Compiled by Mrs. D. WIttmann
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Life and Times William Shakespeare is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time, although many facts about his life remain shrouded in mystery. He lived during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I and coined hundreds of new words and phrases that we still use today.
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was born at Stratford-upon-Avon in a house in Henley Street. This is preserved intact. His mother, Mary Arden, was one of the daughters of Robert Arden, a yeoman farmer of Wilmcote: his father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and wool dealer of good standing who held the office of Bailiff of the Borough in 1568. From the age of seven to about 14, he attended Stratford Grammar School receiving an excellent well rounded education. At the age of 18 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was seven years his senior and three months pregnant. She was of 'yeoman' stock - her family owned a farm one mile west of Stratford in Shottery. He endured her until he could stand it no longer and fled to London to become an actor. He then became actor-manager and part-owner in the Blackfriars and afterwards the Globe Theatres. Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, where he was a first-rate actor. The company was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars. Shakespeare returned to Stratford for his latter years where he died at the age of 52 and now lies at rest in his special grave at Holy Trinity Church. The Plays of William Shakespeare His 37 plays vary in type; historical romances, light, fantastic comedies, some are tragedies, all including the comical and the farcical. He also wrote 154 sonnets. He was a shrewd business man, amassing quite a fortune in his time.
THE GLOBE THEATRE
Tragicomedy The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, does not fit the conventional definitions of a tragedy or a comedy. It is categorized as a comedy, although one of the two distinct plot lines is a tragedy. This play is multi-faceted and is really a combination of two plays in one. Understanding Shakespeare’s ‘Problem’ plays requires a brief, general overview of the play types. Placing any of Shakespeare’s plays into any of the familiar categories, such as tragedy or comedy, is difficult. Categorizing them is nothing more than a modern convenience, although Shakespeare himself, or at least the editors of the First Folio, named many of the plays as ‘tragical’ or ‘comical’ or ‘tragical comical.’
Sanguine Phlegmatic Choleric Melancholy Sanguine Phlegmatic Choleric Melancholy
The Merchant of Venice was written in 1595 At this time, the Republic of Venice was the greatest trading port in the world. Its merchants traded cloths, silks, luxury goods, spices, and more, with people from all over the world. The citizens enjoyed many parties and masquerades (masked balls). The Rialto was the financial and commercial heart of the city and Venice’s trading hub. Venice was a Christian republic. The Venetian Ghetto was instituted in 1516, and all Jews in the Venetian Republic had to live there. It was the first Ghetto, and the English word is derived from the Venetian "ghèto". Once they left the ghetto they still had to wear distinguishing clothing, such as a yellow circle or scarf. Jews were only allowed to work in certain jobs: as money lenders, at pawn shops, trading in textiles or practising medicine. There were laws that kept the interest rates low and made their jobs more difficult. When loans were taken out, forfeits were created based on what people desired.
Rehabilitation of the Venice Ghetto On Nov. 20, the Venetian Heritage Council, an international philanthropy founded by the fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, pledged $12 million to restore the Venice Jewish ghetto, to salvage its crumbling heritage and turn it into a rich Jewish cultural center in time for its 500th anniversary in 2016. The project will include the renovation of what’s now a small, disorganized museum, which is no testament to the rich Jewish culture that has inhabited the Venetian island for half a century, and the restoration to glory of the ghetto’s five synagogues, once bustling with life. The rehabilitation of the Venice ghetto is long overdue. In 1516 the Serenissima Repubblica confined its Jews to the first ghetto in the world. Gated into a small, polluted island on the periphery of the city, the community was locked up at midnight by Christian guards whom they had to pay upon entering the ghetto; they were discharged at dawn. But while the ghetto was created as an act of segregation, over time it became a refuge in which Jewish culture and identity thrived. Both imprisoned and united by the canals of Venice, Jews found—despite the intentions of the government—a space in which to wholly express themselves, forging a community that would go on to influence the city, and Europe as a whole.
THE FOUR PLOTS Bond Plot Casket Plot Elopement Plot Ring Plot THE FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS Shylock Portia Antonio Bassanio THE FOUR SECONDARY CHARACTERS Jessica Lorenzo Gratiano Nerissa THE CLOWN Launcelot Gobbo THE FOUR HUMOURS Sanguine Choleric Melancholy Phlegmatic THE FOUR MAJOR TOPICS Love Hatred and Revenge Appearance versus Reality Mercy and Compassion THE TWO SETTINGS Venice Belmont ELOPEMENT RING
BOND PLOT CASKET PLOT
ELOPEMENT PLOT RING PLOT