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-William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon.

-He was born on 23 April, most commonly assumed his death day as well in 1616

-William's Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, married Mary Arden and had eight children with William being the eldest.

-William was a prolific figure and writer in Britain theatre (noted during the English Renaissance / Early Modern Period).

-Wrote thousands of plays and poems.

-At the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married a 26 year old Anne Hathaway having three children with her (oldest Daughter, Susanna after the wedding followed by twins Hamnet & Judith) {In this time, one of the twins, Hamnet, died}

-Shakespeare's legacy grew in London implementing his art and theatre there.

-From the death of his father, William inherited his home and wealth in Henley Street followed by other investments after 1601.

-In his lifetime, William made 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and tens of hundreds of other poems.

-Died at 52 buried in the Holy Trinity.

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This concept posited that everything in the universe, from God and angels down to plants and inanimate objects, had its specific place in a strict hierarchy.

It emphasized that the king or queen's rule was ordained by God, making disobedience a sin and reinforcing societal structures.

Any disruption in this natural order was believed to lead to chaos in the world, affecting everything from agriculture to human behavior.

The belief in the Chain of Being justified social classes and roles, suggesting that people were meant to occupy their designated positions.

This idea influenced literature, including Shakespeare's works, where characters often faced consequences for disrupting the natural order.

The Great Chain of Being serves as a reminder of how deeply intertwined religion and societal structure were during this time.

source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zp2fydm/articles/zy2c4xs#zcsq7yc

Armon, Jacoby, Justin, Vania

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About Shakespeare - beliefs and superstitions

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People were extremely superstitious in Shakespeare’s day. This affected people’s views on everything from religion to treating illnesses. Some people even accused local women of being witches.

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Born- June 19, 1566, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh and Scotland

Died-March 27, 1625, Theobalds, Hertfordshire, England (aged 58)

-James was the only son of Mary (The Queen of Scotland)

-When James was one years old he had became king of Scotland on July 24, 1567.

- He was passionate about modern and ancient theology

-He planted Christianity in England which is now the main religion of England

-Wrote several works, including essays of kingship and poetry

-He was smart

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Table Group 3- Period 5 The Great Chain of Being

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Table Group 3- Period 5 The Great Chain of Being

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The Great Chain of Being is a concept stating have everything in the universe, down to the tiny things like plants, humans, animals, non-living objects, god and angelic beings of all sorts are a part of a huge hierarchy system.

Due to all of this the Great Chain of Being is a major influence on the play Macbeth. Since Macbeth disturbs the natural order of society and the British community by murdering the king and stealing the throne. It throws the all everything out of the proportion but the unnatural happenings.

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People were extremely superstitious in Shakespeare's day. This affected people's views on everything from religion to treating illnesses. Some people even accused local women of being witches.

Religion

Almost everyone in England in Shakespeare's day was Christian. Everyone would go to church on a Sunday, or even more often. Most people believed in Hell as a very real place, and that the Devil was a specific person.

THREE WITCHES PERFORMERDouble, double...

THREE WITCHES PERFORMER...toil and trouble.

THREE WITCHES PERFORMERFire burn...

THREE WITCHES PERFORMER...and cauldron bubble.

FEMALE PRESENTERI hate witches.

THREE WITCHES PERFORMERThanks very much.

FEMALE PRESENTERThey just sort of freak me out a bit. Of course they're onlyactors, but in Elizabethan times...

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREActors? Are you sure?

FEMALE PRESENTERYes Will, they're doing your play mate.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREI knew that.

FEMALE PRESENTERBut in Elizabethan times, most people genuinely believed inwitchcraft, making their presence on stage truly terrifying.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARESorry, could we do this somewhere else? Just, it's scary.

FEMALE PRESENTERYou see, back then people didn't know much about science andstuff. Rather than the internet, their belief in magic helped themexplain the things they didn't understand.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARESo what about the terrible storm Prospero's Sorcerer whips up inThe Tempest? How does your modern thinking explain that?

