Dramatic Terms &

Shakespeare’s life

Main Characters

• The protagonist is the central character in a story or drama, the one whom the audience are supposed to sympathize with.

• The antagonist is a person or force that opposes the protagonist in a story or a drama.

• Review of conflicts:

Man vs. man

nature

super-natural

society

self -- internal

external

The Basics of a Drama

• Drama: a story written to be acted out on

a stage.

• Playwright: a person who writes a play.

• Plot: the sequence of related events that

make up a story or drama.

• Foreshadowing: the use of clues that

hint at important plot developments that

are to follow in a story or drama.

Irony: The Three Types

• Verbal irony: a character says one thing, but means something entirely different; sarcasm.

• Dramatic irony: a reader or audience knows something or what is happening, but the characters do not.

• Situational irony: things may appear to be going one way, but they turn out differently; a surprise or “twist” ending.

• We will encounter all three types of irony in Romeo and Juliet!

Dramatic Conventions:

Monologue, Soliloquy, & Aside

• Monologue: A long speech in a play or a story, delivered by a single person. (Others actors are on the stage)

• Soliloquy: A dramatic convention in which a character makes an extended speech while alone on stage.

• Aside: Character turns to speak a few words directly to the audience or to another character, but he/she is not supposed to be heard by others on stage.

Special Things: Foil & Puns

• Foil - A character that is used to contrast with another character.

• Pun - A humorous play on words. “She was given a violin lesson for free, with no strings attached.”

• Examples of puns –

- She offered free violin lessons with no

strings attached.

- The man who survived mustard gas and

pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

- A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.

The police are looking into it.

- Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

- Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

- I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

- A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

The three types of dramas: the Comedies

• Comedy – a literary work, generally amusing, which usually ends happily because the hero or heroine is able to overcome obstacles and get what he or she wants.

• List of Shakespeare’s comedies:

- All's Well That Ends Well- As You Like It- The Comedy of Errors- Cymbeline- Love's Labours Lost- Measure for Measure- The Merry Wives of Windsor- The Merchant of Venice- A Midsummer Night's Dream

- Much Ado About Nothing- Pericles, Prince of Tyre- Taming of the Shrew- The Tempest- Troilus and Cressida- Twelfth Night- Two Gentlemen of Verona- Winter's Tale

The three types of dramas: the Histories

• Histories – a historical prospective of an event or person/people.

• List of Shakespeare’s histories:

- Henry IV, part 1- Henry IV, part 2- Henry V- Henry VI, part 1- Henry VI, part 2

- Henry VI, part 3- Henry VIII- King John- Richard II- Richard III

The three types of dramas: the Tragedies

• Tragedy - a literary work dealing with very serious and important themes; the protagonist(s) will have a tragic flaw that leads to his/her downfall.

• List of Shakespeare’s tragedies:

- Antony and Cleopatra- Coriolanus- Hamlet- Julius Caesar- King Lear

- Macbeth- Othello- Romeo and Juliet- Timon of Athens- Titus Andronicus

The Tragic Hero

1) The tragic hero is a man of noble stature. He may not be a prince or King, but he has heroic qualities that elevate him to a high position in society.

2) Although the hero is a great man, he is not perfect. He has a tragic flaw that brings about his downfall.

3) The hero’s downfall is partially his fault (the result of his own free choice). Fate may also contribute to the downfall, but it is never the sole cause.

The tragedy originated in Greece by the Greek philosophers.

Aristotle, a well-known philosopher and critic of the period, defined the central features of a tragedy.

The Tragic

Hero

continued…

4) The punishment exceeds

the crime. The hero’s

misfortune is not entirely

deserved.

5) The hero must

understand why he has

fallen. He accepts his fate

and acknowledges that it

is, to some degree, just.

6) The audience should not

feel depressed after

viewing the tragedy. The

audience should gain an

understanding of human

nature after

viewing/reading about the

hero’s self-knowledge.

Tragic Flaw• Tragic flaw is a literary device that can be defined as a trait in a

character leading to his downfall.

• This is taken as a defective trait in the character/personality of the

hero

• This trait could be the lack of self-knowledge, lack of judgment,

overly ambitious, quickness to anger, tendency towards jealousy, or

too much hubris (pride).

Anakin Skywalker:

his extreme fear of

loss proves to be his

downfall, which is to

become the evil

Darth Vader.

The

Renaissance

• Shakespeare was born

during the Renaissance

time period (1500-1650)

• People focused more on

living instead of worrying

about the afterlife as they

did in the Middle Ages.

• The Renaissance time

period was the “rebirth”

of arts, culture, science.

• People believed that man

is superior to the animals

because he had the

ability to learn.

Key Characteristics of the Renaissance

1) Interest in human’s place on earth.

2) History, geography, & poetry were important and were now studied at universities.

3) Movable type printing of books was now available to more people.

