- our special world – another needs, priorities and duties
- live for music, discos, parties, love, friends, drugs, no matter about anything else
- friends, freedom, nice clothes, friends, looking smart
- not pay bills, not go to work, enjoy life without concerns
- parents and old people we don’t want to obey, school and future why?
- generation gap – they don’t understand me, hey mother, father, teacher listen to me
- I’m not less then you, look at you, you old ugly duck
- adult leave me alone I don’t need your care, just give some money and go away
- I have my own world you can even imagine or understand
Drugs, spirits, tobacco… – our big problems
- learn how to use them, face them, thing about them, make our opinion about
- very danger, very simply make mistake – big mistake that costs our life
- every help, information or discussion can’t avoid us to tray it, it only helps
- our curiosity is invincible, everyone must face it on his own
- we learn about everything, about living in this world – very hard
- our ideals disappear very fast
- we must fight our way into society
Little problems
- friends – who is and who isn’t, closest people in our world
- it’s easier with more people than alone, we need to share our problems
- we argue, change opinions and experiences and we betray ourselves
- love – we need to share our feelings, trying to find the best girl in the world
- we need to love and to be loved
- it hurts to lose someone to be alone again
- why doesn’t she listen to me and who is that guy next to her
- problems with dressing, with our visage, feelings, school, teachers…
Weather seasons climate
- Czech Rep. – moderate climate
- four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter, each lasts about 3 months
- seasons are balanced, winters aren’t much cold and summers are beautiful not too hot
- spring and summer are considered to be the most beautiful
- nature begins to awake, it is getting warmer and warmer and soon the smoke from chimneys stops to rise, first flowers appear, it comes earlier to the lowlands than to the hills, a lot of water from melting snow, very often floods
- birds sing again, flowers, grass and trees begin to be green and healthy again,
- in April very unpredictable weather, sunshine becomes into snowing very fast
- summer – it’s often very hot days, the grass is green, there are leafs on trees and shadows under them, flowers can be seen everywhere and all kinds of insect too, water is good for swimming and the swimming pools are overcrowded
- there can be storms, sometimes very tough with heavy rain, flashes of lightings and thunders, when it dies out, there can appear a rainbow
- it’s the time for gathering some fruits like strawberries or raspberries
- autumn – days get shorter, nice weather breaks, sometimes there is a nice day, it’s time to harvest in the gardens or fields, grass turns yellow and gets dry, the leaves turn into fantastic colours and fall down, we can go mushrooming, birds set out on the journeys to the south
- weather is often very bad, the sky is cloudy, sometimes it’s chilly and it may drizzle, people very often don’t like it, it’s awful
- cold wind blows often the temperatures go low and sometimes it may snow
- winter – hard frost, snow and icy wind, we can enjoy skiing in the mountains and hills covered by snow, winter pleasures for children, lakes, ponds and rivers are covered by ice and we must cut a holes to let fish breathe, roads become icy and slippery and have to be cleared from the snow, we must wear warm clothes, caps and gloves
- nowadays we miss real winter more and more, sometimes there is only little of snow
- finally springs come, the snow melts and everything becomes covered with mud and water
- weather is for us very important, it’s still changing, and according to the weather we choose our clothes, affects our moods, work and activities outside
- can be danger, if change too quick, we can die of cold, or be blasted by a flesh, or get sunburnt by a sun
- four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter, each lasts about 3 months
- seasons are balanced, winters aren’t much cold and summers are beautiful not too hot
- spring and summer are considered to be the most beautiful
- nature begins to awake, it is getting warmer and warmer and soon the smoke from chimneys stops to rise, first flowers appear, it comes earlier to the lowlands than to the hills, a lot of water from melting snow, very often floods
- birds sing again, flowers, grass and trees begin to be green and healthy again,
- in April very unpredictable weather, sunshine becomes into snowing very fast
- summer – it’s often very hot days, the grass is green, there are leafs on trees and shadows under them, flowers can be seen everywhere and all kinds of insect too, water is good for swimming and the swimming pools are overcrowded
- there can be storms, sometimes very tough with heavy rain, flashes of lightings and thunders, when it dies out, there can appear a rainbow
