Biography of William Shakespeare
Part 1: Intro to Shakespeare Nobody knows exactly when Shakespeare was born but records indicate that he was baptized on April 26th, 1564 and people believe he was born on April 23rd, 1564.
We do know when he died though; on April 23rd, 1616 in the same place he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Anne Hathaway was 18 when she got married to Shakespeare. Shakespeare had three children Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. His gravestone says “Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones” strangely with spelling errors on it. The significance of the curse is to not move my bones or remains or the person who moved it will be cursed. Part 2: Stratford In Stratford one industry was predominant which was the roasting of grinding of grain. Small towns such as Stratford had weekly markets because it was the only way smaller towns around and Stratford could buy food and other essential goods to live. Stratford was a perfect town to have markets mainly because that’s where several routes of the River of Avon met so out of town dwellers saw the markets and went to go buy goods.
Today in Stratford you can see three main sites, the house of where people believed Shakespeare was born and where Shakespeare was buried. Part 3: The Globe Theatre In 1613 the historical Globe Theatre was burnt down because of a cannon was shot towards the roof which ignited the whole theatre. All theatres were shut down in 1642 because of the Puritans. The Puritans shut down pretty much anything that people were entertained at in 1642. Groundlings were where poor people or not wealthy people stood to watch plays, and they were located in a yard or pit to just stand and watch.
If you were more fortunate you could spend 2 pennies to sit and watch the play in one of the globe theatres three circular galleries. Part 4: Theatre During the Elizabethan era many higher ranking people didn’t like the theaters because there workers would go there instead of working. The only reason why the plays weren’t condemned fully was because the nation’s ruler Queen Elizabeth loved the theatre and watched play’s frequently. People knew when plays were beginning because there would be a hoisting of a flag and the blowing of a trumpet. The heavens were the name of the false ceiling given over the stage; the heavens provided shelter for the actors and costumes when there was bad weather outside.
Part 5: Shakespearean Tongue Thou hideous ill-breeding whipster which means: You gross bad mannered little fellow. Ye villainous horn-mad manikin: You mockful angry fake person Thou art a surly pox-marked lout: You are a rude diseased retard. Thou art truly a jarring elf-skinned coxcomb: You are truly a vibrating short dude. She school to went. Went to she school.
To school went she. To school she went. An iambic pentameter is a common meter in poetry that consists of ten syllables long that is accented on every second beat. Part 6: Foods Food during the Elizabethan era was very important. People would be set into a line and sat on the table based on their order of importance. The rich ate twice a day with hefty portions.
As the common man ate three not so extravagant meals a day and the poor ate as much as they could; if they ate at all. In order to keep food from spoiling people would put meats in vinegar, burying it, putting sauces on it, adding spices and keeping it with cheese.
