Shakespearean history

In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies. This categorisation has become established, although some critics have argued for a fourth category, the romance. The histories were those plays based on the lives of English kings. Therefore they can be more accurately called the "English history plays," a less common designation. Macbeth, which is based on a Scottish king, was classed as a tragedy, not a history, as were the plays that depict older historical figures such as Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and the legendary King Lear. These latter plays, however, are often included in modern studies of Shakespeare's treatment of history.

Contents 1 Sources 2 Politics 2.1 Interpretations 3 List of Shakespeare's English histories 4 The "Wars of the Roses" cycle 5 List of Shakespeare's Roman histories 6 Notes 7 See also

[edit] Sources

The source for most of the English history plays, as well as for Macbeth and King Lear, is the well known Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of English history. The source for the Roman history plays is Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together, in the translation made by Sir Thomas North in 1579. Shakespeare's history plays focus on only a small part of the characters' lives, and also frequently omit significant events for dramatic purposes.

[edit] Politics

Shakespeare was living under the reign of Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the house of Tudor, and his history plays are often regarded as Tudor propaganda because they show the dangers of civil war and celebrate the founders of the Tudor dynasty. In particular, Richard III depicts the last member of the rival house of York as an evil monster ("that bottled spider, that foul bunchback'd toad"), a depiction disputed by many modern historians, while portraying the usurper, Henry VII in glowing terms. Political bias is also clear in Henry VIII, which ends with an effusive celebration of the birth of Elizabeth. However, Shakespeare's celebration of Tudor order is less important in these plays than his presentation of the spectacular decline of the medieval world. Moreover, some of Shakespeare's histories—and notably Richard III—point out that this medieval world came to its end when opportunism and machiavelism infiltrated its politics. By nostalgically evoking the late Middle Ages, these plays described the political and social evolution that had led to the actual methods of Tudor rule, so that it is possible to consider history plays as a biased criticism of their own country.

[edit] Interpretations

John F. Danby in Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature (1949) examines the response of Shakespeare’s history plays (in the widest sense) to the vexed question: ‘When is it right to rebel?’, and concludes that Shakespeare’s thought ran through three stages: (1) In the Wars of the Roses plays, Henry VI to Richard III, Shakespeare shows a new thrustful godlessness attacking the pious medieval structure represented by Henry VI. He implies that rebellion against a legitimate and pious king is wrong, and that only a monster such as Richard of Gloucester would have attempted it. (2) In King John and the Richard II to Henry V cycle, Shakespeare comes to terms with the Machiavellianism of the times as he saw them under Elizabeth. In these plays he adopts the official Tudor ideology, by which rebellion, even against a wrongful usurper, is never justifiable. (3) From Julius Caesar onwards, Shakespeare justifies tyrannicide, but in order to do so moves away from English history to the camouflage of Roman, Danish, Scottish or Ancient British history.

Danby argues that Shakespeare’s study of the political machiavel is key to his study of history. Richard III, the Bastard in King John, Hal and Falstaff are all machiavels, characterized in varying degrees of frankness by the pursuit of "Commodity" (i.e. advantage, profit, expediency).^{[1] [2]} Shakespeare at this point in his career pretends that the Hal-type machiavel is admirable and the society he represents historically inevitable. Hotspur and Hal are joint heirs, one medieval, the other modern, of a split Falconbridge. Danby argues, however, that when Hal rejects Falstaff he is not reforming, as is the common view,^[3] but merely turning from one social level to another, from Appetite to Authority, both of which are equally part of the corrupt society of the time. Of the two, Danby argues, Falstaff is the preferable, being, in every sense, the bigger man.^[4] In Julius Caesar there is a similar conflict between rival machiavels: the noble Brutus is a dupe of his machiavellian associates, while Antony’s victorious “order”, like Hal's, is a negative thing. In Hamlet king-killing becomes a matter of private rather than public morality—the individual’s struggles with his own conscience and fallibility take centre stage. Hamlet, like Edgar in King Lear later, has to become a “machiavel of goodness” ^[5] In Macbeth the interest is again public, but the public evil flows from Macbeth’s primary rebellion against his own nature. “The root of the machiavelism lies in a wrong choice. Macbeth is clearly aware of the great frame of Nature he is violating.” ^[6]

