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TOPIC 44. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIME. THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE WORKS - Coggle…
TOPIC 44
. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS TIME. THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE WORKS
1. INTRODUCTION
The topic deals with Shakespeare and his time and focuses on his works.
The works of Shakespeare have played a vital role and a magnificent influence on many aspects of English life regarding culture, history, society or linguistics.
The topic is divided into 6 parts.
2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
2.1. Elizabethan theatre
Elizabethan = a term used to define not only the period but also the characteristics of the stage.
The Elizabethan stage = little special effects (so important the attire, the gesticulation, the language and the spectator's imagination); not many actors; not female actresses; music was important.
Theatres = three story buildings; open roof; no scenery; musicians had their space; performances during daylight; people stand on the "Groundlings".
Shakespeare = playwright and actor (in the Lord Chamberlain's Men later the King's Men.
Elizabethan era: the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
The golden age in English history.
The golden age = apogee of the English Reinassance and flowering of poetry, music and literature.
One centre of power: the royal court.
Her reign brought about a cultural revolution in England.
An important and fruitful time for the country.
England had a centralised, well-organised and effective government + economically it began to benefit from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade and theft of Spanish treasure.
3. SHAKESPEARE
3.1. Shakespeare's works
When Shakespeare died no collected edition of his plays had been published. His works were collected and printed in the century following his death. By the early 18th century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established.
He hardly ever invented plots of his dramas, he work with stories found ready-made in history, novels, narrative, poems or other plays.
3.1.3. History plays
History plays are the most remarkable contribution of Elizabethan playwrights to the world of drama = creation of national literature.
Shakespeare wrote 10 history plays framed within the political context of the time.
The most famous and representative is Richard III (because of the many filmed versions).
3.1.4. Problem plays
Do not fit into a single classification. Several of Shakespeare's comedies have an unusual tone with a mix of humour and tragedy which has led them to be classified as problem plays.
Ex: Troilus and Cressida.
3.1.2. Tragedies
Brought him more fame and recognition.
Include a noble or royal main character who tends to move forward increasing isolation = use of soliloquies is frequent.
Greatest plays = Machbeth, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet + Romeo and Juliet (tragedy + romantic comedy).
The most quoted = Hamlet -> Shakespeare's highest point as creator and as a dramatic artist.
3.1.5. Romances
Shakespeare's romances were written late in his career and published originally as tragedy or comedy. They share some elements of tragedy but end happily like Shakespearean comedies.
Ex: The Tempest.
3.1.1. Comedies
Different meaning from modern comedy.
Include constrasts and a greater emphasis on situations rather than characters.
Tend to be social rather than individualistic.
Main aim: achieve a happy ending.
"The Comedy of Errors" = the most representative of Shakespeare's first period + the shortest.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" = Shakespeare's maturity on stage. -> he did not depen upon already existing narrative material.
3.1.6. Poems
A Shakespearean sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, in which there are 10 syllables in each line.
The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg, three quartets and a final couplet.
Widely regarded as the greatest English writer of all times. - Born on 23rd April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died same day on 1616.
He read a great amount of classic literature during his school years. Influenced by Plautus or Ovid.
His life changed when he moved to London -> began to perform and became a well-known actor and theatre businessman.
He wrote and played at the same time.
He gave up writing but not acting, after the destruction of the Globe theatre.
He was a master of prose and verse.
Considered the father of mother English language and literature.
3.2. Shakespeare's language
Absorb terms and transform them into intimate registers.
Generate metaphors.
Addicted to wordplays.
Use of puns.
Repetition of words.
Classical allusions.
Rhetorical questions.
Sophisticated metrical schemes and effects.
Use of blank verse.
3.2.1. Shakespeare's contribution to English language
Shakespeare's work helped regulate English language as before was not standardised.
His works contributed to the stardardisation of grammar, spelling and vocabulary.
Known to have coined of invented more than 1700 words.
Invented new words by changing nouns into verbs, verbs into adjectives, adding prefixes and suffixes to the existing words.
4. EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burgess, A. English Literature. Ed. Longman. 1993.
Smith, E. The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare. 2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.