William Shakespeare
The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. The "Chandos" portrait is one of the most famous of the portraits that may depict William Shakespeare ( 1564 &ndash 1616) National Portrait Gallery, London.
Born	April 1564 (exact date unknown) Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Died	23 April 1616 Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Occupation	Playwright, poet, actor
Signature

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)^[a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Stratford-upon-Avon (ˌstrætfɚd əpɒn ˈɛɪvən is a Market town and Civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Stratford-upon-Avon (ˌstrætfɚd əpɒn ˈɛɪvən is a Market town and Civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works In Christianity, baptism ( Greek, "immersing" "performing Ablutions " is the ritual act with the use of water by which one is admitted Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at The English people (from the adjective in Englisc) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to England who predominantly speak English A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ^[1] He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A national poet or national bard is a Poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity beliefs and principles of a particular national Etymology The word is a Loanword from descendant languages of Proto-Celtic *bardos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gwerh2 The River Avon or Avon is a River in or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, His surviving works consist of 38 plays,^[b] 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. William Shakespeare's plays have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. Shakespeare's sonnets, or simply The Sonnets, is a collection of Poems in Sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with Narrative poetry is Poetry that tells a story The poems may be short or long and the story it relates to may be simple or complex His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. ^[2]

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Stratford-upon-Avon (ˌstrætfɚd əpɒn ˈɛɪvən is a Market town and Civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Anne Hathaway (1556 &ndash August 6, 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare. Susanna Hall ( Née Shakespeare) (May 1583 &ndash 1648 was the eldest child of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. Hamnet Shakespeare ( Baptised February 2 1585 – Buried August 11 1596) was the only son of William Shakespeare "Judith Shakespeare" redirects here For Virginia Woolf's fictional Judith see A Room of One's Own Judith Quiney ( Née Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of Actors These companies were organized around a group of ten or so Shareholders The Lord Chamberlain's Men was the Playing company that William Shakespeare worked for as Actor and Playwright for most of his career The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare (1564&ndash1616 belonged through most of his career He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others. The sexuality of William Shakespeare has been debated numerous times over the years Over the years there have been a number of speculations about the religious beliefs of William Shakespeare. The Shakespeare authorship question is the debate dating back to the early 18th century about whether the works attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon ^[3]

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. Shakespeare wrote Tragedies from the beginning of his career One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606 and is considered one of his greatest works Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of what many scholars believe to be William Shakespeare 's later plays including Pericles Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. Bardolatry is a term that refers to the excessive adulation of William Shakespeare, combining the words "bard" and "idolatry" ^[4] In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

Life

Main article: Shakespeare's life

Early life

John Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare's Coat of Arms

William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. There are few facts known with certainty about William Shakespeare 's life. Stratford-upon-Avon (ˌstrætfɚd əpɒn ˈɛɪvən is a Market town and Civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. John Shakespeare (born c 1530 &ndash September 1601 was a Glover and whittawer (someone who worked with white Leather) Farmer and later an Alderman A glove ( Middle English from Old English glof) is a type of Garment (and more specifically a Fashion An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions Snitterfield is a Village and Civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, just off the A46 road Mary Arden may refer to Mary Shakespeare, nee Mary Arden mother of William Shakespeare Mary Arden (judge ^[5] He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised on 26 April 1564. Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. His unknown birthday is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George's Day. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at St George's Day is celebrated by several nations kingdoms countries and cities of which Saint George is the Patron saint, including England, the ^[6] This date, which can be traced back to an eighteenth-century scholar's mistake, has proved appealing because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at ^[7] He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. ^[8]

Although no attendance records for the period survive, most biographers agree that Shakespeare was educated at the King's New School in Stratford,^[9] a free school chartered in 1553,^[10] about a quarter of a mile from his home. King Edward VI School (commonly shortened to KES) is a single sex (Boys Grammar school in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but the curriculum was dictated by law throughout England,^[11] and the school would have provided an intensive education in Latin grammar and the classics. A grammar school is one of several different types of School in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. "Classical literature" redirects here For literature in Classical languages outside the Graeco-Roman sphere see Ancient literature. ^[12] At the age of 18, Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. Anne Hathaway (1556 &ndash August 6, 1623) was the wife of William Shakespeare. The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The consistory court is a type of Ecclesiastical court, especially within the Church of England. The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. Events 1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont Two of Hathaway's neighbours posted bonds the next day as surety that there were no impediments to the marriage. ^[13] The couple may have arranged the ceremony in some haste, since the Worcester chancellor allowed the marriage banns to be read once instead of the usual three times. Chancellor or chancellour (archaic ( Latin: cancellarius) is an official Title used in countries whose civilization has arisen The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as "the banns " (from an Old English word meaning "to summon" are the public announcement in ^[14] Anne's pregnancy could have been the reason for this. Six months after the marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, who was baptised on 26 May 1583. Susanna Hall ( Née Shakespeare) (May 1583 &ndash 1648 was the eldest child of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place ^[15] Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised on 2 February 1585. Hamnet Shakespeare ( Baptised February 2 1585 – Buried August 11 1596) was the only son of William Shakespeare "Judith Shakespeare" redirects here For Virginia Woolf's fictional Judith see A Room of One's Own Judith Quiney ( Née Events 962 - Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor ^[16] Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried on 11 August 1596. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation ^[17]

