Drama Level III William Shakespeare Brief Biography Date

Drama Level III

William Shakespeare: Brief Biography • • • Date of Birth: 23 rd April 1564. Parents: John Shakespeare & Mary Shakespeare. Wife: Anne Hathaway (married 1582). Children: Susanna (born 1583), Hamnet & Judith (twins, born 1585). Resided: Born and raised in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Prime working years spent away from family in London. Returned to family in Stratford-Upon-Avon upon retirement. • Career: Writer, actor, theatre owner and producer. • Body of Work: He wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. 2 long narrative poems. • Died: 23 April 1616, aged 52. Buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon. Avon.

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Basic Concepts Soliloquy: is a a dramatic device in which a character tells the audience how s/he feels by talking to himself. Aside: is a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience, or to himself, while other actors on the stage appear not to hear. Only the audience knows that the character has said something to them.

Basic Concepts A Play Within a Play: is a play that is being performed in the confines of another play. The characters of a play watch a play being performed for them. General audience is not the intended audience for the play within a play, the characters in the play are the audience.

Hamlet: General Facts • Hamlet is the most famous of all Shakespeare’s plays. • It is the longest of all Shakespeare’s plays at 4042 lines. • Hamlet has the most lines of any of Shakespeare’s characters with 1350 lines. • Place & time written: London (1600 -1602). • Date of Publication: 1603. • Major characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Horatio, and Polonius. • First performed: July 1602. • Setting (time): The late medieval period. • Settings (place): Denmark

Hamlet: Structure Hamlet is made of FIVE acts There are TWENTY scenes in Hamlet Act 1: 5 scenes Act 2: 2 scenes Act 3: 4 scenes Act 4: 7 Scenes Act 5: 2 Scenes

Hamlet: A Brief Summary of Plot Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet.