Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era

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Shakespeareand the Elizabethan Era
James 1, after 1603

• 1564-1616
• Queen Elizabeth 1

Died 1603
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Welcome to Renaissance England.
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Before Elizabethan times.

• Introduction
• Throughout the middle ages plays were performed
  by workers in towns and were based on religious
  issues, often retelling stories from the Bible.
• However, this ended after Henry VIIIs break from
  Rome and formation of the Church of England in
  1533.
• After this, playwrights took inspiration from the
  Roman theatre and writers like Seneca, who wrote
  about crime, revenge, witches and ghosts.
•       Elizabethan writers introduced theatre
  audiences to horror, the supernatural and GORE

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Shakespeare

• William born 23rd April 1564, 3rd of 8 children
• Born in Stratford on Avon, son of John
  Shakespeare, a prosperous glove maker and
  meat/wool trader, grandson of Richard a
  successful farmer in Snitterfield. His mother was
  Mary Arden, of the rich Arden family of Wilmcote.
  In 1565 John became an Alderman, but in 1577, he
  ran into debt and in 1586 turned his back on the
  Church.
• Attended local school in Stratford till age 13/14
• Apprenticed as glove maker
• 1582 married Anne Hathaway ( daughter of farmer
  in Shottery) - they had 3 children
• The lost years till 1593. We know nothing else
  till Shakespeare is in London

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Shakespeare - the writer

• The development of Elizabethan drama was
  primarily due to Christopher Marlowe( 1564-1593-
  Tamburlaine, Faustus) but Marlowes early death (
  stabbed in a tavern brawl) left the field open
  for another dramatist.
• Shakespeare was a member of Lord Stranges Troupe
  performing in the Rose Theatre as actor and
  writer
• 1594 , Shakespeare was a member of the company of
  Chamberlains Men based at the Theatre. From
  1594 on, he wrote an average of two plays a year
  till 1608 and consolidated his place in the
  company and became, in his lifetime, the most
  highly sought after dramatist of the Elizabethan
  and Jacobean stage

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In memoriam

• Shakespeare is buried in Holy
• Trinity Church in Stratford on
• Avon. He wrote his own
• epitaph and it reads
• Good friend, for Jesus sake
• forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here!
• Blest be the man who spares these stones
• and curst be he who moves my bones
• http//ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/death.html

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Shakespeare - the successful writer

• 1596 the Shakespeare family was granted a coat
  of arms with the motto non sanz droict not
  without rights

The description of the coat of arms Gould, on a
Bend, Sables, a Speare of the first steeled
argent . And for his creast or cognizaunce a
falcon, his winges dispplayed Argent standing
on a wreath of his coullers.
1602 sketch
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Its
Time!
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Its time to don your doublet!
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Tighten your trussing!
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Get on your galligaskins!
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Females, fit on your farthingales!
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Smooth your stomachers!
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Remember your ruffs!
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Slip on your shoes!
And grab your gloves!
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Gentlemen?
Ladies?
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Is everybody ready?
Were going to the theatre!
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(No Transcript)
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The Globe!
Shakespeares theatre is located just outside of
London, England.
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The Playhouses
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Playhouses of the time

• The contract for the building of the Fortune
  gives useful information about the size of the
  theatre, and the accommodation for the audience.
• The building was to be three stories in height,
  with four "gentlemen's rooms," "sufficient and
  convenient divisions for twopennie roomes," and
  seating in all the galleries.
• The stage area measurements indicate quite a
  large area

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The FortunePlayhouse

• .

