short essay about shakespeare

English Compositions

Short Essay on William Shakespeare [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF

William Shakespeare was one of the most eminent and probably the most famous poet of English Literature. His works have made him immortal. In this lesson today, you will learn how to write an essay on the greatest poet: William Shakespeare.

Short Essay on William Shakespeare in 100 Words

William Shakespeare is by far the best-known literary figure in the history of English literature. He is principally known for his dramas and sonnets that have enriched British literature by folds. As the contemporary of Kyd and Marlow, Shakespeare has innovated the classical theatrical stances and defined them according to his contemporary audience.

He has written several comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies in his literary career. Some of his famous plays include Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and others. His sonnets are quite famous and are dedicated to two personalities- the Earl of Southampton and the dark lady. It is said that the great poet died on 23 April 1616.

Short Essay on William Shakespeare in 200 Words

‘’Bard of Avon’’ William Shakespeare is the master playwright and poet of Renaissance England. The perfect blending of a playwright and the poet makes his genius so captivating. His career spans over twenty-four years where he has gifted his audience and readers a bounty of productions. Shakespeare has re-defined the theatre and its heroes and heroines. His career has four distinct sections that mark out his prolific capacity.

In the beginning, he has composed history plays like Henry VI plays, Richard III and Richard II, Comedy of Errors, and Love’s Labour Lost. The second phase contains all his comedies like The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, As You Like It, Twelfth Night. The third phase is that of tragedies that sees Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Julius Ceaser. The final stage is of lesser-known plays like Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.

The sonnets of Shakespeare are lyrical poems that evoke sense and sensibilities in the readers. His sonnets are divided into a binary section- the first 126 sonnets are addressed to Earl of Southampton, while the rest 127-152 are for the dark lady. Both the identities of these two figures are mysteries, yet the most beautiful poems of Shakespeare are composed over them. He even dedicates his last two sonnets to Cupid.

Short Essay on William Shakespeare in 400 Words

Little is known about William Shakespeare, one of the greatest names in the British canon of dramas and poems. His biography does not much reveal about his childhood or early occupation. Yet among his contemporaries, Shakespeare is by far the best literary personality of all times and centuries. He was said to be born in 1564 at the Stratford-upon-Avon of United Kingdom. Within this span of twenty-four years of a literary career, he has gifted the British and European canon with his enormous creative prospects that from time immemorial has been the object of criticisms and researches.

The literary career of Shakespeare is roughly divided into four segments. 

FIRST PHASE- It includes the history plays of Shakespeare, where he experiments with several aspects of tragedy, comedy, and history. To this period belong his Henry VI plays, Comedy of Errors, Love’ Labour Lost, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and the only tragedy, Titus Andronicus.

SECOND PHASE- This includes his comedies and is one of the best moments of the playwright. To this belongs his greatest comedies and historical plays- The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice, As you Like It, and King John as the first historical play. 

THIRD PHASE- This stage is called the stage of tragedies, where Shakespeare has given world-class tragedies including Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Ceaser, and others. 

FOURTH PHASE- The last phase of the playwright’s career has some lesser-known plays like The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest. It is also in this stage that his sonnets are published in 1609. 

Shakespeare’s sonnets are a significant aspect of his career as within the 14lines structure, he asserts a completely different style of address. Here it is not a beautiful lady, but a man and a woman of much darker complexion. The man is considered as Earl of Southampton (1-126) and the woman as Dark lady (127-152), although their identities are still a mystery. An unconventional method of sonnet writing is apparent here. He even dedicates two of the sonnets to Cupid. His poetic style is simple, sensuous, and passionate and is perfectly carried out in his poems. Shakespeare’s literary talent is profound and incomprehensible, yet a specimen of imperishable beauty. 

Though we don’t have much information about his life, many researchers say that the greatest poet of all time William Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April, 1616 in the same city he was born.

In this lesson above, I have tried to picture the life of William Shakespeare within very limited words. Hopefully, after going through this session, you have understood how you can actually concise the story of such a vast life within your recommended words. If you still have any doubts, please let me know through some quick comments. If you want to read more such essays and other kinds of English compositions, keep browsing our website. 

Kindly join us on Telegram to get the latest updates on our upcoming sessions. Thank you for being with us. Have a great day. 

A Guide To Writing Shakespeare Essays, Including Pitfalls & Tips

William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the most significant personalities of the world and culture in particular. This dramatist is considered to be an inventor of literary English language, an inventor of modern theater, and the greatest poet in the history of England. Starting in the 15th century, Shakespeare’s poems and plays have been published in a lot of countries and translated into almost all languages of the world. It is no wonder that students have to write a Shakespeare essay despite their disciplines and specialization. The assignments vary. You might get a task to analyze the sonnets or a play of a famous playwright and writer, write a book report, or say some words about his life in a Shakespeare biography essay. No matter what is your writing about, experts from  ProHighGrades  collected some ideas and essential tips that will help.

How to Write a Shakespeare Biography Essay

If you are to write essays about the background of a great author, you need to know his biography, and the peculiarities of the time he lived in. Here are some ideas:

• Describe the town he was born and lived. Stratford-upon-Avon was a small English town, and his family was among the noble ones. You can analyze the primal education and the reasons to move to London.
• Literature resources give a little knowledge of young Shakespeare. No one knows the real day of birth. The authors know he was baptized in April. History did not save much about his school or university education. The period which starts in the year 1585 and finishes in 1593 is called “the lost years of Shakespeare.” An excellent attempt to analyze and make suggestions concerning his real life and a search for additional facts will amaze the professors.
• You can analyze the relationship between Shakespeare and other people. Some works and pages contain suggestions about his love, friends, etc. A good Shakespeare biography essay will try to study the stories related to the company surrounding him. Study the writers he mailed.
• Finally, his last years and death are covered in mystery as well. You can try to find a reason why Shakespeare left a big part of his property to his daughter Susanna. Write about a real reason to move back to Stratford.

A good story about a simple man, people to follow him, the political and historical circumstances and terms, the rights of a human of Shakespeare’s society, popular suggestions, and references to his biography from other sources deserve to appear in an excellent Shakespeare essay.

How to Write an Essay About Shakespeare’s Works

Everybody read the author. Students compose tons of writings, where they give information about his collection of works. In order to claim some originality and score free points on exclusiveness, you need to consider many things:

• All the essays about Shakespeare’s literature are written. People wrote about the classic plays after his sonnet or plots. Scholars read, search, and research the significance of his works in almost every paper. You need something contemporary. New plays and interpretations of the texts appear today (for example, a fresh Hamlet play with Benedict Cumberbatch). New movies come from Hollywood and other countries. Take them into account. Many original Shakespeare essay topics are reserved for you
• If you are in despair, choose a way that worked for centuries. Analyze the title of a particular poem or play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream , the plays entitled by names ( Romeo and Juliet , Macbeth , Much Ado About Nothing and others are a reason to write a good, short essay about William Shakespeare.
• A good idea is to analyze the characters of Shakespeare. His plays are not all full of action, but characters are deep. Conflicts, emotions, experience, and background stand behind every one. To make a Shakespeare paper better, reading work is not enough. Try to watch the performance of actors from plays and movies. Usually, they do not make an exact copy of the text but bring the new interpretation.
• Good Shakespeare essay examples choose famous critics for referencing. A catchy quote or a properly referenced idea will make your essay worth money and effort. Remember that the question you ask in the Shakespeare paper must find its answer despite the length of a paper, and a number of essay pages needed.
• Adjust your essay to a discipline. In every Shakespeare text, you can find something for a history, sociology, culture, linguistics, psychology, arts, mythology, and literature essay.

Shakespeare was not a simple person and now has a truly global identity. His impact on his and further times are great. Many people study him, and increasingly significant numbers will no doubt do so in the future. You can also count on the guys from EditProofRead to check out your paper to make sure it’s good.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Writers — William Shakespeare

Essays on William Shakespeare

What makes a good william shakespeare essay topic.

When it comes to crafting an exceptional essay on the works of William Shakespeare, the choice of topic is paramount. The right topic can breathe life into your essay, making it captivating, unique, and unforgettable. Here are some innovative tips to help you brainstorm and select an essay topic that will mesmerize your readers:

- Research and Immerse Yourself: Begin by immersing yourself in the vast repertoire of William Shakespeare's works. Dive into his plays, poems, and sonnets. This deep exploration will provide you with invaluable insights into his themes, characters, and writing style.

- Personal Passion: Opt for a topic that ignites a genuine spark of interest within you. When you are truly passionate about the subject matter, it will shine through in your writing, captivating your readers and making your essay more compelling.

- Unveiling the Unexplored: Seek out uncharted territory and lesser-known aspects of Shakespeare's works. Instead of treading the well-worn path of common themes or characters, venture into the hidden gems that lie within his literature.

- Contemporary Connections: Explore the relevance of Shakespeare's works in today's society and connect them to modern-day issues. Examining the timeless themes and their impact on the present can render your essay thought-provoking and engaging.

- Characters and Relationships Under the Microscope: Shakespeare's characters are multifaceted and intricate. Choose a topic that allows you to analyze their motivations, relationships, or character development within his plays.

- Comparative Analysis: Engage in a comparative exploration of Shakespeare's works alongside other literary pieces, historical events, or even contemporary movies or plays. This fresh perspective will make your essay stand out from the crowd.

- Social and Cultural Context: Delve into the social and cultural milieu that shaped Shakespeare's plays. Discuss how his works were influenced by the Elizabethan era and how they mirror the society of that time.

- Unveiling Symbolism and Imagery: Shakespeare's works are a treasure trove of symbolism and vivid imagery. Select a topic that allows you to analyze and interpret these literary devices, offering profound insights into the text.

- Controversial Contemplations: Shakespeare fearlessly explored contentious themes such as power, love, and morality. Choose a topic that tackles these provocative issues, sparking a lively debate among your readers.

- Unconventional Interpretations: Present a fresh and unconventional interpretation of a particular play, scene, or character. Challenge conventional ideas and encourage critical thinking with your unique perspective.

Remember, a remarkable Shakespeare essay topic should be captivating, original, and thought-provoking. By considering these recommendations, you will be able to select a topic that will enrapture your readers and showcase your exceptional analytical skills.

Essay Topic Ideas for William Shakespeare

Prepare to be dazzled by these outstanding essay topics on William Shakespeare:

• The Empowerment of Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies
• Fate and Its Grip on Romeo and Juliet
• The Fine Line Between Madness and Sanity in Hamlet
• Love's Intricacies and Deception in Much Ado About Nothing
• Unraveling the Allure of Power and Ambition in Macbeth
• Exploring the Dark Depths of Evil in Othello
• Shakespeare's Brave Confrontation of Racism in The Merchant of Venice
• The Mighty Influence of Language and Wordplay in A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Revenge and Justice Collide in Titus Andronicus
• The Greek Mythology Odyssey within Shakespeare's Plays
• The Symbolic Tapestry of Nature in King Lear
• Gender Roles and Identity in Twelfth Night
• Time's Elusive Spell in The Tempest
• The Supernatural's Sinister Dance in Macbeth
• The Illusion of Appearance versus the Reality of Truth in Measure for Measure
• The Complexities of Love's Dominion in Antony and Cleopatra
• The Intricate Weaving of Politics in Julius Caesar
• Jealousy's Venomous Touch in Othello
• The Struggle between Duty and Desire in Hamlet
• A Profound Exploration of Human Nature in Troilus and Cressida

Provocative Questions for Your William Shakespeare Essay

Prepare to embark on an intellectual journey with these thought-provoking essay questions on William Shakespeare:

• How does Shakespeare challenge traditional gender roles in his plays?
• What is the significance of the supernatural elements in Macbeth?
• How does Shakespeare explore the theme of power and its corrupting influence in his tragedies?
• Analyze the portrayal of love and relationships in Shakespeare's comedies.
• To what extent does fate play a role in Romeo and Juliet, and are the characters responsible for their own destinies?
• Discuss the concept of madness and its impact on the characters in Hamlet.
• How does Shakespeare employ symbolism and imagery to convey his themes in The Tempest?
• Analyze the role of loyalty and betrayal in Julius Caesar.
• How does Othello's race affect the outcome of the play?
• Discuss the portrayal of revenge in Shakespeare's plays.

