Elizabethan Theater
Elizabethan theatre is a general concept embodying the plays written and performed openly in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I from 1558 to 1603. The term can be applied more generally to also incorporate theatre of Elizabeth's immediate successors, James I and Charles I, till the end of public theatres in 1642 on the inception of Civil War. (Elizabethan theatre: Wikipedia) During the end of 16th century and inception of 17th century William Shakespeare dominated the theatrical environment, and at that time witnessing a play during afternoon was considered a great entertainment for many members of London society and acclaimed similar popular form of entertainment as that of going to movies and plays presently. A thorough look at the theatre of Shakespeare's time however, will entail many distinctions between the Elizabethan theatre and the movies and plays of today. (Welcome to the world of the Elizabethan theatre!)

During…...

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References

An Elizabethan Stage from Chapter VI. The Drama from about 1550 to 1642. Retrieved from   Accessed on 25 June, 2005http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/rfletcher/bl-rfletcher-history-6.htm 

Brown, Starla; Nelson, Chequita. Costumes and Sets in Shakespeare's Theater. Retrieved from   Accessed on 25 June, 2005http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/costumes.html 

Chorus. The UVic Writer's Guide. Retrieved from Accessed on 25 June, 2005http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/LTChorus.html

Dryden's Prologues and Epilogues. Retrieved from Accessed on 25 June, 2005http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/~glucas/archives/000336.shtml

He exemplifies the expansion of the middle class and commercialism during the era. The book is a kind of inventive biography -- little is known for certain of hakespeare's life but Greenblatt uses the skeleton of hakespeare's plays to fill in details of common concerns of many figures of the period.
Long, William J. "The Elizabethan Age: 1550 -- 1620." From Outlines of English and American

Literature. April 4, 2009. http://www.djmcadam.com/elizabethan-age.html

This is an excerpt from a survey book on literature that is well-reputed in the field, although somewhat out of date. It examines the philosophy and history of the Elizabethan age and how it affected the literature of the period. It suggests the patriotic zeal and cultural vigor that resulted from the defeat of the Armada, scientific discoveries, and foreign travel and exploration were the reasons for the substantial literary output of this period's authors. It covers pencer, hakespeare, Bacon and…...

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Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar." From the Language of Literature.

Edited by Arthur N. Applebee. New York: McDougall Littell, 2006.

"Julius Caesar" is one of Shakespeare's 'Roman plays.' It reflects the Elizabethan reverence of the classical age. However, it also reveals anxieties over succession and usurpation of royal authority. It exemplifies the Elizabethan fascination with the supernatural's influence upon world events. And the contrast between Brutus' nobility and the political fallout from his assassination -- or political naivete in the face of Mark Anthony -- highlights Shakespeare's ambiguous characterization.

But Shakespeare does not try to render Republican Rome in faithful and accurate historical detail. "Peace! count the clock," says Brutus (2.1) although the play is ostensibly set during ancient times, and the practice of bear-baiting is referred to when Octavius says "e are at the stake / And bayed about by many enemies" (4.1)The entertainment of bear-baiting, a reminder of the brutality of the Elizabethan age, was even enjoyed by the queen and often took place near the Globe theater where Julius Caesar was first performed: "The bear was tethered to a stake in the middle of the ring, able to move only a short distance before being drawn up sharply when it got to the end of its tether. That's where the phrase 'at the end of my tether' comes from - the frustration and agony of not being able to go any further. Dogs would be…...

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Works Cited

Elizabethan education. William Shakespeare Info. 2005. April 16, 2009.  http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Elizabethan+school&page=1&qsrc=2417&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.william-shakespeare.info%2Fwilliam-shakespeare-biography-childhood-and-education.htm 

Entertainment at Shakespeare's Globe Theater. No Sweat Shakespeare. 2004. April 16, 2009.

 http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Julius+Caesar+bear-bating&page=1&qsrc=2417&ab=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nosweatshakespeare.com%2Fresources%2Fglobe-theatre-entertainment.htm 

Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare. New York:

Theatre:
English-speaking versions of Hamlet vs. European versions

The many contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare enacted on the modern stage underline the fact that Shakespeare was a playwright for the ages, not simply a man of his own time. However, in the ways in which Shakespeare has been adapted to modernity, it becomes apparent that modern directors are just as intent upon revealing their own personal preoccupations as well as revealing the nuances of Shakespeare's plays. This can be seen when comparing British interpretations with European and other non-English language stagings of Hamlet. Although the most obvious difference between these two categories is that British interpretations are in the original language of Shakespeare while European stagings are enacted in translation, the difference runs far deeper. English productions tend to emphasize the psychological, internal conflict of Hamlet and view the play in terms of its psychological drama. In contrast, European interpretations of Hamlet…...

