Shakespeare - the Facts

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Shakespeare - The Facts

During the late 16th century theatres were built in London: the Rose, the Globe best known among them.

The Elizabethan Stage was:

– pit (cheap standing places) & galleries (covered seating) allowed for a social mix,

– open air

– the theatre was intimate (round form)

– women were not allowed on stage, so boys generally played girls' / young women’s parts. Names of the theatres, 3 characteristics of this form of theatre

William Shakespeare (1564- [April 23]1616, both in Stratford-upon-Avon) is the greatest author of the English language. He wrote plays and poetry.

There are three kinds of plays:

comedies: such as: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer night’s Dream, Love’s Labour Lost, The Tempest, which are generally about love and romance and end happily for the main characters; given characteristics + 3 titles

problem plays (like: The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure) and romances (like Cymbeline, The Tempest) are two subsets of the later comedies. Know the names

histories: such as: Henry IV pt. 1 &2, Henry V, Richard III, which recount the history of English royalty: intrigue, battles and romance, with a variety of comic (Sir John Falstaff), evil (Richard III) and good (Hal ie Henry V) characters; given characteristics +2 different titles

tragedies: such as: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Julius Caesar. These end badly for the main characters. 

given characteristic +4 titles

* The heroes of Shakespeare's tragedies have the following characteristics:

– they are heroic: larger-than-life, exemplary in many of their characteristics;

– they are self-reflective: they express their train of thought in dramatic monologues in which they consider their situation and explain or decide on certain action

– they have a fatal flaw, a bad / unhelpful characteristic, which proves their downfall.

3 given characteristics

* Shakespearean tragedies contain comic relief. This device intensifies drama by having a comic scene right after a truly dramatic incident e.g. Macbeth. This is also called “streaky bacon” (because the mixture of muscle and fat in bacon give it a better taste than the pork without the fat or the other way round: 1+1 = 3) 

given characteristic & names

His best known poetry are 154 Sonnets. These are, probably, personal and, originally, intimate and consist of two cycles: the first to a “fair friend” and the second, shorter one, to a “dark lady”. The former are idealistic about love: its beauty, reassurance, longevity, joy; the latter are about the dark side of love: despair, jealousy, betrayal, lust, insecurity. Know number, addressees and characteristics of the cycles.

The Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet has 14 lines divided into two: 8 + 6, whereas the Elizabethan (Shakespearean) sonnet has its 14 lines divided into 3 stanzas of 4 + 2 closing lines. Both always have 14 lines and contain a turn: the volta. The sonnet is the most popular single form of poetry in western culture. Know the 2 characteristics & 2 kinds (& differences) of the sonnet.

Shakespeare's plays were published in pirate-editions during his life time (the so-called quartos). Only an authorized edition of the sonnets appeared during his life. After his life authorative editions of all the plays were published in the so-called first folio and second folio editions (1623, 1632). 3 names & what they mean.

Shakespeare is part of the English Renaissance.

Shakespeare now

Shakespeare based movies & series: