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Swanky Elizabethan clothes!

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Elizabethan Clothing
The section and era covering Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion includes extensive information regarding all elements of clothing and fashion during the Elizabethan era. The subjects range from the type of clothing regarded as Upper Class Fashion - rich, sumptuous materials and elegant styles to clothes worn by the lower classes using basic materials. Each item of Elizabethan clothing has been designed.

Picture of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabethan Women's Clothing - gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes. Elizabethan Men's Clothing - doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes. For additional information of the period please click the following link to Tudor Clothes.

We recommend the following site for: Facts and information about Medieval Clothing

The Hair styles, Make-up, Jewelry and even suitable Wedding Dress has also been included. But the most alien concepts of the Elizabethan era was that, regardless of their wealth, Elizabethans were not allowed to wear what clothes they liked. Their clothing and items of apparel were dictated by the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws which governed the style and materials worn.

The Sumptuary Laws - Enforcing statutes of Apparel - Governing Elizabethan Clothing.
The Elizabethan Sumptuary Clothing Laws were used to control behaviour and to ensure that a specific class structure was maintained. English Sumptuary Laws governing the clothing that Elizabethans wore were well known by all of the English people. The penalties for violating Sumptuary Laws could be harsh - fines, the loss of property, title and even life.

Elizabethan Clothing for Men

Elizabethan Clothing for Women

Elizabethan Clothing
Additional details, facts and information about Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Elizabethan Clothing

Upper Class Clothing and Fashion

Women's Clothing and Fashion - gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs and shoes

Men's Clothing and Fashion - doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes

Hair styles

Make-up

Jewelry

Wedding Dress clothing and garb

Sumptuary Laws governing Elizabethan Clothing

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Elizabethan Clothing

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Elizabethan Clothing The section and era covering Elizabethan Clothing and Fashion includes extensive information regarding all elements of clothing and fashion during the Elizabethan era. The subjects range from the type of clothing regarded as Upper Class Fashion - rich, sumptuous materials and elegant styles to clothes worn by the lower classes using basic materials.

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With his unforgettable couplets, quips and coined phrases, William Shakespeare is one of the most quoted and referenced writers of all time. Nearly anyone who’s attended high school has had to read his works. Yet while we know his written word well, we have only limited information about his actual life. In honor of the 400th anniversary of his death, here’s what we do know of the Bard of Avon—his own “hour upon the stage … full of sound and fury”—presented in one minute.

Contact us at letters@time.com.

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April 23 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death

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Elizabethan Society was a very different place to the society that we live in today. Many of the things we take for granted now simply did not exist in Elizabeth's time. Society was based on strict social structures that ensured everyone knew their place. It was through this system that Elizabethan society functioned.

At the top of the social structure was the Monarch. Below them came the nobility and gentry. Both the nobility and gentry would have owned quite a lot of land. Under the gentry came the Yeomen. Yeomen were lesser gentry who owned land but not as much as the nobility and gentry.

Underneath the yeomen were the Tenant farmers, these were people who rented their land from the yeomen or gentry. Beneath all of this were the labouring poor who did not own any land, and then at the bottom of the pile came the homeless and vagrants.

This structure kept order in society. It did this because those people in the structure respected the level above them, and if you had people below you, you had to care for them when times were hard. Respect should flow up the system, and care should flow down.

This structure was common in the countryside, which is where most people lived in the country. However, it could also be found in the towns. In towns, instead of being about how much land you owned, it was all about money. The wealthy were at the top, and the poor were at the bottom.

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Elizabethan Society was a very different place to the society that we live in today. Many of the things we take for granted now simply did not exist in Elizabeth's time. Society was based on strict social structures that ensured everyone knew their place. It was through this system that Elizabethan society functioned.

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Lots of information! Plays, theater, etc.

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william shakespeare immortal bard shakespeare play sonnet essays quote poem plays shakspear sonnets charactersbiography essay timeline globe theatre paintings picture film facts authorship debate

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Absolute Shakespeare - plays, quotes, summaries, essays...

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Absolute Shakespeare, the essential resource for for William Shakespeare's plays, sonnets, poems, quotes, biography and the legendary Globe Theatre.

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Elizabethan Education

Elizabethan Life - Elizabethan Education

Elizabethan Education was generally for boys of the Upper and Middle Classes. However, Upper Class girls, often members of the Nobility were also given and education. The following link regarding the Education of Queen Elizabeth describes the type of education offered to the Nobility who were invariably taught by tutors. This page details the type of Education afforded to males during the Elizabethan era.

