Unit 4: Question 2- Shakespeare's Life & Biography

RESEARCH: Research Shakespeare’s life, ensuring you include information about his origins, family, relationships, the world he lived in and questions surrounding his work. 

Visit the Folger Shakespeare Library Website and working from the ‘Discover Shakespeare’ Tab you work through the information regarding Shakespeare’s Life. http://www.folger.edu/Content/Discover-Shakespeare/Shakespeares-Life/

You can also read the ‘William Shakespeare Fact Sheet’ on the Globe website.

http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/discovery-space/fact-sheets

Quick fact file:

Name: William Shakespeare

DOB: 23 April 1564, Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Era: Elizabethan Era

Death: 23 April 1616

Parents: John and Mary Shakespeare

Siblings: Joan Shakespeare (sister), Gilbert Shakespeare (brother), Edmund Shakespeare (brother), Richard Shakespeare (brother), Margaret Shakespeare (sister), Anne Shakespeare (sister)

Spouse(s): Anne Hathaway 1582-1616

Children: Hamnet Shakespeare (son), Susanna Shakespeare (daughter) and Judith Shakespeare (daughter).

Origins:

In the Elizabethan Era, birth certificates did not exit. However, church records indicate that William Shakespeare was baptized on 26 April 1564 at Holy Trinity Church in Statford-Upon-Avon. From this indication it is believed that he was born on or near the 23 April 1564.

Family:

John Shakespeare (father); professions included a politician, a glove maker and a business person. He moved from Snitterfield to Stratford as an apprentice Glover and tanner of leathers. He bought a house in 1552. Between 1556 and 1559 John Shakespeare married Mary Arden.

Marry Arden: She was the youngest of 8 daughters and inherited her father's farm, now called Mary Arden house in Wilmcote, Warwickshire. Mary and John had eight children together but only five survived into adulthood.

Children: Hamnet Shakespeare, was the only son of William Shakespeare's. He was born in 1585 and sadly died when he was 11 in 1596 due to a plague.

Judith Quiney, was the younger daughter of Shakespeare's and the twin of Hamnet Shakespeare. She was born in 1585 and married Thomas Quiney in 1616. She died in 1662.

Susanna Hall was the oldest child of William Shakespeare, born in 1583

World he lived in: looked at this website:

https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~sflores/345world.html

• people's lives were often short, one-half of the children born never lived beyond fifteen years 
• average lifespan of an adult was only thirty years, due to the limited medical knowledge
• antiseptics and antibiotics weren't known so doctors used primitive forms of medication
• the bubonic plague- the disease plagued England appeared suddenly and spread quickly
• to help stop the spreading of the disease, regulations were put into place; all London theaters were closed when death ate was high, because they believed it would stop human contact. Another regulation was to kill all cats and dogs
• food supply was very low and many of the poorer people starved, and overall the whole population were acquired illnesses caused by vitamin deficiencies

• Every year approximately 10,000 citizens migrated to London mainly because wages were about 50 percent higher than in other parts of the country
• During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries England was at peace, enterprise and prosperity was introduced. Even lower class laborers and yeomen worked hard and were able to accumulate wealth.A lot of this money, was spent on leisure activities. It has been calculated that London playhouses saw close to 50 million visitors
• The main source of the country's income was wool
• London became a booming trade station handling 85 percent of all exports

• majority of women had very limited rights in England and had little power over the direction of their lives
• there was a traditional Patriarchal system and women were expected to be "domination and submission."
• the father and head of the household ruled over his wife and children
• women were denied formal educations, the opportunity to hold office, and also guarded against speaking out too freely
• many daughters were heir to a father's property, if there were no male heir

Unit 4: Question 1- Setting The Scene – Life in Elizabethan England

The Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England is a documentary that first aired on the BBC in 2013. It gives insights into life in Elizabethan England. Below is a link to a series of clips on the BBC website which you should watch to gain an insight into life in this period. As you watch the clips and make notes bear in mind the question below.

QUESTION: What sense do you get of what life was like in Elizabethan England? Try to include information on: The population, entertainment, religion, superstition, money, jobs, medicine, theatre.

Elizabethan England

• In 1958, Elizabeth was just crowned Queen.
• Elizabethan England was dominated by the rich and powerful, but this was only a few people in England. Many people were poor and lived in the countryside.
• Most of the people who lived in the countryside, were poor and face a great hardship.
• Kent was an open heath and this is the type of area, many people lived.
• Kent was classed as one of England's wastelands as it was full of many fields and hills.
• In 2017, some people may call this place scenic, quiet and relaxing, however in the Elizabethan era, it was dangerous. There were no roads and the area was full of muddy tracks and was classed as horrific.
• In the countryside there were small thatched cottages which is were a family would live, maybe of 7 or 8 people. Some cottages were over 100 years old.
• Inside was very basic- there was one room with an earth floor, in the middle was a fire which caused thick smoke to fill the room. To prevent suffocation, there was a small opening in the top of the roof and there were small windows in the wall, that hardly let in any light.
• Objects in the house was very minimal; a basket, a few pots, ladles, spoons, a straw mat and a bench.
• Most people spent a lot of time outdoors, this was because of the dark, smoke-filled house they lived in.

It's true that many people who lived in the Elizabethan era, pay attention to things more than people today. They listen differently. Perhaps they listen to the raindrops outside more, or listen to the fire burn or the baby sigh quietly in the corner. Society in the Elizabethan era was divided by class. 

• Yeoman- owns and rents his farm & employs workers. 
• Husbandman- rents the land that he works on
• Laborers- works on other peoples farms.

An unknown, poor person looking for work is limited. Their best bet was to probably travel from farm to farm working as a laborer. The yeoman or husbandman may employ them and allow them to sleep in the barn- which would be quite a hard night. A laborer would earn one groat for a day's work. This is 2.1 grams of pure silver. It is equivalent to 4 pence. In the Elizabethan era, four pence was the price of a chicken and a lemon was 3 pence. Now, if a chicken or a lemon meant as much to us as it did to Elizabethan people, it would cost £100 for a chicken or £75 for a lemon.

A loaf of bread, a small piece of butter and cheese everyday. 4 small meat & 3 small fish per week. Ail to drink- because water was polluted- is 6000 calories, which is enough to feed a man and his wife. But this doesn't leave anything for the children, the fireplace, rent or clothing. Getting married and creating a family would not have been as easy or even possible, like it is today.