Video on His Life (2:01) Born on Stratford-on-Avon in 1564 & died in 1616 Married Anne Hathaway in 1582 & had 3 children From 1594 until his death, he was part of Lord Chamberlain s Men (a group of actors) Wrote AND acted during the Elizabethan & Jacobean Eras (considered acting his primary career) Wrote 27 plays as well as 154 sonnets and narrative poems starting in 1589 (averaged more than 1.5 plays per year) 1
He wrote a curse on his grave so that no one would move his bones (it was common practice to reuse graves) His main theater was The Globe Theater Built to hold 3,000 spectators; stage was open to the elements It burnt down in in 1613 & rebuilt in 1614 Ideas of Theater: expanded expectations about characterization, plot, genre (dark comedies such as Romeo and Juliet), and language Added more than 1700 words to English language Examples: dank; Helped to standardize English grammar, style, and structure Added phrases such as seen better days. full circle, a sorry sight 2
Verse: Iambic pentameter Iambic=5 unstressed combined with 5 stressed syllables; each group of 2 (one unstressed + one stressed=1 foot) Pentameter=penta means 5; meter=syllable/stress count within a line Duh-da / duh-da / duh-da / duh-da / duh-da Prose: Normal writing; no set meter/stress count Usually easier to read & tends to be used by comic relief or stupid characters in the plays The Great Chain of Being The universe & world was in a hierarchy Each person/planet/star/creature had its place If anything, starting at the top on down, was out of place, it would cause chaos and destruction The king was the head and if he was corrupt, so to would the rest of the nation be If someone higher up was corrupt, those beneath would be out of sync as well If a person tried to become something beyond his/her position, that would also cause destruction 3
GOVERNMENT: Republic Ruled for decades by TWO public officials called consuls Elected by the Comita Centuriata for 1 year terms Had the power to veto each others decisions Consuls ruled with the senate & assemblies Senate (Comita Centuriata) was made up of high-born patricians (aristocrats) 300 of them appointed for life by the consuls Assemblies (Concilium Plebes) made up of plebeians (lower-class citizens) Other officals: praetors (judges); quaestors (financial officials); censors (supervisors of public moral) By Julius Caesar s time, Rome was a huge empire won by military expansion Powerful generals (like Julius Caesar) rose & the balance of governmental power was unstable Civil war was common A general named Pompey tried to make himself sole consul (i.e. emperor) and was defeated by Julius Caesar (the play opens with his victory & the people s election of him as dictator) Now, let s find out who Julius Caesar & what he really did 4
Born into a political family in 100 BC Became a quaestor, aedile, and praetor From 61-60 BC he served as governor of Spain In 60 BC he made a pact with Pompey and Crassus so that he was elected in 59 BC as consul In 58 BC, appointed governor of Roman Gaul (by France); he added France & Belgium to the Roman Empire Returned to Italy, despite the senate telling him no, and crossed the Rubicon River without disbanding his army In the following civil war, Caesar defeated the Republican forces & Pompey fled He made himself consul and dictator He carried out much-needed reform such as relieving debt, enlarging the senate, and revising the calendar In 44 BC he took the dictatorship for life (even though it was usually just temporary) Julius Caesar & His TakeoverSkip from 5:58 to 7:29 (9:50) 5
Continuation of His Take Over (9:19) His success & ambition upset the strongly republican senators On the 15 of March 44 BC Cassius and Brutus lead a group & assassinated Caesar This sparked more civil wars that ended the Republic entirely and elevated Caesar s great-nephew and heir, Octavian, as Augustus, the first Roman Emperor Couple of Fun Facts: The calendar he reinvented had 11 months in it and one was named for him, July Octavian aka Augustus wanted his own month in the calendar so he added the 12 th month, August, named after himself Marc Antony Julius Caesar s deputy Sought revenge & eventually received the Asian & African parts of the Roman Empire when he and Octavian split it Had an affair with Cleopatra Died via suicide when Octavian took over Egypt 6
Gaius Octavius (Octavian) Great-nephew of Julius Caesar Heir of Caesar s estate Formed an alliance with Marc Antony Ended up destroying Marc Antony & becoming the first emperor Daily Life (5:13) Gladiators & the Coliseum (4:43) Military (4:57) Religion (2:21) (for a chuckle & some history) It was a combination of pagan & gods that they borrowed from many other religions Religion cont. (10:05) 7
Act Grouping of scenes Scene Grouping of lines Line What one reads in a play Dramatic Irony Where the audience knows something the characters don t Dialogue Conversation between characters Aside Words said directly to audience or another character Soliloquy A speech said alone on stage Tragedy A story that ends in death & destruction Tragic Hero The protagonist in a tragedy who is brought down by a fatal flaw Stage Directions Unspoken directions for the actors to follow Hamartia/tragic flaw The character flaw in a tragic hero Foreshadow Predicting something in the future Flashback Looking back on previous events Imagery Creating a picture using the five sense Simile Comparison using like or as Personification Giving human like characteristics to nonhuman things Metaphor Comparison without using like or as Conflict Issues between characters or the setting in the text 8
Major The main character or characters in a work Minor A lesser character in a play Static Character who does NOT change in a work Dynamic A character who changes during a work Protagonist The main character & good guy Antagonist Main character & bad guy Foil Character that shows you good traits or flaws in the protagonist 9