King Lear, in Danby's view, is Shakespeare’s finest historical allegory. The older medieval society, with its doting king, falls into error, and is threatened by the new machiavellianism; it is regenerated and saved by a vision of a new order, embodied in the king’s rejected daughter. By the time he reaches Edmund, Shakespeare no longer pretends that the Hal-type machiavel is admirable; and in Lear he condemns the society we think historically inevitable. Against this he holds up the ideal of a transcendent community and reminds us of the “true needs” of a humanity to which the operations of a Commodity-driven society perpetually do violence. This “new” thing that Shakespeare discovers is embodied in Cordelia. The play thus offers an alternative to the feudal-machiavellian polarity, an alternative foreshadowed in France’s speech (I.1.245-256), in Lear and Gloucester’s prayers (III.4. 28-36; IV.1.61-66), and in the figure of Cordelia. Cordelia, in the allegorical scheme, is threefold: a person; an ethical principle (love); and a community. Until that decent society is achieved, we are meant to take as role-model Edgar, the machiavel of patience, of courage and of "ripeness". After King Lear Shakespeare’s view seems to be that private goodness can be permanent only in a decent society.^[7]

[edit] List of Shakespeare's English histories

The plays are listed here according to chronological order of setting, King John being historically the earliest king on the list to be treated, and Henry VIII being the nearest to Shakespeare's age. This list does not reflect the order of the plays' composition. For the purpose of clarity this list omits the full or proper titles of the plays. Shakespeare's one Scottish history, Macbeth, set in the mid-11th century during the reigns of Duncan I of Scotland and Edward the Confessor, pre-dates the English histories.

• King John
• Edward III (attributed)
• Richard II
• Henry IV, Part 1
• Henry IV, Part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Part 1
• Henry VI, Part 2
• Henry VI, Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII

[edit] The "Wars of the Roses" cycle

Henry VI (Jeffrey T. Heyer) and a young Richmond (Ashley Rose Miller) in the West Coast premiere of The Plantaganents: The Rise of Edward IV, staged by Pacific Repertory Theatre in 1993.

"The War(s) of the Roses" is a phrase used to describe the civil wars in England between the Lancastrian and Yorkist dynasties. Some of the events of these wars were dramatized by Shakespeare in the history plays Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; Henry V; Henry VI, Part 1; Henry VI, Part 2; Henry VI, Part 3; and Richard III. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries there have been numerous stage performances including:

1. The first tetralogy (Henry VI parts 1 to 3 and Richard III) as a cycle;
2. The second tetralogy (Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V) as a cycle (which has also been referred to as the Henriad); and
3. The entire eight plays in historical order (the second tetralogy followed by the first tetralogy) as a cycle. Where this full cycle is performed, as by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964, the name The War[s] of the Roses has often been used for the cycle as a whole.
4. A 10-play history cycle, which began with the newly attributed Edward III, the anonymous Thomas of Woodstock, and then the eight plays from Richard II to Richard III, was performed by Pacific Repertory Theatre under the title Royal Blood, a phrase used throughout the works. The entire series, staged over four consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2004, was directed by PacRep founder and Artistic Director Stephen Moorer.

The cycle has been filmed four times:

1. for the 1960 UK serial An Age of Kings directed by Michael Hayes
2. for the 1965 UK serial The Wars of the Roses, based on the RSC's 1964 staging, directed by John Barton and Peter Hall; and
3. for a straight-to-video filming, directly from the stage, of the English Shakespeare Company's "The Wars of the Roses" directed by Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington.
4. for the BBC Television Shakespeare in 1983 directed by Jane Howell

The second tetralogy is also the basis for the film Chimes at Midnight (also known as Falstaff) directed by and starring Orson Welles.

