Introduction to Shakespeare: Content Outline______
Use pages 776-784 in Holt Elements of Literature textbook to complete the following outline.

  1. Shakespeare’s Life
  2. Born: ______, April ______, 1564
  3. 100 miles NW of London
  4. ______of 8 children
  5. Father: John, shopkeeper and important man as ______and ______
  6. Went to grammar school to study ______, ______, & ______
  7. Married: age 18 to ______
  8. Moved to London
  9. By 1592 had become ______and ______
  10. By ______was part of Lord Chamberlain’s Men which becomes the King’s Men
  11. Had written _____ plays at retirement
  12. Most famous plays: ______, Julius Caesar, ______, Othello, ______, Macbeth, ______, Taming of the Shrew
  13. Why was he so important?
  14. Plays still being produced, if Shakespeare were alive today, he would get $______a week in royalties for Othello alone (pg. 777)
  15. Died April _____, ______(52 years old)
  16. Buried in HolyTrinityChurch in ______
  17. Historical Reference
  18. England, 1500s
  19. The Theater: ______influenced the events in the play
  20. First permanent theater: The ______, built 1576
  21. by James Burbage
  22. shaped after an inn because acting troupes rented performance space from courtyards at inns (pg. 778)
  23. torn town and rebuilt as The ______(where Shakespeare performed)
  24. referenced as the “______” in Henry V
  25. has large platform stage, inner stage (curtained off), small balcony (upper stage), and a trapdoor on platform for a ghost or spirit to appear out of or for a descent into hell
  26. Plays performed in the ______for best sky lighting
  27. Had very few ______or ______, and elaborate ______
  28. Seat in theater determined by ______, poor people standing as ______, rich people in seats and ______
  29. Actors only! No ______were allowed to perform, women and girls’ parts played by ______
  30. Theater: medium of ______, Movies: medium of ______
  31. The King’s Men
  32. Shakespeare’s acting company supported by ______
  33. Shakespeare wrote the plays to be ______
  34. Not to be ______, why there is discretion among different folios (editions)
  35. Stage directions are included in the ______of the characters, to read directions you must be an investigator
  36. Once joined, worked for King’s Men the rest of his life
  37. Terminology of the times (Elizabethan language)
  38. RJ in both ______and ______
  39. Rhyming in ______
  40. Difference between ______English (Translation needed. Canterbury Tales.), ______English (Shakespeare, still readable),and ______English
  41. Syntax - Frequent ______of subject and verb
  42. To read:
  43. Don’t ______at end of line unless it has an end-stop (punctuation)
  44. Non-end-stopped = run-on line or enjambment
  1. Archaic references:

i. ‘a:
ii. A’:
iii. Anon:
iv. Good-den: / v. Humor:
vi. Maid:
vii. Marry: / viii. Ope:
ix. Coz:
x. Ere:
More pg. 782 in text
  1. Terminology of the literature

Terms you should already know:
  1. Conflict (man, nature, himself, society)
  2. Plot: Exposition, rising action/complications, climax, turning/point/falling action, denouement/resolution
  3. Archetype
  4. Allusion
  5. Sonnet
  6. Idiom
  7. Foreshadowing
  8. Irony (dramatic, situational, verbal)
  9. Imagery
  10. Homonym
  11. Personification
  12. Simile, metaphor
  13. Tone, mood
  14. Prose (spoken in R&J by common people)
  15. Poetry
  16. Theme
  17. Characterization
/ New Terms:
Play
Tragedy
Comedy
Dialogue
Monologue
Props
Soliloquy
Aside
Stage Direction
Oxymoron
Pun
Foil
Iambic pentameter
Blank verse
Couplets (signifies end of scene or character’s exit)
Diction
Cause-effect
Archaic
Comic Relief
Juxtaposition/duality/contrast
  1. Romeo and Juliet
  2. One of Shakespeare’s first plays between ______and ______
  3. Like most of Shakespeare’s works, was based on ______
  4. Play by ______, 1562
  5. The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet
  6. Possibly based on ______(Pyramus and Thisbe)
  7. Brooke presented his with moral: ______
  8. Shakespeare changed it: said the lovers were “______”, doomed to disaster by fate (Elizabethans believed in astrology); but also they make decisions that contribute to their tragedy
  9. Set in ______, Italy in the 1300s
  10. Fight/duel between 2 families- ______(Juliet’s family) and ______(Romeo’s family)
  11. Authority figure: Prince Escalus, ruler of ______
  12. Leaders: Tybalt (Capulets) and Mercutio (Montagues)