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Shakespeare's Age and Works

by José Goris, M.A.

England's Golden Age

1558: Accession of Queen Elizabeth.

1576: First theatre opened in London.

1580: Drake sails around the world.

1587: Execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

1588: Defeat of Spanish Armada.

1599: The Globe Theatre - Shakespeare's.

1603: James I, son of Mary Stuart, becomes king of England; English and Scottish crowns united.

This period was marked by:

• A spirit of adventure: voyages of discovery; empire-builders like Drake and Raleigh.
• A spirit of nationalism: rise of England as a sea power, defeat of the Spanish Armada.

1603: James I becomes king.

1620: The first New England Colony founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, sailors of the 'Mayflower'.

1625: Accession of Charles I.

1629 - 1640: Charles I governs without a Parliament: The Divine Right of Kings.

1642: The Civil War begins: Cavaliers versus Roundheads.

1645: Cromwell's Ironsides win the Battle of Naseby.

1649: Charles I beheaded. England becomes a republic - Commonwealth - with Cromwell as Lord Protector.

1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell.

1660: Charles II returns to England as king. Restoration of the Stuarts. Theatres opened again.

This period was marked by:

• A more sober and practical view of life.
• An expansion of commerce and industry.
• Religious discord; the Puritans.
• Party strife; Roundheads and Cavaliers.

Shakespeare 1564 - 1616

• Born at Stratford-on-Avon.
• When 18, married Ann Hathaway (26).
• Left Stratford for London.
• Became an actor and a playwright.
• Returned to Stratford 1611.
• Died 1616.
• Buried in the parish church.

Listen to the story of his son Hamnet

Poems:

• Venus and Adonis(1593)
• Lucrece(1594)
• 152 Sonnets:

37 Plays:

• Comedies
• Tragedies
• Historical plays

Characteristics:

• The plays are romantic; the three classic unities of time, place, and action are not observed.
• Mainly written in blank verse.
• Division into five acts.
• Sources: old chronicles, legendary tales, translations from Latin works.
• None of Shakespeare's own manuscripts of the plays have been preserved.

Editions:

1. Quarto texts during his lifetime of separate plays: pirated editions.
2. Folio Edition 1623: the first complete edition.

• Is Shakespeare the author? Or one of his contemporaries: Bacon, Marlowe ?
• After his death Shakespeare's popularity declined. In the 18th century a revival. Since then his fame has grown.

Shakespeare's Dramatic Career

First Period 1590 - 1595: The period of experiments; use of rhyme.

• 'Richard III', a historical play.
• 'The Comedy of Errors', a story of mistaken identity; twin brothers and twin servants.
• 'Love's Labour's Lost', a comedy of courtly life.

Second Period 1595 - 1600: The period of the great comedies and great historical plays.

• 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', a play of enchantment and fairyland.
• 'The Merchant of Venice', a tragi-comedy; Shylock the tragic figure.
• 'As You Like It', a comedy of Arcadian life in an idyllic setting.
• 'Twelfth Night', so called because first performed on Twelfth Night.
• 'Richard II'.
• Henry IV - part 1 and 2. Famous characters: Falstaff and Hotspur.
• Henry V.
• 'Romeo and Juliet', a romantic tragedy of love.

Third Period 1600 - 1608: The period of the great tragedies.

• 'Julius Caesar', a Roman tragedy.
• 'Hamlet', tragedy of the irresolute, melancholy Prince of Denmark.
• 'Othello, the Moor of Venice. The story of a senseless jealousy.
• 'King Lear', tragedy of old age.
• 'Macbeth', a tragedy of criminal ambition.
• 'Antony and Cleopatra',
a Roman love story.

Fourth Period 1608 - 1613: Peaceful comedies with a return to romantic themes.

• 'The Winter's Tale'
• 'Cymbeline', a lesser play
• 'The Tempest', Shakespeare's last play.

Shakespeare's Theatres

The London theatres in Shakespeare's days:

• 1576:The Theatre
• 1577:The Curtain
• 1587:The Rose
• 1595:The Swan
• 1599:The Globe and The Fortune

Sources:

Kermode,F. & Hollander, J. (eds), 1973: The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Volume 1.
Oxford University Press, London.
Proudfoot,R., Thompson, A. & Kastan, D. (eds) , 1984: The Arden Edition of the works of William Shakespeare.
Thomas Nelson&Sons Ltd, Walton-on-Thames.
Harrison,G.B., 1966: Introducing Shakespeare. Penguin Books, England.
Lamb, Charles and Mary: Tales from Shakespeare. Printed in 1914 by Bickers and Son, London.
Website Jan Jonk
BBC - Television Broadcast: Shakespeare's Shorts, BBC Learning Zone 1999.

Read more:
Elizabethan English
Famous Shakespeare Quotes

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