FEMALE PRESENTERA volatile combination of intense high and lowatmospheric pressure?

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREYou sound ridiculous.

FEMALE PRESENTERI sound ridiculous.

MALE MEMBER OF PUBLICNice hat mate.

FEMALE PRESENTERI blame the parents.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREI blame the fairies.

FEMALE PRESENTERShakespeare's plays captivated audiences by reflecting theirbeliefs and superstitions of the time. From spells in The Tempestto fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREAnybody would think I knew what I was doing.

FEMALE PRESENTEROf course there are beliefs from Shakespeare's time that somepeople still buy into today, like walking under ladders.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREOh, oh don't do that. Huh!

FEMALE PRESENTEROr spilling salt.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREAre you actually insane? She's totally out of control.

FEMALE PRESENTERAnd even today people believe in fate; the idea that our future issomehow predetermined. Like Shakespeare's doomed lovers,Romeo and Juliet.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREIt was written in the stars.

FEMALE PRESENTERIt was written in your script.

FORTUNE TELLERYou'll meet a strange man from the past.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREShe's good.

FEMALE PRESENTERHamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth; all featured one thingElizabethans really believed in, ghosts. Restless spirits doomedto walk the earth to atone for their sins or demons out forrevenge? You'd think we'd know better by now, but some peopleactually think this theatre is haunted.

[LOUD SCREAMS]

WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREIt's all in your head mate; along with a bit of help from you guysobviously. Nice one. Hanging with me witches.

Queen Elizabeth I's father, Henry VIII, broke away from the Catholic Church in Rome and became head of the Church in England. Across Northern Europe at this time groups of people 'protested' against the Roman Catholic Church - they were known as 'Protestants'. They did not obey the Pope. In England people were on both sides. They were often burnt at the stake.

Religion was a big political issue - being the wrong religion at home could get you imprisoned, tortured or executed. It also affected relations with other countries. Spain, a Catholic country, wanted England to return to Catholicism and the Spanish king sent an Armada - a fleet of ships - which tried to invade. Because religion was so closely associated with politics, playwrights had to be very careful. Shakespeare avoids talking directly about Christianity, but throughout his plays we see references to Heaven and Hell. Hamlet, for example, can't bring himself to kill his uncle while he is praying, because he will go straight to Heaven - the opposite of what Hamlet wants!

There were a few small Jewish communities too. King Edward I expelled the Jews in 1290, but some Jews had returned to England. Outwardly they had to pretend to be Elizabethan Christians and go to church. There was a lot of prejudice against Jews. This is reflected in The Merchant of Venice which features a law case between a Jew and a Christian at its centre. The case is settled with the Jew being punished by being forcibly converted to Christianity.

Did you know?

The Queen is still the head of the Church of England.

In Shakespeare's time the law said that you had to go to church every week.

One of the main translations of the Bible still used today is called the King James Bible - King James I, Elizabeth's successor, ordered a 'modern' English version in 1611.

Elizabethans believed that God set out an order for everything in the universe. This was known as the Great Chain of Being. On Earth, God created a social order for everybody and chose where you belonged. In other words, the king or queen was in charge because God put them there and they were only answerable to God (the Divine Right of Kings). This meant that disobeying the monarch was a sin, which was handy for keeping people in their place! It also led to the idea that if the wrong person was monarch everything would go wrong for a country, including whether the crops would be good, or if animals behaved as they should. The Elizabethans were very superstitious.

The Great Chain of Being includes everything from God and the angels at the top, to humans, to animals, to plants, to rocks and minerals at the bottom. It moves from beings of pure spirit at the top of the Chain to things made entirely of matter at the bottom. Humans are pretty much in the middle, being mostly mortal, or made of matter, but with a soul made of spirit. The theory started with the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato, but was a basic assumption of life in Elizabethan England. You were a noble, or a farmer, or a beggar, because that was the place God had ordained for you.

