Unit 2: Shakespeare's Elizebethan Era

Day 1:

Quote: “To be or not to be”

Who is Shakespeare?

  • Play Writer

  • From London

  • Life was in early 1500’s

  • Became Mayor

  • Dad was a glove maker.

  • 3 Kids

  • Complicated Marriage (Not much is known)

What was the renaissance?

  • 15th-16th Century

  • ie. revival or renewal

From Darkness to Light

  1. A rise in humanism (belief of individuality)

  2. The Human was not the Center of the Earth

  3. Challenge of rigid social hierarchies

  4. Flourishing of new cultural life

The Elizabethan Era

  • Queen Elizabeth turned England into a Protestant nation.

  • Exploration of the new world

    • Rise in Nationalism

  • Who will be the successor?

    • She Never Married

Day 2:

The Theatre at a Glance

  • Before Theaters

  • Rise of Permanent Theaters

  • Controversy

  • The Bankside District

  • The Globe

Comparison

  • Similar to how actors could hide behind curtains for their reveal? Shakespeare could hide behind his theatre!

What was on Shakespeare’s agenda?

  • On one hand we have the enjoyment and pleasure of the plays themselves the “theatre”

  • On the other hand we have him conveying subliminal messages to the crowd (society)

To remember…. the context

  1. Political Uncertainty

  2. Religion and Censorship of the Church

  3. Fragility of life (The Plague)

  4. Social Mobility

  5. Gender Roles and power

  6. Exile and Belonging the outsider

Shall I compare thee to a summer day

Major Themes

  • Love

  • Power

  • Fate vs. Free Will

  • Identity vs. Reality

  • Death

  • Time and change