William Shakespeare Early Years Born – unknown exactly, probably around April 1564 in Stratford, England Parents – John and Mary Shakespeare Father’s Occupation – Glover Parents had 8 children, 5 reached adulthood Shakespeare’s education – Went to Stratford Grammar School – Taught primarily in Latin – Left school at age 13

Marriage – Anne Hathaway – Rumor has it she was pregnant – She was 26, he 18 – Had 3 children, one died at age 11 The Lost Years – – No one knows what he did for sure – Some guesses are: teacher, lawyer, soldier, sailor, preacher, and butcher

Literary Career 1592 – until close to 1613 – Acted and wrote plays for the “Lord Chamberlain’s Men” and “King’s Men” in London Wrote around 38 plays – Genres Comedy, history, tragedy Wrote “Romeo and Juliet” around 1595 Used 17,677 words in all his plays and poems. – of that number, 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare

Words Shakespeare Created accommodation aerial amazement apostrophe assassination baseless bloody bump changeful countless courtship critic critical dishearten dislocate dwindle eventful exposure fitful frugal generous gloomy hurry impartial indistinguishable lapse laughable lonely majestic misplaced obscene pious premeditated radiance reliance submerge suspicious

Phrases Shakespeare Created all that glitters isn’t gold break the ice breathe one’s last breath catch a cold disgraceful conduct eat out of house and home elbow room fair play green-eyed monster heart of gold heartsick hot-blooded housekeeping it smells like heaven it’s Greek to me leapfrog method in his madness mind’s eye naked truth one fell swoop pitched battle to thine self be true too much of a good thing wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve

Later Years Performed his last play, “Henry VIII” in June 1613 Went back to Stratford 1616 – died at the age of 52 Left wife “second-best bed” Buried in Holy Trinity Church

“Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man who spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.”

Structure Octagonal Contained three main sections of the stage – Heavens Above the stage Where special effects happened – Earth Stage where most of the action happened – Hell Under the stage Not a pleasant place to be!!!!

Hut Main Stage Pit Hell Heavens Inner above Inner below Side balcony Galleries Trap door

Seating Three rows of tiered seating Cost between 3-5 pence including a cushion – Only the wealthy could afford these The pits/penny seats – Commoner (aka groundlings) – People stood in the area around the stage

What was it like? Flags on the hut announcing type of play – White = comedy – Black = tragedy – Red = history At 2 o’clock, the plays would start Audience – Noisy – Ate and drank then threw trash on ground or at the actors (if they were bad) – Bathrooms (aka a bucket) were where the groundlings stood

Actors Considered thieves and liars – because they pretended to be what they were not It was illegal to perform unless they were “servants” of a nobleman – “masterless” actors were whipped and had their right ear burned Women were not allowed to act – adolescent boys would play girl parts