Shakespeare the Writer Shakespeare Wrote 37 plays about
Shakespeare the Writer
Shakespeare Wrote • 37 plays • about 154 sonnets • a few long poems for which he earned his initial fame
Stage Celebrity • Actor for Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later The King’s Men. • Also, he was the principal playwright for them. • 1599—He co-owned The Globe Theater where his plays were performed
Shakespeare wrote: • Comedies • Histories • Tragedies
Comedies • 4 categories: early, middle, romances, and tragic comedies • All the comedies are driven by love • Each deals differently with problems of illusion, mistaken identity, rivalries for love, and the war between the sexes. • In the comedies, love conquers all.
Comedies • • • Taming of the Shrew Much Ado about Nothing Midsummer Night’s Dream Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Tempest
Histories • The background came from the chronicles of British history • Central theme: politics and the struggle for power • Common Traits: – – Kings are unhappy or tragic Kings are faced with treachery Rivalries exist between families Characters are motivated by ambition and arrogant pride • Because the histories dealt realistically with events from the past, these plays were a novelty (new) in Shakespeare’s time • Shakespeare himself is often credited with inventing this type of literature.
Histories • • King John Richard III Henry IV Parts One and Two Henry VIII
Tragedies • Four of Shakespeare’s tragedies are considered his greatest achievements: – Hamlet – Othello – Macbeth – King Lear
Tragedies • Focus on a powerful central character with a tragic flaw • Each finds his humanity and accepts his destiny
The End Segments of this presentation are from http: //jc-schools. net/tutorials/Eng 9/Brickey. Shakespeare. ppt and http: //exchange. guhsd. net/details. php? object_id=66
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