SHAKESPEARE TASK

THE ELIZABETHAN SOCIETY:

The Elizabethan society delt with crimes by sentencing the person that had committed the crime to death. Many punishments and executions were witnessed by hundreds of people. Executions by beheading were considered the least brutal of execution methods of the many. The most dreadful punishments are such as, being Hung, Drawn and Quartered.

Society in Elizabethan England was changing and the number of poor people living in abject poverty was increasing. The poor were divided into three categories, which were the ‘Deserving Poor’, the ‘Deserving Unemployed’ and the ‘Undeserving Poor’.

 THE GLOBE THEATRE:

The original structure of the Globe Theatre stood until 29 June, 1613, when its thatched roof was set on fire caused by a cannon that was fired in a performance of Henry VIII and the Globe theatre burnt to the ground.

The Globe theatre was reconstructed in 1614. In 1642, an anti-theatre regime was put into place closed down all of England’s theatres. Two years later, the globe theatre was torn down.

http://www.enotes.com/william-shakespeare/shakespeares-globe-theater

 THE KING’S CHAMBERLAIN MEN:

The King’s Men were the actors to which belonged to Shakespeare during most of his career.

The King’s Men, Originally called the Chamberlain’s Men, which was sort of like a company, and it was the most respected and financially successful company of its day. Under the support of the King, the company had a major influence on the development of many dramas.

http://www.enotes.com/ocs-encyclopedia/chamberlains-men-kings-men

 AN OVERVIEW OF MY PLAY:

I along with my group performed the Shakespearean play ‘Macbeth’. Macbeth is a play about power, telling a story about a character Macbeth, and his thriving ‘goal’ of becoming the king, in which he has to murder his friends to get to the top.

Overall, I think my group along with myself did an alright job in re-writing the script so it’s a modern version of the original version, and even in performing our version of the play.      

TRADEGIES, COMMEDIES AND HISTORIES:                                                                                                    

There are many Shakespearean plays, in which are comedies, such as,’ Love’s Labour’s lost’, ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, a later work ‘Measure for Measure’, and the ‘Tempest’.

There are also many tragedies that Shakespeare wrote, such as, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Macbeth’, and more……….

Several of Shakespeare’s historical plays feature ancient characters, but the Greeks he depicted were significantly less accurate historically than the Roman characters.

Shakespeare’s works were based on the Roman past, and he often focused on the philosophies and values by which these ancient people lived.

REVELANCE OF PLAYS TO THE 21ST CENTURY:

Shakespeare’s plays, apart from being humourous or sad, and enjoyable, have very intelligent and relevent teachings to them, these teachings weren’t just relevant to the people back when Shakespeare was alive, but are still relevant today, as these teachings are still able to teach young people and even adults, about many things, including, power isn’t everything, if it means losing your friends and family, to be forgiveful to anyone that has been hurt or has hurt, and more.

TYPICAL FEATURES OF A SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY:

There are many features of a Shakespearean play, such as:

• All of his plays are very dramatic, and emotional plays, whether these emotions are sadness, happiness, anger, etc….
• There is always a meaning or teaching behind his plays.
• There is always a main charcter that the entire play is concentrated on.
• His plays were written in ‘ye old’ english.
• His plays were written in iambic pentameters, which is a rhyme scheme in which each line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet.
• and more…….

http://shakespeare.about.com/od/faqshakespearesworks/f/iambic.htm