30-Second Shakespeare

50 Key Aspects of his Works, Life and Legacy, each explained in Half a Minute

Ros Barber, Mark Rylance

• Publisher: Ivy Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781782402923
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Shakespeare Drama
• Index: Literature

The bestselling 30-Second series takes a revolutionary approach to learning about those subjects you feel you should really understand. Each title selects a popular topic and dissects it into the 50 most significant ideas at its heart. Every idea, no matter how complex, is explained in 300 words and one image, all digestible in just 30 seconds. 30-Second Shakespeare uses this unique approach to grapple with the worlds most famous playwright. From what we know of his life and the intrigue of the authorship question, to uncoding the meanings of key concepts, themes and motifs, and the Bards extraordinary enduring literary and linguistic legacy.

CONTEXT

CONTEXT

GLOSSARY

anti-Stratfordians People who doubt that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the plays and poems attributed to him.

blank verse Verse that is written in a regular meter (a fixed rhythmical pattern) but doesn’t rhyme. Blank verse is usually written in lines of iambic pentameter, where the syllable pattern ‘weak-STRONG’ occurs five times per line. Blank verse is different from free verse, which has no rhyme or fixed rhythm.

Claudius The uncle of Hamlet who became king by pouring poison into his brother’s ear and marrying his brother’s wife (Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude).

commedia dell’arte A form of theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century and is characterized by stock characters of fixed social types. Best translated as ‘comedy of craft’, it entailed improvised performances based around certain scenarios, often around sex, jealousy, love and old age.

dramaturgy The theory and practice of dramatic composition. Distinct from playwriting and directing (though one person might do all three), it involves putting a story into a form that can be acted, incorporating all the elements of drama, with an awareness of a play’s history and social context.

Elizabethan Pertaining to the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558–1603). Those alive during her reign might be called Elizabethans and their practices, Elizabethan.

epigram A short, witty poem expressing a single thought or observation. Epigrams were particularly popular among the witty trainee lawyers of the Inns of Court in Elizabethan London.

epyllion A long narrative poem that has formal similarities (in theme, tone or style) with epic poetry, but is considerably shorter.

First Folio The First Folio is the term most often used to describe the first hardback edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays, which was published seven years after his death in 1623. The actual title of the First Folio was Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies.

Hamlet Perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous play, and the name of its leading character.

hanged, drawn and quartered A particularly gruesome Elizabethan punishment reserved for those found guilty of treason. Traitors were hanged by the neck until almost dead, disemboweled and emasculated while still alive, then beheaded and chopped into four quarters. These pieces were often put on public display.

Jacobean Pertaining to the reign of James I of England (1603–1625).

the King’s Men The name of Shakespeare’s theatre company after 1603, when King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England and subsequently their patron.

Nonconformism Not conforming to the practices and beliefs of the Church of England.

Ophelia Young, tragic heroine of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

patronage The means whereby a wealthy member of the nobility gave money or other forms of support to a writer or artist. Writers would often dedicate works to a wealthy Lord or Lady, hoping for financial support in return.

play-broker Someone who acts as the chief play-buyer for their acting company, and who might also sell these plays to a publisher.

revenge tragedy A tragedy in which the primary driver of the plot is a need for revenge.

satire A type of comedy that uses exaggeration, irony, and ridicule to expose and criticize the behavior of individuals. Usually topical and often used as a means of undermining those in power.

sonnet A poem (usually about love) of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme and regular meter (pattern of rhythm) and a ‘volta’ (turning point), allowing it to, for example, both ask a question and answer it.

tragicomedy A play that is both tragic and comic.

THE LIFE & LEGEND

the 30-second play

Tradition holds that William Shakespeare was born and died, with poetic appropriateness, on St George’s Day, 23 April. This is p...