William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare

• 1564- 1616

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• Born- 1564 in Stratford-upon- Avon
• Schooled in town
• Father- John Shakespeare son of tenant farmers
• Mother- Mary Arden daughter of wealthy landlord
• Mother- illegal Catholic 20 pounds (years
  wages) if did not go to Anglican Church

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Birthplace
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Holy Trinity Church
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Grammar School
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Inside Grammar School
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(No Transcript)
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Married Life

• Married Anne Hathaway at age 18/19
• She was 26 and three months pregnant (Susanna)
• They probably moved in with his parents
• Two years later- twins (boy Hamnet and girl-
  Judith)

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Anne Hathaways Cottage
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Career

• Left Stratford for London (poaching deer on Sir
  Thomas Lucys land?)
• Poets were more respected than playwrights- so he
  did both. In his plays, he incorporated poems
  (e.g. sonnets)
• Wrote 36 plays (comedy, tragedy, historical)
• Son (Hamnet) died the year he wrote Romeo and
  Juliet
• Retired in 1611 back to Stratford
• His plays are still performed (1613- Globe
  Theater burns because of cannon fired on stage)

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Performances

• 1594- Established theatre company- Lord
  Chamberlains Men
• In 1605 changed name to Kings Men (Queen
  Elizabeth dies in 1603 and nephew King James I
  reigns)
• Performed in the Globe Theatre (burned to ground
  when cannon is fired during King Henry VIII play
  1613)
• Male Actors

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Three/Four Types of Shakespearean Plays

• Romantic Love (Sometimes under comedy so 3)
• History Focus is a record of what happened
• Comedy Usually hinges on a problem of the heart
  but ends happily
• Tragedy Tragic hero (nobility/ warrior) has
  tragic flaw (character defect) that results in
  downfall (usually death).

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Plot Structure

• Act I Exposition- characters, setting, problem
• Act II Rising Action- further complications
• Act III Climax- turning point of story
• Act IV Falling Action- result of turning point
• Act V Resolution- how story ends

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Protagonist

• Main character
• We focus our attention on this person
• This person sets the plot in motion
• The character that blocks the protagonist is the
  antagonist

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Foil

• Character who serves as contrast to another
  character
• Purpose to emphasize differences between two
  characters

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Foreshadowing

• The use of clues to hint at events that will
  occur later in the plot.

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Soliloquy

• Long speech in which a character who is alone
  onstage expresses private thought or feelings.
• Purpose audience will know private thoughts

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Monologue

• Long speech to other characters on stage.
• Purpose To gain deeper insight into character

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Aside

• Brief remark to audience/ other characters.
• Purpose reveals thoughts/ motivation to audience

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Hear the Beat

• All Shakespeares plays are written in blank
  verse
• Blank verse unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Iambic pentameterfive iambs
• Iambunstressed syllable followed by stressed
  syllable

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Blank Verse

• Then LIVE /MacDUFF /what NEED/ I FEAR/ of THEE?
• Unstressed/Stressed
• The length of a line of verse is measured by
  counting the stresses.
• Length is called Meter
• Iambic pentameter

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To Break Sing Song Pattern

• Reverse stress pattern
• Have lines with fewer or more than ten syllables
• Vary where pauses occur
• Commoners speak in prose (language without
  rhythmic pattern)
• Comic speeches, madmen, servants

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Sonnet

• Fourteen line lyric poem, usually written in
  iambic pentameter
• English Sonnet Shakespearean sonnet
• Three four line units (quatrains) followed by a
  two line unit (couplet)

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Heroic CoupletShakespeare ended his scenes with
heroic couplets (cue to actors)

• poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming
  pairs of iambic pentameter lines. The rhyme is
  always masculine

Masculine a rhyme on a single stressed syllable
at the end of a line of poetry. This term is
interchangeable with single rhyme
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Masculine Example

• Stand still, and I will read to thee
• A lecture, love, in Love's philosophy.
•   These three hours that we have spent
•   Walking here, two shadows went
• Along with us, which we ourselves produced.
• But now the sun is just above our head,
•   We do those shadows tread,
•   And to brave clearness all things are reduced.

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Feminine Rhyme

• is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables at
  the end of the respective lines. Usually the
  final syllable is unstressed.

A womans face with natures own hand
painted, Hast thou, the master mistress of my
passionA womans gentle heart, but not
acquaintedWith shifting change, as is false
womens fashion...But since she prickd thee out
for womens pleasure,Mine be thy love and thy
loves use their treasure.
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Modern Feminine Example

• of Eminem, as demonstrated in his 1995 song
  "Infinite"
• My pen and paper cause a chain reactionTo get
  your brain relaxin, a zany actin maniac in
  actionA brainiac in fact son, you mainly lack
  attractionYou looking insanely wack with just a
  fraction of my tracks spun

