Creative Activities of William Shakespeare. 1564-1616

1. Lecture 4 Creative Activities of William Shakespeare 1564-1616

LECTURE 4
CREATIVE
ACTIVITIES OF
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
1564-1616
Senior lecturer: Sartbayeva E.K.

2.

•1. Theatre and Drama of the Renaissance
•2. W. Shakespeare’s life and creative activities
•3. Periodization of W. Shakespeare’s works
•4. W. Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”
•Main concepts: the mystery, the miracle,
Morality, the pageant, the theatre

3. Theatre and Drama of the Renaissance

The Mystery were plays
dramatized episodes from
the Bible;
Morality plays were
allegorical, and
dedicated to the
struggle of the various
virtues and vices for
the human soul;
The Miracle were plays,
episodes taken from the
lives of saints.
The Pageants - these were
pantomimes re-enacting episodes
from the history of that particular city.
These pageants were the source of the
histories (historical plays) for which the
English Renaissance drama is famous.

4.

• By the middle of the 16th century, there were
companies of strolling actors who performed in town
squares, inn-yards, and in the manors of the nobility.
Many of these companies enlisted as servants of some
peer, of course only nominally, began to settle down.
• In 1576 the company of the Earl of Leicester’s Men built
the first regular playhouse, designed specially for
performances, and called it “The Theatre” (a Greek
word never used in England before). It was open to the
sky, except for a sheltered gallery on three sides, and
the stage was a large raised platform that came out into
the audience like a sort of peninsula. No women were
allowed to act, and all the female parts in plays were
taken by boys. The first actress in England appeared
after the Restoration of 1660.

5. William Shakespeare Early years

• Was born on April 23, 1564 in
Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
• His father, John Shakespeare, owned
a shop as a glove maker and also
held several government positions,
including Mayor of Stratford.
• His mother’s name was Mary Arden.
• He was the 3rd child of 8 children
• He received excellent education with
heavy focus on grammar and
literature at the King’s New School

6. William Shakespeare Marriage and Family

• Married at age 18 to Anne
Hathaway (she was 26)
• 1st child was a daughter, Susanna born in 1583
• Twins, Hamnet and Judith, born in
1585
• Hamnet died at age 11

7. William Shakespeare “Lost Years”

The period between 1585
and 1592 is known as the
“Lost Years” because
there are no documentary
records of Shakespeare’s
activities

8. William Shakespeare Later Years

• Moved to London around
1591 and became an actor
• Worked with the Lord
Chamberlin’s company of
players, later known as the
King’s Men

9. William Shakespeare Later Years

• Returned to Stratford around
1610 where he lived as a
country gentleman
• Wealthy - owned one of the
largest homes in town

10. William Shakespeare Works of Literature

• Along with acting, he also wrote
some of the most renowned and
studied literature written in the
English language
• Wrote 154 sonnets
• Wrote 37 plays - comedies,
tragedies, and historical dramas
• The first collected edition of
Shakespeare’s plays was
published in 1623.

11. William Shakespeare Works of Literature

Friendship
Death
Love
Shakespeare’s
conceptions
Betrayal
Family

12. William Shakespeare Comedies

• All’s Well that Ends Well
• As You Like It
• Comedy of Errors
• Measure for Measure
• Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Taming of the Shrew
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Twelfth Night
• Merchant of Venice

13. William Shakespeare Tragedies

•Julius Caesar
•Hamlet
•Macbeth
•Othello
•Romeo and Juliet
•King Lear

14. William Shakespeare Historical dramas

•King Henry V
•King John
•Richard II
•Richard III

15. William Shakespeare Works of Literature

• His vocabulary was HUGE -
somewhere between 17,000 and
34,000 words!
• The estimated vocabulary of an
educated person today is around
15,000 words
• According to the Oxford English
Dictionary Shakespeare introduced
nearly 3,000 words into the English
language.

16. Influence on English language

Shakespearianisms
Author’s translation
What is a piece of work is a man!
(“Hamlet”)
Brevity is the soul of wit.
(“Hamlet”)
Curiosity killed a cat.
(“Macbeth”)
All is well that ends well.
(“Macbeth”)
Something is rotten in the state of
Denmark.
(“Hamlet”)
A fool’s paradise.
(“Romeo and Juliet”)
Salad days.
(“Antonius and Cleopatra”)
Что за мастерское создание – человек!
(М.Лозинский)
Краткость – сестра таланта.
(А.Чехов)
Любопытство до добра не доведет.
(Б.Пастернак)
Все хорошо, что хорошо кончается.
(М.Лозинский)
Не все в порядке в Датском
королевстве. (Б.Пастернак)
Мир фантазий. (Б.Пастернак)
Молодо – зелено. (Б.Пастернак)

17. Elizabethan Age

• Shakespeare lived and wrote during
what is known as the English
Renaissance, which lasted from about
1485 through the 1660s
• Period is also known as Elizabethan
Age, named after Queen Elizabeth
who ruled England from 1558-1603

18. Globe Theatre

• Shakespeare and the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men performed at
Burbage’s theatre until 1599, when
they built their own playhouse, the
Globe
• Shakespeare referred to the Globe
as “this wooden O,” a term that led
scholars to believe it was a circular
building

19. Globe Theatre

• Attending Shakespeare’s theatre was
quite different from attending theatre
today, which is thought of as very
quiet and austere
• In Elizabethan England it was a noisy,
popular gathering place for people of
all ages and from all walks of life

20. Globe Theatre

• Drinking and eating were permitted
in the pit, which often became very
noisy
• If a spectator did not like a particular
character or scene, he or she would
feel free to hiss or boo of throw
anything he or she might have on
hand