- it’s the time for gathering some fruits like strawberries or raspberries
- autumn – days get shorter, nice weather breaks, sometimes there is a nice day, it’s time to harvest in the gardens or fields, grass turns yellow and gets dry, the leaves turn into fantastic colours and fall down, we can go mushrooming, birds set out on the journeys to the south
- weather is often very bad, the sky is cloudy, sometimes it’s chilly and it may drizzle, people very often don’t like it, it’s awful
- cold wind blows often the temperatures go low and sometimes it may snow
- winter – hard frost, snow and icy wind, we can enjoy skiing in the mountains and hills covered by snow, winter pleasures for children, lakes, ponds and rivers are covered by ice and we must cut a holes to let fish breathe, roads become icy and slippery and have to be cleared from the snow, we must wear warm clothes, caps and gloves
- nowadays we miss real winter more and more, sometimes there is only little of snow
- finally springs come, the snow melts and everything becomes covered with mud and water
- weather is for us very important, it’s still changing, and according to the weather we choose our clothes, affects our moods, work and activities outside
- can be danger, if change too quick, we can die of cold, or be blasted by a flesh, or get sunburnt by a sun
Shopping
Shopping, food and clothes
- shopping – just buying something, anything, very important in our world
- we make money in work and then spend it in shops, without money – no shopping
- in the olden days, there was no money, no shopping, people only exchanged their goods
- there are a lot of kinds of shops – food stores or groceries, butcheries, bakeries, drugstores, stationeries, music shops, bookstores, toyshops, sexshops…
- shopping in my life: takes a lot of time
- I buy mostly food and clothes
- both my parents work, brother out, so I must often buy food for dinner and breakfast
- must make decision what to eat
- there is a small grocery in our village – small selection, but fresh food round the corner
- must count the exact number of rolls (don’t like waste of food)
- very often half loaf of bread and some cheese or sausage, I like ham and bacon the best
- sometimes I forget - eat all the remains, or do something of flour like pancakes
- for breakfast I’m able to bake a ginger-bread – really good at it – I always do it for a visit
- my parents or me if they give me a list do a big shopping sometimes
- we take a car and go to the city to the supermarket
- there is everything: food, clothes, electronics, things for cars, for animals – anything
- the goods there are very often cheaper than in a small shops, but less choice than in specialized little shops
- we buy things with long expiry date – milk, sweets, mineral waters, spirits, eggs, pet-food, anything frozen, tins with anything and so on
- I don’t like buying so I don’t buy clothes very often
- I like advertising clothes – free, no troubles with choosing it, sometimes nice
- my dad sometimes give me what he gets in his work
- I very often buy them when I’m in a city waiting for a bus and having nothing to do, or if I really need some
- Very important for me is the price – I don’t like stall-keepers with their low prices
- I don’t buy expensive clothes but sometimes if I like something I go and buy it no matter about the cost
- very hard for me to choose what to take, many goods to look at and many shops to visit
- quality very important, very difficult do recognize the quality before I buy it
- I don’t like shopping – takes a lot of time, man must thing what to choose
- it’s an activity that we must do, we must queue, pay and, sometimes visit a lot of shops until we find the one where they have what we want, I hate to go to the shop and find that it’s closed…
- shopping – just buying something, anything, very important in our world
- we make money in work and then spend it in shops, without money – no shopping
- in the olden days, there was no money, no shopping, people only exchanged their goods
- there are a lot of kinds of shops – food stores or groceries, butcheries, bakeries, drugstores, stationeries, music shops, bookstores, toyshops, sexshops…
- shopping in my life: takes a lot of time
- I buy mostly food and clothes
- both my parents work, brother out, so I must often buy food for dinner and breakfast
- must make decision what to eat
- there is a small grocery in our village – small selection, but fresh food round the corner
- must count the exact number of rolls (don’t like waste of food)
- very often half loaf of bread and some cheese or sausage, I like ham and bacon the best
- sometimes I forget - eat all the remains, or do something of flour like pancakes
- for breakfast I’m able to bake a ginger-bread – really good at it – I always do it for a visit
- my parents or me if they give me a list do a big shopping sometimes
- we take a car and go to the city to the supermarket
- there is everything: food, clothes, electronics, things for cars, for animals – anything
