English literary history, Shakespeare and Macbeth

English
literature history
By Kim Bruijs

,Contents of this presentation
1. The origin of English theatre: 6. Shakespeare Biography
15th/16th century a. Works and successes
a. The mystery plays b. Publication
b. Morality plays 7. The Shakespearean sonnet
2. The Tudor, Elizabethan and 8. Macbeth background and historical
Jacobean reigns information
3. The English Renaissance c. Character map
a. Humanism d. Main theme
b. New Worlds e. Vocabulary
c. English literary Renaissance f. Locations
4. Renaissance poetry g. Plot overview
a. Popular genres
5. Elizabethan/Renaissance drama

,The Medieval Times

, The origin of English theatre
During the Middle Ages plays were often outside on a
pageant wagon which functioned as a stage. The most
common theme in a Medieval play was the bible or
god. Other common themes were:

- The wheel of fortune, luck, good or bad, is fate
- Memento Mori → live to die
- The great chain of being: everything's in its place
according to the hierarchy.

There were two types of plays for the variation:

1. Mystery plays
2. Morality plays