21. Globe Theatre

• The original theatre was destroyed by
a fire in 1613
• It was rebuilt in 1614, closed in
1642, and demolished in 1644
• A modern reconstruction of the
original Globe, named
“Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre”
opened in 1997

22. Periodization of W. Shakespeare’s creative activities (1546-1616).

• Period 1: The first period, dating from the beginning of his
career to 1594, may be called the period of apprenticeship.
The plays of that period were written under the influence of
the University Wits and are cruder in their stage-craft and
psychology than his later works. However, we must admit that
one play written during that time, “Richard III”, remains one of
his most popular and most frequently staged works.
• 1590-1594- these plays were characterized by :
• a variety of different genres and modes /histories, different
types of comedies and tragedies/;
• blank verse/where the line ends at the end of a sentence or at
a strongly marked pause/p quite a lot of rhymed lines;
• simplicity, there was no great complexity of imagery.

23.

• Period 2: 1594/95-1600: During the second period,
from the 1594/95 up to 1600, Shakespeare wrote
plays belonging mainly to two dramatic genres:
histories (historical, or chronicle, plays) and
comedies. The two tragedies written during those
years, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Julius Caesar”, differ
greatly from his mature tragedies. The former, one of
his most popular and frequently produced plays, is a
true masterpiece; but its treatment of the material
places it apart from his great tragedies, “Julius
Caesar” in its construction resembles a history rather
than a tragedy. The period is characterized bymature
style with more flexible syntax and rhythm; more
concentrated imager; more forceful characterization;
a mixture of comedies and ‘history’ plays.

24.

• Period 3: 1600-1604 is characterized by the so
–called ’problem’plays, a term used by late 19th
century critics who found it difficult to detect
Shakespeare’s intentions/; difficult to interpret;
somber in tone.
• Period 4: 1605-1608. During that period
Shakespeare wrote the great tragedies,
showing a mode of thought quite unlike Greek
tragedy or earlier English tragedy. The period id
noted by a fully developed style.

25.

• Period 5: 1608-1612. Shakespeare wrote the
romances, mysteries, miracles or ’reconciliation
plays’: “Pericles” , “Cymbeline”. “The Winter’s Tale”,
“The Tempest”. There was little of the partial realism
of the tragedies. His tragedies were transformed into
reconciliation of the opposing elements.
• The most prominent of the period’s writings were
Shakespeare’s sonnets, namely 154 sonnets,
published in 1609. They were written earlier in 15921599. .
• There are 4 themes in his sonnets: society, art, friends
and love to “dark lady”. Sonnets 1-126 address to a
friend, a man and the remainder to a woman called
‘dark lady’.

26. SONNETS

The sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines divided into
2 quartrains and 2 tercets (Italian s) or into 3 q and final
couplet (English s). Thousands of sonnet were written
and published during 1590s. In those years the poets
considered Love to be the only suitable theme for the
sonnet. Shakespeare wrote a cycle of 154 sonnets.
He introduced new contents into the traditional form of
14 lines. His sonnets are real dramas in miniature
because they are no less deep in thought ad feeling than
his plays are. They are all built on contrast which
reflects the struggle of conflicting emotions in the poet’s
soul. All his sonnets are full of feeling, of philosophical
meditations on life.

27.

• SONNET CXXX (Sonnet 130)
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are
dun*;
If hairs be wires**, black wires grow on her
head.
I have seen roses damasked***, red and
white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress
reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go –
My mistress when she walks treads on the
ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love
as rare****
As any she belied with false compare.*****
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare в
оригинале
Ее глаза на звезды не похожи,
Нельзя уста кораллами назвать,
Не белоснежна плеч открытых кожа,
И черной проволокой вьется прядь.
С дамасской розой, алой или белой,
Нельзя сравнить оттенок этих щек.
А тело пахнет так, как пахнет тело,
Не как фиалки нежный лепесток.
Ты не найдешь в ней совершенных
линий, Особенного света на челе.
Не знаю я, как шествуют богини,
Но милая ступает по земле.
И все ж она уступит тем едва ли,
Кого в сравненьях пышных оболгали!
Сонет 130 в переводе Cамуила
Маршака

28. COMEDIES

1590-1600. The period was marked by the optimism so
characteristic of all humanist literature. It is best
reflected in his comedies (As you like it, Twelfth night,
the Comedy of errors and others).
The comedies describe the adventures of young men and
women, their friendship and love, their search for
happiness. The comedies are usually based on some
misunderstanding that creates comic situations.
Shakespeare never moralizes in his comedies. He laughs
with people, but not at them. His comedies are filled
with humanist love for people and the belief in the
nobility and kindness of human nature.

29. Shakespeare’s tragedies

1601-1608 (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth). The
tragedies reflect the deep contradictions of life, injustice
and tyranny existing in society. They show people who
perish in the struggle against Evil. The tragedies, like
the chronicles, are also based on real events, but there is
a considerable difference between the 2 genres. The
playwright raised great problems of good and evil in
both. But in the chronicles they are mostly linked with
political themes. In the tragedies which are cantered
round the life of one man, Shakespeare touched on the
moral problems of universal significance – honesty,
cruelty, love, kindness, vanity. That’s why they are of
great interest to every new generation.

30.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy
written by William Shakespeare
early in his career. Romeo and
Juliet, also written in the 1590s,
show a change in the
playwright’s outlook, which
become more pessimistic. It is
about two young star-crossed
lovers whose deaths ultimately
reconcile their quarreling
families. It was among
Shakespeare's most popular
plays during his lifetime and,
along with Hamlet, is one of
his most frequently performed
plays.
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