William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
BACKGROUND
Renaissance
Lived during the Elizabethan era (golden age wealthy country at
that time and Jacobean era
Playwright and poet (sonnets)
Most known work 1589-1613
The greatest writer in de the English language and the world’s pre-
eminent dramatist.
England’s national poet
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon
Married Anne Hathaway when he was 18
He had three children: Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Hamnet died
when he was 11.
He began his successful carrier in London between 1585-1592 (left
his family behind)
Actor, writer and part-owner of theatre company
The Lord of Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men
He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 ate the age of
49, where he died, three years later.
London 1572: plays forbidden (plague)
London 1575: players formally expelled
Playhouses built outside London jurisdiction
Theatre world grows
His early plays were: comedies and histories, later he wrote mainly
tragedies
Authorship question? Did he write all the works that are now
attributed to him?
BACKGROUND SONNET
Sonnet -> type of poem
Italian poet: Francesco Petrarca
Sonetto: “a little song”
14 lines
Strict rhyme scheme
Specific structure
Petrarchan
14 lines -> two stanza: the octave (the first eight lines) followed by
the answering sestet (the final six lines)
An argument/observation/question occurs in the octave -> leads to a
turn, or volta, between the eighth and ninth lines = shift in direction
, Iambic pentameter -> 5x unstressed (short) syllable (lettergrepen),
stressed (long) syllable
Rhyme scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE or CDCDCD
Suited for rhyme-rich Italian language
Introduced to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt
Shakespearean sonnets
AKA the English sonnet
14 lines
Iambic pentameter -> 5x unstressed (short) syllable, stressed (long)
syllable (da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM)
Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF (= three quatrains), GG (=
rhyming couplet)
No title
Note: rhyme and iambic pentameter also found in Shakespeare’s
plays
Context
154 sonnets -> likely composed over an extended period from 1592-
1598
Published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe -> probably without the
author’s permission
Sonnets dedicated to “W. H.” -> identity a mystery
Sonnets 1-126 addressed to an unnamed male friend -> “The Fair
Young Man”
Concerned with true love
Sonnets 127-152 addressed to poets’ mistress “The Dark Lady”
Conflicting emotions: obsession and sexual nausea
Petrarchan vs. Shakespearean sonnets
Petrarca: dedicated sonnets to Laura, woman he loved -> platonic
idealism, comparing love and woman to nature’s beauties
Shakespeare: sonnets autobiographical?
Not uncommon in those days to express deep love for male friend
(or patron?) (but not in sonnet!)
“The Dark Lady” -> nothing like Laura -> not a perfect beauty ->
nonetheless fascinates the poet, almost in spite of himself
Ridiculed Petrarchan sonnet and its comparisons?
Important themes in Shakespeare’s sonnets
Mortality
Decay
Power of poetry and love to defeat death
The nature of love -> idealized love in poems vs. real life
Dangers of love -> making love as romantic expression vs. a
physical need (and horrible consequences)
Beauty -> real vs. clichéd
Sonnet 65:
1 Since brass and stone, earth and sea,
, Are subject to death,
How can beauty withstand that destructive force,
When its strength is similar only to a flower?
5 How will the honeyed breath of summer withstand,
The battering storm of time,
When mortality even destroys
Great rocks and gates made of iron?
What a scary thought! For where alas,
10 Shall time’s best jewel (his lover), be hid form time’s dark chest?
Or what strong hand can hold back the swift foot of time?
None, unless there is hope in the miracle of my verse,
That it allows my love to shine eternally out of his black ink.
Mortality, beauty, love
Last two lines there is a turn in the story
BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY
Written in 1606
Shakespeare part of the king’s men
King James I of England <> kind James IV of Scotland England and
Scotland had the same king
King: believed in the power of witches (many people died)
Macbeth
Plot overview
King Duncan: generals Macbeth and Banquo
3 witches: ‘’Macbeth will become thane of Cawdor and eventually
King of Scotland’’ + ‘’Banquo’s children will become kings as well’’
Macbeth does indeed become thane of Cawdor
Lady Macbeth (wife) persuades him to kill king Duncan
Macbeth becomes king of Scotland
Macbeth scared of Banquo’s children
Macbeth hires people to kill Banquo and son
Son escapes
BACKGROUND
Renaissance
Lived during the Elizabethan era (golden age wealthy country at
that time and Jacobean era
Playwright and poet (sonnets)
Most known work 1589-1613
The greatest writer in de the English language and the world’s pre-
eminent dramatist.
