SHAKESPEAR

life

operes

elizabethan theatres

sonnets

he was born in stratford from a successful tradesman, until he met financial difficulties. he attended a locan grammar school and at the age of 18 he married anne hathaway.

he was caught in deer hunting, which was illegal, and due to this he was forced to leave stratford to go to london

he experienced the playhouse in minor roles, but he was noticed to be a great playwriter

theatres were shut down due to a plague. shakespear need to find support from a private: the earl of southampon. when theatres re-opened shakespear's company became one of the most famous: lord chamberlain

at the end of his life he went back to stratford and died here

characters: give much importance to family ties

scenes: gradual clarification of things left mysterious at the beginning. shakespear also leave lots of open questions, so that the viewer can continue to think about the answer

structure: is flexible. a scene ends only when all the actors has left the stage

the structure of sonnets was the petrarchan one: 2 quatrains and 2 triplets. but shakespear used a different structure: 3 quatrains and a couplet

came from italy by jacopo da lentini in the XIII century. in england it started has an imitation of the italian sonnets

the main theme is the corrispondance between the poet's feelings and nature

shakespear wrote two kinds of sonnets:

  1. sonnets to express universal feeling. for example love: love isn't necessarly connected to a woman, it could be a universal kind of love
  1. sonnets about a 'dark lady'. the idea of a dark lady is opposed to the 'fair youth'. a dark lady isn't an idealised woman, she's a real woman. she doesn't have to be pretty or to be better than nature to catch the eyes of the poet

theatre was born in churches, as a way to entertain people during celebrations. it had so much success that it became indipendent and moved outside churches

it became tha main expression of the elizabethan art

structure: circular or octagonal. the stage was divided in apron stage,projected into the yard where the play take place (witch a max of 12 actors); the inner stage, hidden by a curtain; the upper stage,used by musicians

actors were surrounded by three sides with no woman on stage

dating of shakespearian plays: shakespear's plays can be approximately dated by using three methods.

  1. external: the most valuable method. consists in a clear mention or reference of a certain play.thanks to that we can give a date to the play
  1. stylistic: the most difficult method. consists in analyzing the style of a play, which changes are very noticeable. as a consequence the play can be placed in a precise period
  1. internal: when the plays contains a reference to a certain datable event