Expert Circles Activities

Topic 1: Will the real William Shakespeare please stand up?

Scholars and historians feel that the name “William Shakespeare” is a pen name for he real author of the plays to hide his identity from the public. Many scholars and literature historians feel that the thought that “William Shakespeare” was simply a pen name is counted a fringe belief. Then, the language that Shakespeare uses its in his biography seemed totally different from his poetic eminence and his reputation for genius, arousing suspicion that Shakespeare might not have written the works attributed to him.

The controversy has since created a large number of literature, and more than 70 authorship candidates have been proposed, including Francis Bacon, the 6th Earl of Derby, Christopher Marlowe, and the 17th Earl of Oxford. The full list is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shakespeare_authorship_candidates

Edward was a well-educated and well-traveled nobleman of Queen Elizabeth court which may be comparable with the intelligence of William Shakespeare as William needed to very intelligent and also smart to be able to have written so many superb and historical plays which are still being acted and read till date. Another reason is that Edward was also not known being a playwright or a writer, and simply attributed to have high level of intelligence, which William Shakespeare may have wanted, not wanting anyone to recognise him for anything, if he used a pen name to avoid the public. Edward was also known to be pursuing literature, which William Shakespeare should be doing because the only reason he wrote so many plays was because he loved literature. Last but not least, the birth and death date of William Shakespeare is very close, with the birth date being unknown, only that it is known that he was baptised in 1564, which may be possible as Edward was born in 1550. However, there is a 14-year difference in the year of death, which may also be caused by mistake during recording such as assuming that he was dead just because he disappeared and left.

Topic 2 : Queen Elizabeth 1

Elizabeth I born 7 September 1533 died 24 March 1603 was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. She was known as the virgin queenand was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. In 1558 Elizabeth succeeded the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels

Throughout the Early Modern Period English foreign policy underwent many dramatic shifts as the Monarch moved within the Franco-Spanish-Burgundian triangle. King Henry VII had been incredibly isolationist and intent on recovering from England’s internal problems after the War of the Roses, but his son Henry VIII had grandiose imperial ambitions. Elizabeth had more in common with her grandfather than her father, and yet her reign would see England involved in fighting from Brussels to the New World and one of the great martial victories of English history, over the Spanish Armada. She was very sensitive to the European situation and it was often a catalyst for change in her foreign policy. This was a time of change for English foreign relations and Elizabeth learnt after a decade that the old-fashioned and well-trodden paths of her ancestors would need re-examining. England had strong relationship with Spain & France prior to 1567, Philip II of Spain, most powerful man in the World, had been married to Elizabeth’s estranged sister, Mary I. But such a direct Spanish link to England had offended the common people, and Elizabeth declined Philip’s offer of marriage to herself upon her accession.

Queen Elizabeth I liked plays that were acted out for her. She likes Shakespeare’s plays because in some of his play, Shakespeare cleverly hinted passages referring to the Queen and other events that affiliated during both of their life time. Queen Elizabeth I was a great supporter of the arts, mainly she supported plays and masques.

Topic 4: The (historical and cultural) Setting of Venice

Venice in the 14th and 15th century was fighting and acquiring islands and various territories on the way to the Middle East. Venice started declining in the 16th century after various attacks like the Kingdoms of France and Spain. One of such example will be the Turks. In the summer of 1570, about 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on July 2, 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on the day that the city fell — September 9, 1570 — 20,000 Nicosian Greeks and Venetians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted.

However, Venice flourished and was an important trading centre and art centre due to its stable political climate. There were over a 100,000 people living in Venice in the 15th and 16th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, theatres were introduced and were welcomed by the citizens. Groups of actors performed in the houses of nobles and even they charged admission.

Venice was a centre for Renaissance culture in the 15th and 16th century. Architecture, art, music and literature flourished in Venice. As a major port of trade, Venice was able to find ready markets for whatever decorative arts Venetian craftsmen could produce. The whole Republic was crawling with ceramists, glassworkers, woodworkers, lace makers and sculptors (in addition to painters), all of whom made entirely satisfactory livings. Trading was also very important in Venice as it was along one of the main trading routes during the Renaissance.

While Jews had been legally banned from England since 1290, Venice had laws in place to protect non-Venetian traders who supported the city’s economic well-being

Shakespeare’s setting is filled with religious strife, especially between Christians and Jews. Also, in 16th century, Venice was more tolerant of foreigners than Elizabethan England; Jews in Venice were confined to ghettos at the time Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice.

