Shakespeare the Dude

Welcome to Willie!

Introduction to William Shakespeare

Standard and Goal

RL: 10-4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Goal: I can use reference materials to help me understand Shakespeare’s Language.

What do we know about the Big Will?

• He was born.

• He went to school.

• He married.

• He was an actor.

• He was a playwright.

• He wrote a lot.

• He added lots of words to the English language.

• He got drunk and died.

Birth

• Big Willie was born around April 26th, 1564 on Henley Street in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

• Entered in the baptismal register at Holy Trinity Parish is the name Guilielus Filius Johannas Shakespeare.

This is the only record

of birth available.

No one knows for

sure the exact date.

Shakespeare’s Home in Stratford-Upon-Avon

His Death

• He died at 52 years old in 1616.

• His death is a mystery.

• John Ward, the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church in the year of Shakespeare’s death wrote that he and a couple of buddies, Drayton and Ben Johnson imbibed in too much revelry (drank too much) and died the next day of a fever.

Two Other Possibilities

• In 1616 Europe was ravaged with the “New Fever” -TYPHUS

Symptoms include (but not limited to)• Chills

• Delirium

• High fever (104-106 degrees Fahrenheit)

• Left untreated it can kill in anywhere from 1-13 days.

• Dr. C.M. Martin, suspects his death could have been caused by a cerebral hemorrhage (which can occur when too much alcohol is consumed in a lifetime.)

Where’s Willie?• William Shakespeare is buried in the Chancel of

Holy Trinity Church where upon one can find a memorial statue.

The inscription reads…

Within this monument: Shakespeare,

with whom

Quick nature doed; whose name doth

deck his tomb

Far more than cost; sith all that he

had writ

Leaves living art but page to serve his

wit.

Education

This is all PROBABLY information:

He “probably” began his formal education at the age of 6-7 at the Stratford-Upon-Avon grammar school called

“The King’s New School”

He learned basic reading and writing from a “Horn Book”

The Horn Book Up Close

• Students held this and recited from it.

Education Cont…

• The Big Will had to leave school at around age 13.

• His father was having some financial and “social” difficulties (social is unclear).

• However, it is widely accepted that big Willie had continued his education elsewhere - but this information, although NOT suspect, it is not clear.

“Marriage”

The story of TWO Anne's.

Some say there was an Anne of love -Anne Whateley

AND

An Anne of L U S T

Anne Hathwey

The Records are confusing.

• November 27th, 1582• The Big Will registers that he intends to marry Anne

Whateley.

• November 28th, 1582• Registered again is Big Willie, but with the the

intention NOW to marry Anne Hathwey.

Was that an OOPS?

• Was his true intention to marry Anne Whateley? But somehow the Big Willie made a “mistake”?

• Did this mistake lead to him Marrying Anne Hathwey?

Other possibities:

1. The name was entered WRONG the first day.

2. The two Annes are actually one Anne.

3. In any case, he ended up marrying and having children with Anne Hathwey.

Five things you should know about

Shakespeare’s Theatrical World

1. Prose and poetry were both used by dramatists in Shakespeare’s day.

Rhyming Couplets - signal for the audience the end of a scene.

2. Ingénues (young girls) - were played by boys.

3. No Blackouts/lights out - when characters died, they had to be carried off stage.

4. End of scene - was signaled when all the characters walked off the stage.

5. Writing was done on at least two levels - for the elite and educated and for the least educated. It had to appeal to both groups.

Humor - On Two LevelsShakespeare had to know how to use “Rude-n-Crude”

humor and refined classical ALLUSIONS.

These techniques had a kind of “built-in” aid to understanding.

(Allusion - a passing or casual reference, “literary name-dropping”)

Three Points about Shakespeare’s English

1. Shakespeare, like a Jazz improviser, was a dazzling innovator when it came to the English language: he turned nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives and borrowed words from other languages.

2. His vocabulary was around 21,000. It is widely accepted that Big Will invented over 1700 words.

3. Shakespeare was know to use personification “The moon, it doth blush”

This is a tool to set the scene or mood.