Creative William Shakespeare Essay Prompts

Ignite your creativity with these captivating essay prompts on William Shakespeare:

• Imagine you are a director staging a modern adaptation of one of Shakespeare's plays. How would you interpret the setting, costumes, and overall production to make it relevant to a contemporary audience?
• Write a heartfelt letter from one of Shakespeare's characters to another, expressing their deepest desires, fears, or regrets.
• Create a powerful monologue from the perspective of a minor character in any of Shakespeare's plays, unveiling their untold story or hidden emotions.
• Write a riveting dialogue between Shakespeare and a modern-day playwright, discussing the enduring appeal and relevance of his works.
• Imagine you are a literary critic tasked with analyzing a previously undiscovered Shakespearean sonnet. Interpret its meaning and discuss its significance within the context of his other works.

William Shakespeare Essay FAQ

Q: How should I begin my essay on William Shakespeare?

A: Commence with a captivating introduction that sets the stage for your essay and introduces your thesis statement. You can start with a compelling quote, an intriguing fact, or a thought-provoking question.

Q: Can I choose a lesser-known play by Shakespeare as my essay topic?

A: Absolutely! Exploring lesser-known plays can provide a fresh perspective, allowing you to delve into unexplored themes and characters. Just ensure that you provide enough context and background information for your readers.

Q: Should I include direct quotes from Shakespeare's works in my essay?

A: Including quotes can enhance your analysis and provide evidence to support your arguments. However, make sure to seamlessly integrate and analyze the quotes, rather than using them as mere filler.

Q: Can I incorporate modern examples or references in my essay on Shakespeare?

A: Yes, incorporating modern examples or references can help readers connect with the themes and relevance of Shakespeare's works. Just ensure that the examples are relevant and enhance your analysis, rather than overshadowing it.

Q: How can I make my Shakespeare essay stand out from others?

A: To make your essay shine, choose a unique and thought-provoking topic, offer fresh interpretations, and employ engaging language and writing style. Support your arguments with evidence and provide a well-structured analysis.

Remember, writing a Shakespeare essay is an opportunity to showcase your critical thinking and analytical skills. Embark on a thrilling journey through the world of Shakespeare and let your creativity illuminate your writing!

Deception in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: a Critical Analysis

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Depths of Despair and Redemption in Sonnet 29: a Close Analysis

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"As You Like It" and "A Midsummer Night"s Dream": Feminine Homoeroticism

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April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom - April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Playwright, Poet, Actor

English Renaissance

Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing,Twelfth Night, Macbeth, etc.

William Shakespeare, widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in history, possessed a unique and influential style of writing. His works demonstrate a mastery of language, poetic devices, and dramatic techniques that continue to captivate audiences centuries later. Shakespeare's writing style can be characterized by several distinctive features. Firstly, his use of language is rich and vibrant. He employed a vast vocabulary and crafted elaborate sentences, often employing complex wordplay and puns to create layers of meaning. Shakespeare's writing is renowned for its poetic beauty, rhythmic verse, and memorable lines that have become ingrained in the English language. Secondly, Shakespeare excelled in character development. His characters are multidimensional, with complex emotions and motivations. Through their soliloquies and dialogues, he explores the depths of human nature, delving into themes of love, jealousy, ambition, and morality. Each character's speech and mannerisms reflect their unique personality, contributing to the depth and realism of his plays. Lastly, Shakespeare's dramatic structure and storytelling techniques are unparalleled. He skillfully weaves together intricate plots, incorporating elements of comedy, tragedy, romance, and history. His plays feature dramatic tension, unexpected twists, and powerful climaxes that keep audiences engaged and emotionally invested.

One of Shakespeare's major contributions was his ability to delve into the depths of human emotions and the complexities of the human condition. Through his plays, he explored themes such as love, jealousy, ambition, revenge, and moral dilemmas, offering profound insights into the human psyche. His characters, like Hamlet, Macbeth, Juliet, and Othello, are iconic and have become archetypes in literature. Shakespeare's language and wordplay revolutionized English literature. He introduced new words, phrases, and expressions that have become an integral part of the English lexicon. His plays are a testament to his mastery of language, employing poetic techniques such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and iambic pentameter to create rhythm, beauty, and depth in his writing. Moreover, Shakespeare's plays transcended the boundaries of time and place, showcasing universal themes and resonating with audiences across cultures and generations. His works continue to be performed and adapted in various forms, including stage productions, films, and literary adaptations, further solidifying his contribution to the world of literature.

Film Adaptations: Many of Shakespeare's plays have been adapted into films, bringing his stories to life on the silver screen. Notable examples include Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" (1989), and Baz Luhrmann's modernized version of "Romeo + Juliet" (1996). TV Series and Episodes: Shakespeare's works have been featured in TV series and episodes, either through direct adaptations or by incorporating his themes and characters. For instance, the popular TV show "The Simpsons" has parodied Shakespeare in episodes like "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" and "Tales from the Public Domain." Shakespearean-Inspired Films: Some films draw inspiration from Shakespeare's works without being direct adaptations. Examples include "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), which explores the fictionalized romance between Shakespeare and a noblewoman, and "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999), a modern-day adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew." Literary References: Shakespeare is often referenced in literature, showcasing his enduring influence. For instance, Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World" features characters who quote Shakespeare, and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" includes a clandestine resistance group called "Mayday," derived from "May Day" in Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

1. Shakespeare is known for writing 39 plays, including tragedies like "Hamlet," comedies like "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and histories like "Henry V." 2. Shakespeare is credited with introducing over 1,700 words to the English language, including popular terms such as "eyeball," "fashionable," and "lonely." 3. Shakespeare's works have been translated into more than 80 languages, making him one of the most widely translated playwrights in history. 4. Shakespeare's plays continue to be performed and studied worldwide, with an estimated 17,000 performances of his works every year. 5. Despite his literary fame, little is known about Shakespeare's personal life. There are gaps and uncertainties surrounding his birthdate, education, and even the authorship of his works. 6. The Globe Theatre: Shakespeare's plays were performed at the famous Globe Theatre in London, which he co-owned. The reconstructed Globe Theatre stands in London today and offers modern audiences a glimpse into the world of Elizabethan theatre. 7. In addition to his plays, Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, which are celebrated for their lyrical beauty and exploration of themes such as love, time, and mortality.

William Shakespeare is an essential topic for essay writing due to his immense significance in the world of literature and his enduring influence on various aspects of human culture. Exploring Shakespeare's works provides a rich opportunity to delve into themes of love, tragedy, power, and human nature. His plays and sonnets continue to captivate readers and audiences with their universal themes and timeless relevance. Studying Shakespeare allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the English language itself, as he contributed numerous words and phrases that are still in use today. Additionally, his innovative use of language, poetic techniques, and complex characterizations showcase his unparalleled mastery as a playwright. Furthermore, Shakespeare's impact extends beyond literature. His works have been adapted into numerous films, theater productions, and other art forms, making him a cultural icon. His plays also provide a valuable lens through which to analyze historical and social contexts, as they reflect the values, beliefs, and conflicts of the Elizabethan era.

"All that glitters is not gold." "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks!" In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to be, or not to be, that is the question." In the 21st century, "to code, or not to code, that is the challenge.

1. Shakespeare, W., Shakespeare, W., & Kaplan, M. L. (2002). The merchant of Venice (pp. 25-120). Palgrave Macmillan US. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-07784-4_2) 2. Shakespeare, W. (2019). The tempest. In One-Hour Shakespeare (pp. 137-194). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429262647-9/tempest-william-shakespeare) 3. Johnson, S. (2020). The Preface to The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765). In Samuel Johnson (pp. 423-462). Yale University Press. (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300258004-040/html?lang=de) 4. Denvir, J. (1986). William Shakespeare and the Jurisprudence of Comedy. Stan. L. Rev., 39, 825. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stflr39&div=38&id=&page=) 5. Demmen, J. (2020). Issues and challenges in compiling a corpus of early modern English plays for comparison with those of William Shakespeare. ICAME Journal, 44(1), 37-68. (https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/icame-2020-0002) 6. Liu, X., Xu, A., Liu, Z., Guo, Y., & Akkiraju, R. (2019, May). Cognitive learning: How to become william shakespeare. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6). (https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3290607.3312844) 7. Xu, W., Ritter, A., Dolan, W. B., Grishman, R., & Cherry, C. (2012, December). Paraphrasing for style. In Proceedings of COLING 2012 (pp. 2899-2914). (https://aclanthology.org/C12-1177.pdf) 8. Craig, H. (2012). George Chapman, John Davies of Hereford, William Shakespeare, and" A Lover's Complaint". Shakespeare Quarterly, 63(2), 147-174. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41679745) 9. Zhao, Y., & Zobel, J. (2007, January). Searching with style: Authorship attribution in classic literature. In Proceedings of the thirtieth Australasian conference on Computer science-Volume 62 (pp. 59-68). (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=3973ff27eb173412ce532c8684b950f4cd9b0dc8)

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William Shakespeare Essay

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Historical background

Cultural influences, outside critique and critical responses, scholarly interpretation, understanding the work of shakespeare, works cited.

William Shakespeare is perhaps one of the well-known poets and playwrights. Although it seems not well known when he began his writing career, Greenblatt reports the staging of his plays in 1592 in London (12). He was born of a staunch Roman Catholic family with his parents living in the times of conflicting stands between Catholics and Protestants. His cultural background and experiences appears to spring all through his 38 plays, two long poems amongst others in one way or another.

His father, John Shakespeare, “dealt in trading in wool, malt and corn” (Grady 10) at Stratford with his father, Richard Shakespeare producing the noble objects of the trade on his farm. John then bought a house in Henley Street, Stratford to place himself conveniently near the market place.

He then “started in the dubious business of money lending” (Grady 10): reminiscent of the Merchant ; Jewish moneylender and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. In 1557, John married Mary Arden. Several cultural and religious conflicts determined the choice of Mary Arden as the probable wife to John.

On one hand, he had to choose a fellow catholic, due to the wave that stood between the catholic and the Protestants, making the Catholics face a treatment characterized by suspicion and hatred. On the other hand, John had to live up to his prominence ambitions, though illiterate. By marrying a young wealthy woman at the age of 17 while in 26s, he stood assured of good start in marriage life and in line with his ambitions.

Later in 1558, they gave birth to their first child, Joan. Unfortunately, Joan succumbed to Black Death (the plaque). Their second daughter, born in 1562, lived for one year. In 1564 (though not supported by official document due to inexistency of registration then in English history), came William Shakespeare. William was the eldest son of a family of eight siblings.