After the birth of the twins, there are few historical traces of Shakespeare until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. Because of this gap, scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare's "lost years". ^[18] Biographers attempting to account for this period have reported many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare’s first biographer, recounted a Stratford legend that Shakespeare fled the town for London to escape prosecution for deer poaching. Nicholas Rowe (1674 &ndash 1718 English Dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer was appointed Poet Laureate in 1715 Poaching is the illegal Hunting, Fishing or Harvesting of wild plants or animals ^[19] Another eighteenth-century story has Shakespeare starting his theatrical career minding the horses of theatre patrons in London. ^[20] John Aubrey reported that Shakespeare had been a country schoolmaster. "How these curiosities would be quite forgott did not such idle fellowes as I am putt them down ^[21] Some twentieth-century scholars have suggested that Shakespeare may have been employed as a schoolmaster by Alexander Hoghton of Lancashire, a Catholic landowner who named a certain "William Shakeshafte" in his will. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea ^[22] No evidence substantiates such stories other than hearsay collected after his death. ^[23]

London and theatrical career

It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592. ^[24] He was well enough known in London by then to be attacked in print by the playwright Robert Greene:

. . . there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country. ^[25]

Scholars differ on the exact meaning of these words,^[26] but most agree that Greene is accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match university-educated writers, such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe and Greene himself. ^[27] The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, part 3, along with the pun "Shake-scene", identifies Shakespeare as Greene’s target. Henry the Sixth Part 3, is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written in approximately 1590 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England ^[28]

Greene’s attack is the first recorded mention of Shakespeare’s career in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene’s remarks. ^[30] From 1594, Shakespeare's plays were performed only by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading playing company in London. The Lord Chamberlain's Men was the Playing company that William Shakespeare worked for as Actor and Playwright for most of his career In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of Actors These companies were organized around a group of ten or so Shareholders ^[31] After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new king, James I, and changed its name to the King's Men. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare (1564&ndash1616 belonged through most of his career ^[32]

In 1599, a partnership of company members built their own theatre on the south bank of the Thames, which they called the Globe. The Thames ( is a major River flowing through southern England. The Globe Theatre was a Theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. In 1608, the partnership also took over the Blackfriars indoor theatre. Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a Theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. Records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man. ^[33] In 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, New Place, and in 1605, he invested in a share of the parish tithes in Stratford. New Place ( is the name given to William Shakespeare 's final place of residence in Stratford-upon-Avon during his retirement A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches A tithe (from Old English teogoþa "tenth" is a one-tenth part of something paid as a (usually voluntary contribution or as a Tax or levy ^[34]

Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in quarto editions from 1594. Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a Book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of Paper or other material By 1598, his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the title pages. The title page or (which is no longer synonymous with frontispiece in modern usage of a Book, Thesis or other written work is the page at or near the front ^[35] Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of Ben Jonson's Works names him on the cast lists for Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Sejanus, His Fall (1603). Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist Every Man in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English Playwright Ben Jonson. Sejanus His Fall, a 1603 play by Ben Jonson, is a Tragedy about Lucius Aelius Seianus, the favorite of the Roman emperor Tiberius. ^[36] The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson’s Volpone is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. Volpone, or The Fox (in Italian: "Big Fox" is a Comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606 drawing on elements ^[37] The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after Volpone, although we cannot know for certain what roles he played. Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays ^[38] In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. John Davies of Hereford (c 1565 Hereford, England &ndash July 1618 London) was a writing-master and an Anglo-Welsh Poet. ^[39] In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. ^[40] Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in As You Like It and the Chorus in Henry V,^[41] though scholars doubt the sources of the information. As You Like It is a Pastoral Comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published ^[42]

Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St. A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches Helen's, Bishopsgate, north of the River Thames. See Bishopsgate Insurance for the Australian insurance company bankrupted in 1982 ^[43] He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. Southwark or The Borough is an area of south-east London in the London Borough of Southwark, situated 1 ^[44] By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses. St Paul's Cathedral, is the Anglican Cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London. There he rented rooms from a French Huguenot called Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of ladies' wigs and other headgear. The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (or French Calvinists) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth ^[45]

Later years and death

Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon

After 1606–1607, Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are attributed to him after 1613. William Shakespeare 's funerary monument is located inside Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK, the same ^[46] His last three plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher,^[47] who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King’s Men. John Fletcher (1579 &ndash 1625 was a Jacobean Playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was ^[48]

Rowe was the first biographer to pass down the tradition that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some years before his death;^[49] but retirement from all work was uncommon at that time,^[50] and Shakespeare continued to visit London. Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely ^[49] In 1612, he was called as a witness in a court case concerning the marriage settlement of Mountjoy's daughter, Mary. ^[51] In March 1613, he bought a gatehouse in the Blackfriars priory;^[52] and from November 1614, he was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, John Hall. A gatehouse is a feature of European Castles Manor houses and Mansions Originally a gatehouse was a fortified structure built over the gateway A priory is a House of men or women under religious vows headed by a Prior or prioress John Hall (died 1635 was a Physician and son-in-law of William Shakespeare. ^[53]

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616,^[54] and was survived by his wife and two daughters. Events 215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Susanna had married a physician, John Hall, in 1607,^[55] and Judith had married Thomas Quiney, a vintner, two months before Shakespeare’s death. Thomas Quiney ( baptised 26 February 1589 was the husband of William Shakespeare 's daughter Judith Shakespeare, and a Vintner and tobacconist Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of Wine, starting with selection of the Grapes and ending with bottling the finished wine ^[56]