In The West Wing episode "Posse Comitatus," President Josiah Bartlet attends a play entiled "The Wars of the Roses", including scenes from Henry VI, parts 1 and 3. "Posse Comitatus" West Wing, Season 3.

Shakespeare's Life and Times: Home Page

Shakespeare's Life and Times introduces you to the world Shakespeare lived and worked in. This section of the Library is like a shelf of books, each of which is listed in the navigational bar beneath the page header. Each book, in turn, is divided into chapters dealing with related topics.

• There is a detailed biography of his life (and we actually know quite a lot about him).
• There is a book about the stage Shakespeare wrote for.
• And one that explores the society of the time, showing how it differs from our own.
• Further books discuss the history and politics of Elizabethan England,
• And look at the way people of the time thought and argued about religion and the physical makeup of the universe.
• You can learn about the kinds of plays and literature Shakespeare read,
• See samples of paintings of the time, and listen to Renaissance music.
• There is a book that shows how different parts of this rich library of resources help you understand the plays,
• And there is an extensive reference volume that gives chronologies, maps, and bibliographies for further reading.

A word about links.

Links followed by an asterisk (*) open up a "pop-up" note on the same page; links without the asterisk go to a different page; links external to the site open a new window in your browser.

This site was originally published in February 1998. Most recent update November 2005. Written by Michael Best.

Shakespeare Biography

Details about William Shakespeare’s life are sketchy, mostly mere surmise based upon court or other clerical records. His parents, John and Mary (Arden), were married about 1557; she was of the landed gentry, he a yeoman—a glover and commodities merchant. By 1568, John had risen through the ranks of town government and held the position of high bailiff, similar to mayor. William, the eldest son, was born in 1564, probably on April 23, several days before his baptism on April 26, 1564. That Shakespeare also died on April 23, 52 years later, may have resulted in the adoption of this birthdate.

William no doubt attended the local grammar school in Stratford where his parents lived, and would have studied primarily Latin rhetoric, logic, and literature [Barnet, viii]. At age 18 (1582), William married Anne Hathaway, a local farmer’s daughter eight years his senior. Their first daughter (Susanna) was born six months later (1583), and twins Judith and Hamnet were born in 1585.

Shakespeare’s life can be divided into three periods: the first 20 years in Stratford, which include his schooling, early marriage, and fatherhood; the next 25 years as an actor and playwright in London; and the last five in retirement back in Stratford where he enjoyed moderate wealth gained from his theatrical successes. The years linking the first two periods are marked by a lack of information about Shakespeare, and are often referred to as the “dark years”; the transition from active work into retirement was gradual and cannot be precisely dated [Boyce, 587].

John Shakespeare had suffered financial reverses from William’s teen years until well into the height of the playwright’s popularity and success. In 1596, John Shakespeare was granted a coat of arms, almost certainly purchased by William, who the next year bought a sizable house in Stratford. By the time of his death, William had substantial properties, both professional and personal, which he bestowed on his theatrical associates and his family (primarily his daughter Susanna, having rewritten his will one month before his death to protect his assets from Judith’s new husband, Thomas Quiney, who ran afoul of church doctrine and public esteem before and after the marriage) [Boyce, 529].

Shakespeare probably left school at 15, which was the norm, and took some sort of job, especially since this was the period of his father’s financial difficulty. Numerous references in his plays suggest that William may have in fact worked for his father, thereby gaining specialized knowledge [Boyce, 587].

At some point during the “dark years,” Shakespeare began his career with a London theatrical company—perhaps in 1589—for he was already an actor and playwright of some note in 1592. Shakespeare apparently wrote and acted for Pembroke’s Men, as well as numerous others, in particular Strange’s Men, which later became the Chamberlain’s Men, with whom he remained for the rest of his career.

