Shakespeare
Shakespeare was believed to be born in ___ and died in ___.
1564; 1616
The theaters closed between 1592 and 1594 due to what?
Plague
What was Shakespeare's wife name?
Anne Hathaway
What is the main source for King Lear?
The Chronicle History of King Leir
The part of a theater where the actors changed costumes was known as what?
"Tiring area"
Name the two monarchs who reigned during Shakespeare's lifetime.
Elizabeth; James
What is the name for Shakespeare's first theater company?
Lord Chamberlain's Men
What was Shakespeare's daughter's name?
Judith
What does Lear do in Act I that initiates the play's action and eventual tragedy?
Divides his kingdom; love test of daughters
What honor was bestowed upon Shakespeare that acknowledged him as a "gentleman"?
He was granted a coat of arms
What was Shakespeare's father's profession?
Glovemaker
Lear was completed in in what year?
1605; 1606 is also acceptable
Shakespeare's success afforded him the largest home in what part of which city?
Stratford, London
Name another source for the play.
Holinshed's The Historie of England; The Mirror for Magistrates by John Higgins; Spenser's The Fairie Queen; Monmouth's History of the Kings of England
Why do you suppose Shakespeare's popularity waned?
TBD; teacher discretion
How did the poet Dryden account for Shakespeare's learning?
"He was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacle of Books to read Nature; he looked inwards and found her there."
Name a play from Shakespeare's late period.
Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Henry VIII
The Globe theater burned down in what year?
1613, during a production of Henry VIII, due to a cannon fire
What meteorological events have critics read in to their reading of Lear?
Eclipses
What was Shakespeare's most famous role as an actor?
The Ghost in Hamlet
What insult did the rival playwright levy against a young Shakespeare?
"Upstart Crow"
Shakespeare's major period is a result of experimenting with tragedy and the tragic conceptions of which two classical philosophers and theorists?
Aristotle and Seneca
What change allowed Shakespeare to write more subtle dialogue with more complex imagery and ideas?
Indoor theater, improved acoustics, lighting, more educated audience
Name a theme of Lear, as cited by the critics in your handout.
TBD, teacher's discretion
Why did productions need to move swiftly without intermission?
Audiences had to stand the whole time; also to create a cinematic effect of continuity