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1.Write a minimum of six lines in iambic
pentameter.2. The first four may be in blank
verse (or rhymed if you so choose), but you must
end your poetic epitaph as Shakespeare did a
scene--in an heroic couplet.3. The tone of your
epitaph must be eloquent and formal, paying
serious homage to the literary contributions
which Shakespeare made to the world. How you do
this, however, is up to you. For example, you
might choose to write your tribute using a
metaphor, such as a golden pen. Or you could
employ a simile, comparing Shakespeare's plays to
the arias of heaven. 4. Be as creative as you
choose.5. If you need to fudge to make the
iambic pentameter work, you can cheat in the same
manner Shakespeare did. Use elisions (word
contractions) to eliminate a beat, or accent a
silent syllable to add an extra beat.6/ Write
out two versions of your final work one regular
copy and one divided into syllables and scored
with the soft/stressed beats in iambic
pentameter.7. You may work on this assignment in
groups of three. 8. each group will be reading
its completed epitaph to the class.
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Macbeth

• Written in 1606- 1607
• Written for King James I (formerly King James VI
  of Scotland became King of England when Aunt
  Queen Elizabeth Dies childless- 1603)
• Shakespeare researched kings background related
  to Duncan and (mythical/ historical?) Banquo
• Ancestor- Banquo/Duncan- Military- not nice guy
• 1590 Witches plot to assassinate King James VI
• King James I had people killed for being witches-
  guilt got to him so he wrote book, Daemonologie,
  about why necessary to kill witches
• 1605 Gunpowder plot to blow up parliament and
  king foiled Catholics get more restrictions
  20 pound (years earnings) fine for not attending
  Anglican Church
• Two topics of interest to King James I Scottish
  royalty and witches.

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Background Macbeth

• Eleventh Century
• Scotland is at war with Norway
• Why Scotland as setting?
• King James I was Scottish King James VI
• Macbeth (historical character ruled 1040-1057) is
  loyal to King Duncan (James Ancestor)
• Keep in mind Gallery walk questions we will
  address them throughout the play

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The source for the painting is Macbeth, Act I,
scene iii, lines 39-47, when Banquo and Macbeth
meet the Weird Sisters on the heath and Banquo
says,

• . . . What are these,So wither'd and so wild in
  their attire,That look not like th' inhabitants
  o' the earth,And yet are on't? Live you? or are
  you aughtThat man may question? You seem to
  understand me,By each at once her choppy finger
  layingUpon her skinny lips you should be
  women,And yet your beards forbid me to
  interpretThat you are so.

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MacbethNew York The Limited Editions Club,
1939Edited and amended by Herbert Farjeon.
Designed by Bruce Rodgers. Illustrated from
drawings in colorby Edward Gordon Craig.
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• The Works of ShaksperesicImperial EditionNew
  York Virtue Yorston, 1875-1876This plate is
  by A. Johnston

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The Works of ShaksperesicLondon Robert Tyas,
1843Illustrated with wood engravingsfrom
designs by Kenny Meadows (1790-1874).
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Alexander Johnston. Macbeth.
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John Wootton. Macbeth and Banquo Meeting the
Weird Sisters, 1750.
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Henry Fuseli. The Three Witches (after 1783)
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Alexandre-Marie Colin. The Three Witches from
"Macbeth," 1827.
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Henry Fuseli. Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches on
the Heath, 1793-4
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The source is Act II, scene ii of Macbeth

• Lady Macbeth Go get some water,And wash this
  filthy witness from your hand.Why did you bring
  these daggers from the place?They must lie
  there go carry them, and smearThe sleepy grooms
  with blood.Macbeth I'll go no moreI am afraid
  to think what I have doneLook on't again I dare
  not.
• Lady Macbeth Infirm of purpose!Give me the
  daggers. Infirm of purpose!Give me the daggers.
  The sleeping and the deadAre but as pictures.
  'Tis the eye of childhoodThat fears a painted
  devil. If he do bleed,I'll gild the faces of the
  grooms withal,For it must seem their guilt.

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Johann Zoffany. David Garrick and Mrs. Pritchard
in "Macbeth," 1768
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Henry Fuseli, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers
 ?exhibited 1812
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Johann Heinrich FÜSSLI, dit Henry FUSELIZurich,
1741 - Putney Hill, Londres, 1825Lady Macbeth
somnambule (Shakespeare, Macbeth, acte V, scène
I)
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Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Study for the Death of
Lady Macbeth (c. 1875).
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Julius Caesar

• Greek and Roman history appealed to the English
  of Shakespeares time.
• Romans were continuously at war.
• Generals clashed with one another.
• This happened to Caesar and Pompey civil war
  began 49 B.C.

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Caesar vs- Pompey

• C and P friends.
• P marries Cs daughter.
• In 60 B.C. these two plus third (Crassus) form
  three man government.
• C wants more power- will get by conquests and
  money- leaves for Gallic Wars.
• Eight years of conquests- sends money home.

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• Cs daughter dies 54 B.C.
• 49 B.C. Pompey jealous of Cs power
• Pompey and senate said C must give up command and
  return to Rome.
• C marched army to Rome and chased Pompey to
  Egypt.
• There C met Cleopatra- made her queen of Egypt.
• C returned to Rome and made dictator- 10 years-
  supporters, including Brutus, became senators.

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• C a bit arrogant- statue of himself To the
  unconquerable god
• Common people loved him- made dictator for life
• Senators- no like as free Romans democratic
  society
• Senators made plan to assassinate him-March 14,
  44 B.C.
• Shakespeares play opens one month before the
  murder.