Shakespeare Midterm 1

What does McDonald mean by calling the Tudor building that is in the birthplace of Shakespeare “an emblem for the problems of Shakespearean biography?”

he means that it represents everything wrong with our biography of Shakespeare

there is so much made up, we have no idea what room he was born in even though this house markets that

Where was Shakespeare born?

Stratford upon Avon

What month and year was Shakespeare born?

April 1564

Shakespeare’s parents

John and Mary Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s children

Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet (died at 11)

Shakespeare’s wife

Anne Hathaway

What acting troupes was Shakespeare a part of?

The Kings Men (formerly Lord Chamberlain’s men)

Shakespeare was a shareholder

James I was a patron for the Kings Men

How do we know everything that we do about Shakespeare?

public, financial, clergy records

What do we speculate about Shakespeare?

birthdate, family religious beliefs, how long he lived in Stratford, schooling, acting companies, cause of death, where exactly he lived at points in his life

what evidence supports the fact that Shakespeare wrote his plays?

publication, presumed level of education

Why do people not believe Shakespeare wrote the plays?

classism, refusal to associate extraordinary with ordinary

Why are Shakespeare’s works valuable?

longevity, they still bring new messages 400 years later

When did Shakespeare die?

April 23rd, 1616

Who may have altered an early modern play after sale by the playwright?

actors, anyone in the publication or reprinting process, book keepers, author during revisions

Foul papers

author’s draft (secretary hand)

fair copy

transcript for use in performance

book of the play

marked up and adjusted with textual details

folio

3 folded sheets placed within each other at fold, creating 6 sheets or 12 pages

quarto

one fold, four pages

first folio

edition of plays published 7 years after Shakespeare’s death

Give an example of textual instability

Hamlet - to be or not to be speech is vastly different across copies

What modes did Shakespeare work on from 1590-1600?

comedies and histories

What modes did Shakespeare work on from 1601-1611?

tragedies and romances

comedy

happy ending, wit and desire, happy or funny, can involve nature

tragedy

watch bad things happen to powerful and charismatic people, hope is useless, heroes never escape traps, paradoxical, tragic flaw and catharsis

history

mix of comedy and tragedy

perceptions

romance

happy ending via perilous route

desparate gap to joyful ending

what did the building of the Red Lion in 1567 symbolize?

1st permanent theater

confidante

actor confides in the audience

co conspirator

actor plans with the audience

mirror

dialogue goes through the audience

what motivates the Lord to trick Sly into believing he is also a lord?

he thinks it would be funny

how does Sly resist the attempts of the Lord to change his identity?

he wears rags and has no shoes, cites his birth, education

why does Sly start believing he is a lord?

he believes what he sees

what are the acting instructions for the boy pretending to be Sly’s wife

serve husband, offer physical affection and sex, be emotional, dress nicely

Who is Lucentio disguised as?

Cambio, tutor

Who is Tranio disguised as?

Lucentio, cover for him

What are Petrucchio’s strategies for taming Katherine?

prescriptive language, physical control, psychological control

Who is the audience in relation to Petrucchio?

co-conspirator

What does Petrucchio want to do to Katherine?

Break her down until she submits

What is the bet between Petruccio, Hortensio, and Lucentio?

who’s wife will come when called first

What does Katherine say in her final speech?

angry women are bad, submit to your husband because he takes care of you, women are made to obey and love, weak (could be interpreted as sarcastic)

which cultural institutions perpetuated gender expectations in the early modern era?

the crown and the church, through doctrines, advice, and sermons

primogeniture

property passes to firstborn son, kept women out of inheritance

money was

a bigger motivation than sexual or romantic attraction in early modern marriages

aristocracy

possessed estates

gentry

smaller holdings

citizens

make products

yeomen

rural citizens

servants

laborers

indigent

beggars, masterless non-criminals

how should a husband behave

leader of household, kind yet firm to family

wife

homemaker, listen to husband and follow his lead

who winks at who in the Sam Taylor clip"?

Katherine winks at the wives

What are Katherine’s physical affections in the Zeffirelli clip?

violent with the wives, sexual with Petrucchio

Why is Antonio sad?

losing money, maybe losing love, lonely

Terms of the game for the suitors

Must pick the right chest, if they don’t they give up Portia forever

Terms of Antonio’s loan from Shylock

if Antonio does not pay it back Shylock gets to take a pound of his flesh

What trick does Lancelot play on Old Gobbo?

he pretends to not be himself since Old Gobbo is blind

How does Jessica escape Shylock’s house

at night, dressed as a boy, with Lorenzo, Grazanio, Salerio

What casket does Morocco choose?

gold

What chest does Aragon choose?

silver

What casket does Bassanio choose?

lead - he wins!

How does Portia save Antonio’s wife?

The bond doesn’t say Shylock can spill blood, she dresses up as Balthasar so she can go to court and explain

What are the consequences for Shylock’s pursuit of the bond?

Give up half estate and Jewish religion

What does Balthasar request that Bassanio give him?

his ring (assumed wedding ring, some sort of sexual or romantic bond)

What is the setting for Radford’s Hath not a jew eyes speech

a brothel

James Shapiro

Columbia professor, authored Contested Will

actor that played Shylock

Al Pacino

what does a canary in the coalmine mean in Shapiro’s context?

can use Merchant to gague audience reaction to antisemetism

what is the ring trick?

pranked Bassanio by having the ring

Antonio giving Bassanio a ring may

suggest a sexual or romantic relationship

Types of bonds in Merchant

familial, financial, romantic, platonic

Hortensio is disguised as

Lucentio, tutor