Topic five : Jews vs Christian

Love in Christianity: Jewish conception of love to justice, and the Christian conception of love to charity.
Sin: in both religions, sin refers to an offense towards god. these sin can be thoughts, words and deeds.

However, in the christian religion, sin is grouped into different types. the first one is called a venial sin, in which the sinner has wounded their relationship with god. on the other hand a complete destruction of the relationship with god is most often called a mortal sin. Christians think that unless the sinner has salvation from sin, after they die they will go to hell in the afterlife

Christians thought that Jews are inferior to them and therefore, should not be accepted into their society. What is more is that if a Jew wants to be accepted into the society, they will have to be converted to a Christian. They are also openly discriminated by the Christians and treated as slaves.

Among socio-economic factors were restrictions by the authorities. Local rulers and church officials closed many professions to the Jews, pushing them into marginal occupations considered socially inferior, such as tax and rent collecting and moneylending, tolerated then as a “necessary evil”. Catholic doctrine of the time held that lending money for interest was a sin, and forbidden to Christians. Not being subject to this restriction, Jews dominated this business. The Torah and later sections of the Hebrew Bible criticise Usury but interpretations of the Biblical prohibition vary. Since few other occupations were open to them, Jews were motivated to take up money lending. This was said to show Jews were insolent, greedy, usurers, and subsequently led to many negative stereotypes and propaganda. Natural tensions between creditors (typically Jews) and debtors (typically Christians) were added to social, political, religious, and economic strains. Peasants who were forced to pay their taxes to Jews could personify them as the people taking their earnings while remaining loyal to the lords on whose behalf the Jews worked.

Topic 6

Shakespeare’s plays were mostly performed in the Globe Theatre which was some sort of a medieval building. The outer view of the building has a much simpler design while the inside holds a much more intricate design which brings out a mystical atmosphere. The Globe Theatre had no roof, allowing sunlight to enter the building during the day. The building had no lighting equipment thus plays were mostly scheduled in the afternoon where there is light.

The theater that Cuthbert Burbage built for the Chamberlain’s Men had a total capacity of between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators. Because there was no lighting, all performances at the Globe were conducted, weather permitting, during the day (probably most often in the mid-afternoon span between 2 P.M. and 5 P.M.). Because most of the Globe and all of its stage was open air, acoustics were poor and the actors were compelled by circumstances to shout their lines, stress their enunciation, and engage in exaggerated theatrical gestures.

The language of Shakespeare’s plays are also descriptive as the theatres are open air without much scenery. The scenery are being described through dialogues and actions of the actors. Therefore the language of Shakespeare’s plays are often descriptive.

Shakespeare’s fellow members of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men acted in his plays. Among these actors were Richard Burbage (who played the title role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare’s plays, including Hamlet, Othello, Richard III and King Lear), Richard Cowley (who played Verges in Much Ado About Nothing), William Kempe, (who played Peter in Romeo and Juliet and, possibly, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Henry Condell and John Heminges, are most famous now for collecting and editing the plays of Shakespeare’s First Folio.

People from all classes went to see Shakespeare’s plays in Shakespeare’s time. Anyone who could afford the minimum price of one penny could go and stand in the yard in front of the stage. They were known as ‘groundlings’ or ‘penny stinkers’; they stood all through the play. Those who could afford two pennies could sit on the covered benches; there were three tiers of covered seating around the edge of the yard. Rich people could sit above, or above and just to the side of the stage in the ‘Lords’ rooms’.

The Mayor and Corporation of London banned plays in 1572 as a measure against the plague, and in 1575 they formally expelled all players from the city1 This prompted the construction of playhouses outside the jurisdiction of London, in the liberties of Halliwell/Holywell in Shoreditch and later the Clink, and at Newington Butts near the established entertainment district of St. George’s Fields in rural Surrey

In the past, Shakespeare worked in places like the theatre.The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road, part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. It was the second permanent theatre ever built in England, after the Red Lion, and the first successful one. Built by actor-manager James Burbage, near the family home in Holywell Street, The Theatre is considered the first theatre built in London for the sole purpose of theatrical productions. The Theatre’s history includes a number of important acting troupes including the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.The design of The Theatre was possibly adapted from the inn-yards that had served as playing spaces for actors and/or bear baiting pits. The building was a polygonal wooden building with three galleries that surrounded an open yard.

However, the modern Globe theatre is different. Shakespeare’s Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction, of the 1614 building, was founded by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker and built approximately 230 metres (750 ft) from the site of the original theatre. The theatre was opened to the public in 1997, with a production of Henry V. The site also includes a reconstruction of the Blackfriars Theatre.