William Shakespeare: The Greatest Figure in English

Literature

Background

• 1564: – Shakespeare born on April 23, at Stratford Upon

Avon, England– Baptized on April 26– Parents, John and Mary; father was butcher and

glover maker. • Education:

– Stratford Grammar School, a local free public school in Stratford

– Never attended a university

• 1582: – married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a farmer

in Shottery (only a mile from Stratford), she was 26 or 27; he was only 18.

• 1583: – First child Susanna was born May 26, six months

after the wedding. • 1585:

– Anne gave birth to twins, Judith and Hamnet; Hamnet died Aug. 11, 1596 at age 11.

– Both girls grew up and were married.

Seven Dark Years

• 1585-1592: – No more information about his life until 1592

when he is working as an actor and playwright in London.

• jail for poaching• headmaster at a private school• military service

London Years

• 1593-1594: – The London plague forced the theaters to close.– Wrote no plays– Patron: the Earl of Southhampton

• wrote two long poems: “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece.”

• 1598: – Theater work confined to district northeast of

London—The Theatre and The Curtain

• 1599:– Lord Chamberlain’s Men built and owned The Globe Theater in

Southwark, across the Thames in London, Julius Caesar first performed

• 1603: – Queen Elizabeth died; James I becomes King of England and

James VI of Scotland; Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.– The Lord’s Chamberlain’s Men become the King’s Men.– Performed at court 11 times, 7 plays by Shakespeare

• 1613: – During the first performance of Henry VIII, a stagehand lit the

fuse of a cannon, and the theater was burnt to the ground.– Retired and moved back to Stratford wealthy and respected.

• 1616: – Died April 23, on his fifty-second birthday, buried at Stratford’s

Holy Trinity Church; Anne died Aug. 6, 1623 and is buried next to her husband.

His Epitaph

Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbearTo dig the dust enclosed here:Blessed be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones.

Works and Reputation

• Plays– 37 plays: comedies, histories, and tragedies

Works and Reputation Cont.

• Sonnets– 154– speaker is male– chief subject is love

Anti-Stratfordians• Sigmund Freud• Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)• Charlie Chaplin• Ralph Waldo Emerson• Walt Whitman• Supreme Court justices:

– John Paul Stevens– Sandra Day O'Conner

• Possible Authors:– Francis Bacon– Christopher Marlow

Language

• About 20,000 different words in his works• Added 1700 words unknown to Medieval England• Average vocabulary usage

– Elizabethan: 500 words– John Milton: 8000 words– Shakespeare: plays-15,000 + sonnets-6000=21,000– Average 16 year old today: 10,000-12,000

• Contributions to the English language New Words

The English language owes a great debt to Shakespeare. He invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together, adding prefixes and suffixes, and devising words wholly original. Below is a list of a few of the words Shakespeare coined, hyperlinked to the play and scene from which it comes. When the word appears in multiple plays, the link will take you to the play in which it first appears.

academe accused addiction advertising amazement

arouse assassination backing bandit bedroom

beached besmirch birthplace blanket bloodstained

barefaced blushing bet bump buzzer

caked cater champion circumstantial

cold-blooded

compromise courtship countless critic dauntless

dawn deafening discontent dishearten drugged

dwindle epileptic equivocal elbow excitement

exposure eyeball fashionable fixture flawed

frugal generous gloomy gossip green-eyed

gust hint hobnob hurried impede

impartial invulnerable jaded label lackluster

laughable lonely lower luggage lustrous

madcap majestic marketable metamorphize mimic

monumental moonbeam mountaineer negotiate noiseless

obscene obsequiously ode olympian outbreak

panders pedant premeditated puking radiance

rant remorseless savagery scuffle secure

skim milk submerge summit swagger torture

tranquil undress unreal varied vaulting

worthless zany

Tragedy

• A drama in which the central character(s) suffer(s) disaster or great misfortune

• The central character’s downfall is usually the result of:– fate– a serious character flaw– a combination of the two

• A great tragedy is not depressing; rather it uplifts the audience by showing what greatness of spirit human beings are capable.

Though the tragic hero has a flaw, he/she is usually noble and good; therefore, the downfall always seems worse than the character deserves.

“A tragic situation exists precisely when virtue does not triumph but when it is still felt that a man is nobler than the forces which destroy him.”—George Orwell

Plot Structure for a Shakespearean Tragedy

• Exposition: general setting, atmosphere, time, place, main characters, and conflict

• Exciting Force: something happens that starts the real action of the play

• Rising Action: series of events usually covering more than one act (The protagonist encounters the antagonist.)

• Climax: turning point, protagonist reaches height of his/her power; from that point things start turning against him/her.

Plot Structure for a Shakespearean Tragedy Cont.

• Falling action: covers several scenes, shows all the ways things are going against the protagonist/rise of antagonist

• Moment of Final Suspense: Act IV usually, a moment when things seem to be going the protagonist’s way and he/she believes momentarily the tragedy must be averted.

• Catastrophe: complete downfall of the protagonist

• Resolution: conflict ends and outcome of the play is known (Usually everyone dies.)

Plot Diagram

Act III Turning Point

Act IExposition

Act II Rising Action

Exciting Force

Act IV Falling Action

Moment of Final Suspense

Act VResolution/Denouement

Catastrophe

Types of Speeches• Soliloquy: a speech delivered alone on stage

expressing his/her thoughts directly to the audience– lengthy– spoken while alone

• Aside: a brief remark, unheard by most of the other characters on stage, from a character to the audience or to another character– short – spoken with others on stage

• Monologue: a lengthy speech addressed to other characters not the audience

Globe Theater

Globe Theater

Globe Theater

Globe Theater

The Globe Theater Cont.

Does Shakespeare still matter? Consider the following statement

regarding Shakespeare's impact on every day English speech by

journalist Bernard Levin:

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare ``It's Greek to me'', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.