- the goods there are very often cheaper than in a small shops, but less choice than in specialized little shops
- we buy things with long expiry date – milk, sweets, mineral waters, spirits, eggs, pet-food, anything frozen, tins with anything and so on
- I don’t like buying so I don’t buy clothes very often
- I like advertising clothes – free, no troubles with choosing it, sometimes nice
- my dad sometimes give me what he gets in his work
- I very often buy them when I’m in a city waiting for a bus and having nothing to do, or if I really need some
- Very important for me is the price – I don’t like stall-keepers with their low prices
- I don’t buy expensive clothes but sometimes if I like something I go and buy it no matter about the cost
- very hard for me to choose what to take, many goods to look at and many shops to visit
- quality very important, very difficult do recognize the quality before I buy it
- I don’t like shopping – takes a lot of time, man must thing what to choose
- it’s an activity that we must do, we must queue, pay and, sometimes visit a lot of shops until we find the one where they have what we want, I hate to go to the shop and find that it’s closed…
London
- capital of GB, very large city
- population about 10 million
- situated on the river Thames in south east of England. Founded by Romans
- 1666 nearly all the city destroyed by the great fire
- famous for its transports
- double-deckers – red buses there
- oldest underground in the world and one of the largest
- black taxis
- three airports (Heathrow and Gatwick)
- Places of Interest:
The Houses of Parliament with Big Ben – clock tower
- the seat of parliament
Westminster Abbey – kings and queens are crowned here
- poet’s corner – there are buried poets
- royal wedding and ceremonies take place here
St. Pauls Cathedral – one of the largest
- in WW2 badly damaged by bombs
- around is The City – the oldest part of London – banks
The Tower – was a prison and now it is a museum
- The Crown Jewels are there guarded by befeaters
Tower Bridge – famous symbol of London
- two towers on both sides there is a museum
- it opens in the middle to let the large ships move through
Trafalgar Square – named after the Battle of Trafalgar (defeat of Napoleon)
- largest square in London
- Nelson’s Columb surrounded by four lions
- some fountains, famous for meetings and demonstrations
- there is National Gallery
Piccadilly Circus – small and busy square
- statue of Eros, meeting place in London
The British Museum – the largest in the world
- all kinds of old things there
- British Museum Library – the largest in the world
Buckingham Palace – Queen’s residence in London
Hyde Park – largest park in London
- speakers corner, where anybody can have a spech
- population about 10 million
- situated on the river Thames in south east of England. Founded by Romans
- 1666 nearly all the city destroyed by the great fire
- famous for its transports
- double-deckers – red buses there
- oldest underground in the world and one of the largest
- black taxis
- three airports (Heathrow and Gatwick)
- Places of Interest:
The Houses of Parliament with Big Ben – clock tower
- the seat of parliament
Westminster Abbey – kings and queens are crowned here
- poet’s corner – there are buried poets
- royal wedding and ceremonies take place here
St. Pauls Cathedral – one of the largest
- in WW2 badly damaged by bombs
- around is The City – the oldest part of London – banks
The Tower – was a prison and now it is a museum
- The Crown Jewels are there guarded by befeaters
Tower Bridge – famous symbol of London
- two towers on both sides there is a museum
- it opens in the middle to let the large ships move through
Trafalgar Square – named after the Battle of Trafalgar (defeat of Napoleon)
- largest square in London
- Nelson’s Columb surrounded by four lions
- some fountains, famous for meetings and demonstrations
- there is National Gallery
Piccadilly Circus – small and busy square
- statue of Eros, meeting place in London
The British Museum – the largest in the world
- all kinds of old things there
- British Museum Library – the largest in the world
Buckingham Palace – Queen’s residence in London
Hyde Park – largest park in London
- speakers corner, where anybody can have a spech
Holidays and travel
- Holidays have landed – there are more than 2 months full of free time
- We don’t want to stay at home, we must travel – anywhere and anyhow
- We go on foot (short distances), by bike, by car, by bus, by train, by plane…
- Travelling takes up a lot of time in our lives and a lot of money
- So just imagine having a lot of money and travel for ex. to the USA for our holidays
- pack everything, go by bus or by car to Prague, to the airport – first time so full of fear and thrill, looking for the entrance way, then board a plane then it takes of. You are very high, see the clouds from window, drink spirits and travel in comfort
