Background exam on Shakespeare Flashcards

Question

what is an iamb?

Answer 1

a foot: unstressed, stressed

Answer 2

pentameter

Answer 3

tetrameter

Answer 4

unrhymed iambic pentameter (10 syllables)

Answer 5

- unstressed, stressed - 2 syllables

Answer 6

- stressed, unstressed - 2 syllables

Answer 7

- stressed, stressed - 2 syllables

Answer 8

- unstressed, unstressed, stressed - 3 syllables

Answer 9

- stressed, unstressed, unstressed - 3 syllables

Answer 10

stressed 1 syllable at the beginning of a line

Answer 11

unstressed 1 syllable at en of a line NOT A FOOT!

Answer 12

1. assume it's iambic 2. count syllables (blank verse should have 10) - "ed" only a syllable when after a t or d (use the count to know what to expect for irregular feet) 3. mark stressed syllables 4. mark unstressed syllables 5. divide lines into feet with / (preference is the iamb, but recognize variant feet)

Answer 13

- his family was middle-class, his dad, John Shakespeare became prominent in the city for his many roles (such as constable, treasurer, mayor, etc). - in the 1570s, he lost a lot of prominence and fell into depts, no longer in city council - he applied at the College of Heralds for a coat of arms, but got denied, probably because of his declining fortune (mid 1570) - the College looked at the family's social standing, wealth and ancestry to know if families deserved a coat of arms - as his son, William Shakespeare became more renowned in the drama industry, he applied for the coat and got it in 1596 for his father

Answer 14

- only given to distinguishing families, so it was a great honor and pride to have one - with it came the title of gentleman, which was also a very honorable title - the title was inherited through the male line of the family

Answer 15

- under it there is the motto that says precisely: Non Sanz Droict (which mean: not without right) - this was representative of the significance of such a coat, since one had to deserve it to obtain one - contains a spear in the middle and accross (reference to family name: Shakespeare) - on top is a falcon, a noble bird because of falcony (a sort of noble hunting) - the bird is holding a spear in its claw. It can be said it is shaking the spear, referencing to the name again

Answer 16

- married Anne Hathaway in November 1582 - he was 18 and she was 26 - six months later, Susanna was born, so she was pregnant when they got married - it is possible that he was forced to marry her to "save her honor", since sex out of wedlock was a sin - however, they might have gone through the process of handfasting before sleeping together - ritual for when lovers cannot wait until marriage to have sex, so they get a witness, hold hands and exchange vows so they can sleep together - if this did happen, there would have been no moral issue in the Elizabethans' eyes kids: - Susanna: 1583 - twins: Hamnet and Judith: 1585 (Hamnet died)

Answer 17

beginning: his twins were born (1585) end: Robert Greene, a dying playwright, wrote a pamphlet in which he scurrilously attacked Shakespeare, clearly because he was envious of the latter's success as an actor and playwright. This means that by 1592, Shakespeare had made a name for himself in the theatrical world of London.

Answer 18

- he joined an itinerant troupe of actors in the late 1580s - he went to London with them, where he developed into an actor and playwright - makes sense, since travelling troupes of actors put on plays in Stratford, Shakespeare's home, on 25 different occasion between 1569-1587

Answer 19

- finalized his will in March 1616 and died on April 23rd 1616, which was believed to be his birth date. - buried in the chancel (East) of the Holy Trinity Church (more ordinary citizens were in churchyard) - on his grave, malediction directed to the sexton of the church, who sometimes had to disturb the dead to make place for new bodies - after several years, a bust of Shakespeare was put on the North wall of the chancel, near his grave - He is holding a plume to illustrate the act of writing and the family's coat of arms is exposed - in 1623, two of his colleagues collected his plays into the First Folio - according to his colleagues and friends, he was a gentle and honest man *remembered as good

Answer 20

folio: large volume consisting of sheets made from the folding of one large paper, making 2 sheets or 4 pages per paper - quarto: smaller volumes, consisiting of sheets formed from the double folding of a large paper, forming 4 sheets or 8 pages per paper

Answer 21

Folio: - First Folio : In 1623, Heminges and Condell, colleagues, collected both his published and unpublished plays into a large volume called the first folio. - contained 36 plays - 16" by 13" paper, forming 8" by 13" sheets Quarto: - 18 plays published during his lifetime were as quartos, smaller volumes (one play per volume) - 14" by 18" paper, making 7" by 9" sheets

