random facts about shakespeare. none of shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting exist today. we...

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Random Facts about Shakespeare

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Random Facts about Shakespeare

None of Shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting exist today. We only have several of his signatures on some documents, but some scholars believe this passage from the play, The Book of Sir Thomas Moore, is in his handwriting.

Shakespeare wrote 37 or 38 playsThey are divided by modern editorsinto four categories:13 Comedies 10 Tragedies10 Histories5 Romances

The QuartosShakespeare’s plays began to be printed in 1594 as small, cheap pamphlets called quartos because of the way they were printed. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays had appeared in quarto editions by the time of his death in 1616. He had nothing to do with their publication.

The first Folio was published in 1623, 7 years after Shakespeare died.

It contained 35 plays. Three more (Pericles, Two Noble Kinsmen, and Troilus and Cressida were attributed to him later.

Some of what modern editors now call Romances were listed under the either Comedies or Tragedies in the First Folio.

More than 80 spelling variations are recorded for Shakespeare's name, from “Shappere” to “Shaxberd.

In the few signatures that have survived, Shakespeare spelled his name:“Willm Shaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,” “William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare”

—but never “William Shakespeare

Almost four hundred years after Shakespeare's death there are 152 million pages referring to him on Google.

Macbeth is thought to be one of the most produced plays ever, with a performance beginning somewhere in the world every four hours.

Words, Words, Words

Shakespeare’s plays have a vocabulary of some 17,000 words, four times what a well-educated English speaker would have.

Shakespeare used 27,870 different words out of 936,443 words in all.

The average educated person today uses between 7,500 and 10,000 words.

Scholars have speculated that Shakespeare coined somewhere around 1,500 words.

A to Z: Some words first used by Shakespeare

Some great words used by Shakespeare ambuscadobarber-mongerboiled-brainschop-fallenclodpolefacineriousflibbertigibbethobby-horsekicky-wickylogger-headedmaltwormnuthook

onion-eyed pestiferous pickthank rampallion sheep-biter skimble-skamble slug-a-bed thought-sick thwack tittle-tattle whirligig zounds

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.• He helped write the King James Bible.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.• He helped write the King James Bible.• He was unhappily married.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.• He helped write the King James Bible.• He was unhappily married.• He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.• He helped write the King James Bible.• He was unhappily married.• He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition. • During the “lost years” he visited Italy.

Myths about Shakespeare’s Life• He was a schoolteacher.• He was a deer poacher.• He was a Catholic.• He was a Jew.• He helped write the King James Bible.• He was unhappily married.• He was Italian and fled Italy to avoid the Inquisition. • During the “lost years” he visited Italy.• He was an Arab named “Sheikh Speare.”

Acting out a scene is a form of close reading on your feet.

Sometimes it is better to do just part of a play rather than the whole play.

O

O

int. Expressing (according to intonation) surprise, frustration, discomfort, longing, disappointment, sorrow, relief, hesitation, etc.

Used mainly in imperative, optative, or exclamatory sentences or phrases, as in O take me back again!, O for another glimpse of it!, O the pity of it!, O dear!; often also emphatically in O yes, O no, O indeed, etc

The Oxford English Dictionary

Subtext

sub text  /ˈ–noun ⋅the underlying or implicit meaning, as of a literary work.

Tone A particular quality, pitch, modulation,

or inflexion of the voice expressing or indicating affirmation, interrogation, hesitation, decision, or some feeling or emotion; vocal expression.

--The Oxford English Dictionary

O

Are there different ways to say, O?

surprised

angry

awe

suspicious

excited

sad

exhausted

lusty

contempt

afraid

Stress

Hahahahahaha……

• Is it really school or your attitude towards school that is causing your stress??

• Something to think about…….

• But, this is NOT the stress that we are talking about today!

StressRelative loudness or force of vocal utterance; a greater degree of vocal force characterizing one syllable as compared with other syllables of the word, or one part of a syllable as compared with the rest; stress-accent. Also, superior loudness of voice as a means of emphasizing one or more of the words of a sentence more than the rest.

Oxford English Dictionary

How does stress apply to language?

• Let’s look at the following examples.• Read each sentence aloud, STRESSING the

highlighted word in the sentence.

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I didn’t say he killed our King

I shall, in all my best, obey you, Madam.

Hamlet 1.2

Some lines from Shakespeare • Read each line reflecting the

word in the red.

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!

(lusty)

O, for a stone-bow, to hit him in the eye!

(angry)

O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!

(exhausted)

O, I am fortune’s fool!

(regret)

O, speak again, bright angel!

(lusty)

O lamentable day!

(misery)

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!

(excited)

O me, O me! My child, my only life.

(distraught)

O day! O day! O day! O hateful day!Never was seen so black a day as this: O woeful day, O woeful day!

(hysterical)

O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

(disappointed)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(fear)

O, he's a lovely gentleman!

(lusty)

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bentTo set against me for your merriment

(rage)

O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.

(fear)

O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead.

(horror)

O me! you juggler! You canker-blossom!

(loathing)

•Had enough????•Shall we do more????•Deep breath!!!!

O, I am slain!

(despair)

O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!

(grief)

O happy dagger!This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.

(grief)

O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully

(joy)

O, if I thought that I'd beat him like a dog!

(annoyed)

I'll cudgel him, and make him cry O!

(vengeful)

O time! thou must untangle this, not I

(confused)

O weary night, O long and tedious night,

(exhausted)

O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

(adoring)

O, how ripe in show thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!

(lusty)

O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted.

(frightened)

O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heartCannot conceive nor name thee!

(horror)

O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!Thou mayst revenge. O slave!

(fear)

O hell-kite! All?What, all my pretty chickens and their

dam at one fell swoop?

(distraught)

O, I die, Horatio;The potent poison quite o'er-crows my

spirit.(exhausted)

The time is out of joint: O cursed spite,That ever I was born to set it right!

(angry)

O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,Shrunk to this little measure?

(sad)

O, wonder!How many goodly creatures are there here!How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,That has such people in't!

(awe)

•Had enough????•Shall we do more????•Deep breath!!!!

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(horror)(afraid)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(shocked)

(anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(happy)

(sorrow)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(mournful)

(anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

(furious)

(anger)

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

O God! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?

Our play is done!(relief)

Folger Shakespeare Library