Probably William was educated in king’s new school based in Stratford. However, “during the Elizabethan era, the curriculum remained dictated by the law throughout England, and the school would have provided an intensive education in Latin grammar and the classics” (Burns 5). At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, the then 26-year old.

They gave birth to their first child Susanne baptized on 26 may 1583 and later to twins: Hamnet and Judith, in 1585. In all biographies of William Shakespeare, missing marks of his history between 1585 and 1592 exist. Many scholars for instance Rowe upholds the opinion that William fled from Stratford to London “to escape prosecution for deer poaching in the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy” (7).

John Aubrey (Gray 79) on his part speculated that, William was a country schoolmaster during the Shakespeare ‘lost years’. Furthermore, “Some 20th-century scholars have suggested that Shakespeare may have been employed as a schoolmaster by Alexander Houghton of Lancashire: a Catholic landowner who named a certain ‘William Shakeshafte’” (Gager 45). Wherever Shakespeare was during this time remains a miserly

His plays initially were predominantly comedies and histories before winding up with genres portraying sophistication of artistry in the near end of 16 th century. Around 1608, he focused on tragedies such as King Lear, Othello, Macbeth and Hamlet . Finally, the last phase entangled romances.

The romances include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which characterized mixes of comic scenes, romance and fairy magic. Somewhat interesting Shakespeare’s romantic play was Merchant of Venice that preceded Much Ado about Nothing. Merchant of Venice play stands out a reflection of Elizabethan views but more of derogatory from modern reader’s perspective point of view.

Merchant of Venice stands out as one of the many plays of the Shakespeare, which clearly reflects cultural influences that rendered Shakespeare do the play through its characters qualities and themes. Shakespeare’s rooted challenges of disputed cultural inclination on religion dominantly appear not only in the Merchant of Venice but also in the rest of his writings.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream , ( Shakespeare 40) “Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian chaqeling to Oberon for use as his ‘knight’ or ‘henchman’ since the child’s mother was one of Titania’s worshipers…Oberon seeks to punish Tatinia’s disobedience” (Matus para.15).

This reflects a religious stalemate. On the other hand, in the Merchant of Venice , “Even when Bassanio offers much more than the amount in repayment, Shylock, now infuriated by the loss of his daughter, is intent on seeking revenge on the Christians” (Gager 92). The two examples depict the stalemate that existed during the time of his father between the Christians who were divided on the lines of either being protestants or Catholics.

In fact, Catholics were treated with dismay and the denomination at some time was illegal. Shylock having been dealing in a business that involves lending money with anticipation of outstandingly enormous interest, was tantamount to his father’s dubious money lending business that initially saw him flourish at Stanford. Isolation reminiscent to that that existed during the reign of queen Elizabeth appears in the Merchant of Venice , the characters clash on various situations as they originate from different backgrounds.

A similar scenario was encountered by his father who despite being wealthy; he had attempted to make an application for court of arms without success due to different inclination on religious beliefs between him and the then in power family which was mainly Protestants(analogous to Jews in ‘ Merchant of Venice’ ).

“The money-grubbing Shylock, on the other hand, is accused of caring more for his ducats than human relationships” (Cook 412-420). People who considered it better fining one for the failure to take state duties rather than losing on making extra pennies on that day characterized the roots of Shakespeare.

Cultural influence that recognizes ‘lack’ as noble and significant in the society is also evident in Shakespeare work. “They state that whoever seeks to marry Portia must solve the riddle of the three caskets—one gold, one silver, one lead, each with an inscription—or, failing in the attempt, agree to remain a bachelor for the rest of his days” (Matus para.2).

Various suitors attempted to unveil the riddle but miserably failed until when Bassanio arrived, who Portia favored arrived and choose the casket that housed hers portrait. It reveals that marriage was not all that significantly grounded on love reflecting on the manner in which his father selected his marriage partner based on intents to achieve his ambitions of remaining prominent.

Though many refer Shakespeare’s work as outstanding, it fails to receive pure screening from skeptics. A group of people referring themselves as Oxfordians, wonder whether “contemporaneous record of the man and playwright is suspect; whether the ‘Soul of the Age’ was the very heart of it as well; and, finally, whether Shakespeare was indeed a man of the theater” (Matus para.4).

Ideally, Shakespeare’s contemporary reference materials depicting Shakespeare as both a playwright and a player outnumber any other ‘renaissance theatre’ of the English. Several other references substantially portray the staging of Shakespearean plays in courts, private theatres, and public theaters. Charlton Ogburn notes that “…you can’t get anywhere with Oxford unless you dispose of the Stratford man” (Matus para.7). He attributes the documents that place Shakespeare at the centre of theatre stage as faulty or better put, ambiguous.

This critique results to disagreement since “Relatively few though, these documents may seem by modern standards, they pose a considerable problem for Oxfordians” (Maclay para.8). Oxfordians critic the capability of Shakespeare to do such incredible work that would see his stars shines even a couple of centuries after his death. They challenge whether Shakespeare had such adequate education to see him dominate the playwright arena or even whether he had any education at all.

Arguably, if records were a thing to go by as way of supplying adequate evidence and proof, the ideas of Ogburn that “the school records “would have disappeared because they showed he did not attend it”(Maclay para.10) deem to have substance. Furthermore, a trace of many wits of drama that lived during the times of Shakespeare such as Ben Jonson, have records indicating that they had gone to the university.

Nevertheless, it would substantially lend well for any scholar to anticipate Jonson to be a celebrated playwright in Britain in seventeenth century as well. Cook argues that, “In the top rank of classical scholars, he would be granted honorary master’s degrees by both Oxford and Cambridge…Evidently there may be more to both scholarship and literary genius than a formal education” (412-420).

Does it therefore make the absence of Shakespeare educational records make his works in poetry and plays originality suspicious? Ogburn offers a response. He says that other playwrights who were prominent found places in the diaries accompanied by their famous actors but not Shakespeare (Grady 50).

In fact, the arguments raised above by various skeptics of Shakespeare works, have their unique weaknesses. Te question on absence of Shakespeare names in the diaries is debatable since in biographies, no playwright name appeared on any diary until after 1596. “By then Shakespeare was a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s company, which had no association with Henslowe or his playhouse” (Maclay para.17).

Henslowe was responsible for the entry of the prominent playwright alongside with their actors in diaries. Further more in 1604, evidence prevails that some chamberlain’s men, earlier for ten months, went for a monarch service. Nine of the mentioned actors in the license given by the king encompassed Shakespeare and accounts of them being recipients of “four and a half yards of red clothe are made” (Grady 106).

Millar, another critique of Shakespeare, agrees the cloth to have gone out but to chamberlain’s men rather than to ‘actors’. In an attempt to show the style of mentioning the name of Shakespeare with regard to chamberlain’s men, the Oxfordians rush to point out his going there not as playwright but as a troupe patron. Where then was Lord Hudson, the one traditionally allocated the role of troupe patron?

The work of Shakespeare attracts different interpretations from different scholars. On her part Janet Adelman, California university professor, “compels us to look into the psychic recesses of Shakespeare’s characters, of Shakespeare himself as far as his personality can be recovered through his works, and of ourselves” (Cook 412-420). Shakespeare portrayed uneasiness in regarding women’s masculine identity as ‘of born’.

He went on to associate male fantasies towards women to suffocating female parents who must have suffocated themselves. Adelman interrelated Jews and Christians in the Merchant of Venice to blood relations in the society. Shylock says “yes smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet, the Nazarene, conjured the devil into” (Shakespeare 45) this makes Adelman say that these relations are “an unsettling, psycho-theological reading of the play” (Maclay para.6).

Nancy Chodorow literate the Shakespeare’s wealth of literature, which makes it significant even to those who do not do it professionally (Maclay para.6). It helps shape every one and incorporate it into ones part of personality, making somebody human, “rather than replicating what you do.

Green feels that “Fantasies of Maternal Origins in Shakespeare’s Plays, ‘Hamlet’, a book in which an in-depth analysis of the mother figures in Shakespeare’s works – the female characters in the plays and those whose absences raise questions” (Maclay Para. 10). Shakespeare’s plays brings out the manner in which tone and sound effects are carefully combined alongside with communication to bring clearly out meaning to facilitate in understanding how various issues afflict the society at large both economically and socially.

To understand Shakespeare’s work amicably, one should attempt to explore the cultural, political and religious conflicts that existed during the times when he did his poems and playwrights. Participating in performance in monologue credibly helps to interpret his work and therefore understanding humanity.

A student noted “ I discovered that when I performed the monologue of lady Macbeth, act 1, scene 5, that more or less, it was very easy to become part” (NCTE 35). Another paramount way is through seeking interpretation of the old English into the modern language.

This way, one can appreciate the romantic artistry in language use. NCTE notes that, “…we were watching the Suit Life of Zack and Cody …They explained a phrase in English we use today… I could give Shakespeare the credit he deserve” (NCTE 36). Poetry, play or any other genre of literature reflect the indulgencies of the society. It tends to mirror the issues afflicting the society: particularly the ones that hinder development or foster understanding posing a threat to the harmonious coexistence.

The interpretation of the behaviors of Shakespeare’s characters, and themes borrow largely from the systems of monarchy as means of administering governance. The perceptions of how and what marriage ought to be in his plays translates into how such decisions were made in the society that he was part of. Unless the reader has a clear picture on the sixteenth century and early seventieth century society, understanding and consequently interpreting Shakespeare work would definitely seem to be too hard.

Burns, Edward. Introduction, in Shakespeare, William; Burns, Edward (ed.), King Henry VI, Part 1. London: Arden Shakespeare, Thomson, 2000.

Cook, Hardy. Shakespeare Roundtable on Intentions: The Origins of the Collaboration with Style. The Shakespearean Journal 44.3 (2010): 412-420.

Gager, Valerie. Shakespeare and Dickens: The Dynamics of Influence . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Grady, Hugh. Shakespeare Criticism 1600–1900 in deGrazia, Margareta Wells Stanley, The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Gray, Arthur. A Chapter in the Early Life of Shakespeare . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1926.

Greenblatt, Stephen. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare . London: Pimlico, 2005.

Maclay, Kathleen. Janet Adelman’s psychoanalytic and feminist critics , 2010. Web.

Matus, Irvin. The case for Shakespeare , 1991. Web.

NCTE . How has Performing Shakespeare helped you Appreciate his Work? English Journal 99.1(2007): 35-36.

Rowe, John. Introduction, in Shakespeare, William; Rowe, John (ed.), The Poems: Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Phoenix and the Turtle, The Passionate Pilgrim, A Lover’s Complaint, by William Shakespeare . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. New York City: Signet Classics, 1998.

Shakespeare, William. Merchant of Venice . New York: W. Norton & Company, 2005.

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Bibliography

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William Shakespeare summary

Explore the life of william shakespeare and his greatest plays.

William Shakespeare , (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Eng.—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet and playwright, often considered the greatest writer in world literature.

Shakespeare spent his early life in Stratford-upon-Avon, receiving at most a grammar-school education, and at age 18 he married a local woman, Anne Hathaway. By 1594 he was apparently a rising playwright in London and an actor in a leading theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later King’s Men); the company performed at the Globe Theatre from 1599.