Answer 22

- 1590-1595: "In the workshop" phase, since he is still an apprentice - majority of the plays are English history plays or comedies - English history: tetralogy about English monarchy: Henry VI 1, 2, 3, Richard III - important comedy: Love's Labor's Lost - lost play: Love's Labor's Won (sequel to Love's Labor's Lost?) - exception to tendency of the phase: Titus Adronicus (revenge tragedy) 2 long narrative poems: - Venus and Adonis: Ovidian poem dedicated to Henry Wriothesley (earl of Southhampton), probably his first publication (1593) and very popular, Greco-Roman mythology - The Rape of Lucrece: 1593, dedicated to earl of Southampton, story of Sextus who lusted after Lucrece and raped her before she killed herself, Roman history - contains Edward III, a play in which he had limited involvement, since he only revised it before his company performed it

Answer 23

- 1595-1600: "In the world", he is knowing success - majority of the plays are English history plays and comedies, like first phase, but some important tragedies were written in that time too. - English history plays: tetralogy: Richard II, Henry IV 1, 2, 3 - comedies: Twelfth Night, As you Like it - 2 famous tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar sonnets (1593-1603), but published in 1609: - contain 154 sonnets - 126 are addressed to a beautiful young man that must have been close friends with him. Some erotic undertow, but address subjects such as nobility, poetry, sexual betrayal. Some believe they were homosexual, but in those days, it was normal for men to express their feelings of love toward their friends - 26 sonnets addressed to a seductive and treacherous "dark lady". She was his mistress and he addresses the adulterous relationship and disgust of his actions - last 2 sonnets are unrelated to either subsequence

Answer 24

- 1600-1608: "De Profundis" or "Out of the Depths", since darkest and most tragic period - 4 great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth - other tragedy that could be considered as a Roman history play: Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus - 2 dark, bitter comedies (gloomy tone, but end happily): Measure for Measure, All's Well that ends well - limited involvement: Sir Thomas More (only a manuscript copy, but they know Shakespeare contributed because they have his handwriting)

Answer 25

- 1608-1613: "On the Heights", since after tragic period, reconciled with life - romances characterize the phase: comedy that arrives at happy ending by perilous and dangerous route, can involve a love story, but main aspect is the adventure story - in the middle of a romance is normally a catastrophe, but ends in joyful and revealing end - famous romances: The Winter's Tale, The Tempest - finished his career writing with John Fletcher (who replaced him after death) : Henry VIII, The two noble kinsmen - 2 plays not in 1st folio: The Two Noble Kinsmen, Pericles - 1 lost play: Cardenio

Answer 26

- was believed that shakespeare joined a troupe of actor before 1594, but we don't know which - troupes of actors = companies - acting companies needed a nobleman as a patron - people in company were mostly actors and shareholders 1st name: Lord Chamberlain's company - joined in 1594 - during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1588-1603), Lord Chamberlain was a nobleman in charge of her domestic affairs and entertainements. - was advantageous for Shakespeare's company to have him as a patron, since they could perform play to the queen and her court (especially during Christmastide) 2nd name: "The King's Men" (1603) - when James I of England became king, he named himself the patron of the company, which attests to the great prestige of the company

Answer 27

1. tiring house 2. main stage 3. inner stage 4. upper stage 5. musicians' room 6. heavens 7. hut 8. hell 9. trapdoor

Answer 28

- behind main stage - used by actors for entrance/exit - wardrobe, costumes, changing - tiring comes from attire (clothes)

Answer 29

- principle action performance - thrust out into standing audience (groundlings) - big and cannot be hidden by curtains

Answer 30

- recessed area behind main stage - can be closed by curtain - 3 uses

Answer 31

1. discovery: reveal of a hidden scene - ex: last scene in The Tempest (Prospero and Alonso reconcile and mourn their own losses, when Ferdinand and Miranda are revealed playing chess 2. hiding place: behind the curtains - ex in Hamlet: Polonius eavesdrops from behind a curtain whil Hamlet is talking to the woman he loves and her mother (Polunius would be in inner stage and others on main stage) 3. a place for characters to die - since main stage does not have a curtain (thrust), no way to hide the characters who are "dead" while they leave the stage - to keep illusion, they would die in the area of the inner stage with the curtain open and could be hidden by the curtain after death - ex in Othello: the bodies of three deceased characters all end up on a bed (the bed would have been the inner stage). When Lodovico sees them, he orders to hide the bodies, so the curtain would close at that moment