The Great Chain of Being is a major influence on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth disturbs the natural order of things by murdering the king and stealing the throne. This throws all of nature into uproar, including a story related by an old man that the horses in their stables went mad and ate each other, a symbol of unnatural happenings.

In Shakespeare's time people believed in witches. They were people who had made a pact with the Devil in exchange for supernatural powers. If your cow was ill, it was easy to decide it had been cursed. If there was plague in your village, it was because of a witch. If the beans didn't grow, it was because of a witch. Witches might have a familiar - a pet, or a toad, or a bird - which was supposed to be a demon advisor. People accused of being witches tended to be old, poor, single women. It is at this time that the idea of witches riding around on broomsticks (a common household implement in Elizabethan England) becomes popular.

There are lots of ways to test for a witch. A common way was to use a ducking stool, or just to tie them up, and duck the accused under water in a pond or river. If she floated, she was a witch. If she didn't, she was innocent. She probably drowned. Anyone who floated was then burnt at the stake. It was legal to kill witches because of the Witchcraft Act passed in 1563, which set out steps to take against witches who used spirits to kill people.

King James I became king in 1603. He was particularly superstitious about witches and even wrote a book on the subject. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth especially to appeal to James - it has witches and is set in Scotland, where he was already king. The three witches in Macbeth manipulate the characters into disaster, and cast spells to destroy lives. Other magic beings, the fairies, appear in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Elizabethans thought fairies played tricks on innocent people - just as they do in the play.

Did you know?
There are still Elizabethan superstitions that we follow today:

don't walk under a ladder - they are bad luck because they are linked to gallows (the wooden frame for hanging people)

say 'Bless you' when someone sneezes - this is to stop the Devil entering your body through your mouth

don't spill salt - salt was very expensive in Elizabethan times, so spilling it was very bad luck

black cats are unlucky - they were associated with witches

And some ones we don't:

if you can touch a condemned man, that's good luck

losing your hair suddenly was a sign of bad luck to come

Medicine in Shakespeare's England followed the theory of the 'humours'. These were four liquids in your body - blood, yellow bile, black bile and - which needed to be in balance for you to be healthy. Each liquid gave off vapours, which entered the brain and altered the person.

If someone was ill, you could treat them by altering the amount of the humour they had in them. You might give them an emetic (something to make them throw up), or you might bleed them, to take excess blood away.

Each humour was supposed to correspond to a type of personality.

Many of Shakespeare's characters correspond to one of these types - and he often makes specific reference to the name of these types. Characters use ' sanguine' as an insult - Prince Hal does in Henry IV Part I. Today we might call someone sanguine if they were very relaxed about things - Prince Hal uses it to mean someone who is so laid back that he is a coward and a lazy person. In The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio shouts at his servants for serving mutton because it is ' choleric' - and he and his wife Katherine are already bad-tempered enough!

Did you know?

This is where the idea of someone being 'good-humoured' or 'bad-humoured' comes from.

To cure excess blood - if you had a fever for example - healers would apply leeches to your skin to suck the blood out. Leeches have made a bit of a comeback in recent years - they are used now to help heal patients who have had skin grafts.

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About Shakespeare - beliefs and superstitions - BBC Bitesize

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People were extremely superstitious in Shakespeare's day. This affected people's views on everything from religion to treating illnesses. Some people even accused local women of being witches.

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Became the king of Scotland at 1 year old on July 24, 1567.

He was born on June 19, 1566, in Edinburgh Castle

He died on March 27, 1625

He wrote several things like essays and poetry

He loved modern and ancient theology

He was the only son of his mother of mary which was the queen of Scotland at the time

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A witch fever lasted about 14 months, lasting from 1645 to 1646. A very important man named Matthew Hopkins came to help with the witch fever. He killed women who he thought were witches. He killed 68 people, and hanged 19 on just one single day. He was paid to get rid of witches everywhere. There was a woman named Mary Sutton of Bedford, and she was tested to see if she was a witch. They tested her by putting her on water. If she floated, she was guilty and a witch. If she sunk, then she was innocent. She then floated, but she was not a witch, but the villagers did not believe her. 400 years from today, it was pretty reasonable for people to kill women who they thought were witches.