When, in 1592, the Plague closed the theaters for about two years, Shakespeare turned to writing book-length narrative poetry. Most notable were “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece,” both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, whom scholars accept as Shakespeare’s friend and benefactor despite a lack of documentation. During this same period, Shakespeare was writing his sonnets, which are more likely signs of the time’s fashion rather than actual love poems detailing any particular relationship. He returned to play writing when theaters reopened in 1594, and published no more poetry. His sonnets were published without his consent in 1609, shortly before his retirement.

Amid all of his success, Shakespeare suffered the loss of his only son, Hamnet, who died in 1596 at the age of 11. But Shakespeare’s career continued unabated, and in London in 1599, he became one of the partners in the new Globe Theater [Boyce, 589], built by the Chamberlain’s Men. This group was a remarkable assemblage of “excellent actors who were also business partners and close personal friends . . . [including] Richard Burbage . . . [who] all worked together as equals . . . ” [Chute, 131].

When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin King James of Scotland, the Chamberlain’s Men was renamed the King’s Men, and Shakespeare’s productivity and popularity continued uninterrupted. He invested in London real estate and, one year away from retirement, purchased a second theater, the Blackfriars Gatehouse, in partnership with his fellow actors. His final play was Henry VIII, two years before his death in 1616.

Incredibly, most of Shakespeare’s plays had never been published in anything except pamphlet form, and were simply extant as acting scripts stored at the Globe. Only the efforts of two of Shakespeare’s company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, preserved his 36 plays (minus Pericles, the thirty-seventh) [Barnet, xvii] in the First Folio. Heminges and Condell published the plays, they said, “only to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive as was our Shakespeare” [Chute, 133]. Theater scripts were not regarded as literary works of art, but only the basis for the performance. Plays were a popular form of entertainment for all layers of society in Shakespeare’s time, which perhaps explains why Hamlet feels compelled to instruct the traveling Players on the fine points of acting, urging them not “to split the ears of the groundlings,” nor “speak no more than is set down for them.”

Present copies of Shakespeare’s plays have, in some cases, been reconstructed in part from scripts written down by various members of an acting company who performed particular roles. Shakespeare’s plays, like those of many of the actors who also were playwrights, belonged to the acting company. The performance, rather than the script, was what concerned the author, for that was how his play would become popular—and how the company, in which many actors were shareholders, would make money.

William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church where he had been baptized exactly 52 years earlier.

Shakespeare's Life

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. His father was a glover by trade, but he also experimented with farming. The family owned a farm called the Asbies, which Mary Arden-Shakespeare had brought to the marriage.

Shakespeare was most likely educated at the Stratford free grammar school. He likely apprenticed at the age of thirteen when the family's financial situation was going downhill. He married Anne Hathaway in November of 1582.

As a playwright, Shakespeare was not well known until 1592. Stages were closed then because of the plague, but by the time they reopened in 1594, he had written Venus and Adonis, as well as Lucrece. Now he began writing for the Lord Chamberlayne company. Although he was also an actor for the company, he was more famous for his writing. His plays are difficult to put in chronological order, but he wrote twelve during this assosiation. Frequently, the company was requested by Queen Elizabeth, and later, by King James I.

Shakespeare retired in 1610, returning to Stratford from London. He busied himself with the community and was comfortable with the large fortune he had earned. In his will, written only a

The Life and Times of Mr. William Shakespeare

1556 - Anne Hathaway is born.
1564 - William Shakespeare is born in April (probably the 23rd) in Stratford-On-Avon (94 miles from London.)
1582 - Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27.
1583 - Susanna Shakespeare is born.
1585 - The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born.
1592 - After leaving Stratford for London, William was recognized as a successful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of 'The Chamberlain's Men'.
1596 - Hamnet dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a "gentleman" when the College of Heralds grants his father a coat of arms.
1597- He bought a large house called "The Great House of New Place".
1599 - The 'Globe Theater' is built from the pieces of 'The Theater' in July.
1603 - 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men' on May 19.
1613 - The 'Globe Theatre' burns during a performance of Henry VII when a canon fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but Shakespeare retires.
1616 - April 23, in Stratford, on his 52nd birthday he died.