In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna. ^[57] The terms instructed that she pass it down intact to "the first son of her body". ^[58] The Quineys had three children, all of whom died without marrying. ^[59] The Halls had one child, Elizabeth, who married twice but died without children in 1670, ending Shakespeare’s direct line. ^[60] Shakespeare's will scarcely mentions his wife, Anne, who was probably entitled to one third of his estate automatically. He did make a point, however, of leaving her "my second best bed", a bequest that has led to much speculation. ^[61] Some scholars see the bequest as an insult to Anne, whereas others believe that the second-best bed would have been the matrimonial bed and therefore rich in significance. ^[62]

Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. "Chancel" is an architectural term for the space around the Altar at the Liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building The Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Stratford-upon-Avon is a Parish church in the Church of England. ^[63] Sometime before 1623, a monument was erected in his memory on the north wall, with a half-effigy of him in the act of writing. William Shakespeare 's funerary monument is located inside Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK, the same Its plaque compares him to Nestor, Socrates, and Virgil. In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerênia ( Greek: Νέστωρ) was the son of Neleus and Chloris, and the King of Pylos. SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or ^[64] A stone slab covering his grave is inscribed with a curse against moving his bones.

Plays

Main article: Shakespeare's plays

Scholars have often noted four periods in Shakespeare's writing career. William Shakespeare's plays have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. ^[65] Until the mid-1590s, he wrote mainly comedies influenced by Roman and Italian models and history plays in the popular chronicle tradition. His second period began in about 1595 with the tragedy Romeo and Juliet and ended with the tragedy of Julius Caesar in 1599. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599 During this time, he wrote what are considered his greatest comedies and histories. From about 1600 to about 1608, his "tragic period", Shakespeare wrote mostly tragedies, and from about 1608 to 1613, mainly tragicomedies, also called romances. Tragicomedy is Fictional work that blend aspects of the Genres of Tragedy and Comedy. The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of what many scholars believe to be William Shakespeare 's later plays including Pericles

The first recorded works of Shakespeare are Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI, written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591 The First Part of King Henry the Sixth is history play by William Shakespeare, believed written in approximately 1588–1590 Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date, however,^[66] and studies of the texts suggest that Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and Two Gentlemen of Verona may also belong to Shakespeare’s earliest period. Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeare's earliest Tragedy; it is believed to have been written sometime between 1584 and the early 1590s The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare 's earliest plays believed to have been written between 1589 and 1594 The Taming of the Shrew is an early comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594 See also Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a Comedy by William Shakespeare from early in his ^[67] His first histories, which draw heavily on the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland,^[68] dramatise the destructive results of weak or corrupt rule and have been interpreted as a justification for the origins of the Tudor dynasty. Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. Raphael Holinshed (died c 1580 was an English Chronicler whose work commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was an English royal Dynasty that lasted 118 years from 1485 to 1603 a period known as the Tudor period ^[69] Their composition was influenced by the works of other Elizabethan dramatists, especially Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe^[c], by the traditions of medieval drama, and by the plays of Seneca. Thomas Kyd ( 3 November 1558 – 16 July 1594) was an English Dramatist, the author of The Spanish Tragedy Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c ^[70] The Comedy of Errors was also based on classical models; but no source for the The Taming of the Shrew has been found, though it is related to a separate play of the same name and may have derived from a folk story. ^[71] Like Two Gentlemen of Verona, in which two friends appear to approve of rape,^[72] the Shrew's story of the taming of a woman's independent spirit by a man sometimes troubles modern critics and directors. ^[73]

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing. By William Blake, c. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. 1786. Tate Britain. Tate Britain is a part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.

Shakespeare's early classical and Italianate comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies. ^[74] A Midsummer Night's Dream is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic low-life scenes. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by " The Knight's Tale " from ^[75] Shakespeare's next comedy, the equally romantic The Merchant of Venice, contains a portrayal of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock which reflected Elizabethan views but may appear prejudiced to modern audiences. The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598 Shylock is a central character in Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice who famously demanded a pound of flesh from the title character ^[76] The wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing,^[77] the charming rural setting of As You Like It, and the lively merrymaking of Twelfth Night complete Shakespeare's sequence of great comedies. Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare. First published in 1600 it is likely to have been first performed in the autumn or winter As You Like It is a Pastoral Comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published Twelfth Night Or What You Will is a Comedy by William Shakespeare, based on the Short story "Of Apolonius and Silla" by ^[78] After the lyrical Richard II, written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595 Henry IV Part 1 is a History play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597 Henry IV Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599 His characters become more complex and tender as he switches deftly between comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, and achieves the narrative variety of his mature work. ^[79] This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, the famous romantic tragedy of sexually charged adolescence, love, and death;^[80] and Julius Caesar—based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives—which introduced a new kind of drama. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599 Sir Thomas North (1535 - 1604 was an English translator of Plutarch, second son of the 1st Baron North. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c Plutarch 's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of ^[81] According to Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro, in Julius Caesar "the various strands of politics, character, inwardness, contemporary events, even Shakespeare's own reflections on the act of writing, began to infuse each other". ^[82]

Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Henry Fuseli, 1780–5. Henry Fuseli (in German Johann Heinrich Füssli; February 7, 1741 – April 16, 1825) was a British painter Kunsthaus Zürich. The Kunsthaus Zürich houses one of the most important art museums in Switzerland and Europe collected by the local Kunstverein, called

