Introduction to Shakespeare! Week 1: 1. Read the information below on the life and works of William Shakespeare. If you have access to a printer, you can print it out and highlight key information. If you don’t have a printer, make notes on paper of important points you want to remember. Remember to keep your work neat and organised – use subtitles to split your up!
2. Select one of the comedy plays named on the sheet below and research it in more detail. Include: a. When the play was written b. When the play was first performed c. Who the king or queen was when it was first performed d. Briefly summarise the main events in the plot (no more than 2 paragraphs)
3. Repeat this research process for one tragedy play and one history play named on the sheet
4. Reread the section of the sheet about Shakespearean sonnets. Using the rules of a Shakespearean sonnet, plan and write your own about something or someone that you love. Challenge: Include the Shakespearean rhyming style (ABAB) Aspire: Make each line 10 syllables long
5. Research which of Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted and retold by modern film makers. Pick one adaptation and decide whether it still fits with the rules of the original genre; comedy, tragedy or history. Write a brief explanation of your findings and explain your opinion. Clue: You might want to look at Disney first! Shakespeare’s life and works (1564-1616) Shakespeare’s Life Who was he? Although William Shakespeare is recognised as one of literature’s greatest influences, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone. Anecdotes and criticisms by his rivals also speak of the famous playwright and suggest that he was indeed a playwright, poet and an actor.
Family Life Shakespeare’s parents were Mary and John Shakespeare. His sisters were Joan, Margaret (both of whom died in infancy) Anne and a second Joan, whilst his brothers were Gilbert, Richard and Edmund.
William was born in 1564, the third of the eight children. We know this from the earliest record we have of his life – his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564. We don’t actually know his birthday but from this record we assume he was born in 1564.
Since we know Stratford's famous Bard (Shakespeare) lived with his father, John Shakespeare, we can presume that he grew up in Henley Street in Stratford, some one hundred miles northwest of London.
Very little is known about the upbringing and education of literature’s most famous playwright. We know that the King’s New Grammar School taught boys basic reading and writing. We assume William attended this school since it existed to educate the sons of Stratford but we have no definite proof. Likewise, a lack of evidence suggests that William, whose works are studied at Universities, never actually attended one himself!
Adult Life A bond certificate dated November the 28th, 1582, reveals that an eighteen-year-old William married the twenty- six-year-old, and pregnant, Anne Hathaway. Barely seven months later, they had his first daughter, Susanna. Anne never left Stratford, living there her entire life. Their marriage is not considered a happy one, as there were many rumours about William having affairs during his time in London with many other women!
Baptism records show that William’s first child, Susanna was baptised in Stratford sometime in May, 1583. Baptism records again reveal that twins Hamnet and Judith were born in February 1592. Hamnet, William's only son died in 1596, just eleven years old. Hamnet and Judith were named after William’s close friends, Judith and Hamnet Sadler.
Looking for work in London, four days ride way from Stratford, William is believed to have left his family back home for some twenty years whilst he pursued his craft. He only returned back to his family in 1609.
Shakespeare’s friends are likely to have included those from his acting company, known as the ‘The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’ (and later as ‘The King’s Men). These included Richard Burbage (principal actor), Thomas Pope (actor) and William Kempe (clown). Shakespeare is also likely to have known the famous playwright Christopher Marlowe, as well as the poet Ben Johnson, who was a drinking companion.
Shakespeare’s will and death Records reveal that the great Bard revised his will on March the 25th, 1616. Less than a month later, he died on April the 23rd, 1616.
Literature's famous Bard is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He famously left his wife, Anne Hathaway, his second-best bed, giving most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna. This was not as callous as it seems; the Bard's best bed was saved for guests; his second-best bed was his marriage bed, and was therefore the one that Anne would have been sleeping in throughout their married life.
His will also named actors Richard Burbage, Henry Condell and John Hemminges, providing proof to academics today that William was involved in theatre.
Shakespeare’s work Shakespeare’s 37 plays are generally divided into three categories – Comedies, Tragedies and Histories.
Comedies: The tropes (accepted rules) of a comedy are that it includes a complex plot, uses comedic language, includes love and mistaken identity, and tends to end in a wedding. His comedies include All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night.
Tragedies: The tropes of a tragedy are that the main character will have a fatal flaw which leads to his or her untimely death at the end of the play; that both internal and external forces help to cause this death, there are often supernatural forces, and a consistent struggled between good and evil. His Tragedies were Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus.
Histories: The tropes) of a history play that they are generally set in the medieval period and provide a social commentary through both character and plot. His history plays were Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3), Henry IV (parts 1 and 2), King John, Henry V, Henry VIII, Richard II and Richard III.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted and retold by modern film makers. Even Disney have had a go! Some of these include Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth.
Shakespeare also wrote 154 sonnets. A Shakespearean sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines. These are split into three quatrains (a four-line verse or stanza), where alternating lines rhyme (a scheme of abab cdcd efef), followed by a final couplet of two rhyming lines (ending the rhyme scheme with gg). Shakespeare’s sonnets were generally written in a rhythm called iambic pentameter, meaning that each line had 10 syllables. Often the sonnets are about love but this is not always the case; Shakespeare wrote about a range of subjects.
Further reading opportunities: Life and inspirations: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxqsgk7/revision/1
Language and relevance: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z67fr82/revision/1