- after a few hours it lands in the USA, we travel by a cab to the station – a big building full of shops and ticket offices, a lot of people, very busy and noisy we must buy our tickets and find a right platform. Then enter the train and go to the nature a conductor will check our tickets. We can have a chat, look out from the window or just sleep. I like trains, moving on tracks, its sound is calming, you can walk, look out from the window, there is a lot of space, it stops only in stations…
- so we are there, now we must go on foot some km to our camp with our luggage on our back or in our hand
- there we borrow bikes and go to the nature. There are cycle tracks and we use them
- we borrow a car and go further, where we park it and continue by foot up to the hills and mountains, visiting places of interests and so on
- we go to the sea and there we board a ship and sail somewhere to the sea and then back just to know what it is like to sail in the sea
- after a few weeks we don’t have any money, we don’t want to go home yet so we go hitchhiking around the USA – just stop next to the road and wave to the cars to bring us somewhere, anywhere, we try to work for a while somewhere, sometimes go by bus for a while and when it’s all enough for us, we board a plane and fly home
- full of new experiences and impressions
- we visited a lot of places, saw a lot – everything in our memories and photos, we had taken
- it was very tough and tiring so all of us look forward having a great and long rest
- We don’t want to stay at home, we must travel – anywhere and anyhow
- We go on foot (short distances), by bike, by car, by bus, by train, by plane…
- Travelling takes up a lot of time in our lives and a lot of money
- So just imagine having a lot of money and travel for ex. to the USA for our holidays
- pack everything, go by bus or by car to Prague, to the airport – first time so full of fear and thrill, looking for the entrance way, then board a plane then it takes of. You are very high, see the clouds from window, drink spirits and travel in comfort
- after a few hours it lands in the USA, we travel by a cab to the station – a big building full of shops and ticket offices, a lot of people, very busy and noisy we must buy our tickets and find a right platform. Then enter the train and go to the nature a conductor will check our tickets. We can have a chat, look out from the window or just sleep. I like trains, moving on tracks, its sound is calming, you can walk, look out from the window, there is a lot of space, it stops only in stations…
- so we are there, now we must go on foot some km to our camp with our luggage on our back or in our hand
- there we borrow bikes and go to the nature. There are cycle tracks and we use them
- we borrow a car and go further, where we park it and continue by foot up to the hills and mountains, visiting places of interests and so on
- we go to the sea and there we board a ship and sail somewhere to the sea and then back just to know what it is like to sail in the sea
- after a few weeks we don’t have any money, we don’t want to go home yet so we go hitchhiking around the USA – just stop next to the road and wave to the cars to bring us somewhere, anywhere, we try to work for a while somewhere, sometimes go by bus for a while and when it’s all enough for us, we board a plane and fly home
- full of new experiences and impressions
- we visited a lot of places, saw a lot – everything in our memories and photos, we had taken
- it was very tough and tiring so all of us look forward having a great and long rest
Meals
Food, cooking, eating out, national food, healthy eating
It is said that the Czechs and the Moravians love eating and they are able to talk about it a long time.
In our country daily meals usually start with breakfast which consist of something to drink - tea, coffee, cacao etc. - and something to eat - bread, butter, cheese, eggs, but also fruit, cakes, cornflakes etc. The Czechs hurry with their morning cups of tea or coffee, or miss them at all, very often.
Around noon we have our lunch which is usually warm and consist of some soup, a main dish , salad or dessert and something to drink. Most people go to a school, office or factory canteen but some of them prefer going to the restaurants or having a lunch in buffet or fast food (Mc’Donald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken etc.), buying some hamburgers, chickens, chips or pizza at street stalls .
Soups are mainly vegetable (potato, bean, celery, carrot etc.) or meat (beef, chicken, hen, goulash etc.).
The main dish is usually some meat or fish or poultry with potatoes, rice, dumplings, pasta or bread etc. The meat is usually of following kinds: beef, pork, veal , mutton , lamb etc., and we can prepared it in various ways - roast it , grill it, boil it, bake it 7 or stew it . Lot of people in our country eat rabbits, but also fish (carps, trouts, salmon, shark), poultry is things like chicken, hen, duck, turkey, goose etc. But the dish can be also sweet - e.g. fruit dumplings, fruit rice pudding etc.