Shakespeare's so-called "tragic period" lasted from about 1600 to 1608, though he also wrote the so-called "problem plays" Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and All's Well That Ends Well during this time and had written tragedies before. In Shakespeare studies the term " problem plays " normally refers to three plays that William Shakespeare wrote between the late 1590s and the first years of the seventeenth Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602 All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare, originally classified as a Comedy, though now often counted as one of his problem plays Shakespeare wrote Tragedies from the beginning of his career One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few ^[83] Many critics believe that Shakespeare's greatest tragedies represent the peak of his art. The hero of the first, Hamlet, has probably been more discussed than any other Shakespearean character, especially for his famous soliloquy "To be or not to be; that is the question. Prince Hamlet is the protagonist in Shakespeare 's tragedy Hamlet. A monologue is an extended uninterrupted speech or poem by a single person The phrase " to be or not to be " comes from William Shakespeare 's ''Hamlet Prince of Denmark'' (written about 1600 act three scene one "^[84] Unlike the introverted Hamlet, whose fatal flaw is hesitation, the heroes of the tragedies that followed, Othello and King Lear, are undone by hasty errors of judgement. ^[85] The plots of Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy the hero and those he loves. ^[86] In Othello, the villain Iago stokes Othello's sexual jealousy to the point where he murders the innocent wife who loves him. Iago is a Fictional character in William Shakespeare 's play Othello. ^[87] In King Lear, the old king commits the tragic error of giving up his powers, initiating the events which lead to the murder of his daughter and the torture and blinding of the Earl of Gloucester. King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606 and is considered one of his greatest works According to the critic Frank Kermode, "the play offers neither its good characters nor its audience any relief from its cruelty". ^[88] In Macbeth, the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies,^[89] uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne, until their own guilt destroys them in turn. Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between Lady Macbeth is a character in William Shakespeare play Macbeth. ^[90] In this play, Shakespeare adds a supernatural element to the tragic structure. His last major tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, contain some of Shakespeare's finest poetry and were considered his most successful tragedies by the poet and critic T. S. Eliot. Antony and Cleopatra is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623 Coriolanus is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Gaius Martius Coriolanus. Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. ^[91]

In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completed three more major plays: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, as well as the collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of what many scholars believe to be William Shakespeare 's later plays including Pericles Tragicomedy is Fictional work that blend aspects of the Genres of Tragedy and Comedy. This article is about Shakespeare's play For the mythical British king see Cunobelinus. The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio in 1623 The Tempest is a comedy written by William Shakespeare. It is generally dated to 1610-11 and accepted as the last play written solely by him although Pericles Prince of Tyre is a play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. ^[92] Some commentators have seen this change in mood as evidence of a more serene view of life on Shakespeare's part, but it may merely reflect the theatrical fashion of the day. ^[93] Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, probably with John Fletcher. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth is a history play by William Shakespeare, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean Comedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare John Fletcher (1579 &ndash 1625 was a Jacobean Playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was ^[94]

Performances

Main article: Shakespeare in performance

It is not clear for which companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. Numerous performances of William Shakespeare's plays have occurred since the end of the 16th century The title page of the 1594 edition of Titus Andronicus reveals that the play had been acted by three different troupes. ^[95] After the plagues of 1592–3, Shakespeare's plays were performed by his own company at The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch, north of the Thames. The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road part of the modern London Borough of Hackney) just outside the The Curtain Theatre was an Elizabethan Playhouse located in Curtain Close Shoreditch (part of the modern London Borough of Hackney Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney. ^[96] Londoners flocked there to see the first part of Henry IV, Leonard Digges recording, "Let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest. Leonard Digges (1588 &ndash 7 April, 1635) was a seventeenth-century poet and translator a member of the prominent Digges family of Kent &mdash son of . . and you scarce shall have a room". ^[97] When the company found themselves in dispute with their landlord, they pulled The Theatre down and used the timbers to construct the Globe Theatre, the first playhouse built by actors for actors, on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark. The Globe Theatre was a Theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. Southwark or The Borough is an area of south-east London in the London Borough of Southwark, situated 1 ^[98] The Globe opened in autumn 1599, with Julius Caesar one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. ^[99]

Reconstructed Globe Theatre, London. The Globe Theatre was a Theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare.

After the Lord Chamberlain's Men were renamed the King's Men in 1603, they entered a special relationship with the new King James. The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare (1564&ndash1616 belonged through most of his career James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James Although the performance records are patchy, the King's Men performed seven of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605, including two performances of The Merchant of Venice. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse ^[100] After 1608, they performed at the indoor Blackfriars Theatre during the winter and the Globe during the summer. Blackfriars Theatre was the name of a Theatre in the Blackfriars district of the City of London during the Renaissance. ^[101] The indoor setting, combined with the Jacobean fashion for lavishly staged masques, allowed Shakespeare to introduce more elaborate stage devices. Highlights of the Jacobean Era The practical if not formal unification of England and Scotland under one ruler was a development of the first order of importance for both The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe though it was developed earlier in Italy In Cymbeline, for example, Jupiter descends "in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder. The ghosts fall on their knees. "^[102]