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Works Cited

Dasgupta, Gautam. "Germany's Fourth Wall." Performing Arts Journal, 13. 2 (May, 1991):

62-77.

Goldman, Peter. "Hamlet's Ghost: A Review Article." Greenblatt, Stephen. Hamlet in Purgatory.

Princeton UP, 2001. Anthropoetics 7. 1 (Spring / Summer 2001).

The fear of "disorder" "had significant political ramifications. The proscription against trying to rise beyond one's place was of course useful to political rulers, for it helped to reinforce their authority. The implication was that civil rebellion caused the chain to be broken, and according to the doctrine of correspondences, this would have dire consequences in other realms," whether the king was good or bad ("The Great Chain of Being," CUNY Brooklyn, 2009). Because rebellion was a sin against God, the whole order of the universe would be thrown in disarray if people rebelled against a sovereign, and this disturbance would be reflected in disturbances in the animal world and the heavens. "The need for strong political rule was in fact very significant, for the Renaissance had brought an end for the most part to feudalism, the medieval form of political organization," and the era oversaw the establishment of…...

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Works Cited

Peters, M.J. "Elizabeth I and the Elizabethan Period: a Brief Introduction

Springfield High School English Department. 1996. April 8, 2009

 http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/schools/springfield/eliz/introelizperiod.html 

"The Great Chain of Being." Borrowed from "The Renaissance" at CUNY:

William Shakespeare was born into a world of words that took him from cold, stone castles in Scotland to the bustling cities of Italy and the high seas of colonial change. An emblem of the Renaissance, the Bard of Avon was not only the conqueror of his own mind and pen, but also of the language of his own social, political, and religious reality. His theatre, the epic Globe, mirrors the stories of the early, bustling London and ever-morphing England in the duration of its own life, from plank and dirt to flame and fame.
By 1598, Richard Burbage was the practicing don of the London theatre world, extending his fingertips for production all over the lively center of British commerce and governance. His players, a collection of all-male actors, were widely recognized throughout the theatre world, one of the only sources of popular entertainment.

Burbage produced the works of a variety…...

(Shakespeare V.ii.201-4)
In these scenes, the Chorus adds something significant to the play.

The Chorus encourages us to use our "imaginary forces" and create the "might monarchies./hose high upreared and abutting fronts/the perilous narrow oceans parts asunder" (Prologue.21-3). In addition, the Chorus tells us to "Think when we talk horses that you see them/Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;/for 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings" (Prologue. 27-9). Here, the Chorus has an extended role in many ways because it is telling the audience how to use their imaginations where the stage is limited. The Chorus also apologizes for the crowded constriction of time we find in the last act. Members of the audience told:

humbly pray them to admit the excuse

Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,

hich cannot in their huge and proper life

Be here presented. (V.0.4-7)

The Chorus serves an additional purpose in the play…...

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Works Cited

Abrams, M.H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. "The Sixteenth Century." New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1986.

Barnet, Sylvan, et al. "A Note on the Elizabethan Theater." An Introduction to Literature. 8th Ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1985.

Harrison, G.B. Introducing Shakespeare. New York: Penguin Books. 1983.

Shakespeare, William. King Henry V. Bartleby Online. Site Accessed September 26, 2003.  http://www.bartleby.com/70/index29.html

hen the lease expired for the original location, the Burbages reassembled the theater on the South Bank of the Thames in 1599. This was considered to be one of the 'seedier' districts of London. As well as play-going (a disreputable practice in and of itself), bearbaiting, bull-baiting, and prostitution, were other popular spectator sports on the South Bank (Cummings 2003). hen the first Globe burnt down in 1613 "an auditor whose breaches were on fire" was "doused with ale," given that "liquid refreshments" at the tavern were always nearby at the Globe (Burgess 80).
Shakespeare had a financial interest in the theater, as well as acted with and wrote for the Burbage's company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Shakespeare and four other investors and actors, including John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, Thomas Pope and ill Kemp, owned the remaining 50% in equal shares and Shakespeare profited as much from owning the…...

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Works Cited

Burgess, Anthony. Shakespeare. First Published 1970. Da Capo Press, 2002.

Cummings, Michael. "Globe Theater." Cummings Study Guide. 2003. 1 May 2008.  http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xGlobe.html 

Greer, Germaine. Shakespeare's Wife. New York: Harpers, 2008.