Elizabethan Education - begins in the home

The basic principles of childhood and education would be started in the home. These basic elements included:

Respecting their mother and father

Asking their parents blessing

Rising early in the morning and saying their prayers

Table Manners - the correct behaviour for eating small morsels, chewing properly , using a knife and using a napkin

Children would also be taught their 'place' in society which included where they should sit at the table

Elizabethan Girls would be taught obedience to the male members of the family. Their education would then generally diverse from the boys to concentrate on housewifely duties and sometimes music and dance

Elizabethan Education - the Petty Schools, also known as Dame Schools
The most elementary level of education was conducted for boys aged between 5 and 7 at what was called a ' Petty School '. These lessons and general education were conducted not in a school but in the house of the teacher. The word ' petty ' probably derives from the French word ' petit ' meaning little or small.

These Petty schools were usually run, for a small fee, by a local, well educated housewife, and were therefore also referred to as ' Dame Schools '. At the ' Petty School ' or ' Dame School ' the boy's education would consist of being taught to read and write English, learn the catechism and also learn lessons in behaviour. These were considered the most important elements of Elizabethan Petty School education and what must be taught during childhood.
Elizabethan Education - the Grammar Schools
The Children of Noble birth were invariably taught by tutors at home but, from the age of 7 to 14, children of a lower standing went to Grammar Schools - the most common institute for Elizabethan education during the Elizabethan period. Many schools were financed by the local Guild.
Elizabethan Education - the Grammar Schools for boys aged 7 to 10
Between the ages of 7 and 10 boys would have spent their early childhood being taught by Ushers, a junior master or senior pupil at the Grammar School. The boys first learnt the rudiments of Latin with the assistance of the Tudor text-book known as Lily's Latin Grammar - using the horn-book and the alphabet as a tool and the basis of Elizabethan education. This short introduction to grammar and education, compiled by William Lily, had been authorised by Henry VIII as the sole Latin grammar textbook to be used in education and schools. In 1558 a child's speller was written in England as spelling consistency gradually emerges. This period of Elizabethan education would have followed a set routine

During the first year of Elizabethan education, aged 7, the curriculum would have consisted of learning parts of speech together with verbs and nouns

The second year of Elizabethan education, aged 8, the boys would be taught the rules of grammar and sentence construction

The third year of Elizabethan education, aged 9, would have concentrated on English-Latin and Latin-English translations

The Ushers often refused to be bothered with the teaching of handwriting and this element of Elizabethan education was often taught by a temporary travelling scrivener for a few weeks during the school year.
Elizabethan Education - the Grammar Schools for boys aged 10 to 14
Between the ages of 10 and 14 boys leave the Ushers to be taught by the Masters in the following lessons.

Latin to English translations

Literature including the works of the great classical authors and dramatists, such as Ovid, Plautus, Horace, Virgil, Cicero and Seneca

Occasionally the study of Greek

Religious education continued

Arithmetic

At 14 the boys would leave Grammar School to attend University
Elizabethan Education - life in the Grammar School
Elizabethan Life at school was quite strict. During summer the school day started at six o'clock in the morning and finished at five o'clock in the evening. There was a two hour break at midday. Because of the dark nights the hours changed during the winter and school started at seven and finished earlier at four o'clock. The school week consisted of a five full days and a half-day on Thursday which continued for between 40 to 44 weeks of the year. This meant that the school boys spent at least 2,000 hours in school - more than double the current school hours. The school boys were expected to converse in Latin at all times in order to improve their spoken fluency in the language and any boy caught speaking English at school was punished. The punishments were fierce and fifty strokes of the cane was not an uncommon occurrence.

Elizabethan Education - a typical week at an Elizabethan Grammar School

Elizabethan education was based on repetition and constant examinations. A typical school week at an Elizabethan Grammar School would cover:

Monday - An examination based on the previous Sunday's sermon

Tuesday to Thursday - the basic curriculum

Friday - Examinations and Punishments

Saturday - study of the catechism and some arithmetic

Elizabethan Education - the importance of learning about Religion at School
The religious education of all children started with the example set by their parents. And this religious education continued at school.