The order in which Shakespeare’s plays were written and performed is highly uncertain. His earliest plays seem to date from the late 1580s to the mid-1590s and include the comedies Love’s Labour’s Lost , The Comedy of Errors , The Taming of the Shrew , and A Midsummer Night’s Dream ; history plays based on the lives of the English kings, including Henry VI (parts 1, 2, and 3), Richard III , and Richard II ; and the tragedy Romeo and Juliet .

The plays apparently written between 1596 and 1600 are mostly comedies, including The Merchant of Venice , The Merry Wives of Windsor , Much Ado About Nothing , and As You Like It , and histories, including Henry IV (parts 1 and 2), Henry V , and Julius Caesar .

Approximately between 1600 and 1607 he wrote the comedies Twelfth Night , All’s Well That Ends Well , and Measure for Measure , as well as the great tragedies Hamlet (probably begun in 1599), Othello , Macbeth , and King Lear , which mark the summit of his art.

Among his later works (about 1607 to 1614) are the tragedies Antony and Cleopatra , Coriolanus , and Timon of Athens , as well as the fantastical romances The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest .

He probably also collaborated on the plays Edward III and The Two Noble Kinsmen . In 2010 a case was made for Shakespeare as the coauthor (with John Fletcher) of Double Falsehood .

Shakespeare’s plays, all of them written largely in iambic pentameter verse, are marked by extraordinary poetry; vivid, subtle, and complex characterizations; and a highly inventive use of English. His 154 sonnets, published in 1609 but apparently written mostly in the 1590s, often express strong feeling within an exquisitely controlled form.

Shakespeare retired to Stratford before 1610 and lived as a country gentleman until his death. The first collected edition of his plays, or First Folio, was published in 1623. As with most writers of the time, little is known about his life and work, and other writers, particularly the 17th earl of Oxford, have frequently been proposed as the actual authors of his plays and poems.

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Shakespeare's life.

19th-century portrait of Shakespeare with his family at home in Stratford

William Shakespeare: A biography

Since William Shakespeare lived more than 400 years ago, and many records from that time are lost or never existed in the first place, we don’t know everything about Shakespeare’s life. For example, we know that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, 100 miles northwest of London, on April 26, 1564. But we don’t know his exact birthdate, which must have been a few days earlier.

We do know that Shakespeare’s life revolved around two locations: Stratford and London. He grew up, had a family, and bought property in Stratford, but he worked in London, the center of English theater. As an actor, a playwright, and a partner in a leading acting company, he became both prosperous and well-known. Even without knowing everything about his life, fans of Shakespeare have imagined and reimagined him according to their own tastes.

Looking for more in-depth information? Need something you can cite? Read an essay about Shakespeare’s life from the Folger Shakespeare Editions. Read essay

Primary sources

Visit Shakespeare Documented to see primary-source materials documenting Shakespeare’s life. This online resource of items from the Folger and other institutions brings together all known manuscript and print references to Shakespeare and his works, as well as additional references to his family, in his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

Early life: Birth and childhood

William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the date that is traditionally given for his birth. He was John and Mary Shakespeare’s oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.

Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff—much like a mayor. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life; we don’t know why.

Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford’s grammar school. Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age 15.

A horn book in the Folger collection, similar to one that Shakespeare might have learned to read from

Marriage (to Anne Hathaway) and children

A few years after he left school, in late 1582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. She was already expecting their first-born child, Susanna, which was a fairly common situation at the time. When they married, Anne was 26 and William was 18. Anne grew up just outside Stratford in the village of Shottery. After marrying, she spent the rest of her life in Stratford.

In early 1585, the couple had twins, Judith and Hamnet, completing the family. In the years ahead, Anne and the children lived in Stratford while Shakespeare worked in London, although we don’t know when he moved there. Some later observers have suggested that this separation, and the couple’s relatively few children, were signs of a strained marriage, but we do not know that, either. Someone pursuing a theater career had no choice but to work in London, and many branches of the Shakespeares had small families.

Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet, died in 1596 at the age of 11. His older daughter Susanna later married a well-to-do Stratford doctor, John Hall. Their daughter Elizabeth, Shakespeare’s first grandchild, was born in 1608. In 1616, just months before his death, Shakespeare’s daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney, a Stratford vintner. The family subsequently died out, leaving no direct descendants of Shakespeare.

London theater

For several years after the birth of Judith and Hamnet in 1585, nothing is known for certain of Shakespeare’s activities: how he earned a living, when he moved from Stratford, or how he got his start in the theater.

Following this gap in the record, the first definite mention of Shakespeare is in 1592 as an established London actor and playwright, mocked by a contemporary as a “Shake-scene.” The same writer alludes to one of Shakespeare’s earliest history plays, Henry VI, Part 3 , which must already have been performed. The next year, in 1593, Shakespeare published a long poem, Venus and Adonis . The first quarto editions of his early plays appeared in 1594.

For more than two decades, Shakespeare had multiple roles in the London theater as an actor, playwright, and, in time, a business partner in a major acting company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (renamed the King’s Men in 1603). Over the years, he became steadily more famous in the London theater world; his name, which was not even listed on the first quartos of his plays, became a regular feature—clearly a selling point—on later title pages.

Final years and death

Shakespeare prospered financially from his partnership in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later the King’s Men), as well as from his writing and acting. He invested much of his wealth in real-estate purchases in Stratford and bought the second-largest house in town, New Place, in 1597.

Among the last plays that Shakespeare worked on was The Two Noble Kinsmen , which he wrote with a frequent collaborator, John Fletcher, most likely in 1613. He died on April 23, 1616—the traditional date of his birthday, though his precise birthdate is unknown. We also do not know the cause of his death. His brother-in-law had died a week earlier, which could imply infectious disease, but Shakespeare’s health may have had a longer decline.

The memorial bust of Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is considered one of two authentic likenesses, because it was approved by people who knew him. The other such likeness is the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays, produced seven years after his death by his friends and colleagues from the King’s Men.

View a timeline of Shakespeare’s life with links to key supporting documents on Shakespeare Documented .

View timeline

The bust of Shakespeare in the Folger Reading Room is a copy of the statue at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

Frequently asked questions

Why did shakespeare leave his wife his “second best bed”.

William Shakespeare wrote in his last will and testament, dated March 25, 1616, “Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture” (furniture is used to refer to the curtains and bedcover which formed part of the complete bed).

This was not an unusual bequest, nor was it likely to have been intended as a snub. The best bed was usually regarded as an heirloom piece, to be passed to the heir rather than the spouse. It is also probable that the best bed would have been reserved for guests, meaning the “second best” was the bed that William and Anne shared.

What did Shakespeare’s son die of?

We don’t really know how Shakespeare’s young son Hamnet died. He had a twin sister named Judith, who lived to adulthood and married, but Hamnet died at the age of 11 and a half. Child mortality was high in the 16th century; there were no antibiotics and many childhood diseases might therefore prove fatal, such as scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria, and even measles. He was buried on August 11, 1596.

What is the inscription on Shakespeare’s grave?

GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE, TO DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE: BLESTE BE Ye [the] MAN Yt [that] SPARES THES STONES, AND CURST BE HE Yt [that] MOVES MY BONES.

Did Shakespeare have a coat of arms?

Yes, William’s father, John Shakespeare, was granted a coat of arms in 1596. It was disputed in 1602 by York Herald, Ralph Brooke, saying that the arms were too similar to existing coats of arms, and that the family was unworthy. However, the challenge was unsuccessful, as the Shakespeare coat of arms appears in later heraldic collections and on William Shakespeare’s funeral monument in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Does Shakespeare have descendants?

William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway had three children. The eldest, Susanna, was baptized on May 26, 1583, and married John Hall in 1607. They had one child, Elizabeth, in 1608. Elizabeth was married twice, to Thomas Nash in 1626, and to John Bernard in 1649. However, she had no children by either husband.

William and Anne also had twins, Judith and Hamnet, who were baptized on February 2, 1585. Hamnet died at age 11 and a half. Judith married Thomas Quiney in 1616, and the couple had three sons: Shakespeare Quiney, who died in infancy, and Richard and Thomas, who both died in 1639 within a month of each other. Since neither of the boys married, there is no possibility of any legitimate descendants from Shakespeare’s line.

It is possible, however, to claim a relationship to Shakespeare through his sister, Joan. She married William Hart some time before 1600, and there are many descendants of this marriage alive today, in both the male and female lines.

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A Guide to Writing an Outstanding Shakespeare Essay

By: Max Malak

There is hardly a person who has not heard the name of William Shakespeare, one of the greatest authors in history who has made a large contribution to the development of the English language. Given that Shakespeare's figure is monumental for English and global literature, it comes as a mandatory part of the curriculum in high schools and on other academic levels.

The Life of William Shakespeare: Information to Use in an Essay

Shakespeare essay sample, no clear thesis statement, lack of linking structures, not enough of essential details, weak conclusion, the theme of friendship in william shakespeare's play, the theme of wealth in shakespeare's play, the word's value as one of the leading themes of the merchant of venice, the power of love in the merchant of venice, merchant of venice essay sample (the character of shylock), tips for writing a merchant of venice essay.

If you don't have any prior knowledge of Shakespeare's works and his biography, worry not! This guide will take you through all the essential information needed to create an A+ William Shakespeare essay, alongside a written work sample, tips on improving it, and a list of topics to explore.

Research is one of the critical parts of the essay writing process that should not be disregarded. To make the task easier for you, we have collected some facts from William Shakespeare's biography that can prove to be useful in your essay:

• Full name: William Shakespeare, also known as the Bard of Avon
• Date of Birth: Unknown
• Baptized: 26 April 1564
• Hometown: Stratford-upon-Avon, England
• Date of Death: 23 April 1616
• Parents: Mary Arden and John Shakespeare
• Spouse: Anne Hathaway in 1582
• Children: twins Judith and Hamnet, daughter Susanna

William Shakespeare was the greatest playwright of his time and created around 37 plays . Here are some of the most renowned Shakespeare's plays sorted by year of writing:

• The Taming of the Shrew (1590)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595)
• The Life and Death of King John (mid-1590s)
• Romeo and Juliet (1594-96)
• 1 Henry IV (1596)
• The Merchant of Venice (1596-98)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99)
• Julius Caesar (1599)
• Othello (1603)
• King Lear (1605-06)
• Hamlet (1606)
• Macbeth (1609)
• The Winter's Tale (1609)
• The Tempest (1611)

Besides, here are a few of Shakespeare's most recognized quotes :

• " To be, or not to be, that is the question." - Hamlet
• "All that glisters is not gold." - The Merchant of Venice
• "If music be the food of love, play on." - Twelfth Night
• "Brevity is the soul of wit." - Hamlet
• "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - The Tempest
• "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." - Julius Caesar

The aforementioned information can be used to create argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive essays. Check out an example below!

There is a wide variety of essay topics connected with the life of William Shakespeare. Here is one prompt sample:

Describe William Shakespeare's biography and life as an actor and playwright in Tudorian England.

Shakespeare is a globally beloved playwright with an intriguing biography, which makes such an essay topic rather common in educational institutions. Here is an example of a descriptive essay on this topic:

The Shakespeare biography is a mystery that contains a lot of uncertainty. The great writer's date of birth remains unknown, but it is clear that he was born in 1564, during the Tudor period in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. There is not much information on William Shakespeare's early years. It is believed he had a good childhood. Seven years of records on his life, starting from 1585, are non-existent. This period is often called "the lost years" by historians.

