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Review: Shakespeare’s Background
• Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon to a middle-class family
• Married Anne Hathaway in 1582• Became an actor & playwright in 1594 for
Lord Chamberlain’s Men• Became partner in The Globe Theater in
1599• Died in 1616
Theatre in Shakespeare’s Time
REPERTORY SYSTEM
Theatre performed by a company of actors that presents and performs a number of different plays or other works during a season, usually alternating works
The Globe Theatre
• London playhouse built in 1598
• Staged most of Shakespeare’s plays
• Burned down in 1613; rebuilt 1614
• Destroyed in 1644 by the Puritans
Diagram of the Globe
Stage
The yard
Flag announcing performance
Lords’ Rooms
Middle Gallery
Area behind: tiring house
Elizabethan vs. Modern Theatre
• No curtain; nothing separates actors from audience—very intimate experience
• Curtain acts as psychological barrier between audience and actors
• No lighting on stage;
daylight is only source
of light
• Lighting only on
stage—audience in
dark to further separate
the two
Elizabethan vs. Modern Theatre
• 2-3 acts
• Minimal scenery & few props
• Scenery & props cue viewers
• Quiet, reserved audience
• All male actors • Male & female actors
• 5 acts
• Loud, boisterous audience
• Most likely written by Shakespeare in 1600
• Play derived from the legendary story of Hamlet (Amleth) recounted in the Danish History from the 12th century, a Latin text by Saxo the Grammarian
Background to Hamlet
Background to Hamlet
• This version was later adapted into French by Francois de Belleforest in 1570
• Shakespeare most likely knew this version or a later version (presumably by British author Thomas Kyd)
A play of questions
With so many people masking their true
identities, how do we know what is true and
what is false? What is real, and what is
imagined?
“There is matter in these sighs, these profound heaves: you must translate…” --Claudius, Act 4, sc. 1
• The power of self-reflection
• The question of revenge
• The meaning of loyalty and duty
• The importance of personal relationships
• The expectations of gender
• The link between thought and action
As you read, consider the following concepts…