It is important to note that a school's curriculum and the Elizabethan education of children was dictated by the ruling monarch of the time which would, of course, also reflect the religion of that particular King or Queen. Queen Elizabeth's father, King Henry VIII, started life as a devout Catholic and his daughter Mary was brought up in this faith. He then fell in love with Anne Boleyn and in order to divorce Katherine of Aragon he broke his ties with the Catholic Church and the Church of England was established. The new Protestant religion came into favour and his son Edward and younger daughter Elizabeth adhered to these faiths. This resulted in the religion of England careering from the Catholic to Protestant religions according to wishes of the reigning monarch. Elizabethan Education altered accordingly. The catechism was an Elizabethan book detailing the details of the Christian Faith. Children would be expected to learn by heart certain passages at the Elizabethan Petty School which related to being a 'good Christian' as part of their education. An example of this would be "I will renounce the devil".

1509 -1547

King Henry VIII - Catholic then established the Church of England in 1531 adhering to many Protestant doctrines

1547 -1553

His son, King Edward VI, adhered to the Protestant religionEdward died young and was succeeded by his Protestant cousin Lady Jane Grey

1553

Queen Jane only reigned for nine days and was replaced by Edward's sister Mary

1553 -1558

Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic - she obtained the name Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants

1509 -1547

Queen Elizabeth succeeded Mary. She adhered to the Protestant religion but was tolerant to Catholics

These constant changes in the English monarchy and therefore the religion of England had a significant effect on Elizabethan Education
Elizabethan Education - the Horn Book
The Elizabethan Horn book was the most important tool used in the Grammar schools. Reading and Writing skills were learnt from the alphabet detailed on a 'horn-book'. A horn-book was a piece of parchment usually pasted on to a small wooden board with a handle, and covered with a thin plate of transparent horn ( from where the name of horn-book was derived ). This made the horn-book durable and inexpensive and an important item during the ceducation of children. The horn-book displayed the alphabet in both small letters and capital letters. The Lord's Prayer in English was also included on the horn-book together with the mark of the cross, hence the alphabet detailed on the horn-book was known as ' Christcross-row ' or ' chrisscross '.
Elizabethan Education - the Elizabethan Alphabet

The Elizabethan alphabet contained 24 letters, as opposed to the present day alphabet of 26 letters. In the Elizabethan alphabet the letters "u" and "v" were the same letter as were and "i" and "j". The "j" was usually used as the capital form of the "i"in the alphabet. The "u" was used only in the middle of a word, and the "v" was used at the beginning. The other difference with the Elizabethan alphabet was that there was another letter which resembled a "y" which was used to represent the "th" sound. Some words were also spelt with and additional "e" at the end. And finally, numbers were frequently given in lower case Roman numerals, with the last "i" in a number written as a "j". For example, viij May.
Elizabethan Education - University Education

Elizabethan schoolboys normally attended Grammar school until they reached the age of fourteen when they continued their Elizabethan education at a University. Oxford University or Cambridge University werethe most popular choices. A Classical Elizabethan education would have been provided at universities during the Elizabethan era. Teachings from various faculties were available to University students.

The University Faculty of the Arts - The Arts would have included Philosophy, Rhetoric, Poetics, Natural History education etc.

The University Faculty of Liberal Arts would have included Grammar, Logic, Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic and Geometry education

The University Faculty of Theology - religious education

The University Faculty of Medicine including the study of Hippocrates, Galen, Arabic and Jewish medical texts

University Faculty of Law

Elements of the above Classical University Elizabethan education would have taken by the prominent figures in the Elizabethan era. In addition to a University Elizabethan Education the wealthy Upper classes would have also toured the major cities of Europe. Travelling to other countries meant getting permission from the monarch to do so. Therefore it was usually only the nobility were able to travel abroad.
Elizabethan Language Guide - An Elizabethan Online Dictionary
Click the following links to access more information about the old English Elizabethan Language and the Elizabethan Online Dictionary for an easy to follow Elizabethan language guide. The translation and definition of the Elizabethan words and meanings used in the Elizabethan language make the literature of the era, including the works of William Shakespeare much easier to understand.
Elizabethan Online Dictionary Elizabethan Old English Letters
Elizabethan Language
Elizabethan Insults
Additional details, facts and information about Elizabethan old English letters, including language and education can be accessed via the Elizabethan Online Dictionarythe Elizabethan Languagesection and the Elizabethan Insultssection and a comprehensive index of all the subjects covered in this website can be found in the Elizabethan Era Index

Elizabethan Education

Interesting Facts and information about Elizabethan Education in Elizabethan Life

Elizabeth Education in Petty Schools

Elizabeth Education in Grammar Schools

Elizabeth Education in Universities

The importance of English Religion in Elizabeth Education

The Horn Books

The Elizabethan Alphabet

Elizabethan University Education

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Elizabethan Education

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Visit this site dedicated to providing information about Elizabethan Education.Fast and accurate details and facts about the history of Elizabethan Education.Learn the facts about Elizabethan Education.

