Shakespeare and Stuff

Information on Shakespeare, his life, and his plays.

Biographical Info

1564-1616 Born in Stratford-upon-Avon,

England Wrote tragedies, histories,

and comedies Wrote 38 plays and appx.

154 sonnets Began as an actor Writes in Modern English

Romeo and Juliet

Written about 1595 Tragedy West Side Story High class characters speak in iambic

pentameter Low class characters speak in prose Awesome play

Interesting Facts

Opening scenes could promise supernatural beings, a party, or a fight

Humpty Dumpty=tragedy Food at play-meats, fruits, nuts, biscuits

The Theater

Public playsRoofless- open airNo artificial lightingCourtyard surrounded by 3 levels

of galleries

Audience

Rich-benches“Groundlings” or “droolers” or

“stinkards”- pit– Uneducated

Theater

Stage-platform that extended into the pit

Dressing & storage rooms in galleries behind & above stage

Second-level gallery-upper stageTrap door-ghosts“Heavens”- angelic beings

Pictures!

The Play

No scenerySettings - references in dialogueElaborate costumesPlenty of propsFast-paced, colorfulCrowd interaction

Actors

Only men and boysYoung boys whose voices had not

changed play women’s rolesWould have been considered

indecent for a woman to appear on stage

Conflict

The struggle that develops– man vs. man– man vs. himself– man vs. society– man vs. nature

Tragedy

Drama where the central character/s suffer disaster/great misfortune– In many tragedies, downfall results from:

FateCharacter flaw/Fatal flawCombination of the two

Characters

Static-stays the same Round-multi-faceted Flat-one-dimensional Dynamic-change Dramatic foil-shows off another

Tools Used

Monologue-1 person speaking on stage Soliloquy- long speech, alone, thoughts Aside-softly spoken, private Direct address-characters addressing: “fair

coz” Pun-humorous language

Comic Relief

Comedy within literature that is NOT comedy

Irony

Dramatic- contradiction between what character thinks and what audience knows

Situational- event occurs that contradicts expectations

Verbal- words to express opposite