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William Shakespeare is a famous playwright whose influence extends to modern times. There is limited biographical information about him, and there is debate over the authorship of some of his plays. He wrote sonnets and poems, and most of his plays were not published. He wrote histories, comedies, tragedies, and novels, and his plays were performed for royalty. His works contain both evil and funny characters, and his language and characters are fascinating. His plays are still performed today, and modern interpretations or traditional productions are available.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is considered by many to be one of the best playwrights in history. The influence of his work extends to the present day and his stories are often reworked into modern storylines. It’s not that his storylines were particularly unique, rather that his language and his characters are fascinating. Despite our respect for what many call the “master” of English literature, there is only approximate biographical information about Shakespeare. Additionally, there is dispute over the authorship of many of his plays and whether some of the plays may have been collaborative.
Most of the information about Shakespeare’s life is taken from church records. We know, for example, that he was born in 1564 and most date his birthday as April 23. It is certain that Shakespeare was baptized on April 26th. Shakespeare’s death is often dated April 23, 1616, but this may well be inaccurate. He likely attended a local school and was married to Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children.
When Shakespeare was in his 20s, he left his wife and children and went to London where he worked as an actor and playwright. He also wrote a series of sonnets and several poems for books around 1592, when the spread of the plague closed the theaters for a few years. He is known for both “Venus and Adonis” and “The Abduction of Lucrece”. Most of his plays were not published, but were rather written as handbills so that the actors could memorize the lines. Hence the publication of plays today is based on collected papers and critics differ on when each play was published.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at the Globe Theater in London, and private performances were also given for royalty, most notably Queen Elizabeth I and her successor King James. Shakespeare is thought to have spent 25 years in London before retiring to his home in Stratford on Avon, where he lived out the remaining 5 years of his life.
It would be impossible to describe the plots of every Shakespeare play, since they are complex. However they fall into several categories that can be described. Like his contemporaries, Shakespeare wrote histories, comedies and tragedies. Comedies ended in marriage, tragedies in death. The last class, the novels, are neither comedy nor tragedy. This is a list of all plays considered to have been written by Shakespeare:
stories
Henry VI parts 1,2 and 3, Henry V, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, Henry VII, Henry VIII, King John, Richard II and Richard III.
Tragedy
Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, Troillo and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Pericles and Coriolanus.
comedies
All’s Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Lost Labors of Love, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew , Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure.
romances
Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline and Tempesta.
History dramas tend to refer to English and French history, so Roman history dramas are classified as tragedies. Novels are also classified as comedies or tragedies, but their key element is the reconciliation of family members with each other, thus differing from the prescribed form of tragedy, although they often contain tragic elements.
There is also disagreement about the order in which the plays were written, although many believe Richard III to be among the earliest and The Tempest to be Shakespeare’s last play. Some of the great tragedies were written between 1600-1608. Most believe that Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Macbeth and Lear before ending his writing career with his novels.
In the tragedies, Shakespeare gives us some of the most evil characters ever, Iago the devious conspiracy of Othello, the horrible eldest daughters of Lear and Lady Macbeth, thirsty for power. His plays are equally memorable for their wonderfully funny characters, Puck from Midsummer, Kate from Shrew and Falstaff from Wives. The novels mix comedy and tragedy which represent a mature state of mind and a desire to further the art form of gaming.
No matter where you start reading Shakespeare, the rich language, complex characters, and emotional storylines can leave you breathless. Today there are wonderful modern interpretations or traditional productions of his work, which will give a Shakespeare as it was meant to be understood, watching the performance of his art.
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