England’s national poet
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon
Married Anne Hathaway when he was 18
He had three children: Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Hamnet died
when he was 11.
He began his successful carrier in London between 1585-1592 (left
his family behind)
Actor, writer and part-owner of theatre company
The Lord of Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men
He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 ate the age of
49, where he died, three years later.
London 1572: plays forbidden (plague)
London 1575: players formally expelled
Playhouses built outside London jurisdiction
Theatre world grows
His early plays were: comedies and histories, later he wrote mainly
tragedies
Authorship question? Did he write all the works that are now
attributed to him?
BACKGROUND SONNET
Sonnet -> type of poem
Italian poet: Francesco Petrarca
Sonetto: “a little song”
14 lines
Strict rhyme scheme
Specific structure
Petrarchan
14 lines -> two stanza: the octave (the first eight lines) followed by
the answering sestet (the final six lines)
An argument/observation/question occurs in the octave -> leads to a
turn, or volta, between the eighth and ninth lines = shift in direction
, Iambic pentameter -> 5x unstressed (short) syllable (lettergrepen),
stressed (long) syllable
Rhyme scheme: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE or CDCDCD
Suited for rhyme-rich Italian language
Introduced to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt
Shakespearean sonnets
AKA the English sonnet
14 lines
Iambic pentameter -> 5x unstressed (short) syllable, stressed (long)
syllable (da-DUM-da-DUM-da-DUM)
Rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF (= three quatrains), GG (=
rhyming couplet)
No title
Note: rhyme and iambic pentameter also found in Shakespeare’s
plays
Context
154 sonnets -> likely composed over an extended period from 1592-
1598
Published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe -> probably without the
author’s permission
Sonnets dedicated to “W. H.” -> identity a mystery
Sonnets 1-126 addressed to an unnamed male friend -> “The Fair
Young Man”
Concerned with true love
Sonnets 127-152 addressed to poets’ mistress “The Dark Lady”
Conflicting emotions: obsession and sexual nausea
Petrarchan vs. Shakespearean sonnets
Petrarca: dedicated sonnets to Laura, woman he loved -> platonic
idealism, comparing love and woman to nature’s beauties
Shakespeare: sonnets autobiographical?
Not uncommon in those days to express deep love for male friend
(or patron?) (but not in sonnet!)
“The Dark Lady” -> nothing like Laura -> not a perfect beauty ->
nonetheless fascinates the poet, almost in spite of himself
Ridiculed Petrarchan sonnet and its comparisons?
Important themes in Shakespeare’s sonnets
Mortality
Decay
Power of poetry and love to defeat death
The nature of love -> idealized love in poems vs. real life
Dangers of love -> making love as romantic expression vs. a
physical need (and horrible consequences)
Beauty -> real vs. clichéd
Sonnet 65:
1 Since brass and stone, earth and sea,
, Are subject to death,
How can beauty withstand that destructive force,
When its strength is similar only to a flower?
5 How will the honeyed breath of summer withstand,
The battering storm of time,
When mortality even destroys
Great rocks and gates made of iron?
What a scary thought! For where alas,
10 Shall time’s best jewel (his lover), be hid form time’s dark chest?
Or what strong hand can hold back the swift foot of time?
None, unless there is hope in the miracle of my verse,
That it allows my love to shine eternally out of his black ink.
Mortality, beauty, love
Last two lines there is a turn in the story
BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY
Written in 1606
Shakespeare part of the king’s men
King James I of England <> kind James IV of Scotland England and
Scotland had the same king
King: believed in the power of witches (many people died)
Macbeth
Plot overview
King Duncan: generals Macbeth and Banquo
3 witches: ‘’Macbeth will become thane of Cawdor and eventually
King of Scotland’’ + ‘’Banquo’s children will become kings as well’’
Macbeth does indeed become thane of Cawdor
Lady Macbeth (wife) persuades him to kill king Duncan
Macbeth becomes king of Scotland
Macbeth scared of Banquo’s children
Macbeth hires people to kill Banquo and son
Son escapes