The actors in Shakespeare's company included the famous Richard Burbage, William Kempe, Henry Condell and John Heminges. Richard Burbage ( January 7, 1568 &ndash March 13 1619) was an Actor and theatre owner See Will Kempe (actor for the contemporary television actor William Kempe (died 1603? also spelled Kemp, was an English Henry Condell (d December 1627 was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote John Heminges (sometimes spelled Hemminge or Hemings) (c 1566 - 1630 was an English Renaissance Actor. Burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. ^[103] The popular comic actor Will Kempe played the servant Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, among other characters. Dogberry is a self-satisfied night constable in Shakespeare 's Much Ado about Nothing. ^[104] He was replaced around the turn of the sixteenth century by Robert Armin, who played roles such as Touchstone in As You Like It and the fool in King Lear. Robert Armin (c 1563 &ndash 1615 was an English Actor, a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Touchstone is the name of the court Fool or Jester character in Shakespeare 's play As You Like It. ^[105] In 1613, Sir Henry Wotton recorded that Henry VIII "was set forth with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and ceremony". Henry Wotton may also refer to Lord Henry Wotton, a fictional character Sir Henry Wotton (1568 - December 1639 was an English Author ^[106] On 29 June, however, a cannon set fire to the thatch of the Globe and burned the theatre to the ground, an event which pinpoints the date of a Shakespeare play with rare precision. Events 512 - A Solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland. ^[106]

Textual sources

Title page of the First Folio, 1623. Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays Copper engraving of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout. Martin Droeshout was an English Engraver of Flemish descent whose fame rests almost entirely on the fact that he made the title portrait for William Shakespeare

In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two of Shakespeare's friends from the King's Men, published the First Folio, a collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. John Heminges (sometimes spelled Hemminge or Hemings) (c 1566 - 1630 was an English Renaissance Actor. Henry Condell (d December 1627 was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays It contained 36 texts, including 18 printed for the first time. ^[107] Many of the plays had already appeared in quarto versions—flimsy books made from sheets of paper folded twice to make four leaves. The size of a specific Book is measured from the head to tail of the spine and from edge to edge across the covers ^[108] No evidence suggests that Shakespeare approved these editions, which the First Folio describes as "stol'n and surreptitious copies". ^[109] Alfred Pollard termed some of them "bad quartos" because of their adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, which may in places have been reconstructed from memory. Alfred William Pollard (1859 &ndash March 8, 1944) was an English bibliographer, widely credited for bringing a higher level of scholarly rigor to the Bad quarto is a term and concept developed by twentieth-century Shakespeare scholars to explain some problems in the early transmission of the texts of Shakespearean ^[110] Where several versions of a play survive, each differs from the other. William Shakespeare's plays have the reputation of being among the greatest in the English language and in Western literature. The differences may stem from copying or printing errors, from notes by actors or audience members, or from Shakespeare's own papers. Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on Paper or some other medium. Foul papers is a term that refers to an author's working drafts most often applied in the study of the plays of Shakespeare and other dramatists of English Renaissance ^[111] In some cases, for example Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida and Othello, Shakespeare could have revised texts between the quarto and folio editions. Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602 The folio version of King Lear is so different from the 1608 quarto that the Oxford Shakespeare prints them both, since they cannot be conflated without confusion. ^[112]

Poems

In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague, Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Venus and Adonis is one of Shakespeare 's three longer Poems Publication Venus and Adonis was entered into the Stationers' The Rape of Lucrece ( 1594) is a Narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton. Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton (Wriothesley is pronounced "Risly" ( October 6, 1573 &ndash November 10, 1624) one In Venus and Adonis, an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus; while in The Rape of Lucrece, the virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin. Adonis (Άδωνης also Άδωνις is a figure of West Semitic origin where he is a central cult figure in various Mystery religions, who enters Venus was a major Roman Goddess principally associated with Love, Beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. Sextus Tarquinius was the son of the last legendary king of Rome, L ^[113] Influenced by Ovid's Metamorphoses,^[114] the poems show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a narrative poem ^[115] Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime. A third narrative poem, A Lover's Complaint, in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the Sonnets in 1609. A Lover's Complaint is a Narrative poem usually attributed to William Shakespeare, although the poem's authorship is a matter of critical debate Most scholars now accept that Shakespeare wrote A Lover's Complaint. Critics consider that its fine qualities are marred by leaden effects. ^[116] The Phoenix and the Turtle, printed in Robert Chester's 1601 Love's Martyr, mourns the deaths of the legendary phoenix and his lover, the faithful turtle dove. The Phoenix and the Turtle is an allegorical Poem about the death of ideal love by William Shakespeare. The phoenix ( Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ phoínix is a mythical sacred firebird in ancient mythologies starting with the Greek and later the The Turtle Dove ( Streptopelia turtur) is a member of the bird family Columbidae, which includes the Doves and Pigeons. In 1599, two early drafts of sonnets 138 and 144 appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim, published under Shakespeare's name but without his permission. The Passionate Pilgrim is an Anthology of poems published in 1599, which according to the title-page were "By W ^[117]

Sonnets

Main article: Shakespeare's sonnets

Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Shakespeare's sonnets, or simply The Sonnets, is a collection of Poems in Sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership. ^[119] Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, Francis Meres had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends". Francis Meres (1565 &ndash January 29, 1647) was an English churchman and Author. ^[120] Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence. ^[121] He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart". ^[122] The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W. H. ", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe, whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. Thomas Thorpe (c 1569 or 1570 &ndash 1635? was an English publisher most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe W. H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication. ^[123] Critics praise the Sonnets as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time. ^[124]

