William Shakespeare's plays
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Created on June 28, 2023
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Transcript
shakespeare andelizabethan theatre
origins
The origins of theatre are linked to the Middle Ages. There were medieval religious celebrations that took place in the nave of the church (the so-called "mystery plays"). They were performed by monks and priests.
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reasons for development
During the Elizabethan Age, permanent thatres were built on the South Bank in London. Entertainment was rooted in communal life and theatres prospered as economic enterprises.
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introduction
Playhouses
Actors
Queen
Audience
+ internal layout
+ structure
elizabethan playhouses
The playhouses were situated outside the city walls because theatre wasn't relly allowed those days.The plays were put on stage in the afternoon because of the natural lighting. Playhouses didn't have the possibility to enlight the stage during the night.
Actors
Actors in Elizabethian theatre were all men who acted also female roles because women couldn't be on stage. The costumes used on stage were elegant and colorful, made by exotical and precious fabric. Indeed, poor characters wore earth-colored outfits of homespun wool or linen.Actors in Elizabethian theatre had to remember thousand of lines in a short period of time (sometimes even a day).
Audience
Because of the acustic of the theatre, the Audience was divided. People who could afford the best seats, from wich the play could be heard better, was placed in the galleries, the upper spaces covered by the roof. All the others, called Groundlings, had to stay in the cheapest place in front of the main stage, called pit.It was allowed to drink and eat during the plays, and they could throw things to the actors on the stage when they didn't like the play. The Church was very critical of theatre wich was considered "the nest of the devil".
Playwright
Playhouses
terminology
Apron stage
Inner stage and upper stage
Pit
Roofed galleries
Trap doors
Tiring house
Curtain
Scenery
Props
Groundlings
the artof drama
Characters
drama as a literary genre
Structure
Plot and setting
Stage directions
Dramatic techniques
Language
The comedy
the most famous types of drama
The tragedy
The main characters are not everyday people and they suffer a fall from a high status. The play often ends with their death.Tragedies have a serious subject matter with a solemn style and elevated language.
It generally deals with ordinary characters set in everyday situations. It begins with a misfortune and ends with a happy outcome.Comedies have comic characters, are based on love and can rely on witty dialogues.
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Shakespeare's plays
During Shakespeare's time plays were not supposed to be printed and copyright did not exist. His plays represent an exception, because they were collected and printed as a single volume in 1623 (The First Folio).
DATING THE PLAYS
External evidence
External documents mention the plays, showing that the play was written before a certain date.
Internal evidence
The play itself includes a reference to a specific event.
Stylistic evidence
Changes in Shakespeare's style are noticeable, so a play can be placed in a precise period.
Shakespeare wrote many plays about English history, covering the reigns from the 12th to the 16th centuries. They represent a portrait of Medieval and Early Modern England.
english history plays
These plays are all set in ancient Rome and have the same source (Plutarch). The main theme is power, how it is gained, how it changes people and how dangerous it is.
roman plays
Shakespeare's comedies defy any form of classification and categorisation. Many of them draw inspiration from Italian short stories, involve marriages, mistaken identities, and usually a happy ending.
comedies
These plays cannot be considered as proper tragedies, but are more similar to comedies with a dark, pessimistic side. They also revolve around the workings of the minds of character who doubt.
dark comedies
Shakespeare's last plays are called "romances" and contain elements of tragedy and of comedy. They are characterised by fictional, almost improbable plots, the contrast between virtue and vices, magic and the supernatural.
romances
Shakespeare wrote his great tragedies between 1604 and 1606. The main themes are the tragic destiny of mankind, human foolishness and man's loneliness in the universe.
tragedies
Characters
shakespearean play: general features
Evolving scenes
Structure
Stage directions
Variety of style
Imagery
- A Midsummer Night's Dream;
- The Merchant of Venice;
- As you like it;
- All's Well That Ends Well;
- ...
- Cymbeline;
- The Winter's Tale;
- The Tempest;
- ...
The language of drama is particularly intense and vivid. It also shares the features of everyday speech, of poetry or prose.The normal form of Shakespeare's plays is blank verse.
Shakespeare's plays are characterised by a gradual clarification of things which are left mysterious at the beginning. There is also a contrast between scenes (some of them are really crowded, some have just an actor, ...)Shakespeare sometimes leaves some questions open even after the play is over.
- Shakespeare didn't use the three Aristotelian unities of time, place and action;
- The structure is flexible;
- Plays were performed without breaks.
Internal layout
The basic structure consisted of:- a stage partially covered by a thatched roof, or "shadow", supported by two pillars and projected into a yard or pit;- three tiers of roofed galleries around the stage;- trap doors used for apparitions and disappearances;- an inner stage used for discoveries or concealments.
Shakespeare's characters come from different social classes, and there is a hierarchy in every play.Family bonds are very important (e.g. parents with children, mothers with daughters, fathers with sons, ...).There are also symmetrical correspondences on stage (e.g. three lords and three ladies on stage at the same timr).
- Hamlet;
- Romeo and Juliet;
- Othello;
- Macbeth;
- ...
- Plot: the story-line of a play;
- Sub-plot: a secondary plot (it usually mirrors the themes of the main plot but presents them from a different perspective);
- Place and time can be inferred both from the dialogue and the stage directions.
Characters always includes:
- a hero, the protagonist of the play who is not necessarily 'heroic', noble and brave;
- a heroine, the play's main female character;
- an antagonist, who is the hero's main opponent, usually the play's villain.
The character can be introduced through:
- dialogue, the interaction with other characters;
- soliloquy or monologue, which reveal their thoughts, feelings and personality;
- asides;
- stage directions.
In order to portay his characters from different angles, Shakespeare used different levels of speech and action. Characters can use everyday language as well as a solemn tone. There are also allegorical scenes, magical transformations, songs, music and dances.
- Hamlet;
- Romeo and Juliet;
- All's Well that Ends Well;
- Troilus and Cressida;
- Measure for Measure.
Shakespeare's language is characterised by a wide variety if rhetorical figures (similes, metaphores, assonanche, alliterations, ...).Some plays have image motifs (or recurring images): they are connected to the main themes and tones of the plays.Shakespeare used also obscure and archaic words and mythological allusions, but also everyday language and new words.
Elizabethan tragedies:
- are generally introduced by a prologue, which provides information about the main characters and the subject of the play;
- often end with an epilogue, which requests applause and is usually played by a central character.
Some of the most famous theatres were: the Theatre (1576), the Swan (1595) and the Globe (1599).
- Richard III;
- Richard II;
- Henry V;
- ...
Most stage directions were added by the editors after Shakespeare's death. According to the author, an active cooperation was needed in order to make the play "real".
Stage directions are the instructions a playwright gives to the director and the actors about how a play should be staged.They provide informationa about:
- the setting;
- the characters' actions and movements;
- the style of acting.
Structure of playhouses
The playhouses:
- had a diameter of 25 metres;
- had a rectangular stage, the apron stage;
- had no curtain.
- Soliloquy: the character is alone on the stage;
- Monologue: there are other characters but the speaker ignores them.
- Aside: short comments made by a character for the audience alone, usually occurring in or between speeches.
- Julius Caesar;
- Antony and Cleopatra;
- Coriolanus.