Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
And why should it matter?
the businessman
We don’t remember him
in this way.
But Shakespeare
started out as an actor,
who later became part
owner of his theater
company, The King’s Men.
political skill
At that time, few
playwrights or actors had
such an arrangement.
He was the most popular
playwright of his time,
and because of his part
ownership, likely the most
financially successful.
deep question
Were the plots of his plays
were driven more by
economic forces than by
the desire to create great
literature?
his Audiences
Parts of his plays seem
tailored different
audiences:
Nobles Poetry,
Philosophy, and Allusion
Fops Commerce and
Common sense.
Pennystinkers:
Bawd and Blood
the cost of clothing
In Shakespeare’s day, the
first items anyone left
behind in their Last Will
and Testament would be
their finest clothes.
Fine clothing, SEWN BY
HAND, would be far more
expensive than housing.
Presaging the Modern Human Being
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
For centuries, scholars
have been unable to glean
Shakespeare’s actual
beliefs on anything he
wrote about or whether
he even had beliefs
We can however, ascertain
the beliefs and mores of
Shakespeare’s characters.
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
Shakespeare’s greatest
characters were not static
like those of other
playwrights at the time, or
like those of his
predecessors.
Shakespeare, at his best,
created characters who
were mentally and
emotionally dynamic.
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
For this reason, we can
recognize ourselves in
them. They seem like us;
they change their mind as
often as we do.
It is important to
understand that before
Shakespeare, character
was typically seen as
unchanging.
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
Furthermore, in
Shakespeare’s plays, we
see that characters foil one
another on the basis of
their philosophiesand
not just their desires or
actions.
Examples:
Romeo and Mercutio
Hamlet and himself
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
While Shakespeare was
writing, discoveries in
science and technology,
combined with the
rediscovery of the great
Latin and Greek texts of
antiquity, led to new forms
of thinking and perceiving
the world.
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
Examples:
The Scientific Method
Colonialism
The Protestant
Reformation
Heliocentrism
Kepler’s Laws of Motion
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
Examples:
Elizabeth, and her
“marriage” to England
Political Unrest: Espionage
and Treason
All of these served as a
profound source of anxiety
as well as creativity.
PHILOSOPHY
DRAMATIZED
Consider this:
By the end of
Shakespeare’s life (1616),
most of the educated class
saw the world far more
like we do than at the
beginning (1564).
He got game, coz.
innovations in
verse
Shakespeare is revered for the
density and profundity of his
metaphors.
Like as the waves make to the pebbled shore
So do our moments hasten to their end:
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Sonnet 60
poetry in thought
Shakespeare’s poetry gains
effect from the fact that his
characters actually speak or
think his writing.
To be, or not to be:
that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
To die: to sleep.
No more.
HHamlet
discovered?
In this class, your task
is to discover yours
homework
Find the Ocean
Read Sonnet 60
Watch the waves
Read it again
and again
and again