The stage area is measured in feet
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A white flag is flying. Theres a play today!
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Playhouses

• The Performances
• The theatres often had mechanisms that allowed
  angels and gods to be lowered down onto the
  stage. Stages were also equipped with a trapdoor
  leading to a Hell beneath the stage. The
  trapdoor was also used as a grave in theatrical
  funerals.
• There was very little scenery available for
  theatres, so the writers often used to dialogue
  to explain to the audience where the scene was
  taking place.
• Costume was very important in Elizabethan
  theatre. Actors wore colourful and elaborate
  costumes that would tell the audience the
  characters status, family ties or profession.
• The emphasis that was given to a characters
  clothing made the theme of disguise a common
  convention of Elizabethan theatre. In order to
  exchange places with another character or conceal
  his identity, all an actor needed to do was to
  change his costume.
•  The Elizabethan theatre also used a variety of
  sound effects. Music played an important role in
  the setting the mood of the plays. Other sounds
  created were thunder, running horses, falling
  rain, and cannon blasts.

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Its afternoon, time for the play to start.

• The groundlings have paid their penny (1/12 of
  weekly salary) and are standing to watch the
  play, while the very rich sit upstairs in the
  covered gallery for 6 pence a seat
• A quarto edition of the play cost 6 pence
• The stage is a lower class profession, and no
  women will appear there.
• The young men are dressing up to take the female
  roles.

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Its one of Shakespeares tragedies!
The play is about to begin!
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(No Transcript)
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Were in for a real treat

• The wealthy are in the upper decks

Its good the plague is over and the theatres are
open again.
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Now, let the show begin!
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London in the 1500s

• a labyrinth of tiny streets, with only one route
  across the Thames, the river which dominated the
  city
• Most of the 200,000 population was crammed within
  the city walls( 50,000 in time of Henry VIII,
  increased under Elizabeth 1)
• The lord mayor ran the city
• The houses and palaces of the nobility lay to the
  west, near Westminster
• People worked long hours, with workers often
  living on the work premises with their masters
• Theatres were outside the walls of the city, with
  the brothels and bear gardens

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Elizabethan Age

• 1558 to 1603 (Elizabeth I's reign)
• Time of exploration and discovery
• Diffusion of knowledge (inventions...)
• Renaissance
• Male superiority
• Return to Protestantism
• Improvement of the educational system
• English language gains importance
• Literary movements and developments
• Drama, theatres and Shakespeare

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The Plague ( Bubonic Plague)

• Ravaged London in 1564, in 1592-93, 1603,1632
  causing over 100,000 deaths
• The plague spread from the suburbs to the centre
• It was seen as God punishing the wickedness of
  the city and theatres were closed immediately
  there was an outbreak
• Rosemary was used as a remedy people put it to
  their noses and in their ears
• Houses were branded with a Red Cross and boarded
  up with the occupants sealed off from the outside
  world, whether they were ill or not

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The plague an artists impression
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Transmission of the Plague

• The Cycle

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Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Succeeded her half-sister Mary (daughter of
Catherine of Aragon) Received a humanist
education Spoke French and Italian fluently
could read Latin and Greek Her status was
justified through comparisons with other female
leaders body natural ? female gender body
politic ? role as a monarch timeless absolute
Elizabeth 1
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Queen Elizabeth I

• Believed in royal absolutism
• Rising against her and her laws was not only
  criminal but also a blasphemous act
• Had an immense influence over the country
  politically and socially
• Reckless, unpredictable
• execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
• imprisonment of Sir Walter Raleigh
• Persecution of Catholics

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Some of the issues of the time.

• The Plague
• Elizabeths lack of an heir
• England v Spain
• Emgland v France
• Catholicism v Protestanism
• Taxation increases
• and Deforestation

The Spanish Armada
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Have you heard these phrases?

• I couldnt sleep a wink.
• He was dead as a doornail.
• Shes a tower of strength.
• They hoodwinked us.
• Im green-eyed with jealousy.
• Wed better lie low for awhile.

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They are just some of the many expressions coined
by that master of language, William Shakespeare.
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Sources Used

• Fashion pictures from High Fashion in
  Shakespeares Time by Andrew Brownfoot, Five
  Castles Press Ltd., 1992
• Of the timeShakespeares Book of Insults,
  Insights, Infinite Jests, by John W. Seder,
  Templegate Publishers, 1984
• The Story of English by Robert McCrum, et. al.,
  Penguin Books, 1987