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Drama emerged in England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these plays
were written in verse, particularly iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, and Ben Jonson were
prominent playwrights during this period.
In the medieval period, historical plays celebrated the lives of past kings,
enhancing the image of the Tudor monarchy.
The Elizabethan Drama flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Elizabethan Drama Features
The new Elizabethan introduced a hero who was not ascertained of his fate and
was full of doubts and passions.
They used expansive metaphors in text. The first public theatre was ‘The
Theatre’ by a carpenter James Burbage.
Use of theology, geography and science provided a new dimension to the
literature of the time.
The comedies were better than the tragedies. Ralph Roister Doister written by
Nicholas Udall is the first regular English comedy. It was a kind of farce in rough verse.
Gammer Gurton’s Needle was another comedy.
Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville’s Gorboduc was the first regular tragedy.
Thomas Kyd improved the tragedy by writing The Spanish Tragedy.
English theatres
The first permanent English theatre, the Red Lion, opened in 1567. The first
successful theatre The Theatre was opened in 1576.
The Mayor and Corporation of London first banned plays in 1572 as a measure
against the plague. He formally expelled all players from the city in 1575. The
Theatre was constructed in Shore ditch in 1576 by James Burbage with his brother-in-
law John Brayne, the owner of the Red Lion playhouse of 1567 .
List of theatres
1. Curtain Theatre -1577
2. the Rose -1587
3. the Swan -1595
4. the Globe -1599
5. the Fortune -1600
6. the Red Bull -1604
7. the Blackfriars Theatre - 1599
8. the Whitefriars -1608
9. the Cockpit -1616 latter The Phoenix 1617
10. the Salisbury Court Theatre -1629
11. Cockpit-in-Court - 11929
12. Inn-yard theatres -1666
13. Newington Butts -1576
14. Red Lion theatre -1567
15. The Hope -1647
16. The Theatre -1576
Playing companies
1. King's Revels Children
2. King's Revels Men
3. Lady Elizabeth's Men
4. Leicester's Men
5. Lord Strange's Men (later Derby's Men)
6. Oxford's Boys
7. Oxford's Men
8. Pembroke's Men
9. Prince Charles's Men
10. Queen Anne's Men
11. Queen Elizabeth's Men
12. Queen Henrietta's Men
13. The Admiral's Men
14. The Children of Paul's
15. The Children of the Chapel(Queen's Revels)
16. The King's Men
17. The Lord Chamberlain's Men
18. Sussex's Men
19. Warwick's Men
20. Worcester's Men
Shakespeare acted in
Chamberlain
He may have performed in as Henry IV in Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, as Duncan
in Macbeth, as the Ghost of Hamlet's father in Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice
and as the faithful servant in As You Like It.
Great Tragedies
Poetry
The Rape of Lucrece 1594
The Sonnets of Shakespeare 1609
Venus and Adonis 1593
SHAKESPEARE'S SOURCE MATERIAL
In the entire works of William Shakespeare there are few original plots.
Shakespeare was as gifted a borrower as he was a writer. Gerard Langbaine was the
first to note Shakespeare's use of sources in his 1691 work, Account of the English
Dramatick Poets.
This Italian prose and poetry writer Giovanni Boccaccio published a collection of
stories entitled the Decameron. This is Source for
All’s Well That Ends Well,
Cymbeline and
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Two of Shakespeare's greatest classical sources are Plutarch and Ovid.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives provides the biographies of Greek and Roman rulers that
Shakespeare used in creating
Julius Caesar,
Antony and Cleopatra,
Coriolanus, and
Timon of Athens.
Ovid's Metamorphoses was the source for
Titus Andronicus and
Midsummer Night's Dream.
Shakespeare's early comedies lean on Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence
for situational plots and character archetypes.
Hamlet derives in part from the tale of Amleth from the Gesta Danorum (Deeds of
the Danes) by Saxo Grammaticus.
Holinshed’s Chronicles records the history of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It
became Shakespeare’s primary source for his historical plays
Henry IV , part –I and part –II
Henry V
Henry VI , part –I and part –II and part-III
Henry VIII,
Richard II,
Richard III,
King Lear,
Macbeth, and
Cymbeline.