While cooking we may add various spices so that the meal will have a unique flavour - e.g. garlic , thyme, marjoram, curry, pepper, ginger etc.
After the main dishes we may drink lemonade, beer, juice, mineral water etc.
An evening meal can be warm or cold what depends on the time of the year very often. Cold and quick supper may consist of some bread or pastry (ban , twist , roll ) and some salami, butter, cheese etc. We can also cook some soup or have some dish from a tin.
The Czech national meal is roasted pork, sauerkraut and dumplings, typical Czech meals are e.g. ‘Moravian sparrows’ (roasted pork) or roasted beef in sour cream and dumplings.
Nowadays some people try to cook some kind of foreign (Chinese, Italian, Spanish) food and many families prefer to cook more healthy vegetable meals.
However the Czechs hurry with breakfast, the British often start with a cup of tea still in bed.
Traditional British breakfast consist of a glass of fruit juice and cornflakes with milk. Of course they drink the morning tea or coffee. Big cooked breakfast morning meals are often called ‘brunch’ - breakfast and lunch together - and consisting of boiled or scrambled eggs or fried bacon and egg with bread. Lot of people like toasts with butter and marmalade or honey.
About 1 o’clock there is usually lunch time in Britain. The British eating habits have changed over last thirty years - many families now prefer to eat out in restaurants or cafés.
The typical British break time - teatime - is about 4 or 5 o’clock p.m. but nowadays it is more a social occasion than a regular meal-time. This 5 o’clock tea is usually fairly strong and eaten together with some cakes or biscuits.
About 6 o’clock most family have their evening meal - ‘dinner’. It may be cooked or cold as well as in Bohemia.
Typical British meal is pudding . They have many kinds of puddings and the preparation of this meal usually last several weeks (or months). Especially Christmas pudding, made of eggs, chopped candied peel , mixed dried fruit and shredded suet , and finally poured over by strong brandy and lighted, belongs to the famous British speciality.
It is said that the Czechs and the Moravians love eating and they are able to talk about it a long time.
In our country daily meals usually start with breakfast which consist of something to drink - tea, coffee, cacao etc. - and something to eat - bread, butter, cheese, eggs, but also fruit, cakes, cornflakes etc. The Czechs hurry with their morning cups of tea or coffee, or miss them at all, very often.
Around noon we have our lunch which is usually warm and consist of some soup, a main dish , salad or dessert and something to drink. Most people go to a school, office or factory canteen but some of them prefer going to the restaurants or having a lunch in buffet or fast food (Mc’Donald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken etc.), buying some hamburgers, chickens, chips or pizza at street stalls .
Soups are mainly vegetable (potato, bean, celery, carrot etc.) or meat (beef, chicken, hen, goulash etc.).
The main dish is usually some meat or fish or poultry with potatoes, rice, dumplings, pasta or bread etc. The meat is usually of following kinds: beef, pork, veal , mutton , lamb etc., and we can prepared it in various ways - roast it , grill it, boil it, bake it 7 or stew it . Lot of people in our country eat rabbits, but also fish (carps, trouts, salmon, shark), poultry is things like chicken, hen, duck, turkey, goose etc. But the dish can be also sweet - e.g. fruit dumplings, fruit rice pudding etc.
While cooking we may add various spices so that the meal will have a unique flavour - e.g. garlic , thyme, marjoram, curry, pepper, ginger etc.
After the main dishes we may drink lemonade, beer, juice, mineral water etc.
An evening meal can be warm or cold what depends on the time of the year very often. Cold and quick supper may consist of some bread or pastry (ban , twist , roll ) and some salami, butter, cheese etc. We can also cook some soup or have some dish from a tin.
The Czech national meal is roasted pork, sauerkraut and dumplings, typical Czech meals are e.g. ‘Moravian sparrows’ (roasted pork) or roasted beef in sour cream and dumplings.
Nowadays some people try to cook some kind of foreign (Chinese, Italian, Spanish) food and many families prefer to cook more healthy vegetable meals.
However the Czechs hurry with breakfast, the British often start with a cup of tea still in bed.
Traditional British breakfast consist of a glass of fruit juice and cornflakes with milk. Of course they drink the morning tea or coffee. Big cooked breakfast morning meals are often called ‘brunch’ - breakfast and lunch together - and consisting of boiled or scrambled eggs or fried bacon and egg with bread. Lot of people like toasts with butter and marmalade or honey.
