BILLY’S ENGLAND

Points of interest: What was happening in England during the time period in which Shakespeare lived? How was England being shaped, and how did it affect/influence Shakespeare? Are there any similarities between this time period and the time period in which we live today? What was the social makeup of England during this time period? What did the average day look like?

  1. England became the leading power of the western world under the power of Queen Elizabeth I.
  2. If the Queen liked something, it was put into a play. For example, the Queen was known to love chess, and Miranda plays chess in The Tempest.
  3. The Queen was fond of the theater and permitted professional theatres to be built in England for the first time. The theaters attracted 15,000 people per week to London.
  4. Since London was the heart of England, its atmosphere made it the leading center of culture and commerce. The dramatists and poems here were among the greatest literary artists of the times.
  5. England became a more commercial country, which caused the gap between the upper and middle class to widen. The upper and middle class began living more comfortable lives, while the poor struggled to survive. There is a wage gap today, which relates to the separation between classes in 16th century England.
  6. Industries such as glass, brick making, iron and coal mining expanded rapidly. Trade became very important.
  7. The merchant middle class had a productive livelihood.
  8. The population grew 400%.
  9. Most people did not drink water, for it was usually mixed with sewage, instead they drank “small” (aka weak) beer.
  10. In 1591, theaters in London were banned from performing on Thursdays, because bear-baiting (bear fights) took place. These fights were extremely popular.
  11. Groups of professional actors often visited Shakespeare’s hometown throughout his childhood,which most likely sparked his love for the theater.
  12. Theaters were forced to close in 1593 when a plague broke out in London. This caused Shakespeare to turn to writing poetry.
  13. Shakespeare was inspired by many other writers of the time. For example, Arthur Brooke’s poems inspired Romeo and Juliet.
  14. While the University Wits’ writing defined the London theatre in the 1580s, Shakespeare outdid them by combining traits of Elizabethan drama with classical sources.
  15. A civil war caused Shakespeare's theater to close in 1532, and plays could no longer be performed in public.

Role of Comedy in Shakespeare

  • Romantic comedy, Farce, Satirical comedy, Black comedy, Comedy of manners, Sentimental Comedy.
  • We are still using comedy and tragedy in today’s work.
  • What became known to theater historians as Old Comedy in ancient Greece was a series of loosely connected scenes (using a chorus and individual characters) in which a particular situation was thoroughly exploited through farce, fantasy, satire, and parody, the series ending in a lyrical celebration.
  • Comedy originated with Aristotle in the 4th century
  • Comedy started with Aristotle in Greece. He was unique because his poetics are the earliest surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory.
  • When Shakespeare writes a comedy it is a play with a happy ending
  • His characters were neither all good or all evil. They had flaws.
  • Modern technology makes a difference in Shakespeare's writing compared to today's writings.
  • the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, the First Folio, was published in 1623.
  • Another difference would be how the language has changed.
  • One famous early dramas was Sophocles written in Ancient Greece
  • Some of Shakespeare's comedies are As you like it, the comedy of errors, the merchant of Venice, the Tempest, and many more.
  • Aristophanes is one of the most famous writers of comedies from Ancient Greece and he used slapstick, satire and literary parody.
  • Many people still use the comedy Aristophanes used
  • In a Shakespearian comedy, they have a struggle of young lovers to overcome problems, mistaken identities, clever servants, family tensions that usually resolve at the end, many puns.
  • A characteristic that still resonates today is the wittiness of the comedies.

Shakespeare’s Works

1) He has written 37 plays and He wrote 154 sonnets.

3) The popular spinoff Gnomeo and Juliet was a recreation of the classic play Romeo

and Juliet. There are also many other recreations.

4) Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet are one of the most popular plays written by Shakespeare.

5) His plays had main themes and experiences that people can still relate to today such as love, loss, betrayal, war, humor, and tragedy.

6) Many plays have gotten less popular over time but Othello still remains.

7) The reason it's still studied is because every line in his writings has a special meaning.

8) Some people complain about reading Shakespeare because it's not the English we know today.

9) He became popular for his poems before his plays

10) He adapted other people's stories for his plays

11) During his time period the historical plays were more popular.

12) He lived during the Elizabethan age where arts and literature were really emphasized.

13) Shakespeare created his own words like elbow, assassination, lackluster, excitement, and radiance.