Style

Main article: Shakespeare's style

Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional style of the day. Shakespeare's style borrowed from the conventions of the day while at the same time adapting them to his needs He wrote them in a stylised language that does not always spring naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. ^[125] The poetry depends on extended, sometimes elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is often rhetorical—written for actors to declaim rather than speak. The grand speeches in Titus Andronicus, in the view of some critics, often hold up the action, for example; and the verse in Two Gentlemen of Verona has been described as stilted. Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeare's earliest Tragedy; it is believed to have been written sometime between 1584 and the early 1590s See also Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a Comedy by William Shakespeare from early in his ^[126]

Soon, however, Shakespeare began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. The opening soliloquy of Richard III has its roots in the self-declaration of Vice in medieval drama. A monologue is an extended uninterrupted speech or poem by a single person Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591 Vice is a Stock character of the Medieval Morality plays. While the main character At the same time, Richard’s vivid self-awareness looks forward to the soliloquies of Shakespeare's mature plays. ^[127] No single play marks a change from the traditional to the freer style. Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with Romeo and Juliet perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the ^[128] By the time of Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare had begun to write a more natural poetry. King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595 A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by " The Knight's Tale " from He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself.

Pity by William Blake, 1795, Tate Britain, is an illustration of two similes in Macbeth: "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, / Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air". William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. Tate Britain is a part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.

Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse, composed in iambic pentameter. Blank verse is a type of Poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no Rhyme. Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama. In practice, this meant that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. The blank verse of his early plays is quite different from that of his later ones. It is often beautiful, but its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines, with the risk of monotony. End-stopping is a feature in poetry in which the syntactic unit ( Phrase, Clause, or sentence) corresponds in length to the line ^[129] Once Shakespeare mastered traditional blank verse, he began to interrupt and vary its flow. This technique releases the new power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as Julius Caesar and Hamlet. Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599 Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 Shakespeare uses it, for example, to convey the turmoil in Hamlet's mind:^[130]

Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting

That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay

Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly—

And prais'd be rashness for it—let us know

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well. . .

After Hamlet, Shakespeare varied his poetic style further, particularly in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. The literary critic A. C. Bradley described this style as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and, in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical". Andrew Cecil Bradley (1851–1935 was an English Literary Scholar, best remembered for his work on Shakespeare. ^[131] In the last phase of his career, Shakespeare adopted many techniques to achieve these effects. These included run-on lines, irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. Enjambment (also spelled enjambement) is the breaking of a syntactic unit (a Phrase, Clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or between two ^[132] In Macbeth, for example, the language darts from one unrelated metaphor or simile to another: "was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dressed yourself?" (1. Macbeth is among the best-known of William Shakespeare 's plays, and is his shortest tragedy, believed to have been written some time between 7. 35–38); ". . . pity, like a naked new-born babe/ Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd/ Upon the sightless couriers of the air. . . " (1. 7. 21–25). The listener is challenged to complete the sense. ^[132] The late romances, with their shifts in time and surprising turns of plot, inspired a last poetic style in which long and short sentences are set against one another, clauses are piled up, subject and object are reversed, and words are omitted, creating an effect of spontaneity. ^[133]

Shakespeare's poetic genius was allied with a practical sense of the theatre. ^[134] Like all playwrights of the time, Shakespeare dramatised stories from sources such as Petrarch and Holinshed. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Raphael Holinshed (died c 1580 was an English Chronicler whose work commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by ^[135] He reshaped each plot to create several centres of interest and show as many sides of a narrative to the audience as possible. This strength of design ensures that a Shakespeare play can survive translation, cutting and wide interpretation without loss to its core drama. ^[136] As Shakespeare’s mastery grew, he gave his characters clearer and more varied motivations and distinctive patterns of speech. He preserved aspects of his earlier style in the later plays, however. In his late romances, he deliberately returned to a more artificial style, which emphasised the illusion of theatre. The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of what many scholars believe to be William Shakespeare 's later plays including Pericles ^[137]

Influence

Main article: Shakespeare's influence

Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head. William Shakespeare 's influence extends from theatre to literature to the English language itself By Henry Fuseli, 1793–94. Henry Fuseli (in German Johann Heinrich Füssli; February 7, 1741 – April 16, 1825) was a British painter Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington. The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research Library on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.

Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre. UserScottandrewhutchins: http//enwikipediaorg/w/indexphp?title=Characterization&diff=next&oldid=157919139 --> Characterization is a process of conveying Mythos (Aristotle In literature the plot comprises all the events in a story particularly rendered towards the achievement of some particular Artistic or Emotional A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set ^[138] Until Romeo and Juliet, for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the ^[139] Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds. ^[140] His work heavily influenced later poetry. The Romantic poets attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Critic George Steiner described all English verse dramas from Coleridge to Tennyson as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes. Francis George Steiner (born April 23, 1929) is an influential European born American Literary critic, Essayist, Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher Alfred Tennyson 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892 was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and remains one of the most popular English poets "^[141]

Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas Hardy,^[142] William Faulkner,^[143] and Charles Dickens. Thomas Hardy OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928 was an English novelist Short story writer and poet of the naturalist movement though he saw William Faulkner (born William Cuthbert Falkner) ( September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American Author Dickens often quoted Shakespeare, drawing 25 of his titles from Shakespeare's works. ^[144] The American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick is a classic tragic hero, inspired by King Lear. Herman Melville (August 1 1819 &ndash September 28 1891 was an American novelist Short story writer Essayist and poet Moby-Dick is an 1851 Novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship A tragic hero is the main character in a Tragedy who makes an error in his or her actions that leads to his or her downfall ^[145] Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works. These include two operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Otello and Falstaff, whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Otello is an Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian Libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare 's play Falstaff is an Operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare 's plays ^[146] Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters Poets, and critics founded in 1848 by ^[147] The Swiss Romantic artist Henry Fuseli, a friend of William Blake, even translated Macbeth into German. Henry Fuseli (in German Johann Heinrich Füssli; February 7, 1741 – April 16, 1825) was a British painter William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. ^[148] The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded ^[149]

In Shakespeare's day, English grammar and spelling were less standardised than they are now, and his use of language helped shape modern English. ^[150] Samuel Johnson quoted him more often than any other author in his A Dictionary of the English Language, the first serious work of its type. Samuel Johnson (often referred to as Dr Johnson) (18 September Published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, sometimes published as Johnson's Dictionary, is among ^[151] Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone conclusion" (Othello) have found their way into everyday English speech. ^[152]

Critical reputation

Main articles: Shakespeare's reputation and Timeline of Shakespeare criticism

Shakespeare was never revered in his lifetime, but he received his share of praise. Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist ^[154] In 1598, the cleric and author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. Francis Meres (1565 &ndash January 29, 1647) was an English churchman and Author. ^[155] And the authors of the Parnassus plays at St John's College, Cambridge, numbered him with Chaucer, Gower and Spenser. St John's College, an institution known formally as The Master Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge is a Geoffrey Chaucer (c 1343 – 25 October 1400? was an English author poet Philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and Diplomat. John Gower (c 1330 – October 1408 was an English Poet, a contemporary of William Langland and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The ^[156] In the First Folio, Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", though he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art". Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist ^[157]

Ophelia (detail). Ophelia is a painting by British Artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed in 1852 By John Everett Millais, 1851–2. Sir John Everett Millais 1st Baronet, PRA ( June 8, 1829 &ndash August 13, 1896) was an English painter Tate Britain. Tate Britain is a part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.

Between the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the seventeenth century, classical ideas were in vogue. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. John Fletcher (1579 &ndash 1625 was a Jacobean Playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist ^[158] Thomas Rymer, for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Not to be confused with Thomas the Rhymer, a 13th century Scots laird Nevertheless, poet and critic John Dryden rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare". John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England ^[159] For several decades, Rymer's view held sway; but during the eighteenth century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in 1790, added to his growing reputation. Samuel Johnson (often referred to as Dr Johnson) (18 September Edmond Malone ( October 4, 1741 - April 25, 1812) was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of ^[160] By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet. ^[161] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writers Voltaire, Goethe, Stendhal and Victor Hugo. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfgaŋ fɔn ˈgøːtə (in English generally ˈgɝːtə 28 August 1749 22 March 1832 was a German writer Henri-Marie Beyle ( January 23, 1783 &ndash March 23, 1842) better known by his Pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century Victor-Marie Hugo ( ( February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French Poet, Playwright, Novelist ^[162]

During the Romantic era, Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge; and the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays in the spirit of German Romanticism. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher August Wilhelm (later von) Schlegel ( September 8, 1767 &ndash May 12, 1845) was a German Poet, For the general context see Romanticism. In the Philosophy, Art, and Culture of German -speaking countries German Romanticism ^[163] In the nineteenth century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation. ^[164] "That King Shakespeare," the essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible". Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881 was a Scottish essayist satirist and historian whose work was highly influential during the Victorian era. ^[165] The Victorians produced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities ^[166] The playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw mocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as "bardolatry". George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. Bardolatry is a term that refers to the excessive adulation of William Shakespeare, combining the words "bard" and "idolatry" He claimed that the new naturalism of Ibsen's plays had made Shakespeare obsolete. Naturalism is a movement in Theatre, film, and Literature that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such "Ibsen" redirects here For other people named Ibsen see Ibsen (disambiguation. ^[167]

The modernist revolution in the arts during the early twentieth century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the avant garde. Avant-garde (avɑ̃gaʁd in French) means "advance guard" or "vanguard The Expressionists in Germany and the Futurists in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. German Expressionism is the term used to refer to a number of related creative movements which emerged in Germany before the first world war which reached a peak in Berlin Futurism was an Art movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht devised an epic theatre under the influence of Shakespeare. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. The poet and critic T. S. Eliot argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern. Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM (September 26 1888 – January 4 1965 was a poet Dramatist, and Literary critic. ^[168] Eliot, along with G. Wilson Knight and the school of New Criticism, led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. George Richard Wilson Knight (1897-1985 was an English literary critic and academic known particularly for his interpretation of mythic content in literature and his New Criticism was a dominant trend in English and American Literary criticism of the mid twentieth century from the 1920s to the early 1960s In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for "post-modern" studies of Shakespeare. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism ^[169] By the eighties, Shakespeare studies were open to movements such as structuralism, feminism, African American studies, and queer studies. For the use of structuralism in biology see Structuralism (biology Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. " Queer studies " is the study of issues relating to Sexual orientation and Gender identity. ^[170]

