For Tuesday: Wells, Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction, Chs.1-2

Be sure to read chapters 1-2 in our little Shakespeare book for Tuesday's class to learn some important details about his life and cultural moment. When you return to class, we'll have an in-class response over some big ideas I want to focus on. Here are some ideas to consider as you read:

* What did it mean to write plays in Shakespeare's time? What kind of "author" was he? 

* Similarly, what were some of the realities of being an actor at this time? Where/where did you perform? How did you make a living in a profession that has always been somewhat precarious?

* Who 'set the stage' for Shakespeare to become one of the most successful playwrights in English history? Rather than inventing the world of the theater, how do we know he inherited it? 

* Since so little is known about Shakespeare's life, how do we know when he made a splash in the London theatrical world? At a time where most playwrights were anonymous and their plays unpublished, what proof do we have that Shakespeare was ever famous?

* In a famous tribute to Shakespeare after his death, the poet/playwright Ben Jonson claimed that, "And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek," he was still one of the greatest writers of his time. How do we know that Jonson was wrong--that Shakespeare had plenty of Latin, and probably quite a bit of Greek as well? 

* What did Shakespeare do with his money once he became rich (and presumably, somewhat famous)? Why doesn't this necessarily go with the image of the 'immortal bard' that we have today?