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Elizabethan Food and Diet : Tudor Cooking : Page 1

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Food, feasts, cooking, baking, recipes, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), tudor diet and eating.

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Shakespeare's Social Classes (What are the differences between the...

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Shakespeare's Social Classes (What are the differences between the...: Shakespeare's Social Classes

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So romantic!

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Introduce your students to William Shakespeare and the tenets of his tragedies, comedies and histories with this educational hip-hop song and activities.

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Shakespeare was a master of intelligent insults!

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Shakespeare was a master of intelligent insults!

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Just a quote

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What was Shakespeare's family like?

How many plays did Shakespeare write?

How many sonnets did Shakespeare write?

Why is Shakespeare still important today?

William Shakespeare, Shakespeare also spelled Shakspere, byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England-died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.

Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers, but no writer's living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before. The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson, that Shakespeare "was not of an age, but for all time," has been fulfilled.

It may be audacious even to attempt a definition of his greatness, but it is not so difficult to describe the gifts that enabled him to create imaginative visions of pathos and mirth that, whether read or witnessed in the theatre, fill the mind and linger there. He is a writer of great intellectual rapidity, perceptiveness, and poetic power. Other writers have had these qualities, but with Shakespeare the keenness of mind was applied not to abstruse or remote subjects but to human beings and their complete range of emotions and conflicts. Other writers have applied their keenness of mind in this way, but Shakespeare is astonishingly clever with words and images, so that his mental energy, when applied to intelligible human situations, finds full and memorable expression, convincing and imaginatively stimulating. As if this were not enough, the art form into which his creative energies went was not remote and bookish but involved the vivid stage impersonation of human beings, commanding sympathy and inviting vicarious participation. Thus, Shakespeare's merits can survive translation into other languages and into cultures remote from that of Elizabethan England.

Shakespeare the man

Life

Although the amount of factual knowledge available about Shakespeare is surprisingly large for one of his station in life, many find it a little disappointing, for it is mostly gleaned from documents of an official character. Dates of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials; wills, conveyances, legal processes, and payments by the court-these are the dusty details. There are, however, many contemporary allusions to him as a writer, and these add a reasonable amount of flesh and blood to the biographical skeleton.

Animals in Shakespeare Quiz

Early life in Stratford

The parish register of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, shows that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564; his birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23. His father, John Shakespeare, was a burgess of the borough, who in 1565 was chosen an alderman and in 1568 bailiff (the position corresponding to mayor, before the grant of a further charter to Stratford in 1664). He was engaged in various kinds of trade and appears to have suffered some fluctuations in prosperity. His wife, Mary Arden, of Wilmcote, Warwickshire, came from an ancient family and was the heiress to some land. (Given the somewhat rigid social distinctions of the 16th century, this marriage must have been a step up the social scale for John Shakespeare.)

Stratford enjoyed a grammar school of good quality, and the education there was free, the schoolmaster's salary being paid by the borough. No lists of the pupils who were at the school in the 16th century have survived, but it would be absurd to suppose the bailiff of the town did not send his son there. The boy's education would consist mostly of Latin studies-learning to read, write, and speak the language fairly well and studying some of the Classical historians, moralists, and poets. Shakespeare did not go on to the university, and indeed it is unlikely that the scholarly round of logic, rhetoric, and other studies then followed there would have interested him.

Instead, at age 18 he married. Where and exactly when are not known, but the episcopal registry at Worcester preserves a bond dated November 28, 1582, and executed by two yeomen of Stratford, named Sandells and Richardson, as a security to the bishop for the issue of a license for the marriage of William Shakespeare and " Anne Hathaway of Stratford," upon the consent of her friends and upon once asking of the banns. (Anne died in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare. There is good evidence to associate her with a family of Hathaways who inhabited a beautiful farmhouse, now much visited, 2 miles [3.2 km] from Stratford.) The next date of interest is found in the records of the Stratford church, where a daughter, named Susanna, born to William Shakespeare, was baptized on May 26, 1583. On February 2, 1585, twins were baptized, Hamnet and Judith. (Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died 11 years later.)

