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Shakespeare's Personal Life

Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is known throughout the world and his plays were performed in many different villages and towns for more than 400 years. The personal life of William Shakespeare is somewhat of a mystery, not a lot of his personal life could be uncovered from his plays, poems, sonnets and official records. Over the span of 23 years from 1590 to 1613, he wrote 37 plays around the themes of History, Tragedy, Comedy and Tragicomedies. He was the third son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. He had two older sisters, Joan and Judith and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. He married Anne Hathaway and had three children, two of them were twins and one passed away at 11 due to unknown causes.

Shakespeare's Work and the Conventions of a Tragedy and Comedy

Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed according to their folio classification as comedies, histories, and tragedies. Some of these comedies include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. Some Tragedies are Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Generally, comedies are unexpected and full of many twists and turns, there is a lot of disorder, it is generally required to do more thinking, and are generally not to be taken very seriously. Tragedy on the other hand, has much simpler situations, less disorder, is more realistic and easier to imagine. It also usually has an action and the consequences of the action.

Shakespearean Language

Anon: Right now/I’ll come right away Art: are/skill Dost/Doth: Does/Do Ere: Before Fain: Gladly Fie: Exclamation of Disgust Hark: Listen Hence: Has Hie: Away Hither: Hurry Thither: There Ho: Hey Mark: Pay attention to Marry: Indeed Pray/Prithee: Please Saucy: Cheeky Sirrah: A term for inferiors Thee: You Thy: Your Thou: You Whence: From where Wherefore: Why. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, William Shakespeare had introduced nearly 3 000 words! In his works, there are over 17 000 words, with 7 000 of those only used once. Some everyday sayings from Shakespeare are Heart of Gold, Wild-Goose Chase, Faint-Hearted, Brave New World, Break The Ice, For goodness sake, Foregone Conclusion, Love is Blind.

Elizabeth England

Queen Elizabeth 1 also known as Elizabeth the Great was the last queen in the house of tudor. She was born in 1533 and her mother was killed two years after by her father. They had many superstitions at that time such as witchcraft. They believed that after sneezing, if nobody says bless you, the Devil will enter your body, they also tried not to walk under ladders and you shouldn’t put your shoes on the table. In the Elizabethan times, people loved theater, they were usually performed in the yards of inns and could make a lot of money. Elizabethan Women's Clothing were generally gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes. Elizabethan Men's Clothing were generally doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes.

The Great Chain of Being

The Great Chain of Being is a hierarchy of a life and matter. It was thought to be decreed from God himself in the Medieval times. It constructed of the hierarchy which started with God, then angels, demons and so on. It was separated into two parts, flesh and spirit. Humans are in the middle because of the struggle of flesh and spirit. The use of the Great Chain of Being was that it gave everything imaginable a place, creating an orderly universe. This was originally Plato and Aristotle’s ideas but Plotinus and Proclus took it further creating this.

Divine Right of Kings

The Divine Right of Kings or God’s mandate states that a king is chosen based on God’s will. People could rule if God says they had right to rule. It is believed that only God can remove a king because of them running it contrary to what the king wants. It aimed to make the people be more obedient to the king.

Religion

The main religions during Shakespeare’s time were Catholic and Protestant. Elizabethan Catholics believed that Priests and Pope were able to forgive sins at a price. Catholics believed that Church should celebrate God and decorated statues and shrines. Catholics believed that Church should be in Latin like it always had been. Catholics believed that was the only link between normal people and God was the priests. Elizabethan Protestants believed that only God could forgive people. Protestants believed that the Church should be the language of the people so they could understand as well. Protestants believed that Church should be plain allowing people to concentrate on the Church. Protestants believed that normal people could meet God without priests or the Pope.

Witches and Superstition

In the Elizabethan Era, many people believed witches existed and must be dealt with. Someone had to be blamed for all the bad things happening and the all agreed that witches were the people they decided to blame. Because women had less rights and were uneducated they were generally blamed for witchcraft because they wouldn’t argue back. Superstition was common as many people believed that having something allowed them to be protected from disease or getting rid of witches. A lot of superstitions were based of what doctors or such said and what they suggested for “protection”.