About 1 o’clock there is usually lunch time in Britain. The British eating habits have changed over last thirty years - many families now prefer to eat out in restaurants or cafés.
The typical British break time - teatime - is about 4 or 5 o’clock p.m. but nowadays it is more a social occasion than a regular meal-time. This 5 o’clock tea is usually fairly strong and eaten together with some cakes or biscuits.
About 6 o’clock most family have their evening meal - ‘dinner’. It may be cooked or cold as well as in Bohemia.
Typical British meal is pudding . They have many kinds of puddings and the preparation of this meal usually last several weeks (or months). Especially Christmas pudding, made of eggs, chopped candied peel , mixed dried fruit and shredded suet , and finally poured over by strong brandy and lighted, belongs to the famous British speciality.
William Shakespeare
The time of the Renaissance
‘Shakespeare’s era’ was the time of Renaissance and the time of ‘Elizabethan Age’. England became the sea power, the trade rapidly grew and there were also big changes in culture. The Renaissance was a period of revival antic ideals, especially ideals of human physical and psychical beauty, ideals of relations between man and woman etc. People began to love and enjoy their life again. The Renaissance and Humanism brought into literature and drama a new wave of realism and satire, which most important representative was W. Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of seven he started attending the local grammar school and was educated there.
When he was eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, eight years older girl from a nearby village. Six months after the wadding, their first daughter Susanna was born and two years later they had a twins - a boy Hamnet and a girl Judith.
We know only a little about Shakespeare’s life during next seven years but in 1592 he left his wife and children and became an actor and playwright in London where existed two very favourite theatres - The Theatre and The Swan - under the patronage of the King.
Shakespeare joined a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594 and worked as their leading actor and dramatist. This all-male company of experienced and talented players built their own theatre - the Globe. It was open to the sky and its owners, including Shakespeare, shared its profits. 1
For the next decade the Globe, on the Thames at Bankside, became one of the main London’s theatre and the home of Shakespeare’s work. Many of his greatest plays were written during those ten years, and were acted here.
In 1613 the Globe was destroyed by fire but the former Lord Chamberlain’s Men, by now called the King’s Men (under the patronage of James I), had leased 2 another smaller playhouse.
In 1612, Shakespeare returned home. His son Hamnet had died when only eleven, but his two daughters were in Stratford with his wife Anne. He was now a rich man and he bought a handsome house, New Place, the second largest in Stratford. It had two gardens, two orchards and two barns 3. Here, with his family, he spent the last years of his life and died on April 23, 1616 (the same date he was born; the legend said that Shakespeare died after the noisy birthday celebrations with his friends). He is buried at Hole Trinity Church in Stratford.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, mostly in blank verse, which were commonly divided into: tragedies (T) which were mostly written during the first decade of the 17th century and show us the negative side of the new society, the mood of pessimism; comedies (C) express the typically spirit of the Renaissance, the pleasant aspect of the happy an beautiful life; others are historical plays (H) and romances (R).
The best and the most known of them are:
As You Like It (1599) - C
Hamlet (1601) - T
Othello (1604) - T
King Lear (1605) - T
Macbeth (1605) - T
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606) - H/T
The Winter’s Tale (1610) - R
The Tempest (1611) - R
Richard III (1592) - T
The Taming of the Shrew (1594) - C 4
Romeo and Juliet (1594) - T
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595) - C 5
The Merchant of Venice (1596) - C
Henry IV (1597) - H
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598) - C
Julius Caesar (1599) - H
Beside the plays Shakespeare wrote also sonnets in his own special forms.
Shakespeare’s heroes, moral questions and human suffering inspired many artists of the periods after him, e.g. G.Verdi, S.Prokofjev, L. van Beethoven etc. The most important Czech translator of Shakespeare’s work was J.V.Sládek in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
• Romeo and Juliet
This tragedy is different from the other Shakespeare’s plays - the heroes aren’t destroyed by faults in their character and nature 6 but by the hate of their families.
The story tells us about the long hate between the two powerful houses in Verona - the House of Montague and the House of Capulet. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, at the ball and secretly marries her. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses 7 but his friend Mercucio fights and is killed. In anger and revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and has to run from Verona.
