The Man, The Myth, The Legend
The Torture-er of Freshmen Everywhere…
William Shakespeare
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Well-known Facts about Will
• 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
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”?
The Competition
• Bear-baiting• Races• Gambling• Music• Drinking/Socializing
• Public executions
Conditions in London-NOT Pretty!
• Thames River polluted with raw sewage
• Trees used up for fuel
• Poverty
Personal hygiene/health
• Bathing considered dangerous
• Body odor!!• Children often died before 5 years
• Small pox• Bubonic Plague
• Ugly!
Living Conditions
• No running water
• Chamber pots• Open sewers• Crowded
Clothes
• One set used all year long, rarely washed
• Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed
• Clothes handed down from rich to poor
Theater in London
• Performed in courtyards of inns
• Daytime/open air• Limited set design
• Relied on music, sound, costumes, props and great description
The Globe
• Built in 1599• Across the Thames- “Wrong side of town”
• King’s Players- Shakespeare’s company
• Penny admission
Actors
• All men• Female parts played by young boys
• No actual hugging or kissing on stage
• Viewers threw rotten fruit if unpleased.
“Romeo and Juliet”
• Tragedy• Written in 1595• Set in Verona, Italy
• Themes: parental control vs. rebellious teens; fate vs. free will; impulsive behavior vs. self-control
Play’s source
• Borrowed from a poem by Brooke-1562
• Poem found in French translation by Brooke
• Shakespeare gave the story new life and beauty
Tragedy
• Focuses on an individual, concentrating on the suffering of a single, remarkable hero- leading to individual torment, waste and death
• Will not have a happy ending
Terms• Prose- language without metrical structure
• Verse-poetic language and style• Verse will correspond with station: rich ppl speak rhyme. Poor ppl don’t.
• Look out for: Similes, metaphors, personification, foresadowing, irony, puns, odymorons. --it’s ALL deliberate!
Understanding the Bard
• Unusual Word Order• I ate the banana.• Ate the banana I.• The banana I ate.• I the banana ate.• Ate I the banana.• The banana ate I.
• Uses this to emphasize an action, a word, an emotion or just to create a rhythm.
Sonnet
• Poem form consisting of 14 lines
• Each line has ten stressed and unstressed syllables known as iambic pentameter
• Rhyme scheme- ear rhyme (increase/decrease) or eye rhyme (compare/are)
• If it’s square…it’s a sonnet
Sonnet
• a b a b c d c d e f e f g g scheme
• Three quatrains (sets of four lines) followed by a couplet (set of two lines)
• Generally deal with Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time and Eternity
• VIP to notice when Shakespeare uses sonnets in the play.
Questions to Ponder
• 1. Is the play truly a tragedy?• 2. How powerful is the role of fate?• 3. How much of your destiny can you control?
• 4. Does love really conquer all? Is love enough?
• 5. How do my decisions affect others and am I responsible for that?
What’s Next
• Homework• Read through Act I scene I in your text book.
• Fill in timeline and character chart
• In class: PROLOGUE