William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Why do we study Shakepeare?

Why do we study Shakepeare?

Index

SHAKESPEARE'S LEGACY IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE: OFFICIAL VERSION

THE FIRST FOLIO (1623)

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

USHAKESPEARE'S CANON

What do we know about Shakespeare?

• Much information about William Shakespeare is conjectural

• Based on reconstructions and on the details of his plays

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

1. Shakespeare's life: official version

• Born on April 23rd 1564, St. George’s Day, in Stratford Upon Avon

• son of a rich merchant of gloves

• attended the local grammar school and received a good education

• In 1582 married Anne Hathaway, older than him, who gave him three children

• One of these children was called Hamnet - a name that recalls the “Hamlet” of Shakespeare’s play

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The lost years

• We know very little about Shakespeare's life from 1584 to 1592

• He seems to have left Stratford to make his fortune in London

• No documentary evidence of his life during this period of time.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

• 1592 : active in London as an actor and playwright
• 1594: theaters reopened
• 1594: joined the company of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men - he was the main playwright
• 1599: the company managed to build their own playhouse, called The Globe
• 1603: the company changed its name and it became King’s Men
• 1611: retired from the stage
• 1616: died in Stratford, the same day of his birth: April 23rd

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

2. The First Folio

• All Shakespeare’s plays collected and printed as a single volume in 1623 by two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors

• This edition is known as First Folio and it contains 36 plays

• 18 plays printet for the first time

• Three main categories: Comedies, Histories, Tragedies

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

3. Shakespeare's Canon

• The complete works of William Shakespeare are known as Shakespeare’s Canon

• Today scholars tend to divide Shakespeare’s Canon into many sub-groups according to many factors (structure, year of composition, style)

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Problem Plays / Dark Comedies

English History Plays

Roman Plays

Comedies

Tragedies

Romances

Inspired by Italian short stories; about marriages, mistaken identities, happy ending - A Midsummer Night's Dream - The Merchant of Venice

Events and characters taken from Roman history - Julius Caesar - Antony and Cleopatra

About English history from 12th to 16th century - Richard III - Richard II - Henry V

Tragic destiny of men, human foolishness, man's loneliness - Hamlet - Otello - Macbeth

Comedies with a dark and pessimistic side; the characters have doubts (problems) - Measure for Measure - All's Well that Ends Well

Last plays; tragedy + comedy; fictional plot, magic, virtue vs vice, supernatural - The Winter's Tale - The Tempest

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Revenge tragedy

Tragicomedy

Titus Andronicus

Romeo and Juliet

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

4. Shakespeare's legacy in the English language

• Shakespeare introduced about 3000 words in the English language
• Wrote some of the most quoted lines ever written
• Some of these expressions have become common idioms

All's well that ends wellFaint hearted Love is blindWhat past is prologue

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

5. Conspiracy theories

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Upstart = someone who climbed the socio-political ladder but does not have the required skills + Crow = known for stealing from others. Robert Greene believed that Shakespeare doesn't deserve the success he got because he does not have formal training and steals from other writers.