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Created By Milez, Information collected by Kimora and Brianna.

William was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon.

He had eight siblings and a twin, they were both baptized in 1585. He also became the oldest after losing 2 of his sisters.

William was in a rushed marriage with a twenty-six women named Anne Hathaway, together they had 3 childern.

In 1592 his reputation grew and he created two long poems called "Venus and Adonis" and "The rape of Lucrece"

Shakespeare than joined a company of actors called "The lord Chamberlain's"

His works was rich with many forms of the literature language, with several plays, sonnets, and poems; he became the most important literary figures in the American language.

His success made him a very wealthy man which lead to him purchasing his own home before he had passed in April 23, 1616.

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Macbeth was a king of the Scots whose rule was marked by efficient government and the promotion of Christianity

Macbeth was born in around 1005.

In August 1040, he killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, Morayshire.

The Real Macbeth was a Mormaer of the Province of Moray in frontier lands opposing the Viking north of Scotland.

He is best known as the murderer and usurper in William Shakespeare's tragedy.

His marriage to Kenneth III's granddaughter Grouch strengthened his claim to the throne.

In 1045, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan I's father Crinan at Dunkeld.

For 14 years, Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging Christianity.

He is also knows for traveling to Rome for a papal jubilee.

In August 1057, Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III).

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 The curse of Macbeth: is it more than superstition?  

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 The curse of Macbeth: is it more than superstition?  

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one theory is that Shakespeare play was cursed. they said he used elements of ‘real’ spells in the scenes that feature the witches. this play portrayed winches casing spells this was shocking for people because the people heavily influenced by the church.

had lost of injures and death surrounding s plays

its said during Theas the play simply more dangerous to perform?

his theater manger even died the night of the dress rehearsal for the Old Vic's 1937 .

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Most people did not understand his language because it was profound.

His influence was on the development of the English language.

He introduced 1,700 original words into the language, many of which we still use. (lonely, frugal, dwindled)

Many phrases we use daily originated in Shakespeare's work.

Had a profound impact on poetry and literature that has lasted centuries.

He perfected blank verse, which became standard in poetry. Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Charles Dickens were heavily influenced.

Because of the profound impact of Shakespeare's language, became an indispensable part of cultural education Exploring the thousands of ways we still use Shakespeare's language and themes is not only worthwhile and fascinating, but also fun.

Shakespeare had a huge impact on today's writing and poetry.

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People in Shakespeare’s time were highly superstitious, influencing their beliefs about religion, witches, and medicine. Christianity dominated England, and religious conflicts led to persecution. The Great Chain of Being dictated social hierarchy, with the king ruling by divine right. Disturbing this order, like in Macbeth, was believed to cause chaos.

Witches were feared and often blamed for misfortunes. Accused women faced cruel tests, and laws made witch-hunting legal. King James I, fascinated by witches, influenced Shakespeare’s inclusion of them in Macbeth. Fairies, like those in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, were also believed to cause mischief.

Medicine relied on balancing four bodily humours—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—which were thought to affect personality and health. Treatments included bloodletting and emetics. Many of Shakespeare’s characters reflect these humoural types. Superstitions from this era, such as avoiding ladders and blessing sneezes, still persist today.

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1585 to 1592 are referred to as Shakespeare's Lost Years. This is because no none knew where he went during that time. There were plenty of interesting theories to say the least including but not limited to: Shakespeare poaching deer from Sir Thomas Lucy's estate and to escape punishment he fled to London which is where he actually appeared in 1592. Another less crazy theory is that he was employed as a lawyer clerk or became a soldier. However, another more plausible theory is that he helped with a family business. Despite all of these theories there has been no real evidence or explanation as to why Shakespeare mysteriously disappeared for 7 years. The reason as to why I chose this topic is because it shows that the media was just as observant on celebrities back during this time period.