Speculation about Shakespeare

Authorship

Main article: Shakespeare authorship question

Around 150 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to emerge about the authorship of Shakespeare's works. The Shakespeare authorship question is the debate dating back to the early 18th century about whether the works attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon ^[171] Alternative candidates proposed include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban KC QC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626 was an English Philosopher, Statesman, and author Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford ( 12 April 1550 &ndash 24 June 1604) was an Elizabethan Courtier, Playwright ^[172] Although all alternative candidates are almost universally rejected in academic circles, popular interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory, has continued into the 21st century. The Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship holds that Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604 wrote the plays and poems attributed to ^[173]

Religion

Main article: Shakespeare's religion

Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. Over the years there have been a number of speculations about the religious beliefs of William Shakespeare. ^[174] Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, certainly came from a pious Catholic family. Mary Arden may refer to Mary Shakespeare, nee Mary Arden mother of William Shakespeare Mary Arden (judge The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. John Shakespeare (born c 1530 &ndash September 1601 was a Glover and whittawer (someone who worked with white Leather) Farmer and later an Alderman The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ on its authenticity. ^[175] In 1591, the authorities reported that John had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. ^[176] In 1606, William's daughter Susanna was listed among those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or Lord's Supper and other names is a Christian Sacrament by which in a common interpretation those ^[176] Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way. ^[177]

Sexuality

Main article: Sexuality of William Shakespeare

Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. The sexuality of William Shakespeare has been debated numerous times over the years At 18, he married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, who was pregnant. Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May 1583. Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place However, over the centuries readers have pointed to Shakespeare's sonnets as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than sexual love. Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more beings ^[178] At the same time, the twenty-six so-called "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a married woman, are taken as evidence of heterosexual liaisons. Shakespeare's sonnets, or simply The Sonnets, is a collection of Poems in Sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with ^[179]

List of works

Further information: List of Shakespeare's works and Chronology of Shakespeare plays

Classification of the plays

The Plays of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616 was an English Poet and Playwright. By Sir John Gilbert, 1849. Sir John Gilbert ( July 1, 1817 – October 5, 1897) was a British artist

Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed below according to their folio classification as comedies, histories and tragedies. Mr William Shakespeares Comedies Histories & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare 's plays Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. Traditionally the plays of William Shakespeare have been grouped into three categories tragedies, comedies, and histories. Shakespeare wrote Tragedies from the beginning of his career One of his earliest plays was the Roman tragedy Titus Andronicus, which he followed a few ^[180] Shakespeare did not write every word of the plays attributed to him; and several show signs of collaboration, a common practice at the time. ^[181] Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, are now accepted as part of the canon, with scholars agreed that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their composition. The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean Comedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare Pericles Prince of Tyre is a play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions ^[182] No poems were included in the First Folio.

In the late nineteenth century, Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances, and though many scholars prefer to call them tragicomedies, his term is often used. Edward Dowden ( May 3, 1843 – April 4, 1913) was an Irish Critic and Poet. The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of what many scholars believe to be William Shakespeare 's later plays including Pericles Tragicomedy is Fictional work that blend aspects of the Genres of Tragedy and Comedy. ^[183] These plays and the associated Two Noble Kinsmen are marked with an asterisk (*) below. In 1896, Frederick S. Boas coined the term "problem plays" to describe four plays: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida and Hamlet. Frederick Samuel Boas (1862-1957 was an English scholar of Early modern drama In Shakespeare studies the term " problem plays " normally refers to three plays that William Shakespeare wrote between the late 1590s and the first years of the seventeenth All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare, originally classified as a Comedy, though now often counted as one of his problem plays Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602 Hamlet is a Tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 ^[184] "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may therefore borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays. "^[185] The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though Hamlet is definitively classed as a tragedy. ^[186] The other problem plays are marked below with a double dagger (‡).

Plays thought to be only partly written by Shakespeare are marked with a dagger (†) below. Other works occasionally attributed to him are listed as lost plays or apocrypha.

Works

Notes

References

Further reading

• Schoenbaum, S. (1991). Samuel Schoenbaum ( 6 March 1927 &ndash 27 March 1996) was a leading 20th century Shakespearean biographer and scholar Shakespeare's Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  
• Greenblatt, Stephen (2005). Stephen Jay Greenblatt (born November 7, 1943) is a Literary critic, theorist and scholar Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0712600981.
• Honan, Park (1998). Shakespeare: A Life. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198117922.
• Wells, Stanley, et al (2005). Stanley William Wells, CBE (born 21 May 1930) is a Shakespeare scholar who was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199267170.
• Vendler, Helen (1997). Helen Hennessy Vendler (born 1933) is a leading American critic of poetry The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674637127.

External links

Wikia has a wiki on this subject: Shakespeare

• Open Source Shakespeare includes the complete works, an advanced search function, a complete concordance, and some statistics about the works. Wikia (originally Wikicities) is a selective Free web hosting service for Wikis (or Wiki farm) operated by Wikia Inc
• The Internet Shakespeare Editions at the University of Victoria has old spelling versions of
  all the texts, with newly edited modern texts for some works; facsimiles, an extensive section on the life and times, a growing database of Shakespeare in performance, and a detailed section of links.
• Designing Shakespeare provides access to 40 years of Shakespearian performance in London and Stratford, including photographs, cast lists, reviews and interviews.
• The Royal Shakespeare Company. Latest information on current and future productions, ticket sales, merchandising, and press and educational resources.