Literature Assignment #2

Laurencia John

Literature

15th September, 2011

This incident occurred while I was in 1st form.

I had this best friend by the name of Suzette from since we were 3 years old. We attended the same pre-school and ironically, the same primary school as well. We did everything together as best friends usually would.

However, after we took common entrance and were accepted into two different schools, things began to change dramatically, which I thought was brought on because we were no longer attending the same school.

There was this girl by the name of Tabatha who was also our friend form primary school who was apparently jealous of our relationship and then decided to take it upon herself to ruin it.

After about 2 months of secondary school Tabatha started coming to me and telling me that Suzette was telling her to tell me that she couldn't stand me and so forth. I was extremely shocked and couldn't believe what I was hearing. I then decided to have a conversation with Suzette to find out what had happened but my efforts were unsuccessful since she completely blew me off and ignored me.

After that I kept to myself and decided to leave her alone although deep down inside I was hurting. It was as though I got stabbed and was left to bleed to death because I had lost my best friend of 8 years and for a reason unknown to me. Little did I know that the reason was going to find me instead.

I had friend by the name of Maria who can and informed me that Tabatha was the cause of what was happening between Suzette and I because she was telling Suzette that I was bad talking her and saying things like 'I cannot stand her' and that 'I didn't like her' and so forth.

That in itself made me extremely betrayed because we were all friends and I personally had nothing against her. However due to bad-mind and jealousy she went and ruined a good relationship.

However, after finding out that I was betrayed by my friend Tabatha, I ceased all communication with her for a good long while, but we eventually began speaking again but I decided to just tolerate her since I still have not forgiven her for her self-centered behaviour.

At times I get the feeling that I am being betrayed by someone without having knowledge of the act for sure, but in the end I am actually betrayed. So for all the times I have had the feeling I was being betrayed, I actually was so I have never misunderstood the situation.

Lists of Shakespeare’s books I have studied over the years are as followed:

·         Romeo and Juliet.

·         Much Ado about Nothing.

·         Macbeth.

·         Hamlet.

·         The taming of the Shrew.

In my opinion, characters always seem to resort to violence, trickery or evilness to vindicate themselves or to try and prove that hey are not weak individuals or in some cases, to mask their weaknesses. It could also be due to the fact that they have not learned how to deal with conflict resolution.

The Elizabethan Theater

The History of the Elizabethan Theater started with the Wandering minstrels who moved from one castle and town to the next. Any strangers were treated with suspicion during the Elizabethan era, and this also applied to wandering actors, especially when many horrific outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague were occurring. The reputations of Elizabethan actors were that of vagabonds and thieves. Traveling throughout the era was restricted and required a license. Regulations restricting actors soon followed and Licenses were granted to the nobles of England for the maintenance of troupes of players. Thus the Elizabethan Acting Troupes were formed and the History of the Elizabethan Theater started!

The traveling actors played to their audiences in the courtyards of taverns - called inn-yards. Temporary stages had to be erected and the actors moved around from one venue to the next. The biggest of the Inn-yards had a maximum capacity of 500 people. There were no purpose built theaters until 1576 when a theatrical entrepreneur called James Burbage (father of the actor, Richard Burbage) decided to capitalize on the growing popularity of plays. James Burbage obtained a lease and permission to build 'The Theater' in Shoreditch, London. The Lord Chamberlain's Men use it from 1594 to 1596 and thus begins of the History of the Elizabethan Theater.
The 'Theater' was built in a similar style to the Roman Coliseum, but on a smaller scale. The Elizabethan amphitheater was designed to hold a capacity of up to 3000 people! Similar amphitheaters were later built to house blood sports, such as bear beating at the 'Bear Garden' and Bull beating at the 'Bull Ring'. In 1577 another open air amphitheatre called The Curtain opens in Finsbury Fields in Shoreditch, London followed by the Rose in 1587.

The Theater of the Absurd

                    

 

Theater of the absurd came about as a reaction to World War II. It took basis of existential philosophy and combined it with dramatic elements to create a style of theater which presents a world which cannot be logically explained. Life is described as being... Absurd.
The “Theater of the Absurd” is a term coined by Hungarian-born critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his 1962 book on the subject. The term refers to a particular type of play which first became popular during the 1950s and 1960s and which presented on stage the philosophy articulated by French philosopher Albert Camus in his 1942 essay.

It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 of John Shakespeare, a Glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight. Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, however he never proceeded to University schooling.

At the age of 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and had three children: Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (called the King's Men after the ascension of James I in 1603).

Shakespeare's success is apparent when studied against other playwrights of this age. His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. It is noted that never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. While Shakespeare could not be accounted wealthy, by London standards, his success allowed him to purchase New House and retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611.

Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, bequeathing his properties to his daughter Susanna (married in 1607 to Dr. John Hall). To his surviving daughter Judith, he left £300, and to his wife Anne left "my second best bed”.

In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare from the Lord Chamberlain's Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, printed the First Folio edition of the Collected Works, of which half the plays contained therein were previously unpublished. The First Folio also contained Shakespeare's sonnets.

SOME PLAYS WRITTEN BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

·         Hamlet

·         Macbeth

·         Julius Caesar

·         The Tempest

·         King Lear

·         Romeo and Juliet

·         Much Ado about Nothing

In addition, William Shakespeare is known as “The Greatest Play Writer" because his works have been a major influence on subsequent theatre. In addition, he also transformed English theatre by expanding expectations about what could be accomplished through characterization, plot, action, language and genre.