James Burbage." Elizabethan Era. 1 May 2008.  http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/james-burbage.htm

Shakespeare and the manner in which he wrote and the theatre of his times.
In this modern world that we live in today we still do not forget the one great playwright William Shakespeare, and this is because of the fact that his work is unique and unmatched to any other. His lifetime, as we are convinced, was full of activity regarding his literary works. ut the truth is that we know very little about how he grew up and how he got married. We do however know that it was from the 1597 that he started an active life in acting, in which he performed before the queen. It was in London that he learned how to manage the theatre. It was not long after this that he flourished into an expert playwright whose work would touch the hearts of all who read it (1).

Analysis:

William Shakespeare was born on…...

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Bibliography

   http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/characters.htmlhttp://www.gc.edu/faculty/dkuhlmann/shakecri.htm 

Sir Francis Drake was a ritish explorer, slave-trader, privateer, a pirate working for a government, in the service of England, mayor of Plymouth, England, and naval officer. Driven by early conflict with Catholic Spaniards and later fueled by tensions between England and Spain, Drake is best known for his piracy of Spanish settlements and ships and his role in defeating the Spanish Armada. Often referred to as the El Draque meaning "the dragon" by the Spanish, Drake earned his reputation as a tireless warrior against the Spanish.
The Elizabethan era is a period of English history during most of the 16th century under the reign of Elizabeth 1 of England. It is considered the height of the Renaissance of England with the development of Elizabethan theatre and renowned plays, books and poetry from William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, en Jonson and Thomas Kyd. During the Elizabethan era, Francis acon formulated early elements…...

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Bibliography

Elizabethan Era." Wikipedia. 25 Oct. 2003.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_period .

Heseltine, Simon. "Sir Francis Drake Biography." PageWise. 25 Oct. 2003. http://pa.essortment.com/sirfrancisdrak_rkej.htm.

Seeler, Oliver. "The Voyage." 1996. Mendocino Community Network. 25 Oct. 2003.  http://www.mcn.org/2/oseeler/voy.htm .

Sir Francis Drake." Redtek Internet Services. 25 Oct. 2003.  http://www.redtek.net/abc/history/drake.htm .

Yes, the Oedipus complex aspect of Shakespeare it gives us and which in turn invites us to think about the issue of subjectivity, the myth and its relation to psychoanalytic theory. (Selfe, 1999, p292-322)
Hemlet and Postcolonial theory

Postcolonial theory was born as a result of the publication of the famous work of Edward Said, Orientalism (1978). This theory claim that some authors (Paul Gilroy, Achille Mbembe, Francoise Verges, etc.) and that seem so elegant in its formulation, in my opinion raises three fundamental problems: At a time when we are witnessing the emergence of new expressions of colonialism (colonialism, cultural, political and economic globalization, neo-colonialism nestled in the relationship between the hegemonic colonial past and their old colonies, colonialism in disguise that structure the relationship between international institutions and developing countries, institutions from the rest behest of the former colonial powers according to their interests), speak of post-colonial era seems…...

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References

Aragay, Mireia, and Gemma Lopez. 2005. "Inflecting Pride and Prejudice: Dialogism, Intertextuality, and Adaptation." Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship. Ed. Mireia Aragay. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, p201-19.

Aragay, Mireia, ed. 2005. Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, p88-96.

Baetens, Jan. 2007. "From Screen to Text: Novelization, the Hidden Continent." The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen. Ed. Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, p226-38.

Balides, Constance. 2000. "Jurassic Post-Fordism: Tall Tales of Economics in the Theme Park." Screen 4 I .2: p139-60.

These were comedies that appealed to the more conservative, middle-class, sentimental, moralistic, and upheld a newly optimistic view of human progress and political development. (ilson & Goldfarb, 1999)
The 18th century view generally held that people are good and that people could retain virtue by appealing to virtuous human feelings as expressed in Sheridan, Goldsmith, and Sir Richard Steele. Thus, this signaled the end of the aristocratic, brittle Restoration hero and heroine. Yet the return of the theater to the people also caused German theatrical aspirants such as Goethe to creator works such as "Faust," ambitious plays that addressed larger spiritual concerns of the people, and political ideologies that spanned far wider than the immediate social concerns of the court. "Faust," for all its pretensions, represents individuals within its characters, such as the heroine Gretchen, who come from ranks beyond the academic and social elites of the French and English…...

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Works Cited

Baker, Henry Barton. English Actors: From Shakespeare to Macready. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1879.

Bellinger. Martha Fletcher. A Short History of the Theatre. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1927.

