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Hamlet and the Elizabethan Era. Shakespeare. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived during the Elizabethan age, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, a town in the heart of England.
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Shakespeare • William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived during the Elizabethan age, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England. • He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, a town in the heart of England. • William was the third of eight children of John Shakespeare, a well-to-do butcher and whittawer (maker, worker, seller of leather goods), and Mary Arden.
Love and Marriage • At the age of 18, Shakespeare fell in love with and married Anne Hathaway who was 26.
Love and Marriage • Shakespeare and Anne had three children • Susanna, the oldest • Twins: Hamnet and Judith • Hamnet died as a child
Shakespeare • Shakespeare became an actor and established his career between 1582-1592 • Part of a theatre troupe called Lord Chamberlin's Men which became The King’s Men • Began playwriting in 1590 with his history plays (1590-1593) • Wrote a total of 37 plays • Died April 23, 1616
The globe theatre • Constructed in 1599 • On the banks of the Thames River near London • Octagonal Shape • Cost a certain number of pennies depending on where one watched the play • Red Flag=History • White Flag=Comedy • Black Flag=Tragedy
The Globe Theatre • Globe Audience Capacity - the Globe theatre could hold 1500 people in the audience and this number expanded to 3000 with the people who crowded outside the theatres • Royalty - Queen Elizabeth I loved watching plays but these were generally performed in indoor playhouses for her pleasure. • The Nobles - Upper Class Nobles would have paid for the better seats in the Lord's rooms paying 5d for the privilege • The Lower Classes, the Commoners, were called the Groundlings and would have stood in the theatre pit and paid 1d entrance fee. They put 1 penny in a box at the theatre entrance - hence the term 'Box Office'
The world of hamlet • Women were treated as property and could own nothing (unless they were widowed) • Only options for women: Brothel, Nunnery, marriage • Husbands could beat wives. No real divorce options for women. • Laws were in place that determined what a person could wear, where they could live, what they could eat; all based on social standing and class • Marriages are arranged. The upper class, courtier marriages, had to be approved by the monarch. Esp. under Elizabeth
The world of hamlet • People who were caught attempting suicide would have been put on trial and punished. • Suicide was ILLEGAL. • If you were successful in your suicide attempt, you would be buried in disgrace outside of the city limits and it would be officially agreed upon that you were a condemned soul. This is a difficult concept to really understand in our culture, but honor was a really big deal in Elizabethan England. Arguably, honor was everything because it affected everything.
Because at some point in your life you… • Felt like no one understood what you were going through • Were confused by a member of the opposite sex’s words and/or actions • Heard rumors and/or participated in gossip • Fought with a parent or guardian • Had no idea what you were doing
Are we on the same page now? • Good, let’s begin!
soliloquy • A soliloquy is an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, esp. by a character in a play.
Hamlet’s first Soliloquy • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuF1-tyaAE
The other family Polonius Laertes Ophelia
The Other Family • Polonius is the king’s advisor. He is extremely long-winded. • Laertes is Polonius’s son who is studying in France • Ophelia is Polonius’s son and Laertes’s sister. She has relations with Hamlet but is constantly being warned by her family that he is bad news.
Rosencrantz &Guildenstern • Hamlet’s friends from school • Claudius asks them to spy on Hamlet • Provide comedic relief
aside • An aside a remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the play.
allusion • An allusion is a reference to another work of literature.
Allusions in the players scene • Hamlet asks the players (actors) to perform a speech from Virgil’s The Aeneid . • The speech is about Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles who goes to Troy to avenge his father’s death by killing Priam. • One of the players then describes Hecuba, Priam’s wife, when she discovers her husband’s death, and is very emotional.
Dumb show • A dumb show is a short piece of silent action or mime included in a play. A common device in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, it was sometimes used to summarize the succeeding spoken scene, as in the dumb show preceding the players' main performance in Hamlet (Act III, scene ii).
How it all ends… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9VZp7IFfXQ (2009) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNWODAIBs7s (1990)
