When was shakespeares time

Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Times Shakespeare. For Fun! The Curse of Shakespeare's Grave! William Shakespeare Shakespeare lived from to John's principal business was that of a glover, but he also traded as a wool and corn merchant, and he is recorded in as being involved in money-lending.

William's father, John Shakespeare, was an affluent glove maker, tanner and wool dealer who owned property in Stratford. For a number of years he played a prominent role in the municipal life of the town. He served on the town council and was elected bailiff mayor. However, around John Shakespeare was beset by severe financial difficulties and he was forced to mortgage his wife's inheritance. William's mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a prosperous farmer, Robert Arden, who had left her some land in Wilmcote, near Stratford.

John and Mary Shakespeare had eight children: four daughters, of whom only one Joan survived childhood. William was the eldest of the four boys. William almost certainly went to one of Stratford's 'petty' or junior schools where he would have learnt his letters with the help of a hornbook.

From the age of seven or thereabouts, he would have progressed to the King's New School where the emphasis would have been on Latin, it still being the international language of Europe in the s. Shakespeare probably left school at the age of 14 or The classical writers studied in the classroom influenced Shakespeare's plays and poetry; for example, some of his ideas for plots and characters came from Ovid's tales, the plays of Terence and Plautus, and Roman history.

It is not known what Shakespeare did when he left school, probably at the age of 14, as was usual. In , when he was 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. She was Their first child, Susanna, was born in May Twins, Hamnet and Judith, were christened in February Still more indoor productions often came during the period between Christmas and New Year, and at Shrovetide the period before Lent at one of the royal palaces, where Shakespeare's company and other leading companies gave command performances—a high honor that was also well-paid.

Playgoers in Shakespeare's day paid a penny to stand in the uncovered yard of a playhouse, or two pennies for a balcony seat. Indoor theaters like the Blackfriars accommodated fewer people and cost more, with basic tickets starting at sixpence.

Fashionable men about town could get a seat on the side of the stage for two shillings 24 pence. Spectators liked to drink wine or ale and snack on a variety of foods as they watched the plays—modern-day excavations at the playhouses have turned up bottles, spoons, oyster shells, and the remnants of many fruits and nuts.

While most women's roles were played by boys or young men in the all-male casts, comic female parts such as Juliet's Nurse might be reserved for a popular adult comic actor, or clown. In addition to their dramatic talents, actors in Shakespeare's time had to fence onstage with great skill, sing songs or play instruments included in the plays, and perform the vigorously athletic dances of their day.

Actors usually did not aim for historically accurate costumes, although an occasional toga may have appeared for a Roman play. Instead, they typically wore gorgeous modern dress, especially for the leading parts. Costumes, a major investment for an acting company, provided the essential "spectacle" of the plays and were often second-hand clothes once owned and worn by real-life nobles. The bare stages of Shakespeare's day had little or no scenery except for objects required by the plot, like a throne, a grave, or a bed.

Exits and entrances were in plain view of the audience, but they included some vertical options: actors could descend from the "heavens" above the stage or enter and exit from the "hell" below through a trapdoor. Characters described as talking from "above" might appear in galleries midway between the stage and the heavens. Related podcast: Designing Shakespeare: Changes in costumes, scenery, and other staging choices.

In , the English playhouses and theaters were closed down and often dismantled for building materials as the English Civil War began. Shakespeare's Theatre and Stagecraft Episode 2. Proquest Guided Research Elizabethan Era. Queen Elizabeth I. New Oxford Shakespeare. This database includes access to Shakespeare's plays in modern language and the original spelling for literary and bibliographic research for comparison and critical analysis.

This volume of edited essays explores the living environment, the role of society, and the arts and leisurely pursuits of the age. Call Number: DA L57 Women in the Age of Shakespeare by Theresa D. Kemp This book offers a look at the lives of Elizabethan era women in the context of the great female characters in the works of William Shakespeare.

Call Number: PR