William Shakespeare Characteristics of William Shakespeare’s Plays • Reflect influences from ______• Primarily use ______• Display an immense range of______• Represent cornerstones of centuries of English literature William Shakespeare’s Plays The Rise of the Renaissance Theater Several types of plays were written and produced before the Renaissance.
• Shakespeare’s Plays The Rise of the Renaissance Theater • The English had been ______• ______before the Renaissance. • Early medieval drama probably originated in the______. • Drama eventually moved out of the ______and into the______.
• Guilds staged cycles of plays about______. Shakespeare’s Plays William Shakespeare
• He lived just over______, but he created______. • His work still fascinates us because______, ______, and ______is precise and poetic. • His themes—often concerning _____,______,______, and______—still engage us. Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare’s Plays Written mostly in the______, Shakespeare’s early plays were some of his most performed and admired. Among them were
• ______, a history play about a deformed usurper who becomes king
• ______, a rowdy farce about mistaken identity •______, a blood-and-thunder tragedy
•______, a poetic tragedy about ill-fated lovers Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare’s Plays In the late 1590’s, Shakespeare entered a period of great prosperity. • He completed a cycle of plays about the ______: Richard II and both parts of Henry IV and Henry V. • During that time he also wrote ______, ______, and ______. Shakespeare’s Sonnets and
Shakespeare’s PlaysPlays As the seventeenth century began, Shakespeare was writing his greatest ______:
Othello These plays are preoccupied with______, but there is no evidence that Antony Shakespeare himself was and Cleopatra unhappy when he wrote them. Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare’s Plays Shakespeare was a man of business and action as well as a consummate writer. • He______. • He provided good parts in every play for the______, sometimes doubling or tripling roles for performers in his company. • He______. Shakespeare’s Plays The Globe Drama in England was ______when the idea of housing it in a permanent building began to alter performances. • ______. • ______.
• ______. Shakespeare’s Plays The Globe Unfortunately, the original theater was ______: Scholars were left to surmise its configuration. The tiring house The main building—____ (or backstage area) ______
THE STAGE ______surrounded a spacious yard open to the sky.
The main building Shakespeare’s Plays The Globe The Globe was______! • The______
, so actors performed very close to their audiences. • Performers were expected to be able to______, ______,______,______, and ______.
• Special effects were in high demand, so ______helped witches and devils emerge as if from hell. The sky above the stage represented ______. Shakespeare’s Plays The Globe The third section of the Globe was the ______, a tall building that provided______
• It contained______, ______, and a curtained space below the wall.
• It supported a gallery above the wall for musicians or for “discoveries” of things hidden from the audience until the proper time. The rebuilt Globe theater closed in 1642, but a full-scale model was constructed in London in 1997. It houses a theater company and exhibits.. Shakespeare’s Plays The Power of the Imagination Renaissance audiences lent ______to the make-believe happenings on stage. Actors carrying lanterns meant it was time to imagine nightfall; a few bushes on stage were understood to be a forest; a spoken line about sunrise led the audience to imagine dawn.
Music for the Masses People heard music in the theater, too: Trumpets announced arrivals and departures, and varied songs established mood or revealed character. Shakespearean Tragedy
All Shakespearean ______are _____ acts long. Dramatic Conventions
Soliloquy: ______
Aside: ______
______
Comic relief: ______The Tragic Hero: ______
______
______
______The End