In 1592 Shakespeare reappeared in London as an actor, where he first performed at "The Theatre". He was a part of the company known as Lord Chamberlain's Men at that time. However, after facing controversy with the landlord, the building was taken apart and rebuilt as "The Globe", an open-air theater across the river. Shakespeare's plays were extremely successful and earned him a big fortune. He was in favor of Queen Elizabeth I and performed his plays at the royal court.

William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, and there are speculations that it might have been his birthday. Even after death, the great writer, playwright, and actor managed to leave a mystic aura around his persona, leaving a curse written on his gravestone.

A Few Shortcomings and How Can This Essay Be Improved

The sample essay you have just read through is an example of a text that is likely to receive a B- or B grade. But what are the downsides of this written work that hold it back from receiving an A+ assessment?

A thesis statement of a descriptive essay must introduce the reader to the central idea of your essay. However, the sample Shakespeare essay provides a fraction of what the work focuses on. Here is an example of a better thesis statement:

William Shakespeare's life as a renowned dramatist, poet, playwright, and actor appears as a mix of glory and mystery.

This sentence provides the readers with brief information on the person to be discussed in the essay while highlighting the specific aspects of his biography that will be covered.

The sample essay sticks to the chronological order of events in Shakespeare's life. However, the transition from one paragraph to another is not gradual, making the structure seem inconsistent. This can be done by embedding linking words and phrases in the text, such as:

• In spite of
• Furthermore

The list goes on! Integrating such words would enable the essay author to avoid choppy sentences and improve the text flow. Here is an example:

While the great writer's date of birth remains unknown, it is clear that he was born in 1564, during the Tudor period, in the English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Even though the information on William Shakespeare's early years is not sufficient, it is believed he had a loving upbringing. Besides , for seven years of his adulthood, the great playwright did not appear in any records. That is why this time of Shakespeare's life is often referred to as "the lost years" by historians.

As you can see, linking words make the text significantly easier to read and comprehend.

Besides, it is crucial to keep the thesis statement in mind throughout the whole written work and provide information to support it. The task requires to describe Shakespeare's life as a playwright, which is hardly possible without mentioning at least several of his plays beloved by the public. Here is an example of how the sample Shakespeare essay could be refined in this regard:

Shakespeare's plays were extremely successful already at his time and earned him a big fortune. Notably, early Modern London's public loved his historical plays Henry IV Part I and Richard III.

Even such small alterations create significant changes in the essay, providing more value to the reader.

The essay's conclusion should remind the reader of the thesis statement and be a summary of all the key ideas of the text. The sample essay's final paragraph appears as if it were a part of the written work's main body. Here is what could be added to wrap up the essay in a masterful manner:

While being a public person known to the majority of his contemporaries, Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure. Nevertheless, William Shakespeare's literary works, including his iconic plays, continue to amaze people generation after generation.

This version of the conclusion finalizes the essay while tackling all the topics that have been discussed in it.

An Essay About William Shakespeare: Possible Topics

Now that you've read through the tips to perfect your William Shakespeare essay, you will be able to create an excellent text deserving the top grade. What's left is to select an interesting topic for your essay if it has not been provided by your teacher or professor. Here are some ideas for your written work's theme:

• How Did Shakespeare Interpret Historical Events?
• The Impact Shakespeare's Acting Career Had on His Playwrighting
• The Perception of Women in Tudorian England As Shown in Shakespeare's Works
• What Do the Sonnets Tell Us About Shakespeare?
• Speculations on Shakespeare's Persona and Literary Works
• The Impact of Shakespeare's Masterpieces on Modern English Literature
• Why Are Shakespeare's Works Considered to Be a Significant Milestone in Literature?
• Shakespeare's Contribution to the Development of English Language

Let's see how we can write an essay on Shakespeare, taking Merchant of Venice as an example.

The Main Merchant of Venice Essay Topics

The main themes of the play are:

• honor and responsibility;
• the all-conquering power of love;
• help from friends in need;
• the value of words.

Bassanio and Antonio's friendship is merciful, as Antonio is willing to give his young friend everything that belongs to him, even that which he does not have. And this theme of friendship in this comedy is deeply connected with the dream of a more wonderful life in which money should serve a person without making him a slave.

The theme is best represented by the storyline of the main characters: Shylock and Antonio, residents of Belmont. Antonio, for all his generosity, carries out trading operations, treating them as a natural and completely noble business. Bassanio is openly seeking to marry a wealthy heiress. And Portia, a skillful and sensible hostess, is by no means indifferent to her property. But for all of them, money is only a means of providing them with a bright and free life, not an end in itself, as for Jewish moneylender Shylock, who is in love with money, obsessed with a thirst for accumulation and able to do anything to increase his capital.

The play tells about the value of the word and the obligations undertaken, for which one must be responsible. The plot revolves around an ill-conceived contract and unfulfilled obligations by Antonio. The merchant Antonio, despite the fact that he assumed obligations and did not fulfill the terms of the contract, was able to avoid punishment and revenge from his blood enemy.

In the comedy, the author praises true love. The feelings of Portia and Bassanio were able to defeat paternal authority; thus, Shakespeare says that parents have no control over their children. Portia was forced to marry a suitor, but "is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father?" (Act I, Scene I).

Shakespeare did not write anything similar to The Merchant of Venice. However, it is similar to the work of Christopher Marlowe, the Jew of Malta. The real situation of Jews in 16th century England was deplorable: they suffered from mistreatment. In modern Shakespeare's London, only baptized Jews belonged to the country's indigenous population. The play has some hints of anti-Semitism.

The reason for writing the play is not known for sure. It is believed that during his trip to Europe, the author met with Jews in Venice. The prototype of Shylock is often called Michael Locke (1532–1615), a merchant of a Chinese company in which de Vere in 1578–1579 invested 3,000 pounds to finance one of the expeditions. The expedition failed, and Locke paid his debts all his life. That's why the 3,000 ducats in the play are a hint of just that. "Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew."

Shylock's image is as follows: he is stingy, greedy, and the enemy of fun. Wealth for him is a means of self-affirmation and pressure on others. His bloodthirstiness is confirmed by rather strange usury: a pound of flesh. Shylock, the character of the Renaissance, is rich and multifaceted.

At the end of the play, half of Shylock's fortune is taken away, and he must convert to Christianity. The theme portrayed by the Merchant of Venice is in favor of Christians, whose power at that time was over the Jews. The play shows how both religions originated in antiquity.

• The play The Merchant of Venice is quite interesting and multifaceted. In order to successfully write an essay about this work, you need to choose the topic or character that most affects you. These can be, for example, female characters: Nerissa, Portia, and Elizabethan. No less interesting are the male characters: Lorenzo and Gratiano. Also, one of the most noteworthy topics for your essay may be the theme of a medieval carnival. In Shakespeare's comedy, the tradition of such a holiday is very clearly traced.
• If you find it difficult to get this kind of work, we advise you to seek help in writing services. Professionals will quickly and efficiently complete your assignment after just one click on the Write my essay button.
• Once you have chosen the vector for writing your essay, sketch out your main ideas. For example, here are some thoughts on the theme of depicting the holidays in the play:

The population of Shakespeare's time, with great pleasure, came to watch the play on a famous plot. Since the "Venetian merchant" is often called a tragedy, it is safe to say that it originates from elements of the church rite and is closely associated with Christian holidays. The spirit of the holiday is clearly traced in the play.

• Confirm your opinion with examples from the play and interesting quotes .

One of the brightest of these episodes is Shylock's concern for his home during a carnival celebration through the city streets:

"What, are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica:

Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum

And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife,

Clamber not you up to the casements then,

Nor thrust your head into the public street."

• Make sure your essay looks good. It should have a good structure: an introduction that is of interest; a body that contains theses and arguments; and a conclusion that summarizes what has been said. Also, note the absence of grammatical and punctuation mistakes in the text. If you have already written an essay and want it to look perfect, contact professional editors who will help you with essay editing .

You can use any of the mentioned topics as the basis for your essay about the life of William Shakespeare and his literary achievements. However, if you feel like you are in a bind and don't have enough time or energy to stick to the assignment deadline, you can always turn to the help of a writing service , such as Studybay.

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Shakespeare and the Essay

Essays: we’ve all written them, whether as school projects or as university assignments. (For those going through esay trauma, we’ve even compiled a list of some of our favourite tips for writing a good English Literature essay .) But where did the essay form come from? It was effectively invented by one man, the French writer Michel de Montaigne (usually known just by his surname): in 1580 he published a volume of 107 pieces on various subjects, and he labelled these pieces Essais (from the French meaning ‘trial’ or ‘test’). The word ‘essay’ is linked to the word ‘assay’, which refers to the weighing or testing of gold for quality.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the essay as a ‘composition of moderate length on any particular subject, or branch of a subject; originally implying want of finish, “an irregular undigested piece” ([Doctor] Johnson), but now said of a composition more or less elaborate in style, though limited in range.’ In the wake of Montaigne, these short prose pieces took off: Francis Bacon became the first person to publish essays in English (1597), while Shakespeare’s contemporary, Ben Jonson, gave us the first recorded use of the word ‘essayist’ (1609).

Clearly, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries witnessed the birth and growth of the essay form, although it didn’t really catch on in any meaningful sense until the likes of Dr Johnson took it up again in the eighteenth century. But the  arrival of the essay form was also the time of William Shakespeare , and numerous critics and literary historians have drawn a link between Shakespeare and the essay. Although the Bard never wrote essays, his work is suffused with the influence of this new form.

As James Shapiro points out in his acclaimed 2005 book 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare , something happens to Shakespeare’s soliloquies (that is, the monologues spoken by characters when left alone on the stage; usually a voicing of their innermost thoughts) around the turn of the sixteenth into the seventeenth century. This is also the time when Shakespeare most probably first encountered Montaigne’s essays. We see this in Hamlet , written around 1600-1. As Shapiro writes, ‘The breakthrough is one that Shakespeare might have arrived at sooner or later, but it was given tremendous impetus at the time that he was writing Hamlet by his interest in a new literary form: the essay.’ Shapiro goes on, ‘Shakespeare cared less about appropriating Montaigne’s language or philosophy than about exploring how essays – with their assertions, contradictions, reversals and abrupt shifts in subject matter and even confidence – captured a mind at work’. Indeed, Montaigne’s new form had such an impact in England that Ben Jonson even has a character in his play Volpone quip that English writers were stealing from poets ‘Almost as much as from Montaigne’.

We can see what we might call the ‘spirit of the essay’ in Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquy – Hamlet’s ‘To be, or not to be’ speech – in the way that Hamlet is chewing over the issue by considering the two opposing sides of the argument (should I die, or carry on?). The internal wrestling, turnabouts, contradictions, and disagreements which follow – ‘Ay, there’s the rub’ and so forth – exhibit all the classic hallmarks of the essay form as originated by Montaigne. So, next time you go to write an essay, mark one, or read one, remember that we may never have had half of Shakespeare’s greatest lines if the form had never been invented.

