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Contextual information on the bard. “ Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” -Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well. Early Life. Born in April 1564; died on April 23, 1616 Church record of baptism, marriage, and death
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Contextual information on the bard “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” -Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well
Early Life • Born in April 1564; died on April 23, 1616 • Church record of baptism, marriage, and death • Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon; a market town; 103 miles from London • Father, John Shakespeare = glover, good social standing due to his town counselor position (like a mayor!) • Fortune declined in 1570s • Assume he attended grammar school from ages of 7-14
Early Life: Education • No records exist about his education • Scholar’s surmise he attended grammar school from ages of 7-14 • Base this off of what is known of his father and the times • This puts a BIG question mark on his authorship… • Elizabethan schooling: Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, and possibly Greek
King Henry IV Grammar School Building in Stratford-Upon-Avon
Odds against Shakespeare • Not born into nobility or significant wealth • No formal education (after speculated grammar school) • Did not marry into wealth • Controversy surrounding authorship…and existence!
The lost years • Married Anne Hathaway; 8 years older and 3 month pregnant • Church marriage certificate • 3 children: Susanna (1583), Hamnet, and Judith (1585) • Between 1585-1592 historical record is incomplete, contradictory, and unreliable • Scholars refer to this period as his “lost years”
Early career • 1592, age 28 he was an up and coming actor and playwright in London • Referenced as a man of the theatre by the poet and dramatist Robert Greene, in a pamphlet called, “Greenes, Groats-Worth of Witte” published that year • Greene referred to him as an “upstart crow” who “is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country” • Joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men Acting Company (when King James I reigns they become known as The King’s Men) • First few plays performed: Henry VI, The Comedy of Errors, and Titus Andronicus • Performed for Queen Elizabeth I
Early career • Completely and more continuously involved in theatres and acting companies than any other Elizabethan dramatist • Wrote 37 plays; 154 sonnets in IAMBIC PENTAMETER • Wrote plays, acted in the plays, and partially owned The Globe Theater for 17 years • 3 “types” of plays: history, comedy, and tragedy
theater • Plays were popular enjoyment for all social standing • Only boys/men acted in plays; indecent for women to perform on stage (gasp!)
The GLOBE theater • Originally built in 1599 by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Shake’s company!) • Events that took place in The Globe: shows, gambling, bear baiting, prostitution… • Plays could be used to encourage criticism of the state and freedom of thought in terms of both religion and politics • Destroyed by fire in June 1613 (caused by a cannon shot for special effects; go figure!) • Rebuilt in 1614 • Fast forward to 1642, the English Parliament (under the force of the PURITANS) issued an ordinance suppressing all stage plays in the theatres • Burned to the ground
The globe theater The flag The balconies The “Heavens” ceiling The pit
Queen Elizabeth and Elizabethan society • Ruled for 45 years (1558-1603) • Known as the “Virgin Queen”; never married; hence, no heir • Restored Protestantism and formalized the Church of England • During her reign: Bubonic Plague, threats of invasion (Spanish Armada), Catholic Conspiracies, etc. • Hundreds of people convicted of witchcraft and executed
King James I • Ruled for 25 years (1603-1628) • Queen Elizabeth I’s nephew from SCOTLAND (his mother was Catholic, Mary of Scots—executed by Queen Elizabeth I for a suspected attempted assassination) • United Scotland and England • Renamed Shakespeare’s acting company to The King’s Men • Believed in the “Divine Right” of kings • Devout Protestant • Commissioned a translation of the bible from Latin to English
Gunpowder plot of 1605 • Catholics, most famously Guy Fawkes, plotted to blow up James I • 36 barrels of gunpowder in the basement of The House of Lords • Catholics in England had expected James to be more tolerant • Ordered all Catholic priests to leave England • Decided to kill James I and put his daughter, Elizabeth, on the throne ensuring that she was a Catholic • Plot was revealed through an anonymous letter to authorities • King James decreed that on the anniversary of the plot's failure should always be remembered; Guy Fawkes = “hero”/terrorist/anarchist in V for Vendetta • Pay attention to how Shakespeare deals with traitors in Macbeth…
King James I and witchcraft • Believed in witchcraft, supernatural evil • Published a book about witchcraft called, Demonologie • Became a morbid fascination for Jacobean society • Thoughts on witches: could predict the future, caused fogs and storms, could turn into animals • Shakespeare gives the crowd (and the king) what they want in his play, Macbeth!
Other big ideas in Macbeth • Treachery against monarchy • Ambition; when can too much ambition be self-destructive? • Guilt; physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological impacts of this human emotion • Supernatural and witchcraft; is fate in control of us or do we control fate?