How Shakespeare spent the next eight years or so, until his name begins to appear in London theatre records, is not known. There are stories-given currency long after his death-of stealing deer and getting into trouble with a local magnate, Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, near Stratford; of earning his living as a schoolmaster in the country; of going to London and gaining entry to the world of theatre by minding the horses of theatregoers. It has also been conjectured that Shakespeare spent some time as a member of a great household and that he was a soldier, perhaps in the Low Countries. In lieu of external evidence, such extrapolations about Shakespeare's life have often been made from the internal "evidence" of his writings. But this method is unsatisfactory: one cannot conclude, for example, from his allusions to the law that Shakespeare was a lawyer, for he was clearly a writer who without difficulty could get whatever knowledge he needed for the composition of his plays.

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William Shakespeare | Plays, Poems, Biography, Quotes, & Facts

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William Shakespeare, the renowned English playwright and poet, crafted timeless works that continue to entertain audiences worldwide with their profound insights into human nature and enduring literary brilliance.

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He could insult people without them even knowing...

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One of his famous quotes!

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Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) - 10 Minute History

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This site has useful information about Shakespeare's bio, history, performances, etc.

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Thank you for visiting the Shakespeare Resource Center. You'll find here collected links from all over the World Wide Web to help you discover William Shakespeare. There are millions of pages that reference Shakespeare on the Internet. This site aims to make it a little easier to find the most useful ones.

The e-mail policy of the Shakespeare Resource Center is simple: the SRC will not provide answers to questions about homework, paper topics, interpretations, etc. The purpose of this site is to provide links to aid you in your online Shakespeare research; it's not meant to provide you a personal research assistant. But for the most burning questions, why not Ask the Bard?

You can also follow the Shakespeare Resource Center on Facebook and Twitter for daily updates of news, pages, and other timely items of interest. And if you're in need of a book, movie, or other Shakespeare-related merchandise, your Amazon.com purchase helps support the site. Enjoy!

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Welcome! Thank you for visiting the Shakespeare Resource Center. You'll find here collected links from all over the World Wide Web to help you discover William Shakespeare. There are millions of pages that reference Shakespeare on the Internet. This site aims to make it a little easier to find the most useful ones.

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Shakespeare Online- Lots of interesting facts!

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shakespeare online

Shakespeare on Jealousy

Jealousy and the suffering it inflicts on lovers is at the heart of Shakespeare's later romances, Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale. Few moments in Shakespeare's plays are as intense as that in which Posthumus comes to believe that Imogen has slept with Iachimo (Cymbeline, 2.4). Although they bring us to the brink of tragedy, Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale end with the defeat of jealousy, and so they are considered comedies. This is not the case with Shakespeare's best-known exploration of the "green-eyed monster" -- Othello. Read on...

Imagery of Disease in Hamlet

In Hamlet Shakespeare weaves the dominant motif of disease into every scene to illustrate the corrupt state of Denmark and Hamlet's all-consuming pessimism. Images of ulcers, pleurisy, full body pustules, apoplexy, and madness parallel the sins of drunkenness, espionage, war, adultery, and murder, to reinforce the central idea that Denmark is dying. Read on...

Shakespeare's Characters

So how do you pronounce Jaques, anyway? Here is our comprehensive list of every Shakespearean character and the play in which he or she appears. Included is our spelled pronunciation guide, essential for all drama students and teachers.

Themes in The Tempest

"The great and striking peculiarity of this play is that its action lies wholly in the ideal world. It differs, therefore, from every other work of Shakespeare in the character of its mediation. Our poet, in most of his dramas, portrays the real world, and exhibits man as acting from clear conscious motives, and not from supernatural influences. But here he completely reverses his procedure; from beginning to end the chief instrumentalities of the poem are external; its conflicts and solutions are brought about by powers seemingly beyond human might and intelligence." J. D. Snider. Read on...

Sonnet 73

An analysis of Shakespeare's inspired sonnet, hailed as one of the best in the Western canon. Included is a paraphrase of the poem in contemporary English.

Why is King Leir Important?

The story of King Lear and his three daughters is an old tale, well known in England for centuries before Shakespeare wrote the definitive play on the subject. The first English account of Lear can be found in the History of the Kings of Britain, written by Geoffrey Monmouth in 1135. However, it is clear that Shakespeare relied chiefly on King Leir, an anonymous play published twelve years before the first recorded performance of Shakespeare's King Lear. Read on to find out more about Leir and see side-by-side versions of Leir and Shakespeare's masterpiece.