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--> directory Please also see the , and home pages for extensive essays and resources. Utility Menu Jeffrey R. Wilson Essays on hamlet. Written as the author taught Hamlet every semester for a decade, these lightning essays ask big conceptual questions about the play with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover, and answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar. In doing so, Hamlet becomes a lens for life today, generating insights on everything from xenophobia, American fraternities, and religious fundamentalism to structural misogyny, suicide contagion, and toxic love. Prioritizing close reading over historical context, these explorations are highly textual and highly theoretical, often philosophical, ethical, social, and political. Readers see King Hamlet as a pre-modern villain, King Claudius as a modern villain, and Prince Hamlet as a post-modern villain. Hamlet’s feigned madness becomes a window into failed insanity defenses in legal trials. He knows he’s being watched in “To be or not to be”: the soliloquy is a satire of philosophy. Horatio emerges as Shakespeare’s authorial avatar for meta-theatrical commentary, Fortinbras as the hero of the play. Fate becomes a viable concept for modern life, and honor a source of tragedy. The metaphor of music in the play makes Ophelia Hamlet’s instrument. Shakespeare, like the modern corporation, stands against sexism, yet perpetuates it unknowingly. We hear his thoughts on single parenting, sending children off to college, and the working class, plus his advice on acting and writing, and his claims to be the next Homer or Virgil. In the context of four centuries of Hamlet hate, we hear how the text draws audiences in, how it became so famous, and why it continues to captivate audiences. At a time when the humanities are said to be in crisis, these essays are concrete examples of the mind-altering power of literature and literary studies, unravelling the ongoing implications of the English language’s most significant artistic object of the past millennium. Publications              is a Suicide Text—It’s Time to Teach it Like One   ?   : Divine Providence and Social Determinism           Why is Hamlet the most famous English artwork of the past millennium? Is it a sexist text? Why does Hamlet speak in prose? Why must he die? Does Hamlet depict revenge, or justice? How did the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, transform into a story about a son dealing with the death of a father? Did Shakespeare know Aristotle’s theory of tragedy? How did our literary icon, Shakespeare, see his literary icons, Homer and Virgil? Why is there so much comedy in Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy? Why is love a force of evil in the play? Did Shakespeare believe there’s a divinity that shapes our ends? How did he define virtue? What did he think about psychology? politics? philosophy? What was Shakespeare’s image of himself as an author? What can he, arguably the greatest writer of all time, teach us about our own writing? What was his theory of literature? Why do people like Hamlet ? How do the Hamlet haters of today compare to those of yesteryears? Is it dangerous for our children to read a play that’s all about suicide?  These are some of the questions asked in this book, a collection of essays on Shakespeare’s Hamlet stemming from my time teaching the play every semester in my Why Shakespeare? course at Harvard University. During this time, I saw a series of bright young minds from wildly diverse backgrounds find their footing in Hamlet, and it taught me a lot about how Shakespeare’s tragedy works, and why it remains with us in the modern world. Beyond ghosts, revenge, and tragedy, Hamlet is a play about being in college, being in love, gender, misogyny, friendship, theater, philosophy, theology, injustice, loss, comedy, depression, death, self-doubt, mental illness, white privilege, overbearing parents, existential angst, international politics, the classics, the afterlife, and the meaning of it all.  These essays grow from the central paradox of the play: it helps us understand the world we live in, yet we don't really understand the text itself very well. For all the attention given to Hamlet , there’s no consensus on the big questions—how it works, why it grips people so fiercely, what it’s about. These essays pose first-order questions about what happens in Hamlet and why, mobilizing answers for reflections on life, making the essays both highly textual and highly theoretical.  Each semester that I taught the play, I would write a new essay about Hamlet . They were meant to be models for students, the sort of essay that undergrads read and write – more rigorous than the puff pieces in the popular press, but riskier than the scholarship in most academic journals. While I later added scholarly outerwear, these pieces all began just like the essays I was assigning to students – as short close readings with a reader and a text and a desire to determine meaning when faced with a puzzling question or problem.  The turn from text to context in recent scholarly books about Hamlet is quizzical since we still don’t have a strong sense of, to quote the title of John Dover Wilson’s 1935 book, What Happens in Hamlet. Is the ghost real? Is Hamlet mad, or just faking? Why does he delay? These are the kinds of questions students love to ask, but they haven’t been – can’t be – answered by reading the play in the context of its sources (recently addressed in Laurie Johnson’s The Tain of Hamlet [2013]), its multiple texts (analyzed by Paul Menzer in The Hamlets [2008] and Zachary Lesser in Hamlet after Q1 [2015]), the Protestant reformation (the focus of Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamlet in Purgatory [2001] and John E. Curran, Jr.’s Hamlet, Protestantism, and the Mourning of Contingency [2006]), Renaissance humanism (see Rhodri Lewis, Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness [2017]), Elizabethan political theory (see Margreta de Grazia, Hamlet without Hamlet [2007]), the play’s reception history (see David Bevington, Murder Most Foul: Hamlet through the Ages [2011]), its appropriation by modern philosophers (covered in Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster’s The Hamlet Doctrine [2013] and Andrew Cutrofello’s All for Nothing: Hamlet’s Negativity [2014]), or its recent global travels (addressed, for example, in Margaret Latvian’s Hamlet’s Arab Journey [2011] and Dominic Dromgoole’s Hamlet Globe to Globe [2017]).  Considering the context and afterlives of Hamlet is a worthy pursuit. I certainly consulted the above books for my essays, yet the confidence that comes from introducing context obscures the sharp panic we feel when confronting Shakespeare’s text itself. Even as the excellent recent book from Sonya Freeman Loftis, Allison Kellar, and Lisa Ulevich announces Hamlet has entered “an age of textual exhaustion,” there’s an odd tendency to avoid the text of Hamlet —to grasp for something more firm—when writing about it. There is a need to return to the text in a more immediate way to understand how Hamlet operates as a literary work, and how it can help us understand the world in which we live.  That latter goal, yes, clings nostalgically to the notion that literature can help us understand life. Questions about life send us to literature in search of answers. Those of us who love literature learn to ask and answer questions about it as we become professional literary scholars. But often our answers to the questions scholars ask of literature do not connect back up with the questions about life that sent us to literature in the first place—which are often philosophical, ethical, social, and political. Those first-order questions are diluted and avoided in the minutia of much scholarship, left unanswered. Thus, my goal was to pose questions about Hamlet with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover and to answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar.  In doing so, these essays challenge the conventional relationship between literature and theory. They pursue a kind of criticism where literature is not merely the recipient of philosophical ideas in the service of exegesis. Instead, the creative risks of literature provide exemplars to be theorized outward to help us understand on-going issues in life today. Beyond an occasion for the demonstration of existing theory, literature is a source for the creation of new theory. Chapter One How Hamlet Works Whether you love or hate Hamlet , you can acknowledge its massive popularity. So how does Hamlet work? How does it create audience enjoyment? Why is it so appealing, and to whom? Of all the available options, why Hamlet ? This chapter entertains three possible explanations for why the play is so popular in the modern world: the literary answer (as the English language’s best artwork about death—one of the very few universal human experiences in a modern world increasingly marked by cultural differences— Hamlet is timeless); the theatrical answer (with its mixture of tragedy and comedy, the role of Hamlet requires the best actor of each age, and the play’s popularity derives from the celebrity of its stars); and the philosophical answer (the play invites, encourages, facilitates, and sustains philosophical introspection and conversation from people who do not usually do such things, who find themselves doing those things with Hamlet , who sometimes feel embarrassed about doing those things, but who ultimately find the experience of having done them rewarding). Chapter Two “It Started Like a Guilty Thing”: The Beginning of Hamlet and the Beginning of Modern Politics King Hamlet is a tyrant and King Claudius a traitor but, because Shakespeare asked us to experience the events in Hamlet from the perspective of the young Prince Hamlet, we are much more inclined to detect and detest King Claudius’s political failings than King Hamlet’s. If so, then Shakespeare’s play Hamlet , so often seen as the birth of modern psychology, might also tell us a little bit about the beginnings of modern politics as well. Chapter Three Horatio as Author: Storytelling and Stoic Tragedy This chapter addresses Horatio’s emotionlessness in light of his role as a narrator, using this discussion to think about Shakespeare’s motives for writing tragedy in the wake of his son’s death. By rationalizing pain and suffering as tragedy, both Horatio and Shakespeare were able to avoid the self-destruction entailed in Hamlet’s emotional response to life’s hardships and injustices. Thus, the stoic Horatio, rather than the passionate Hamlet who repeatedly interrupts ‘The Mousetrap’, is the best authorial avatar for a Shakespeare who strategically wrote himself and his own voice out of his works. This argument then expands into a theory of ‘authorial catharsis’ and the suggestion that we can conceive of Shakespeare as a ‘poet of reason’ in contrast to a ‘poet of emotion’. Chapter Four “To thine own self be true”: What Shakespeare Says about Sending Our Children Off to College What does “To thine own self be true” actually mean? Be yourself? Don’t change who you are? Follow your own convictions? Don’t lie to yourself? This chapter argues that, if we understand meaning as intent, then “To thine own self be true” means, paradoxically, that “the self” does not exist. Or, more accurately, Shakespeare’s Hamlet implies that “the self” exists only as a rhetorical, philosophical, and psychological construct that we use to make sense of our experiences and actions in the world, not as anything real. If this is so, then this passage may offer us a way of thinking about Shakespeare as not just a playwright but also a moral philosopher, one who did his ethics in drama. Chapter Five In Defense of Polonius Your wife dies. You raise two children by yourself. You build a great career to provide for your family. You send your son off to college in another country, though you know he’s not ready. Now the prince wants to marry your daughter—that’s not easy to navigate. Then—get this—while you’re trying to save the queen’s life, the prince murders you. Your death destroys your kids. They die tragically. And what do you get for your efforts? Centuries of Shakespeare scholars dumping on you. If we see Polonius not through the eyes of his enemy, Prince Hamlet—the point of view Shakespeare’s play asks audiences to adopt—but in analogy to the common challenges of twenty-first-century parenting, Polonius is a single father struggling with work-life balance who sadly choses his career over his daughter’s well-being. Chapter Six Sigma Alpha Elsinore: The Culture of Drunkenness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Claudius likes to party—a bit too much. He frequently binge drinks, is arguably an alcoholic, but not an aberration. Hamlet says Denmark is internationally known for heavy drinking. That’s what Shakespeare would have heard in the sixteenth century. By the seventeenth, English writers feared Denmark had taught their nation its drinking habits. Synthesizing criticism on alcoholism as an individual problem in Shakespeare’s texts and times with scholarship on national drinking habits in the early-modern age, this essay asks what the tragedy of alcoholism looks like when located not on the level of the individual, but on the level of a culture, as Shakespeare depicted in Hamlet. One window into these early-modern cultures of drunkenness is sociological studies of American college fraternities, especially the social-learning theories that explain how one person—one culture—teaches another its habits. For Claudius’s alcoholism is both culturally learned and culturally significant. And, as in fraternities, alcoholism in