Plutarch, Greek historian and philosopher became the main source for
Shakespeare’s Roman plays. He produced a text called Parallel Lives in around 100
AD that contains over 40 biographies of Greek and Roman leaders. It became the
source for
Hesitation
Corruption
Revenge
Deception
Ambition
Loyalty
Serendipity
Madness
Revenge
Fortune,Fate, &Providence
Estrangement
Disease and Poison
Weakness or justice
Betrayal
Frailty and Inability to Act
As You Like It
Love is life's greatest joy and greatest healer.
Love is a many-splintered thing.
Fortune and Nature often work at odds.
Nature heals.
All is not what it seems
Gender and Sexual Genre
Henry V
A noble cause with noble warriors can win the day against overwhelming odds.
Foreign war quells domestic strife.
A just cause can transform disunity into unity
Julius Caesar
Idealism
Ambition
Deceit
Recognize and heed warnings
Betrayal
Supernatural
King Lear
Suffering can transform a contemptible human being into a good person.
All things are not as they appear.
Greed and lust
Fate. Power
Moral issues
Madness and Evil
Morality and the Fool
Justice
Twelfth Night
Love
Disguise
Macbeth
Ambition
Lust for power
Appearance vs. reality
Temptation
Guilt haunts the evildoer
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Love ultimately triumphs in the end.
Appearance vs reality
Father does not always know best
Dream the impossible dream
Confusion and Love
Mythology
Fantasy and Supernatural
Much Ado about Nothing
The road to marriage is often lined with pitfalls and impediments.
Appearance vs reality
All is not what it seems.
Love
Irony
Othello
Appearance vs reality.
Sexual jealousy
Jealousy
Hatred
True love
beauty & fortune
Love between Othello and Desdemona
Iago’s motives
Brotherly love
Reputation, honor, and self-esteem
Black and White Image
The Devil
Jealousy and trust
Jealousy and Suspicion
Richard II
Sun symbolism
Garden imagery
Moral & political implications
Richard III
ambition, quest for power, & ability to mask his evil
Good and Evil
Ambition
Appearance vs reality
All things are not as they seem.
Where there is pure evil, there is no conscience.
I am what I am
Romeo and Juliet
Love
Tragedy
Judgement
Conflict
Fate
Marriage of Love and Death
Love and Hate
Taming of the Shrew
Role of women - submissiveness
Love
Money makes the man
The Tempest
Forgive and forget.
Repent your sins.
Exploration and mistreatment of native populations.
The storms of life are followed by peace and calm.
Friendship
Freedom
Antony & Cleopatra
Honour and love
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sexual possessiveness
Cymbeline
Confusion
Measure for Measure
Attitude toward society
Jealousy
Sense of justice
Merchant of Venice:
Hate and Revenge
Cross-dressing in Shakespeare’s comedies
Male characters are disguised as women
The Taming of the Shrew
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Women characters disguised as man
The first instance of female cross-dressing with the disconcerting nuances
of a boy actor dressing as a boy while playing the role of a woman in the
dramatic world of Shakespeare occurs in The Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona -In order to act freely in a patriarchal society,
Julia transforms herself into a boy to pursue her lover.
2. Portia in The Merchant of Venice - Portia disguises herself as a man in order to travel
to Venice and as a lawyer to enter the courtroom.
3. Viola in Twelfth Night - Viola becomes a eunuch in order to win Duke Orsino’s love.
4. Rosalind in As You Like It - Rosalind acts as a shepherd to escape from Duke
Frederick and to test Orlando’s love.
5. Imogen In Cymbeline - the main female character puts on male clothes in order to
visit her lover Posthumous Leonatus.
