This is a PPTX introducing Shakespeare the MAN.

1. Shakespeare the Dude
Introduction to
William Shakespeare
Welcome to Willie!

2. Standard and Goal
RL: 10-4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases
as they are used in the text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact
of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g.,
how the language evokes a sense of time and place;
how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Goal: I can use reference materials to help me
understand Shakespeare’s Language.

3. What do we know about
the Big Will?
• He was born.
• He went to school.
• He married.
• He was an actor.
• He was a playwright.
• He wrote a lot.
• He added lots of words to the English language.
• He got drunk and died.

4. Birth
• Big Willie was born around
April 26th, 1564 on Henley
Street in Stratford-Upon-
Avon.
This is the only record
• Entered in the baptismal
of birth available.
register at Holy Trinity Parish No one knows for
is the name Guilielus Filius sure the exact date.
Johannas Shakespeare.

5. Shakespeare’s Home in
Stratford-Upon-Avon

6. His Death
• He died at 52 years old in 1616.
• His death is a mystery.
• John Ward, the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church in
the year of Shakespeare’s death wrote that he
and a couple of buddies, Drayton and Ben
Johnson imbibed in too much revelry (drank
too much) and died the next day of a fever.

7. Two Other Possibilities
• In 1616 Europe was ravaged with the “New Fever” -
TYPHUS
Symptoms include (but not limited to)
• Chills
• Delirium
• High fever (104-106 degrees Fahrenheit)
• Left untreated it can kill in anywhere from 1-13 days.
• Dr. C.M. Martin, suspects his death could have been
caused by a cerebral hemorrhage (which can occur
when too much alcohol is consumed in a lifetime.)

8. Where’s Willie?
• William Shakespeare is buried in the Chancel of
Holy Trinity Church where upon one can find a
memorial statue.
The inscription reads…
Within this monument: Shakespeare,
with whom
Quick nature doed; whose name doth
deck his tomb
Far more than cost; sith all that he
had writ
Leaves living art but page to serve his
wit.

9. Education
This is all PROBABLY information:
He “probably” began his formal education at the
age of 6-7 at the Stratford-Upon-Avon
grammar school called
“The King’s New School”
He learned basic reading and writing from a
“Horn Book”

10. The Horn Book Up Close
• Students held this and recited from it.

11. Education Cont…
• The Big Will had to leave school at around age
13.
• His father was having some financial and
“social” difficulties (social is unclear).
• However, it is widely accepted that big Willie
had continued his education elsewhere - but
this information, although NOT suspect, it is
not clear.

12. “Marriage”
The story of TWO Anne's.
Some say there was an Anne of love -
Anne Whateley
AND
An Anne of L U S T
Anne Hathwey

13. The Records are
confusing.
• November 27th, 1582
• The Big Will registers that he intends to marry Anne
Whateley.
• November 28th, 1582
• Registered again is Big Willie, but with the the
intention NOW to marry Anne Hathwey.

14. Was that an OOPS?
• Was his true intention to marry Anne
Whateley? But somehow the Big Willie made a
“mistake”?
• Did this mistake lead to him Marrying Anne
Hathwey?

15. Other possibities:
1. The name was entered WRONG the first day.
2. The two Annes are actually one Anne.
3. In any case, he ended up marrying and
having children with Anne Hathwey.

16. Five things you should know about
Shakespeare’s Theatrical World
1. Prose and poetry were both used by dramatists in Shakespeare’s
day.
Rhyming Couplets - signal for the audience the end of a scene.
2. Ingénues (young girls) - were played by boys.
3. No Blackouts/lights out - when characters died, they had to be
carried off stage.
4. End of scene - was signaled when all the characters walked off the
stage.
5. Writing was done on at least two levels - for the elite and educated
and for the least educated. It had to appeal to both groups.

17. Humor - On Two Levels
Shakespeare had to know how to use “Rude-n-Crude”
humor and refined classical ALLUSIONS.
These techniques had a kind of “built-in” aid to
understanding.
(Allusion - a passing or casual reference, “literary name-
dropping”)

18. Three Points about
Shakespeare’s English
1. Shakespeare, like a Jazz improviser, was a
dazzling innovator when it came to the English
language: he turned nouns into verbs, verbs into
adjectives and borrowed words from other
languages.
2. His vocabulary was around 21,000. It is widely
accepted that Big Will invented over 1700
words.
3. Shakespeare was know to use personification
“The moon, it doth blush”
This is a tool to set the scene or mood.