WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Authors: Ada and Zuzia

SOME IMPORTANT FACTS William Shakespeare was born on 23 rd of April 1564 on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon. This town was called that, because it was on the river Avon. The ruler, then, was Queen Elizabeth I. It was called the 'Golden Age' - England was rich and powerful because people sold and bought things all over the world. At that time cities were dirty and full of diseases. Streets were named after things that were sold there. There were lots of wooden buildings, so cities caught fire easily. But people had a lot of fun in Stratford. They organized festivals, dog fighting and cock fighting. Actors came to stage plays and people loved to watch them. STRATFORD

EARLY LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare's father – John was a glove maker, and his mother – Mary Arden didn't work, because she was a daughter of a rich farmer. William Shakespeare attended King Edward’s School. There he learnt maths, Latin, Greek and handwriting. School began at 6 o'clock a.m. and ended at 5 o'clock p.m. At school he wrote with feathers and he had tests every Fridays. During breaks William with friends played stool ball – a game similar to cricket (but players used hands, not bats). In November 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. He was 18 and she was 26. They had three children – a daughter Susana and the twins – Hamnet and Judith. Unfortunately, Hamnet died when he was eleven. KING EDWARD’ s SCHOOL

SHAKESPEARE'S THEATRE Shakespeare came to London in 1578 to start his acting career. In 1599 he founded Globe Theatre. It was for Lord Chamberlain’s Company. Shakespeare wrote most of the plays for this acting group. It was very modern and high tech theatre for its time. Actors had to play even when it rained – then they sped up the performance. Costumes were very colourful and good quality. Women weren't allowed on stage, so young boys played women's roles and wore dresses. In the theatre rich people paid a lot of money to sit in galleries on cushions. Poorer people, called groundlings paid only a penny and stood in front of the stage. In 1613 Globe Theatre got burnt down because of the fire to the roof. The fire was caused by a cannon shot during the play 'Henry VIII th '. In 1978 they began to rebuild the theatre and construction lasted 19 years – until 1997 and now it looks exactly the same as its original. GLOBE THEATRE

SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS The Swan Theatre in Stratford was built in 1595 during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. In this theatre actors played everything Shakespeare wrote. William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays: comedies – with happy ending, tragedies – stories of important people that in one moment destroy their life, and histories – about Roman, Greek and British myths and legends. The most famous Shakespeare's play is 'Romeo and Juliet'. And this is the most confusing line from this play: 'O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?’ It's confusing because most people think that it means: 'Where are you Romeo?' and it actually means: ‘Why are you Romeo? Why from all of people I fell in love with you?'. It was a problem because Juliet's family really hated Romeo and his family. Shakespeare also wrote sonnets. He wrote as many as 154. And probably the most popular is Sonnet 18 (How shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?) And that is the most popular line from all of his writings: 'To be or not to be, that is the question‘. The line is taken from Hamlet.

SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS

LAST YEARS OF SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare bought new place in it was the second largest house in Startford as Shakespeare was making lots of money from his plays in London. It was a big, impressive buildings with a courtyard at the front and orchards at the back. Shakespeare died on the day of his birthday – 23rd of April in He was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon- Avon. Shakespeare hated the idea of digging up corpses from graves and he wrote a curse against, anyone who tried to move his bones or his gravestone. Is he buried in the church, because he was a famous playwright? No, he paid for that 440 pounds. His plays have been translated into over 80 languages. His stories are so good, his characters are so real, that they’ re still popular and meaningful today.

QUOTATIONs If you cannot understand my argument, and declare 'It's Greek to me', you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, You are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinken or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stiches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise – why be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would you have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then – to give the devil his due – if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I were dead as a doornail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, he devil incarnate, a stony-hatred villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then – by Jove ! O Lord! Tut, tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts – it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

MOST POPULAR QUOTATION ‘It’s Greek to me’  ‘To jest dla mnie Greka’ ‘Salad days’  ‘Szczenięce lata’ ‘Wish is father to the thought’  ‘Pobożne życzenia’ ‘Vanished into thin air’  ‘Rozpłynęło się w powietrzu’ ‘Fair play’  ‘Godne (uczciwe) zachowanie się’ ‘Slept not one wink’  ‘Nie zmrużyłem oka’ ‘Devil incarnate’  ‘Diabeł wcielony’ ‘Laughing stock’  ‘(robić z siebie) Pośmiewisko’