Juliet is commanded by her father to marry Paris, a nobleman. The Friar Laurence 8, who had secretly married them, helps Juliet by giving her magic drops which makes her seen dead, so she is put into the family vault. Romeo mistakenly believes 9 that Juliet is really dead, kills Paris at her graveside and than take poison. When Juliet wakes and find her lover’s body beside her, she stabs herself by Romeo’s dagger 10 . After this horrible events the warring families made peace.
In fact, I don’t like this play very much because of the theme - I don’t like emotional and sensitive stories like this and, in my opinion, this theme is now - at the end of the 20th century - quite leftovers 11.
• Hamlet
It is the tragedy of the suffering and hesitation of an honest, strong and responsible man who isn’t able to kill or punish without having a clear proof of guilt. 12
Hamlet, the son of the dead king of Denmark, learns the truth about father’s death from a father’s ghost at Elsinor Castle. But to make sure he pretends madness and tests the ghost’s story by having a play - resembling his father’s murder 13 - acted before his uncle Claudius, who murdered Hamlet’s father and married his mother, the queen.
The king decides to destroyed Hamlet and send him to England to have him killed there. But Hamlet returns and sees Ophelia’s funeral. Ophelia loves Hamlet but they cannot fulfil their love because of Hamlet’s plans. Claudius sends Leartes, Ophelia’s brother, to a match with Hamlet. He is wounded by Leartes’s poisoned sword but he is manages to stab 14 Claudius. The queen dies too after she drinks poisoned wine destined for Hamlet.
(Zda žít či nežít - to je oč tu běží:
zda je to ducha důstojnější snášet
střely a šípy rozkácené sudby,
či proti moři běd se chopit zbraně
a skoncovat je vzpourou. Zemřít - spát -
Nic víc…)
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to také arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? - to die, - to sleep -
No more…
• King Lear
King Lear had three daughters and he decided to divided his kingdom among them. He asked them to tell him which of them loved him best. The two elder Goneril and Regan - both already married - said they love him above all, but it wasn’t true. His youngest and most favourite daughter Cornelia, who really loved him wouldn’t tell lie and said that she give half her love to her father and half to her future husband. The king became angry and drove her away from home. All to late he recognised that his two older daughters had not spoken the true. He left their castles, wandered in a terrible storm and became mad 15 .
Cordelia, who had married the king of France, came to the England with an army to help her father. But her army is defeated, she and also her father became prisoners. Cordelia was hanged in prison and after King Lear saw her death, his heart broke and he died too.
‘Shakespeare’s era’ was the time of Renaissance and the time of ‘Elizabethan Age’. England became the sea power, the trade rapidly grew and there were also big changes in culture. The Renaissance was a period of revival antic ideals, especially ideals of human physical and psychical beauty, ideals of relations between man and woman etc. People began to love and enjoy their life again. The Renaissance and Humanism brought into literature and drama a new wave of realism and satire, which most important representative was W. Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, at Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of seven he started attending the local grammar school and was educated there.
When he was eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, eight years older girl from a nearby village. Six months after the wadding, their first daughter Susanna was born and two years later they had a twins - a boy Hamnet and a girl Judith.
We know only a little about Shakespeare’s life during next seven years but in 1592 he left his wife and children and became an actor and playwright in London where existed two very favourite theatres - The Theatre and The Swan - under the patronage of the King.
Shakespeare joined a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594 and worked as their leading actor and dramatist. This all-male company of experienced and talented players built their own theatre - the Globe. It was open to the sky and its owners, including Shakespeare, shared its profits. 1
For the next decade the Globe, on the Thames at Bankside, became one of the main London’s theatre and the home of Shakespeare’s work. Many of his greatest plays were written during those ten years, and were acted here.
In 1613 the Globe was destroyed by fire but the former Lord Chamberlain’s Men, by now called the King’s Men (under the patronage of James I), had leased 2 another smaller playhouse.