William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds. All that is known of Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins Judith and Hamnet two years later.

Seven years later Shakespeare is recognized as an actor, poet and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers to him as "an upstart crow" in A Groatsworth of Wit. A few years later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupe's in London: The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed, (appropriately called The Theatre) they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe." The new theatre opened in July of 1599, built from the timbers of The Theatre, with the motto "Totus mundus agit histrionem" (A whole world of players) When James I came to the throne (1603) the troupe was designated by the new king as the King's Men (or King's Company). The Letters Patent of the company specifically charged Shakespeare and eight others "freely to use and exercise the art and faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Inerludes, Morals, Pastorals, stage plays ... as well for recreation of our loving subjects as for our solace and pleasure."

Shakespeare entertained the king and the people for another ten years until June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the roof of the theatre for a gala performance of Henry VIII set fire to the thatch roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The audience ignored the smoke from the roof at first, being to absorbed in the play, until the flames caught the walls and the fabric of the curtains. Amazingly there were no casualties, and the next spring the company had the theatre "new builded in a far fairer manner than before." Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had purchased in 1597, and some considerable land holdings ,where he continued to write until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.

In his time William wrote 13 Comedies, 13 Historical Plays, 6 Tragedies, 4 Tragicomedies, as well as many sonnets (154) , which were mostly dedicated to his patron, Henry Wriothsley, The Earl of Southampton.

Comedies

"Comedy of Errors" 1592
"The Taming of the Shrew" 1592-94
"Love's Labor's Lost" 1594-95
"Two Gentlemen of Verona" 1594-95
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" 1595-96
"The Merchant of Venice" 1596-97
"Much Ado About Nothing" 1598-99
"As You Like It" 1599-1600
"Twelfth Night" 1599-1600
"Merry Wives of Windsor" 1601-02
"Troilus and Cressida" 1601-02
"All's Well That Ends Well" 1602-03
"Measure for Measure" 1604-05

Historical

"Henry VI" parts I, II, III 1590-92
"Richard III" 1590-92
"King John" 1594-96
"Richard II" 1597-(?)
"King Henry IV" part I, part II 1597-98
"Henry V (1599)" 1598-99
"Julius Caesar" 1599-1600
"Henry VIII" 1613-(?)
"Antony and Cleopatra" 1606-07
"Coriolanus" 1607-08

Tragedies

"Titus Andronicus" 1593-94
"Romeo and Juliet" 1594-95
"Hamlet" 1600-01
"Othello" 1604-05
"The Tragedy of King Lear" 1605-06
"Macbeth" 1605-06

Tragicomedies

"Timon of Athens" 1607-(?)
"Cymbeline" 1609-10
"The Winter's Tale" 1610-11
"Tempest" 1611-12

Most of these links are courtesy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

This tribute was done as a project for George Hanna's English 1010 class at Grande Prairie Regional College.
Produced by Noel Borstad, Brenon Holmes, Corey Chernuka, Cristian Marchis, Shanon Pearcy, and James Weidlich

Shakespeare of Stratford

Shakespeare's Ancestry Shakespeare's Parents Shakespeare's Birth Shakespeare's Siblings Shakespeare's Childhood Shakespeare's Lost Years Shakespeare's Marriage Shakespeare's Children Shakespeare as Actor and Playwright Shakespeare's Influence Shakespeare's Language Portraits of Shakespeare Shakespeare's Contemporaries Quotes About Shakespeare Shakespeare and the Gunpowder Plot Was Shakespeare Italian?

Shakespeare's Death Shakespeare's Burial Shakespeare's Will Shakespeare Timeline Richard Burbage (Actor) Edward Alleyn (Actor) William Kempe (Actor) Shakespeare's Boss Shakespeare's Audience Shakespeare's Lasting Impact Shakespeare's Sexuality Worst Diseases in Shakespeare's London Daily Life in Shakespeare's London Preface to The First Folio Publishing in Elizabethan England Shakespeare Q & A

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