Answer 32

- above the inner stage, behind ballustrade - 2 functions: 1. acting area for a scene requiring a higher stage 2. ar to watch the play for playgoers when not needed as acting area - ex: Romeo and Juliet- balcony scene

Answer 33

- above upper stage - ambient music when musicians could not be seen, or used to signal things happening in the play (ex: flourish when king enters or leaves) -ex in The Tempest: Prospero's magic illusions are accompanied by music, but the music is a part of the magic, so musicians cannot be seen

Answer 34

- above rear end of the main stage (sort of roof) - underside of it painted with sun, moon, stars, zodiacal signs, to represent stage sky - ex: Hamlet pointing to stage sky

Answer 35

- above heavens - housed suspension gear for flying effects - ex in The Tempest: when Juno comes flying down to see Ferdinand and Miranda

Answer 36

- acting area under the main stage - ex: when sounds or music coming from underground - trapdoor gave access to hell - ex in Hamlet: when Ghost cries out from under the ground

Answer 37

- door on main stage accessing the hell - could also be used for other function according to the scene - ex: Hemlet: grave being dug by gravedigger

Answer 38

1. smaller theartre, so close proximity between actos and playgoers is assured 2. stage thrusts out into audience and cannot be hid from audience 3. plays put in broad daylight in the afternoon, so the actors were able to see the audience and vice versa.

Answer 39

1. intimacy of the theatre - smaller, stage out in audience, during the day 2. main stage could not be hidden by a curtain

Answer 40

favored elements such as: 1. soliloquy: monologue delivered by a character alone on stage (or standing apart) - was natural, because the character did not seem to be talking to himself, he could look into the eyes of the spectators in fron of him and talk to them 2. aside: character' speech heard by audience, but supposedly not by other characters - character could look at audience and direct the speech to them to understand

Answer 41

1. needed to plan a way for the characters to die (to preserve the illusion of their death, since curtain could not hide them while they walked away) - would either be carried off stage in a stately funeral march - or doomed characters died in area of the inner stage to close the curtain after 2. continuity and fluidity of the plays: no curtain drops between scenes - action flows smoothly with hardly any interruptions between scenes = more continuous 3. character-scenes (de-emphasis on the place): what the character is doing and saying is what is important, not place = little to no scenery (bare stage) 4. frequent use of verbal scenery: when the mention of the place is important, had to be incorporated in the text, since no physical scenery

Answer 42

- cannonball trapped in a wooden box - balanced like a seesaw - when needed, the box would bascule and the ball owuld rool, creating thumping sounds as it hit the sides of the box

Answer 43

- beat drums off stage - roll cannonball accross floor of hut - thunder machine

Answer 44

- throwing a powder made from resin into candle flame = lightning flashes - could stimulate lightning bolts with swevel (using a wire from the floor to the roof of the stage and firecrackers = sparks all the way down the wire)

Answer 45

gods and good spirits: flying in from heavens devils and bad spirits: arrived from hell with firecrackers made from gunpowder

Answer 46

- magic effect - fire, different colors depending on effects

Answer 47

burnt strong alcohols with salts (for colour)

Answer 48

special effects: - thunder (3 ways), lightning, lightning bolts - could not use special effects to imitate wind and waves, so need of verbal scenery verbal scenery: - words and tone to suggest urgency - mention the wind, tumult, waves other elements to help audience: - mariners' costumes - props (ex: mast of a ship) - water (ex: wet mariners)

Answer 49

- most principle characters were noble men and women, they needed to dress the part (most expensive clothing) - they were all made by hand

Answer 50

The Lord Admiral's Men (from their papers, we know how expensive the costumes were)

Answer 51

- it was a tradition for noble men to bequeath part of their clothes to their servant when they died - the servants could not wear them because of the importance of clothing in hierarchy during the Elizabethan period. - they would sell the clothes they received at a cheaper price and it was a good opportunity for the acting companies to get good costumes, approprote for their characters, for less money

Answer 52

- from the drawing of the play Titus Adronicus - the costumes don't match the historical period of the play - due to how expensive the costumes were, they would reuse them even when the context was slightly innacurate - also due to their lack of knowledge regarding the clothing of the people in past historical periods