Brockett, Oscar and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. New York: Longman Press, 2002.

Craig, W.J., ed. "Hamlet." The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. London: Oxford University Press: 1914.

Even physical relationships are prone to dissolution -- as ebster shows: the lovers are murdered one by one. ebster and the other Jacobeans appear to pine for an era of old world spirituality -- for the new modern world, while full of scientific inquiry and triumph (see Bacon), lacks that sensitivity of soul that could effect true and real humility.
3. For, however, a complete and masterful representation of the many facets of human nature in all its strengths and failings, one need look no further than to the works of Shakespeare, which span both Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. For the folly of kingly pride, there is Lear. For the bitterness of ambition on the murdered conscience, there is Macbeth. For the nature of love and the relationship between man and woman there are the marvelous sonnets 116, 129, and 138: all three of which tackle the subject from a…...

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Works Cited

Eliot, T.S. "Whispers of Immortality." American Poems. Web. 27 July 2011.

Elizabeth I. "The Golden Speech." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Eight

Edition. (M. H. Abrams, ed.) W.W. Norton, 2006.

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnets 116, 129, 138." The Norton Anthology of English

n terms of the definition for prejudice being a preconceived idea, that was indeed the case. Men, in that day and age, were far more protective of their property, in this instance their brides, than U.S. citizens are today. That's exactly right; men considered their wives as property. Women more than willingly presumed the role. The occupants of the United States, as opposed to these has-been literary stars or playwrights, right along with any human alive advocating an activist pro-feminist stance, portray the odd-man-out or nonconformist in consideration to nearly every other nation in the world.

n regard to the females in Shakespeare's plays, however, in spite of the fact that Shakespeare sketched female characters into his plays (i.e., Lady Macbeth from Macbeth; Desdemona of Othello), male actors portrayed the female characters. Actresses were not in Shakespearean plays because they were protected by fathers or husbands. At this day and age,…...

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In regard to the females in Shakespeare's plays, however, in spite of the fact that Shakespeare sketched female characters into his plays (i.e., Lady Macbeth from Macbeth; Desdemona of Othello), male actors portrayed the female characters. Actresses were not in Shakespearean plays because they were protected by fathers or husbands. At this day and age, we do not comprehend this. In fact, we typically observe it as an unacceptable prejudice, discrimination, or bigotry. During that time, women were regarded as the pedestals as well as breeders. The first point concerns human biology; men are visual as well as guardians or protectors.

Even though there was an unmarried woman on the throne in Elizabethan England, the roles of women in society were very limited. The Elizabethans had very clear expectations of men and women, and in general men were expected to be the breadwinners and women to be housewives and mothers. On average, a woman gave birth to a child every two years, but as a lot of babies and children died from sickness, families were not always large. Childbearing was considered a great honor to women, as children were seen as blessings from God, and Tudor women took great pride in being mothers. The oddity we should observe is that in the age of Shakespeare, a female ran the show in England, Queen Elizabeth, yet still women were not put in the position of the active wage-earner (Thomas, 2009).

We all must keep in mind that this was during a time of abundant disease and illness, and no treatment was broadly available as it is today. These men were doing a service to their wives, mothers, sisters, aunts, or grandmothers by posing as the breadwinner and providing for the family. Again, disease was abundant. Moreover, women have always been far more susceptible. Men have much greater a muscular build; men are and have always been regarded as more emotionally detached or task-oriented to a degree so as to provide a greater pliability, liability, and

Since he himself cannot directly accuse the King, he will use the actors to do so silently.
Other critics argue that the King does not see the dumb-show. Because there is no text in the play which describes what Claudius is doing at the moment that the dumb-show is being enacted, it is impossible to say one way or the other. The "second tooth" theory is the more widely accepted theory, and it fits with the theme of silent representation of support being taken away. Just as Hamlet silently displays for Ophelia his loss of sense, structure and support; just as the ghost silently displays for the watchmen his loss of primacy in Elsinore by wandering without purpose along the battlements, so too does Claudius silently react to the dumb-show, attempting to swallow this sudden and startling depiction of the horrific claim he has been attempting to hide for the…...

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Works Cited

Anderson, Mary. "Hamlet: The Dialectic Between Eye and Ear." Renaissance and Reformation, Vol. 27, No. 4 (1991): 299-314.

Boyce, Charles. Shakespeare A to Z. NY: Dell Publishing, 1990.

Charney, Maurice. "Hamlet without Words." ELH, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Dec, 1965): 457-

Gray, Henry David. "The Dumb-Show in 'Hamlet'." Modern Philology, Vol. 17, No. 1