1. A Fool in Timon of Athens
2. Autolycus in The Winter's Tale
3. Citizen in Julius Caesar
4. Cloten in Cymbeline
5. Clown in Othello
6. Clown in Titus Andronicus
7. Costard in Love's Labours Lost – This clown is referred to as a "fool"
8. Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing
9. Dromio of Ephesus & Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors
10. Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2
11. Feste in Twelfth Night
12. Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew
13. Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona
14. Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice –he is called a "patch" and a fool,
and also because of his malapropisms
15. Lavache in All's Well That Ends Well
16. Pompey in Measure for Measure
17. Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream
18. Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream
19. Speed in Two Gentlemen of Verona
20. The Fool in The Gravediggers in Hamlet
21. The Porter in Macbeth
22. Thersites in Troilus and Cressida
23. Touchstone in As You Like It –he is a natural fool ("Fortune makes Nature's
natural the cutter-off of Nature's wit", "hath sent this natural for our whetstone"
24. Trinculo in The Tempest – Trinculo is considered to be a jester.
25. Yorick in Hamlet
26. Armin became a counter-point to the themes of the play and the power
relationships between the theater and the role of the fool. Ar-min was a major
intellectual influence on Shakespeare's fools. His major skills were mime and
mimicry;
27. The clowning in Shakespeare's plays may have been intended as "an emotional
vacation from the more serious business of the main action", in other
words, comic relief.
28. the Gravediggers in Hamlet after Ophelia's suicide;
29. the Porter in Macbeth just after the murder of the King;
30. Shakespeare's fools speak truth to the other characters truth to the audience.
31. Feste, in Twelfth Night, introduces a central theme when he tells Olivia that "the
future is uncertain, laughter momentary, and youth 'a stuff will not endure'."
Shakespeare closes the play with Feste alone on the stage, singing directly to
the audience "of man's inexorable progress from childhood's holiday realm ... into
age, vice, disillusionment, and death. This pessimism is informed and
sweetened, however, not only by the music to which it is set, but by the tolerance
and acceptance of Feste himself."
Same character in Shakespeare’s different plays
Aemilius:
• Aemilius is Roman nobleman who acts as ambassador between Saturninus and
Lucius in Titus Andronicus.
• Marcus Aemilius Lepidus is one of the Triumvirs. the three rulers of Rome after
Caesar's death, in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
Agrippa:
• Agrippa , a follower of Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra, proposes that the
widowed Antony should marry Octavia.
• Menenius Agrippa in Coriolanus is a friend and supporter of Coriolanus in his
political struggles.
Alexander:
• Alexander is Cressida's servant in Troilus and Cressida.
• Alexander Court, fictional character is a soldier in the English army in Henry V
• Alexander, histitorical character kills Jack Cade in Henry VI, Part 2.
Andronicus:
• Marcus Andronicus is the brother of Titus Andronicus.
• Titus Andronicus is the central character of Titus Andronicus. Broken and sent
mad by Tamora and her followers, he eventually exacts his revenge by killing her
sons, and cooking them for her to eat.
Angelo:
• Angelo deputises for the Duke during the latter's absence from Vienna, but
proves corrupt, seeking the sexual favours of Isabella, in Measure for Measure.
• Angelo is a goldsmith who has been commissioned to make a chain by
Antipholus of Ephesus, which he delivers to Antipholus of Syracuse in error.
Antipholus
Antonio:
• Antonio is the title character, although not the central character, of The Merchant
of Venice. Shylock claims a pound of his flesh.
• Antonio is the brother of Leonato in Much Ado About_Nothing.
• Antonio is a sea captain who rescues, and loves, Sebastian in Twelfth Night.
• Antonio is the brother of Prospero in The Tempest. He conspires with Sebastian
to murder Alonzo and Gonzalo.
• Antonio is Proteus' father, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Balthasar:
• Balthasar is Romeo's servant in Romeo and Juliet.
• Balthasar is a singer, attending on Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing.
• Balthasar is a merchant in The Comedy of Errors.
• Balthasar is a servant of Portia in The Merchant of Venice.
Bianca:
• Bianca is the younger sister of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. She is
loved by Gremio and Hortensio, and eventually marries Lucentio.
• Bianca is Michael Cassio's mistress in Othello.
Claudio:
• Claudio is a friend to Benedick and a follower of Don Pedro, in Much Ado
About_Nothing. He falls in love with Hero but is persuaded, wrongly, that she has
been unfaithful.
