Well-known Facts about Will (1564-1616) Great writer of England Plays translated into all languages,...
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Transcript of Well-known Facts about Will (1564-1616) Great writer of England Plays translated into all languages,...
Well-known Facts about Will (1564-1616)
• Great writer of England
• Plays translated into all languages, musicals, ballets
• Born Stratford-upon-Avon
• Well-to-do, affluent while alive
• Most quoted, other than the Bible
• http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm
Lesser-known Facts
• Teen father: married pregnant 26 year old Anne Hathaway when he was 18
• Deadbeat dad: Left wife and children for London stage career
• Father of twins• Elizabethan rapper: uses
rhythm and rhyme• “Plagiarism” ?:
• http://www.anonymous-movie.com/
The Competition
• Bear-baiting• Races• Gambling• Music• Drinking/socializing• Prostitution• Public executions
Conditions in London-BAD!
• Thames River polluted with raw sewage
• Trees used up for fuel
• Poverty
Personal hygiene/health
• Bathing considered dangerous
• Body odor strong
• Childhood diseases
• Children often died before 5 years
• Small Pox
• Bubonic Plague
Living Conditions
• No running water
• Chamber Pots
• Open Sewers
• Crowded
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Clothes
• One set used all year long, rarely washed
• Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed
• Clothes handed down from rich to poor
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The Globe Theater
• Built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Theatrical Company)
• Across the Thames- “Wrong side of town”
• King’s Players - Shakespeare’s company
• Penny admission
• Burned down in 1613 during one of Shakespeare’s plays
Actors
• All men• Female parts played
by young boys• No actual kissing or
hugging on stage
The groundling
• Poor audience member• Stood around stage in
“the pit”• Women not allowed
(had to dress up as men to attend)
• Threw rotten vegetables at bad performances
Shakespeare’s Works
• 38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare• 14 comedies• 10 histories• 10 tragedies• 4 romances
• Two major poems• Venus and Adonis• Rape of Lucrece
• 154 Sonnets• Numerous other poems
Shakespeare’s Language
• Wrote in Early Modern English
• A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest peasant and the highest noble
Shakespeare’s LanguageCoined many words and phrases: into thin air / flesh and blood
accused • addiction • alligator amazement • anchovies • assassination • backing • bandit • bedroom • bump • buzzers • courtship • critic • dauntless • dawn • design • dickens • discontent • embrace • employer • engagements • excitements • exposure • eyeball • fixture • futurity • glow • gust • hint • immediacy • investments • leapfrog • luggage • manager • mimic • misgiving • mountaineer • ode • outbreak • pageantry • pedant • perusal • questioning • reinforcement • retirement • roadway • rumination • savagery • scuffles • shudders • switch • tardiness • transcendence • urging • watchdog • wormhole • zany
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.These control the dialogue.
Audience loves to be scared.
Audience loves to be scared.
Soliloquy
Aside Types of speechTypes of speech
Blood and gore
Use of supernatural
Use of disguises/
mistaken identity
Multiple marriages
(in comedies)
Multiple murders
(in tragedies)
Last speaker—highest in
rank (in tragedies)
Romeo and Juliet
• Tragedy• Written in 1595• Set in Verona, Italy• Themes:
1. parental control/rebellious teens
2. fate/freewill
3. impulsive behavior/self-control
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