William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets which are considered some of the greatest works in English literature. Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English for the Globe Theatre in London where only men and boys, whose voices had not changed, performed both male and female roles for audiences of all social classes. Some of his most famous plays include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

1. “All the world 's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players.

2.  Born 1564—died 1616
 Stratford-upon-Avon
 Parents: John and Mary Arden
Shakespeare
• Mary—daughter of wealthy landowner
• John—glovemaker, local politician

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

4. As reproduced in William Rolfe, Shakespeare the Boy (1896).

5. From Stratford’s web site: http://www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk/index.htm

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

7. • Probably attended King’s New School in
Stratford
• Educated in:
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• History
• Latin

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

9. • Married in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, who
was pregnant at the time with their first
daughter
• Had twins in 1585
• Sometime between 1585-1592, he moved
to London and began working in theatre.

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

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

14. • The Globe Theatre:
• Open ceiling
• Three stories high
• No artificial lighting
• Plays were shown
during daylight hours
only

15.  Wealthy people got
to sit on benches
 The poor (called
“groundlings”) had to
stand and watch from
the courtyard
 There was much
more audience
participation than
today

16.  Only men and boys
 Young boys whose
voices had not changed
played the women’s
roles
 It would have been
indecent for a woman
to appear on stage

17.  38 plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare
▪ 14 comedies
▪ 10 histories
▪ 10 tragedies
▪ 4 romances
 Possibly wrote three others
 Collaborated on several others

18. • 154 Sonnets
• Numerous other poems

19. • Shakespeare did NOT write in “Old English.”
• Old English is the language of Beowulf:
Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum
Þeodcyninga Þrym gefrunon
Hu ða æÞelingas ellen fremedon!
(Hey! We have heard of the glory of the Spear-
Danes in the old days, the kings of tribes, how
noble princes showed great courage!)

20. • Shakespeare did not write in “Middle English.”
• Middle English is the language of Chaucer, the
Gawain-poet, and Malory:
We redeth oft and findeth y-write—
And this clerkes wele it wite—
Layes that ben in harping
Ben y-founde of ferli thing… (Sir Orfeo)

21. • Shakespeare wrote in “Early Modern
English.”
• EME was not very different from
“Modern English,”

22. • A mix of old and very new
• Rural and urban words/images
• Understandable by the lowest
peasant and the highest noble

23. Elizabethan
Theatrical
Conventions

24. 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.

25. Audience
loves to be
scared.
Audience
loves to be
scared.
 Soliloquy
 Aside
Types of
speech
Types of
speech
 Blood
 Use of supernatural

26. Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus

27.  Use of disguises/
mistaken identity
 Multiple marriages
(in comedies)
 Multiple murders
(in tragedies)
 Last speaker—highest in
rank (in tragedies)