What Did Shakespeare Look Like?

The Stratford Bust, located on the wall of the chancel of Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon, is the oldest and, along with the Droeshout Portrait, most credible of all the known images of Shakespeare. But there are many representations of the Bard that have been handed down throughout the centuries, each with its own fascinating story to tell.

Shakespeare in Print: The Perils of Publishing in Elizabethan England

During Shakespeare's lifetime Elizabethan playwrights cared little about seeing their work in print. Only the rare drama was actually intended to be read as well as performed. Writers would usually sell their plays to the theatrical company which staged the performances, and if the company committed a particular play to paper, it would create only one copy - the official copy - in the form of a prompt-book. A prompt-book was a transcript of the play used during performances, cluttered with stage directions, instructions for sound effects, and the names of the actors. If a play was printed for a reading audience, it was often without the author's consent. Unprincipled publishers would steal the prompt-book, and sell copies for about fivepence apiece. Read on...

Playing Fast and Loose with Shakespeare's Name

The Elizabethans cared as little for spelling as they did for the Spanish and nowhere is their comical disregard for simple consistency more evident than in their treatment of the surname Shakespeare. And how did Shakespeare spell his own name, anyway? Find out...

A Guide to Shakespeare's Theatres

Find essential facts fast with this handy chronological reference guide to every Elizabethan and quasi-Elizabethan playhouse from 1576 to 1663.

Richard Burbage: The Poet Maker

There are no records of any significant tributes to Shakespeare by his fellow actors and writers at the time of his death. The great eulogies praising the Sweet Swan of Avon appeared much later, in the First Folio of 1623. The situation was quite different for Shakespeare's friend and legendary actor, Richard Burbage. When he died in 1619 the nation mourned and eulogies poured forth from distraught writers whose characters would surely die with him. The shock and sadness over Burbage's passing may be the key to our understanding of why so little was written on Shakespeare's death just three years earlier. Read on...

Why Study Shakespeare?

Ben Jonson anticipated Shakespeare's dazzling future when he declared, "He was not of an age, but for all time!" in the preface to the First Folio. While most people know that Shakespeare is the most popular dramatist and poet the world has ever produced, students new to his work often wonder why this is so. The following are the top reasons why Shakespeare has stood the test of time.

School Features:
How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet Basics
How to Study Shakespeare: Five steps to success reading a Shakespeare play
Shakespeare's Metaphors and Similes
Shakespeare's Influence on Other Artists
Shakespeare Study Guides and Essays
Top Questions About Shakespeare

The Fascinating Stage History of Othello

Many of Shakespeare's plays have fallen in and out of favour throughout the centuries, but Othello has remained one of his most popular. One performance of Othello, produced in 1660, starred an actress by the name of Margaret Hughes in the role of Desdemona. This production is of particular importance because it marked the first time a woman was accepted on the English stage. Before this, all the characters, whether male or female, were played exclusively by men. Read on...

Entertainment in Elizabethan England

In Elizabethan England, during the times when plays were not completely outlawed, going to the theatre was the favourite activity of the masses. When disease ravaged London, actors would travel across the English countryside, entertaining farmers. There were also many days devoted to feasting, such as Mad Day, Midsummer Day, and Ascension Day (just to name a few), when people would drink and make merry. Dances were popular, whether you lived in London or in a small town, and so was getting together at the local pub for sing-alongs. Read on...

Shakespeare's Biography

Our detailed biography of Shakespeare covering his ancestry, parents, childhood in Stratford, siblings, marriage, children, career as an actor, contemporaries, and much more!

Julius Caesar Study Questions and Answers

This selection of questions and detailed answers is part of our Julius Caesar study guide, which provides students with a general overview of the play, an introduction to its central characters, excerpts from Plutarch, a list of essay topics at both high school and college levels and much more. To the full study guide...

Elizabethan Fashion Faux Pas

We have the Elizabethans to thank for many of the jewels of Western literature. But they were also responsible for some of the worst fashion disasters the world has ever seen. With ruffs so large that ladies had to eat soup with a two foot spoon and men's hose so stuffed with bran that they popped and spilled onto the floor, the Elizabethans showed no fashion shame. Find out more about Clothing in Elizabethan England.

