Well-known Facts about Will

• One of greatest writers of England

• Plays translated into all languages, musicals, ballets

• Born Stratford-upon-Avon

• Well-to-do, affluent most of the time while alive

• Most quoted, next to 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 3 kids including twins Hamnet and Judith

• Hamnet died at age 11• Elizabethan rapper: uses rhythm

and rhyme• “Plagiarism” ? Based plays of

Greek plays and other works—some say stole work from other playwrights of his time.

Competitions of the time 1500 – 1600 hundreds

• Bear-baiting• Races• Gambling• Music• Drinking/socializing• Prostitution• Public executions

Conditions in London-HORRIBLE!

• Thames River polluted with raw sewage

• Trees used up for fuel

• Extreme Poverty

• Lack of clean water

Personal hygiene/health

• Bathing considered dangerous

• Body odor strong

• Childhood diseases

• Children often died before 5 years

• Small Pox

• Bubonic Plague

Living Conditions• No running

water• Chamber Pots

(Ladies walked on inside or right)

• Open Sewers

• Crowded

QuickTime™ and aGIF decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

                  

Clothes

• One set used all year long, rarely washed

• Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed

• Clothes handed down from rich to poor

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Theater in London

• Performed in courtyards of inns

• The Theater-first public theater-1576

• Daytime/open air

• Limited set design

• Relied on music, sound, costumes, props and great description

The Globe

• Built in 1599

• Across the Thames (Tams)- “Wrong side of town”

• King’s Players - Shakespeare’s company

• Penny admission

Actors

• All men• Female parts played

by young boys• No actual kissing or

hugging on stage• Women not allowed

on stage until after 1660.

The groundlings

• Poor audience member• Stood around stage in

“the pit” (on the ground)

• Women not allowed (had to dress up as men to attend)

• Threw rotten vegetables at bad performances

Romeo and Juliet

• Tragedy• Written in 1595• Set in Verona, Italy• Themes: parental

control/rebellious teens; fate/freewill; impulsive behavior/self-control

Othello• Othello & Iago

•Racism•Love and Betrayal•Isolation•Truth versus Lies/Rumors•Anger and Bad Choices•Parental Control•Setting: Venice then Cyprus•Genre: Tragedy•Time: 1601 -1604

Play’s source• Widely held belief that the

inspiration for Othello came from the 1566 Venetian novel Hecatommithi, authored by Giraldi

• Shakespeare reworks the plot to reveal a stunning psychological depth, the fragility of love and power as well as, the effect that the destructive demons of self-deception, doubt and suspicion can have on a marriage.

Queen Elizabeth

• Bastard daughter of King Henry VIII

• And Ann Boleyn (2nd of 6 wives)

• Henry had Ann beheaded for “treason”

• Younger sister of “Bloody Mary.”

• “Virgin Queen”?• A tease and a player

Her “loving” parents

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

The Renaissance

• 1500-1650• “Rebirth” of arts, culture,

science • Discovery of “New

World”• Copernicus: Sun-centered

Universe (1543)• King Henry VIII =

renaissance man (ideal)• Reformation of Catholic

Church

Possible Faces of William

Other Possible Candidates

http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/problem.htm