• Claudio, brother to Isabella, is sentenced to death for fornication in Measure for
Measure.
Cornelius:
• Cornelius and Voltemand are two ambassadors from Claudius to the Norwegian
court, in Hamlet.
• Cornelius, a doctor in Cymbeline, provides a fake poison to the Queen, which is
later used on Imogen. He also reports the Queen's last words.
Demetrius:
• Demetrius is in love with Hermia at the start of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Later, he loves and marries Helena.
• Demetrius and Chiron, are two sons of Tamora in Titus Andronicus. They rape
and mutilate Lavinia, and are eventually killed and cooked by Titus, who serves
them to Tamora to eat.
• Demetrius and Philo, Romans following Antony, regret his infatuation with
Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.
Diomedes:
• Diomedes is a follower of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. He informs Antony
that Cleopatra is alive, and informs Cleopatra that Antony is dying.
• Diomedes is one of the Greek leaders in Troilus and Cressida.
• Diomedes' Servant is sent with a message to Cressida, in Troilus and Cressida.
Emilia:
• Emilia is the wife of Iago in Othello. She steals Desdemona's handkerchief for
Iago. At the end of the play – too late to save Desdemona – she realises Iago's
villainy, and exposes him, but is then murdered by him.
• Emilia is Hippolyta's sister in The Two Noble Kinsmen. Both title characters fall in
love with her, leading to mortal conflict.
• Emilia is a lady attending on Hermione, both at court and in prison, in The
Winter's Tale.
John Falstaff
• 1.Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character appears in three plays.
• Henry IV, Part 1
• Henry-IVPart-2, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V.
• In The Merry Wives of Windsor, he is the buffoonish suitor of two married
women.
• The name "Falstaff" may be derived from the medieval knight Sir John Fastolf
Titles of work inspired by Shakespeare Phrases
Phrase Inspired by work
1. Brave New World Aldous Huzley The Tempest
2. Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace Hamlet
3. What Dreams May Come Richard Matheson Hamlet
4. The Sound and The Fury William Faulkner Macbeth
5. Under the Greenwood Tree Thomas Hardy As you like it
6. Band of Brothers Stephen E.Ambrose HenryV,
7. The Fault in our stars John green Julius Caesar
8. The Moon is Down John Steinbeck Macbeth,
9. Remembrance of Things Past Marcel proust Sonnet 30
10. Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov Timon of Athens,
11. The Dark Tower Series Stephen King King Lear
12. Time out of joint Philip K.Dick Hamlet,
13. Something wicked this way Comes Brandbury Macbeth
Phrases by Shakespeare
"It’s Greek to me"
"Fair play"
"All that glitters isn’t gold"
"Break the ice"
"Clothes make the man".
"Too much of a good thing"
All our yesterdays
All's well that ends well
Bag and baggage
Better foot before ("best foot forward")
The better part of valor is discretion
From Macbeth
Come what come may ("come what may")
Crack of doom
Infirm of purpose
Knock knock! Who's there?
Milk of human kindness
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it
One fell swoop
Something wicked this way comes
A sorry sight
Sound and fury
There's no such thing
What's done is done
From The Tempest
Brave new world
In a pickle
Melted into thin air
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows
What's past is prologue
Sea change
Such stuff as dreams are made on
From Measure for Measure
Refuse to budge an inch
From Antony and Cleopatra
From Henry IV Part I
Salad days
Send packing
Stony hearted
Set my teeth on edge
Tell truth and shame the devil
From Henry IV part 2
Wish is father to that thought
From As You Like It
In a better world than this
Forever and a day
Neither rhyme nor reason
Sweet are the uses of adversity
From Hamlet
Neither a borrower nor a lender be
Conscience does make cowards of us all
From Twelfth Night
Laugh yourself into stitches
From The Taming of the Shrew
Break the ice
From Cymbeline
The game is up
From Comedy of Errors
'Tis high time
From Romeo Juliet
Violent delights have violent ends
What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
From Othello
Wear my heart upon my sleeve
From Sonnets
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day