4) More and more writers began working in their local language instead of Greek and Latin.

Clothing & Hygiene

during the

Renaissance

• Clothes handed down from rich to poor

• One set used all year long, rarely washed

• Underclothing slept in, infrequently changed

• Bathing considered dangerous

• Body odor strong

Health & Living Conditions

• Childhood diseases

• Children often died before

5 years

• Diseases like Small Pox,

Bubonic Plague

• No running water

• Chamber Pots (for toilets)

• Open Sewers

• Crowded living conditions

The Plague

• The Black Death is thought to have originated in China before reaching the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348.

• The plague killed thousands across Europe in record numbers.

• By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the disease.

King Henry VIII & Anne

Boleyn, Parents of

Queen Elizabeth I

• Elizabeth was born on 7 September 1533 at Greenwich Palace

• Daughter of King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn (2nd of 6 wives)

• Her birth was possibly the greatest disappointment of her father's life.

• He had wanted a son and heir to succeed him to the English throne.

• He already had a daughter, Mary, by his first wife, Katherine of Aragon.

Queen

Elizabeth I• After her father’s

death, Elizabeth

became third in line to

the throne after her ten

year old half-brother

Edward and her half-

sister.

• If either of her siblings

produced heirs, she

became further out of

line.

• Edward became ill and

later died; Mary died in

1558.

Queen Elizabeth I • The reign of Queen Elizabeth I is often referred to as The Golden Age of English history.

• She never married and reigned as Queen of England from 1558 – 1603.

• She loved the theater.

• She helped by providing money for costumes and props.

Well-known Facts about

William Shakespeare

• His nickname is “The

Bard.”

• One of the greatest

writers of England.

• Born Stratford-upon-Avon

on April 23, 1564 and

died on his birthday in

1616.

• Well-to-do, affluent while

alive

• Most quoted, other than

the Bible

His personal life

• Shakespeare married Anne

Hathaway when he was 18.

• She was 26 and was pregnant

with their first child.

• Their first child was a

daughter named Susanna

(born 1583)

• Deadbeat dad: Left wife and

children for London stage

career.

• Father of twins - Hamnet and

Judith (born 1585).

• Hamnet died in 1596.

The Lost Years• Between 1587 and 1592

Shakespeare disappears from all the known surviving records.

• This period is often referred to as the 'lost years', and has been the subject of much speculation.

• It has been suggested that he worked as a schoolmaster during this time.

• Another idea is that he became an actor when the Queen's Men and other companies visited Stratford-upon-Avon in 1586-1587.

Poor

Conditions in

London

• Shakespeare arrived in London some time between 1585 – 1592.

Thames River polluted with raw sewage

Trees used up for fuel

Poverty

Good

Conditions in

London

In 1588, England defeated its longtime enemy Spain with the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

The English felt a great deal of pride and wanted to learn more about their history.

The English were also proud of English explorers Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake who traveled to the New World.

• Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor and writer.

• He was also part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men.

• He remained an actor his entire life.

• Shakespeare’s wealth came from his share of the gate (admissions), not from the sale of his plays.

Shakespeare

in London

Theater in London • Plays were performed in courtyards of inns or wherever actors could find an audience.

• The Theater - first public theater – 1576

• It was used for more than 20 years by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

• The theatre was closed for some time during an outbreak of the plague and was reopened in 1594.

Theater in London • It had a limited set design.

• It relied on music, sound, costumes, props, and great description

• The Theater was taken apart and rebuilt across the Thames River (in the “wrong side of town”) and was renamed “The Globe.”

The Globe• The Globe had no

roof and very few seats, but it could hold almost 2,000 people since most of them stood in the yard that surrounded the stage.

• Shakespeare wrote 37 plays specifically for production at the Globe.

• Shakespeare owned 10% of The Globe.

The Globe

• It burned down in 1613 because of a prop cannon that was fired during a performance of Henry VIII;later rebuilt.

• Flags above the theater signaled that a play would be performed that day.

- White Flag = comedy

- Black Flag = tragedy

- Red Flag = history

Actors during the Renaissance

• All men

• Female parts played by young boys

• No actual kissing or hugging on stage

• Actors wore bladders of sheep blood under their jackets for stabbing scenes to look real.

The Groundling

• Poor audience member

• They paid a penny to

see a play.

• Stood around stage in

“the pit”

• Women not allowed

(had to dress up as

men to attend)

• Threw rotten

vegetables at bad

performances

“Romeo and Juliet”

• Tragedy written in 1595

• Set in Verona, Italy

• Themes: parental control/rebellious teens; fate/freewill; impulsive behavior/self-control

• In many of Shakespeare’s plays, the characters fall in love at first sight, but falling in love is not always a welcome event and creates problems for the characters.

• Many modern-day television shows and films use allusions in reference to Romeo and Juliet.