In 1612, Shakespeare returned home. His son Hamnet had died when only eleven, but his two daughters were in Stratford with his wife Anne. He was now a rich man and he bought a handsome house, New Place, the second largest in Stratford. It had two gardens, two orchards and two barns 3. Here, with his family, he spent the last years of his life and died on April 23, 1616 (the same date he was born; the legend said that Shakespeare died after the noisy birthday celebrations with his friends). He is buried at Hole Trinity Church in Stratford.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, mostly in blank verse, which were commonly divided into: tragedies (T) which were mostly written during the first decade of the 17th century and show us the negative side of the new society, the mood of pessimism; comedies (C) express the typically spirit of the Renaissance, the pleasant aspect of the happy an beautiful life; others are historical plays (H) and romances (R).
The best and the most known of them are:
As You Like It (1599) - C
Hamlet (1601) - T
Othello (1604) - T
King Lear (1605) - T
Macbeth (1605) - T
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606) - H/T
The Winter’s Tale (1610) - R
The Tempest (1611) - R
Richard III (1592) - T
The Taming of the Shrew (1594) - C 4
Romeo and Juliet (1594) - T
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595) - C 5
The Merchant of Venice (1596) - C
Henry IV (1597) - H
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598) - C
Julius Caesar (1599) - H
Beside the plays Shakespeare wrote also sonnets in his own special forms.
Shakespeare’s heroes, moral questions and human suffering inspired many artists of the periods after him, e.g. G.Verdi, S.Prokofjev, L. van Beethoven etc. The most important Czech translator of Shakespeare’s work was J.V.Sládek in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
• Romeo and Juliet
This tragedy is different from the other Shakespeare’s plays - the heroes aren’t destroyed by faults in their character and nature 6 but by the hate of their families.
The story tells us about the long hate between the two powerful houses in Verona - the House of Montague and the House of Capulet. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, at the ball and secretly marries her. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses 7 but his friend Mercucio fights and is killed. In anger and revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and has to run from Verona.
Juliet is commanded by her father to marry Paris, a nobleman. The Friar Laurence 8, who had secretly married them, helps Juliet by giving her magic drops which makes her seen dead, so she is put into the family vault. Romeo mistakenly believes 9 that Juliet is really dead, kills Paris at her graveside and than take poison. When Juliet wakes and find her lover’s body beside her, she stabs herself by Romeo’s dagger 10 . After this horrible events the warring families made peace.
In fact, I don’t like this play very much because of the theme - I don’t like emotional and sensitive stories like this and, in my opinion, this theme is now - at the end of the 20th century - quite leftovers 11.
• Hamlet
It is the tragedy of the suffering and hesitation of an honest, strong and responsible man who isn’t able to kill or punish without having a clear proof of guilt. 12
Hamlet, the son of the dead king of Denmark, learns the truth about father’s death from a father’s ghost at Elsinor Castle. But to make sure he pretends madness and tests the ghost’s story by having a play - resembling his father’s murder 13 - acted before his uncle Claudius, who murdered Hamlet’s father and married his mother, the queen.
The king decides to destroyed Hamlet and send him to England to have him killed there. But Hamlet returns and sees Ophelia’s funeral. Ophelia loves Hamlet but they cannot fulfil their love because of Hamlet’s plans. Claudius sends Leartes, Ophelia’s brother, to a match with Hamlet. He is wounded by Leartes’s poisoned sword but he is manages to stab 14 Claudius. The queen dies too after she drinks poisoned wine destined for Hamlet.
(Zda žít či nežít - to je oč tu běží:
zda je to ducha důstojnější snášet
střely a šípy rozkácené sudby,
či proti moři běd se chopit zbraně
a skoncovat je vzpourou. Zemřít - spát -
Nic víc…)
To be or not to be - that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to také arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? - to die, - to sleep -
No more…
• King Lear
King Lear had three daughters and he decided to divided his kingdom among them. He asked them to tell him which of them loved him best. The two elder Goneril and Regan - both already married - said they love him above all, but it wasn’t true. His youngest and most favourite daughter Cornelia, who really loved him wouldn’t tell lie and said that she give half her love to her father and half to her future husband. The king became angry and drove her away from home. All to late he recognised that his two older daughters had not spoken the true. He left their castles, wandered in a terrible storm and became mad 15 .
Cordelia, who had married the king of France, came to the England with an army to help her father. But her army is defeated, she and also her father became prisoners. Cordelia was hanged in prison and after King Lear saw her death, his heart broke and he died too.
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