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Shakespeare: A critical analysis - for iPad/Mac/PC - Download free content from The Open University. Shakespeare and His World - Download free content from The Huntington. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Online Shakespeare Course: Shakespeare After All with Harvard Faculty. Marjorie Garber, PhD, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and American Literature and Language and of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University This free online Shakespeare course focuses on Shakespeare’s later plays beginning with Measure for Measure and ending with The Tempest. Building on the discussions of individual plays in Marjorie Garber’s book Shakespeare After All, this course takes note of key themes, issues, and interpretations of the plays, focusing on questions of genre, gender, politics, family relations, silence and speech, and cultural power from both above and below (royalty, nobility, and the court; clowns and fools).

Designed as part lecture-presentation and part discussion, this is a course that is meant to be interactive, taking up topics generated by students as well as by the instructor. The lecture videos The Quicktime and MP3 formats are available for download, or you can play the Flash version directly. Introduction Troilus and Cressida Othello. English 367: Shakespeare's Principal Plays - Download free content from University of Michigan. Not Shakespeare: Elizabethan and Jacobean Popular Theatre - Download free content from Oxford University. William Shakespeare Biography. William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. Synopsis William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry.

All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict. Mysterious Origins Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years. Early Life Though no birth records exist, church records indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564.

Married Life Theatrical Beginnings Establishing Himself Writing Style. Early Modern English. Prior to and following the accession of James I to the English throne in 1603 the emerging English standard began to influence the spoken and written Middle Scots of Scotland. Modern readers of English are generally able to understand texts written in the late phase of the Early Modern English period (e.g. the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare), while texts from the earlier phase (such as Le Morte d'Arthur) may present more difficulties.

The Early Modern English of the early 17th century forms the base of the grammatical and orthographical conventions that survive in Modern English. History[edit] English Renaissance[edit] Transition from Middle English[edit] The change from Middle English to Early Modern English was not just a matter of vocabulary or pronunciation changing; it was the beginning of a new era in the history of English.

Tudor period (1485–1603), English Renaissance Henry VIII[edit] Elizabethan English[edit] Elizabethan era (1558–1603) The Life of William Shakespeare. What Shakespeare Sounded Like to Shakespeare: Reconstructing the Bard’s Original Pronunciation. What did Shakespeare’s English sound like to Shakespeare? To his audience? And how can we know such a thing as the phonetic character of the language spoken 400 years ago? These questions and more are addressed in the video above, which profiles a very popular experiment at London’s Globe Theatre, the 1994 reconstruction of Shakespeare’s theatrical home.

As linguist David Crystal explains, the theater’s purpose has always been to recapture as much as possible the original look and feel of a Shakespearean production—costuming, music, movement, etc. But until recently, the Globe felt that attempting a play in the original pronunciation would alienate audiences. Shakespeare’s English is called by scholars Early Modern English (not, as many students say, “Old English,” an entirely different, and much older language). 1. 2. 3. Not everyone agrees on what Shakespeare's OP might have sounded like.

You can hear an example of this kind of OP in the recording from Romeo and Juliet above. His Works. Famous Quotes.

Shakespeare Theatre Videos

W. Shakespeare.