Hamlet is bound up with wealth, privilege, toxic masculinity, and tragedy. Thus, alcohol imagistically reappears in the vial of “cursed hebona,” Ophelia’s liquid death, and the poisoned cup in the final scene—moments that stand out in recent performances and adaptations with alcoholic Claudiuses and Gertrudes. Chapter Seven Tragic Foundationalism This chapter puts the modern philosopher Alain Badiou’s theory of foundationalism into dialogue with the early-modern playwright William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . Doing so allows us to identify a new candidate for Hamlet’s traditionally hard-to-define hamartia – i.e., his “tragic mistake” – but it also allows us to consider the possibility of foundationalism as hamartia. Tragic foundationalism is the notion that fidelity to a single and substantive truth at the expense of an openness to evidence, reason, and change is an acute mistake which can lead to miscalculations of fact and virtue that create conflict and can end up in catastrophic destruction and the downfall of otherwise strong and noble people. Chapter Eight “As a stranger give it welcome”: Shakespeare’s Advice for First-Year College Students Encountering a new idea can be like meeting a strange person for the first time. Similarly, we dismiss new ideas before we get to know them. There is an answer to the problem of the human antipathy to strangeness in a somewhat strange place: a single line usually overlooked in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet . If the ghost is “wondrous strange,” Hamlet says, invoking the ancient ethics of hospitality, “Therefore as a stranger give it welcome.” In this word, strange, and the social conventions attached to it, is both the instinctual, animalistic fear and aggression toward what is new and different (the problem) and a cultivated, humane response in hospitality and curiosity (the solution). Intellectual xenia is the answer to intellectual xenophobia. Chapter Nine Parallels in Hamlet Hamlet is more parallely than other texts. Fortinbras, Hamlet, and Laertes have their fathers murdered, then seek revenge. Brothers King Hamlet and King Claudius mirror brothers Old Norway and Old Fortinbras. Hamlet and Ophelia both lose their fathers, go mad, but there’s a method in their madness, and become suicidal. King Hamlet and Polonius are both domineering fathers. Hamlet and Polonius are both scholars, actors, verbose, pedantic, detectives using indirection, spying upon others, “by indirections find directions out." King Hamlet and King Claudius are both kings who are killed. Claudius using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet mirrors Polonius using Reynaldo to spy on Laertes. Reynaldo and Hamlet both pretend to be something other than what they are in order to spy on and detect foes. Young Fortinbras and Prince Hamlet both have their forward momentum “arrest[ed].” Pyrrhus and Hamlet are son seeking revenge but paused a “neutral to his will.” The main plot of Hamlet reappears in the play-within-the-play. The Act I duel between King Hamlet and Old Fortinbras echoes in the Act V duel between Hamlet and Laertes. Claudius and Hamlet are both king killers. Sheesh—why are there so many dang parallels in Hamlet ? Is there some detectable reason why the story of Hamlet would call for the literary device of parallelism? Chapter Ten Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Why Hamlet Has Two Childhood Friends, Not Just One Why have two of Hamlet’s childhood friends rather than just one? Do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have individuated personalities? First of all, by increasing the number of friends who visit Hamlet, Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of being outnumbered, of multiple enemies encroaching upon Hamlet, of Hamlet feeling that the world is against him. Second, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not interchangeable, as commonly thought. Shakespeare gave each an individuated personality. Guildenstern is friendlier with Hamlet, and their friendship collapses, while Rosencrantz is more distant and devious—a frenemy. Chapter Eleven Shakespeare on the Classics, Shakespeare as a Classic: A Reading of Aeneas’s Tale to Dido Of all the stories Shakespeare might have chosen, why have Hamlet ask the players to recite Aeneas’ tale to Dido of Pyrrhus’s slaughter of Priam? In this story, which comes not from Homer’s Iliad but from Virgil’s Aeneid and had already been adapted for the Elizabethan stage in Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Dido, Pyrrhus – more commonly known as Neoptolemus, the son of the famous Greek warrior Achilles – savagely slays Priam, the king of the Trojans and the father of Paris, who killed Pyrrhus’s father, Achilles, who killed Paris’s brother, Hector, who killed Achilles’s comrade, Patroclus. Clearly, the theme of revenge at work in this story would have appealed to Shakespeare as he was writing what would become the greatest revenge tragedy of all time. Moreover, Aeneas’s tale to Dido supplied Shakespeare with all of the connections he sought to make at this crucial point in his play and his career – connections between himself and Marlowe, between the start of Hamlet and the end, between Prince Hamlet and King Claudius, between epic poetry and tragic drama, and between the classical literature Shakespeare was still reading hundreds of years later and his own potential as a classic who might (and would) be read hundreds of years into the future. Chapter Twelve How Theater Works, according to Hamlet According to Hamlet, people who are guilty of a crime will, when seeing that crime represented on stage, “proclaim [their] malefactions”—but that simply isn’t how theater works. Guilty people sit though shows that depict their crimes all the time without being prompted to public confession. Why did Shakespeare—a remarkably observant student of theater—write this demonstrably false theory of drama into his protagonist? And why did Shakespeare then write the plot of the play to affirm that obviously inaccurate vision of theater? For Claudius is indeed stirred to confession by the play-within-the-play. Perhaps Hamlet’s theory of people proclaiming malefactions upon seeing their crimes represented onstage is not as outlandish as it first appears. Perhaps four centuries of obsession with Hamlet is the English-speaking world proclaiming its malefactions upon seeing them represented dramatically. Chapter Thirteen “To be, or not to be”: Shakespeare Against Philosophy This chapter hazards a new reading of the most famous passage in Western literature: “To be, or not to be” from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . With this line, Hamlet poses his personal struggle, a question of life and death, as a metaphysical problem, as a question of existence and nothingness. However, “To be, or not to be” is not what it seems to be. It seems to be a representation of tragic angst, yet a consideration of the context of the speech reveals that “To be, or not to be” is actually a satire of philosophy and Shakespeare’s representation of the theatricality of everyday life. In this chapter, a close reading of the context and meaning of this passage leads into an attempt to formulate a Shakespearean image of philosophy. Chapter Fourteen Contagious Suicide in and Around Hamlet As in society today, suicide is contagious in Hamlet , at least in the example of Ophelia, the only death by suicide in the play, because she only becomes suicidal after hearing Hamlet talk about his own suicidal thoughts in “To be, or not to be.” Just as there are media guidelines for reporting on suicide, there are better and worse ways of handling Hamlet . Careful suicide coverage can change public misperceptions and reduce suicide contagion. Is the same true for careful literary criticism and classroom discussion of suicide texts? How can teachers and literary critics reduce suicide contagion and increase help-seeking behavior? Chapter Fifteen Is Hamlet a Sexist Text? Overt Misogyny vs. Unconscious Bias Students and fans of Shakespeare’s Hamlet persistently ask a question scholars and critics of the play have not yet definitively answered: is it a sexist text? The author of this text has been described as everything from a male chauvinist pig to a trailblazing proto-feminist, but recent work on the science behind discrimination and prejudice offers a new, better vocabulary in the notion of unconscious bias. More pervasive and slippery than explicit bigotry, unconscious bias involves the subtle, often unintentional words and actions which indicate the presence of biases we may not be aware of, ones we may even fight against. The Shakespeare who wrote Hamlet exhibited an unconscious bias against women, I argue, even as he sought to critique the mistreatment of women in a patriarchal society. The evidence for this unconscious bias is not to be found in the misogynistic statements made by the characters in the play. It exists, instead, in the demonstrable preference Shakespeare showed for men over women when deciding where to deploy his literary talents. Thus, Shakespeare's Hamlet is a powerful literary example – one which speaks to, say, the modern corporation – showing that deliberate efforts for egalitarianism do not insulate one from the effects of structural inequalities that both stem from and create unconscious bias. Chapter Sixteen Style and Purpose in Acting and Writing Purpose and style are connected in academic writing. To answer the question of style ( How should we write academic papers? ) we must first answer the question of purpose ( Why do we write academic papers? ). We can answer these questions, I suggest, by turning to an unexpected style guide that’s more than 400 years old: the famous passage on “the purpose of playing” in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . In both acting and writing, a high style often accompanies an expressive purpose attempting to impress an elite audience yet actually alienating intellectual people, while a low style and mimetic purpose effectively engage an intellectual audience. Chapter Seventeen 13 Ways of Looking at a Ghost Why doesn’t Gertrude see the Ghost of King Hamlet in Act III, even though Horatio, Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellus, and Prince Hamlet all saw it in Act I? It’s a bit embarrassing that Shakespeare scholars don’t have a widely agreed-upon consensus that explains this really basic question that puzzles a lot of people who read or see Hamlet . Chapter Eighteen The Tragedy of Love in Hamlet The word “love” appears 84 times in Shakespeare’s Hamlet . “Father” only appears 73 times, “play” 60, “think” 55, “mother” 46, “mad” 44, “soul” 40, “God" 39, “death” 38, “life” 34, “nothing” 28, “son” 26, “honor” 21, “spirit” 19, “kill” 18, “revenge” 14, and “action” 12. Love isn’t the first theme that comes to mind when we think of Hamlet , but is surprisingly prominent. But love is tragic in Hamlet . The bloody catastrophe at the end of that play is principally driven not by hatred or a longing for revenge, but by love. Chapter Nineteen Ophelia’s Songs: Moral Agency, Manipulation, and the Metaphor of Music in Hamlet This chapter reads Ophelia’s songs in Act IV of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the context of the meaning of music established elsewhere in the play. While the songs are usually seen as a marker of Ophelia’s madness (as a result of the death of her father) or freedom (from the constraints of patriarchy), they come – when read in light of the metaphor of music as manipulation – to symbolize her role as a pawn in Hamlet’s efforts to deceive his family. Thus, music was Shakespeare’s platform for connecting Ophelia’s story to one of the central questions in Hamlet : Do we have control over our own actions (like the musician), or are we controlled by others (like the instrument)? Chapter Twenty A Quantitative Study of Prose and Verse in Hamlet Why does Hamlet have so much prose? Did Shakespeare deliberately shift from verse to prose to signal something to his audiences? How would actors have handled the shifts from verse to prose? Would audiences have detected shifts from verse to prose? Is there an overarching principle that governs Shakespeare’s decision to use prose—a coherent principle that says, “If X, then use prose?” Chapter Twenty-One The Fortunes of Fate in Hamlet : Divine Providence and Social Determinism In Hamlet , fate is attacked from both sides: “fortune” presents a world of random happenstance, “will” a theory of efficacious human action. On this backdrop, this essay considers—irrespective of what the characters say and believe—what the structure and imagery Shakespeare wrote into Hamlet say about the possibility that some version of fate is at work in the play. I contend the world of Hamlet is governed by neither fate nor fortune, nor even the Christianized version of fate called “providence.” Yet there is a modern, secular, disenchanted form of fate at work in Hamlet—what is sometimes called “social determinism”—which calls into question the freedom of the individual will. As such, Shakespeare’s Hamlet both commented on the transformation of pagan fate into Christian providence that happened in the centuries leading up to the play, and anticipated the further transformation of fate from a theological to a sociological idea, which occurred in the centuries following Hamlet . Chapter Twenty-Two The Working Class in Hamlet There’s a lot for working-class folks to hate about Hamlet —not just because it’s old, dusty, difficult to understand, crammed down our throats in school, and filled with frills, tights, and those weird lace neck thingies that are just socially awkward to think about. Peak Renaissance weirdness. Claustrophobicly cloistered inside