14) He had many plays that were lost or never printed.

15) Many of the common expressions now thought to be clichés were Shakespeare's creations.

Shakespeare’s Theatres

  1. The Shakespearean plays were conducted without any breaks.

2. The famous Globe Theatre was co-owned by William Shakespeare, built from oak and deel. It had three stories and it seated a maximum of 3000 with an open oval top. It was located on the banks of the Thames.

  1. The Globe Theatre stage was about 5 feet high, 43 feet wide and about 28 feet long.
  1. All of the plays had to be versatile because the same play may be produced at an outdoor theatre, indoor theatre, royal palace, a courtyard at an inn, etc.
  1. The outdoor theatres cost a penny for the regular seats and two pennies for the balcony seats. The indoor theatres cost more.
  1. All of the lighting came from the sun since there were no electric lights. The plays, therefore, had to start earlier in the day.
  1. The sound effects of the productions came from people back stage, and sometimes fireworks and cannons.
  1. The start of a play was signaled by the firing of a cannon.
  1. There wasn’t much scenery during the play. Occasionally there was a painted backdrop, but the plays were written not to rely on props.
  1. The Global Theatre had a ‘pit’ where all the common folk would stand and watch the performance. All of the higher class men and women would sit in the covered balconies surrounding the stage.
  1. The theatre was built 1597-1599, funded by Richard Burbage and reused some supplies from a previous nearby theatre name The Theatre.
  1. In the summertime, the pit was also referred to as the ‘stinkards’ because of how many people were packed in the area
  1. Outside the theatre there was a system of color coded flags to show the genre of the play being performed; red for history, white for comedy, and black for tragedy.
  1. There were no women in theatre at the time, so female roles were played by young boys.
  1. After collecting the money for the tickets, workers carried the boxes of money to an office in the back, which is where the term box office comes from.

Life of William Shakespeare

  • He was baptized on April 26th,1564. The exact date of his birth is estimated on April 23rd, 1564
  • He has two older sisters Joan and Judith and three younger brothers Gilbert, Richard and Edmund.
  • At age 18 he married 26 year old Anne Hathaway while she was pregnant with their first child Susanna. They had three children.
  • He left his family in Stratford-upon-Avon to live in London for his career
  • By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by him were published
  • He was a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the group built a theater named The Globe
  • He attracted royal attention to his work
  • Produced 154 sonnets
  • Died of a fever because he drank too much
  • After he died, the Globe was demolished
  • Never went to college but invented 300+ words
  • Shakespeare became rich not because of his plays but because he owned shares of the production companies (production companies owned the rights to the plays)
  • He has no descendants all of his grandchildren died
  • Lived through black plague epidemic
  • All the actors he chose were men pretending to be women
  • Performed in his own plays
  • Shakespeare was born at the perfect time. The 1st playhouse was built in 1576, 12 years after he was born, and it was shut down by the Puritans from 1642-1660. Had Shakespeare been born 50 years prior or 50 years later, we most likely wouldn’t be talking about him today because he never would have had the theaters to present his work.

Shakespeare’s Time Period

  • Elizabeth I became the Queen of England in 1558, this was known as the Elizabethan period.
  • This time period is often called the golden age of British culture.
  • During this time there were clashes throughout Europe between Protestant and Catholic leaders and their followers.
  • Queen Elizabeth also recognized the importance of the arts to the life and legacy of her nation.
  • Poetry, music, theater and literature were a huge part of the average British citizens life
  • The British navy became the strongest military force in the world, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588
  • Many countries still exploring different nations, the age of exploration, during this time.
  • Upon the death of Elizabeth, King James I rose to power in England.
  • He was alive during the 16th century to the very early 17th century. The renaissance time period was still happening.
  • Shakespeare began his career during the reign of Elizabeth I.
  • Nobles held great power and frequently lived colorful and extravagant lives.
  • Vast majority of the population was poor.
  • Members of the lower classes were uneducated.
  • Powerful lords owned and governed local districts. The districts were made up of peasant families and ranged from fifty to a few hundred people.
  • The period produced some of the world's great playwrights including Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.
  • The Queen passed the Witchcraft law for hunting and prosecution of witches.
  • The classes were; The Monarch (The queen), Nobility, Gentry, Merchant, Yeomanry, and laborers.