Shakespeare Reveals Your Fortune

It is the stars,
The stars above us, govern our conditions. (King Lear)
Have some fun while you let Shakespeare predict your future. Choose from nine questions on long life, love, prosperity and happiness and you will receive your answer from the wisdom of Shakespeare's timeless verse. Your future awaits...

Featured Quote
They say, if money go before, all ways do lie open.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, (2.2), Ford

Shakespeare acquired substantial wealth thanks to his acting and writing abilities, and his shares in London theatres. The going rate was £10 per play at the turn of the sixteenth century. So how much money did Shakespeare make? Read on...

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Director Michael Almereyda and Ethan Hawke are teaming up to bring us a modern-day film adaptation of Shakespeare's masterpiece, Cymbeline. Hawke will play the mischief-loving villain, Iachimo. Please click here to read more and view the trailer.

Featured Quote
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
Macbeth, (5.5), Macbeth

"There is a magic in the expression "brief candle" which I have never known any one to deny. What is the secret of it? A candle is a commonplace enough object; in itself it is not a poetical thing; it is something useful, something with regard to which the idea of use and ownership naturally arises; it stands low down, as an inanimate thing, on the scale of images which culminates in man. Yet, as Shakespeare has used it, it is a central image in a consummate bit of poetry." Arthur Fairchild. Read on...
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Word of the Week: palmy
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets
Hamlet, (1.1), Horatio

palmy ] flourishing. Invented by Shakespeare.
In classical texts the spirits of the dead were a disorganized bunch, meandering about town talking gibberish in high-pitched shrieks. Shakespeare likely would have been familiar with Homer's description of ghosts in the Odyssey. Read on...

More Hamlet Resources
Revenge in Hamlet
All About Yorick
Philological Exam Questions on Hamlet
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Featured Quote
There is no ancient
gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers:
they hold up Adam's profession.
Hamlet, (5.1), First Clown

The Clowns (also known as the Grave-diggers) express the sentiment of the common people that Ophelia has committed suicide, although the audience has only Gertrude's poetic account of the drowning, which she says was accidental. Later in this scene we see that the Priest also doubts Ophelia's death was an accident Read on...
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shakespeare online Shakespeare on Jealousy Jealousy and the suffering it inflicts on lovers is at the heart of Shakespeare's later romances, Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale . Few moments in Shakespeare's plays are as intense as that in which Posthumus comes to believe that Imogen has slept with Iachimo (Cymbeline, 2.4).

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Shakespeare created words and phrases that we use today!

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Shakespeare created words and phrases that we use today!

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Just interesting trivia

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Elizabethan theater: Shakespeare and The Globe

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:D

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Shakespeare Solos: watch the second set of films

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Leading actors perform key Shakespeare speeches in videos that capture the tragedy, comedy, romance and magic of his plays

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Understanding William Shakespeare | The Globe Theatre - Mini Biography

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Queen Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533 in Greenwich. She died on March 24, 1603 in Richmond, Surrey after 45 years as queen.

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. In 1536, Henry had Anne beheaded. One of the reasons he had her killed was because she did not give birth to a son. Henry wanted a son to replace him as king after his death.

Unlike most girls during her time who did not go to school, Elizabeth received a formal education. She studied subjects such as mathematics, history, geography, and astronomy. By the time she was queen, Elizabeth spoke Greek, French, Italian, and Latin.

In addition to her education, Elizabeth also learned to play several musical instruments. She also loved to dance, ride horses, and hunt.

As a princess, Elizabeth gave her family gifts of prayers and poems she had translated herself, written out in her own hand, and decorated with embroidered book covers. She was only eleven when she translated a poem from French into English.

In 1554, when her sister Mary was queen, Elizabeth was sent to the Tower of London as a prisoner. Mary believed that Elizabeth supported various plots to remove her from power.

Elizabeth became queen on November 17, 1558, the day her sister, Queen Mary, died. She was crowned two months later on January 15, 1559, in a coronation ceremony.

During her reign, England defeated the Spanish Armada. Because the Spanish navy was thought to be better than the British navy, this victory raised the status of England in Europe.

Queen Elizabeth never married. She is sometimes called "The Virgin Queen."

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A look at Queen Elizabeth I and her relationship with Shakespeare for children.

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52 Random Facts about William Shakespeare | FactRetriever.com

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Shakespeare is credited with at least 37 plays and 154 sonnets. Learn more amazing facts about this master playwright in this William Shakespeare facts list!