Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era Overview

Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Era

Background of the Era

  • King Henry VIII's Wives:

    • Catherine of Aragon → Divorced (Mother of Queen Mary/ Bloody Mary)

    • Anne Boleyn → Beheaded (Mother of Queen Elizabeth I)

    • Jane Seymour → Died (Mother of King Edward VI)

    • Anne of Cleves → Divorced

    • Catherine Howard → Beheaded

    • Catherine Parr → Survived

Elizabeth I's Reign

  • Queen Elizabeth I:

    • Daughter of Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn

    • Ruled from 1558-1603

    • Known as the "Virgin Queen"

    • Emphasized arts & culture; funded theater groups

    • Avoided marriage to maintain power

Elizabethan Lifestyle

  • Fashion & Beauty:

    • Colors indicated social class; strict laws regarding them

    • Pale skin = beauty; sign of not working outside

    • High foreheads symbolized intelligence

  • Marriage:

    • Usually arranged; women's choices limited

    • Viewed as business deals; property rights denied

  • Health & Sanitation:

    • Poor sanitation; chamber pots discarded into streets

    • Sewage contamination in drinking water

    • Dental procedures often deadly

  • Law:

    • Only boys could be educated; harsh punishments for crimes

    • Extreme punishments included physical mutilation and death

William Shakespeare

  • Life:

    • Born: 1564, Died: 1616, lived in Stratford-upon-Avon

    • Married Anne Hathaway; had three children

    • Experienced loss of son Hamnet to plague

  • Career:

    • Became a known playwright by 1592; wrote 37 plays

The Globe Theater

  • Structure:

    • Round, no roof, ground floor was standing-room only

    • No female performers; plays performed in the afternoon

    • Flag indicating type of play being shown

Types of Plays

  • Tragedy:

    • Unhappy endings; themes of justice and human struggle

  • Comedy:

    • Happy endings, often concluding with marriage

Drama Terms

  • Act: Major section of the play (usually 5 acts)

  • Scene: Subdivision of an act

  • Monologue & Soliloquy: Speeches to an audience or self respectively

  • Dramatic Irony: Audience knows something characters do not

  • Comic Relief: Humor inserted into serious plays

Much Ado About Nothing

  • Background:

    • Written 1598-1599; themes of deception

    • Set in Messina, Sicily, over two days

  • Key Characters:

    • Beatrice, Benedick, Hero, Claudio, Don Pedro, etc.

  • Literary Terms:

    • Character foil, oxymoron, allusion, tragic flaw

The Church of England

King Henry VIII wanted to break away from the Roman Catholic Church to secure a divorce, which led to the establishment of the Church of England (Protestant). King Edward didn’t change anything, when Queen Mary became Queen changed the church back to Catholic and persecuted any one not Catholic, gave her the name Bloody Mary. After Queen Mary died, Queen Elizabeth changed the church back to Protestant/