Thames. Unfortunately we can not see the original building today since it has been torn down.

• This is a picture of a full scale model, also built on the banks of the Thames.

• Observe the stage in the middle of the building with the balconies around it.• By this time women were forbidden to perform on stage so all the parts which required

women were played by either boys or young men.

• Shakespeare died on April 23rd and was buried on April 25th, 1616. He was then 52 years old and a quite wealthy man.

• His epitaph reads:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeareTo digg the dust encloased heare:Blese be ye man yt spares thes stonesAnd curst be he yt moves my bones.

Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-

Avon

Sonnets became popular around 1550. The way of writing came from Italy and it was introduced in England by a writer named Wyatt (1503-42)

There are always 14 lines in a sonnet and it is divided into 3 quatrains.

The sonnet often tells us about a beautiful woman and it glorifies her.

When you read a sonnet you have to use your imagination. It is written with pictures.

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 dimmed;

And everyfair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;

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 canbreath, or eyes can see

So long lives this, and this gives life tho thee1609

Sonnet 18

First quatrain

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:

•Shakespeare compares his love to a summer day. In this comparison she is more beautiful and more humble then summer can ever be.The summer is not perfect but he says that she is ever better. The summer will eventually end when the fall comes.

1609

Sonnet 18

Second quatrain

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;

•Even if the summer is wonderful and lovely sometimes it can be a little bit to much. The sun, that is the eye in the sky, shines to much and it can be to warm. The clouds can cover the sun so that you can not see it but you know it is there anyway.

•In the third line we are told that even a beautiful person cease to be beautiful

•The happens either through a coincidence /by chanc/ or by nature 1609

Sonnet 18

Third quatrian

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:

•Her eternal summer = beauty will never go away /shall not fade /, nor will she loose possession ot the beauty that she is the owner of /nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st/

•She will age in a beautiful way and an old woman can also be beautiful

•The last line hints that what is written is forever /eternal/ 1609

Sonnet 18

So long as men can breath, or eyes can see

So long lives this, and this gives life tho thee

As long as humans can breath and eyes can see so long will this poem live on, (what is written is eternal) and thereby it will give her life. She will never be forgotten, remembered forever.

1609

Sonnet 130

In this sonnet Shakespeare makes fun of the traditional way of writing a sonnet. He does not compare his love to everything that is beautiful. Instead he tells us that she is an ordinary girl.

1609

Sonnet 130

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I on her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.1609

Sonnet 130

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow in her head.

• Her eyes are not like the sun, they are not shining as bright as the sun. The colour coral is more red then her lips.

• If the snow is considered white then her breasts can not be compare to that colour

• If the hair would be wires then she would have black wires growing from her head.

1609

Famous quotations written by Shakespeare

1609

• In my mind’s eye

Sonnet 130

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

• The man talking about the woman has seen roses from Damascus and they have a colour reminding us about pink. But he has not seen anything looking like that on her cheeks. This gives the reader an idea that she is a little bit pale.

• Most parfumes smells wonderful and are delightful, this is nothing that he can find in his mistress, her breath probably doesn’t smell so well

1609

Sonnet 130

I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound;I grant I never saw a goddess go;My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

• He loves to hear his woman speak yet he knows that music is much more soft and pleasing in its sound

• He has never seen a goddess go and therefore he presumes that she is glides through the air and never touches the ground. But his woman is no goddess because when she walks she takes each step firmly on the ground.

1609

Sonnet 130

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

• His woman is not a goddess and her beauty can not be compared to the most beautiful things you can find. Despite these facts he loves her just the way she is.

1609

• Macbeth is a study of the evil that is in every human heart,

• One man’s downfall as he willfully gives way to its temptations.

• Returning from battle, Macbeth is greeted by three witches, who tell him that he will one day become king.

• As a reward for his military successes, he then receives the title of Thane of Cawdor from King Duncan

• Once Macbeth arrives back at his estate, Lady Macbeth spurs her husband’s ambition forward

• Together they hatch a plan to kill the king and thereby hasten Macbeth’s accession to the throne. Macbeth

Macbeth