the castle of Elsinore, quaintly angsty over royal family problems, Hamlet feels like the literary epitome of elitism. “Lawless resolutes” is how the Wittenberg scholar Horatio describes the soldiers who join Fortinbras’s army in exchange “for food.” The Prince Hamlet who has never worked a day in his life denigrates Polonius as a “fishmonger”: quite the insult for a royal advisor to be called a working man. And King Claudius complains of the simplicity of "the distracted multitude.” But, in Hamlet , Shakespeare juxtaposed the nobles’ denigrations of the working class as readily available metaphors for all-things-awful with the rather valuable behavior of working-class characters themselves. When allowed to represent themselves, the working class in Hamlet are characterized as makers of things—of material goods and services like ships, graves, and plays, but also of ethical and political virtues like security, education, justice, and democracy. Meanwhile, Elsinore has a bad case of affluenza, the make-believe disease invented by an American lawyer who argued that his client's social privilege was so great that it created an obliviousness to law. While social elites rot society through the twin corrosives of political corruption and scholarly detachment, the working class keeps the machine running. They build the ships, plays, and graves society needs to function, and monitor the nuts-and-bolts of the ideals—like education and justice—that we aspire to uphold. Chapter Twenty-Three The Honor Code at Harvard and in Hamlet Students at Harvard College are asked, when they first join the school and several times during their years there, to affirm their awareness of and commitment to the school’s honor code. But instead of “the foundation of our community” that it is at Harvard, honor is tragic in Hamlet —a source of anxiety, blunder, and catastrophe. As this chapter shows, looking at Hamlet from our place at Harvard can bring us to see what a tangled knot honor can be, and we can start to theorize the difference between heroic and tragic honor. Chapter Twenty-Four The Meaning of Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet By connecting the ways characters live their lives in Hamlet to the ways they die – on-stage or off, poisoned or stabbed, etc. – Shakespeare symbolized hamartia in catastrophe. In advancing this argument, this chapter develops two supporting ideas. First, the dissemination of tragic necessity: Shakespeare distributed the Aristotelian notion of tragic necessity – a causal relationship between a character’s hamartia (fault or error) and the catastrophe at the end of the play – from the protagonist to the other characters, such that, in Hamlet , those who are guilty must die, and those who die are guilty. Second, the spectacularity of death: there exists in Hamlet a positive correlation between the severity of a character’s hamartia (error or flaw) and the “spectacularity” of his or her death – that is, the extent to which it is presented as a visible and visceral spectacle on-stage. Chapter Twenty-Five Tragic Excess in Hamlet In Hamlet , Shakespeare paralleled the situations of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras (the father of each is killed, and each then seeks revenge) to promote the virtue of moderation: Hamlet moves too slowly, Laertes too swiftly – and they both die at the end of the play – but Fortinbras represents a golden mean which marries the slowness of Hamlet with the swiftness of Laertes. As argued in this essay, Shakespeare endorsed the virtue of balance by allowing Fortinbras to be one of the very few survivors of the play. In other words, excess is tragic in Hamlet . Bibliography Anand, Manpreet Kaur. An Overview of Hamlet Studies . 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Garden City: Doubleday, 1964. Lake, Peter. Hamlet’s Choice: Religion and Resistance in Shakespeare's Revenge Tragedies . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020. Lerer, Seth. “Hamlet’s Boyhood.” Childhood, Education and the Stage in Early Modern England , ed. Richard Preiss and Deanne Williams (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017):17-36. Levy, Eric P. Hamlet and the Rethinking of Man . Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008. Lewis, C.S. “Hamlet: The Prince or the Poem?” (1942). Studies in Shakespeare , ed. Peter Alexander (1964): 201-18. Loftis, Sonya Freeman; Allison Kellar; and Lisa Ulevich, ed. Shakespeare's Hamlet in an Era of Textual Exhaustion . New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. Luke, Jillian. “What If the Play Were Called Ophelia ? Gender and Genre in Hamlet .” Cambridge Quarterly 49.1 (2020): 1-18. Gates, Sarah. “Assembling the Ophelia Fragments: Gender, Genre, and Revenge in Hamlet.” Explorations in Renaissance Culture 34.2 (2008): 229-47. Gottschalk, Paul. The Meanings of Hamlet: Modes of Literary Interpretation Since Bradley . Albequerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1972. Greenblatt, Stephen. Hamlet in Purgatory . Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001. Hunt, Marvin W. Looking for Hamlet . New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. Iyengar, Sujata. "Gertrude/Ophelia: Feminist Intermediality, Ekphrasis, and Tenderness in Hamlet," in Loomba, Rethinking Feminism In Early Modern Studies: Race, Gender, and Sexuality (2016), 165-84. Iyengar, Sujata; Feracho, Lesley. “Hamlet (RSC, 2016) and Representations of Diasporic Blackness,” Cahiers Élisabéthains 99, no. 1 (2019): 147-60. Johnson, Laurie. The Tain of Hamlet . Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2013. Jolly, Margrethe. The First Two Quartos of Hamlet: A New View of the Origins and Relationship of the Texts . Jefferson: McFarland, 2014. Jones, Ernest. Hamlet and Oedipus . Garden City: Doubleday, 1949. Keegan, Daniel L. “Indigested in the Scenes: Hamlet's Dramatic Theory and Ours.” PMLA 133.1 (2018): 71-87. Kinney, Arthur F., ed. Hamlet: Critical Essays . New York: Routledge, 2002. Kiséry, András. Hamlet's Moment: Drama and Political Knowledge in Early Modern England . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Kottman, Paul A. “Why Think About Shakespearean Tragedy Today?” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy , ed. Claire McEachern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013): 240-61. Langis, Unhae. “Virtue, Justice and Moral Action in Shakespeare’s Hamlet .” Literature and Ethics: From the Green Knight to the Dark Knight , ed. Steve Brie and William T. Rossiter (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2010): 53-74. Lawrence, Sean. "'As a stranger, bid it welcome': Alterity and Ethics in Hamlet and the New Historicism," European Journal of English Studies 4 (2000): 155-69. Lesser, Zachary. Hamlet after Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015. Levin, Harry. The Question of Hamlet . New York: Oxford UP, 1959. Lewis, Rhodri. Hamlet and the Vision of Darkness . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. Litvin, Margaret. Hamlet's Arab Journey: Shakespeare's Prince and Nasser's Ghost . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Loftis, Sonya Freeman, and Lisa Ulevich. “Obsession/Rationality/Agency: Autistic Shakespeare.” Disability, Health, and Happiness in the Shakespearean Body , edited by Sujata Iyengar. Routledge, 2015, pp. 58-75. Marino, James J. “Ophelia’s Desire.” ELH 84.4 (2017): 817-39. Massai, Sonia, and Lucy Munro. Hamlet: The State of Play . London: Bloomsbury, 2021. McGee, Arthur. The Elizabethan Hamlet . New Haven: Yale UP, 1987. Megna, Paul, Bríd Phillips, and R.S. White, ed. Hamlet and Emotion . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Menzer, Paul. The Hamlets: Cues, Qs, and Remembered Texts . Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2008. Mercer, Peter. Hamlet and the Acting of Revenge . Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1987. Oldham, Thomas A. “Unhouseled, Disappointed, Unaneled”: Catholicism, Transubstantiation, and Hamlet .” Ecumenica 8.1 (Spring 2015): 39-51. Owen, Ruth J. The Hamlet Zone: Reworking Hamlet for European Cultures . Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2012. Price, Joeseph G., ed. Hamlet: Critical Essays . New York: Routledge, 1986. Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and Revenge . 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1971. Rosenberg, Marvin. The Masks of Hamlet . Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1992. Row-Heyveld, Lindsey. “Antic Dispositions: Mental and Intellectual Disabilities in Early Modern Revenge Tragedy.” Recovering Disability in Early Modern England , ed. Allison P. Hobgood and David Houston Wood. Ohio State University Press, 2013, pp. 73-87. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet . Ed. Neil Taylor and Ann Thompson. Revised Ed. London: Arden Third Series, 2006. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet . Ed. Robert S. Miola. 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Ask LitCharts AI Discussion Question Generator Essay Prompt Generator Quiz Question Generator Literature Guides Poetry Guides Shakespeare Translations Literary Terms Shakespeare Research Resources Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide: Shakespeare’s Life Shakespeare’s world and historical context, shakespeare’s plays, shakespeare’s poems, shakespeare’s writing style, shakespeare’s most common themes, shakespeare’s most famous quotations, the shakespeare authorship question, shakespeare teacher resources. Four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, millions of people continue to read his poems, repeat his phrases, watch his plays, and use the words he coined. In addition to being the most celebrated writer in the English language, Shakespeare is also the most studied. Though understanding the breadth of research on Shakespeare would require multiple lifetimes, this guide will give you a comprehensive introduction to his life, work, and place in history. Below, you'll find a curated, annotated, and organized summary of the best available information on Shakespeare. Even though Shakespeare is one of the most scrutinized authors of all time, there are few historical records regarding his private life. We know the essential facts (baptism date, family information, birthplace), but there are aspects of his life that are subject to speculation or assumption. These include the “lost years” (1578–82 and 1585–92). The resources below will help you piece together the biography of Shakespeare as we know it. "Shakespeare’s Life" (Wikipedia)   The Wikipedia entry on Shakespeare’s life discusses most of the public records available, such as lawsuits and accounting records. One helpful feature of the entry is the visual family tree. "William Shakespeare Biography" (Biography.com)   This resource from Biography.com outlines the contours of Shakespeare's life in a brief but comprehensive way. It includes sections on his childhood, education, and family. Video summary of Shakespeare’s life (Biography.com)   In less than five minutes, this Biography.com video summarizes Shakespeare’s life, work, and legacy. The video includes commentary from Shakespeare scholars and authorities. William Shakespeare: A Study Of Facts And Problems James Shapiro, an eminent Shakespeare professor at Columbia University, describes E.K. Chambers as "the most scrupulous of scholars and probably the most influential Shakespeare scholar to have ever lived." With accolades like this one, you'll want to check out Chambers's book, a thorough yet accessible treatment of Shakespeare’s life. "The Seven Ages of Shakespeare’s Life" (Internet Shakespeare Editions) This webpage, hosted by the University of Victoria, organizes Shakespeare’s life into seven periods and provides an overview and detailed discussion of each age. The pages provide insightful information as well as images of records such as Shakespeare’s marriage license. "Shakespeare’s Life" (The British Library)   Andrew Dickson (an author, journalist, and former arts editor for  The Guardian ) offers this short article on the known details of Shakespeare's life. The article is part of the British Library's series on Shakespeare and Renaissance writers. "William Shakespeare" biography (Poetry Foundation) The Poetry Foundation's website provides short biographies of major poets. This article on Shakespeare’s life discusses some of the scholarly disputes surrounding Shakespeare’s works, and the continuing impact of his work today. "The Mystery of Shakespeare's Identity" ( Time Magazine) The lack of actual historical records about William Shakespeare inhibits research on his life. As a result, some historians question the man’s very identity. This article discusses the broad outlines of this debate. Timeline of Shakespeare’s life (BBC) The BBC created a masterful timeline of Shakespeare's life. The page tracks Shakespeare’s life from birth to death, complete with dates, discussion, and images. To gain the deepest understanding of Shakespeare’s life and work in the shortest amount of time, this resource is a must. "William Shakespeare" ( Encyclopædia Britannica ) This encyclopedia entry on Shakespeare’s life explores aspects of the bard's persona (man, poet, dramatist), his plays and poems, and his work's known sources. Included on the page are additional images, videos, and related articles. "The Shakespeare Paper Trail" (BBC) Michael Wood asks some questions regarding the lack of records surrounding Shakespeare’s life, and offers some tentative answers. "William Shakespeare" biography (The Literature Network) For a succinct summary of Shakespeare’s life, the Literature Network’s bio is a good place to start. The straightforward organization of Shakespeare’s tragedies, comedies, and histories is a helpful reference point. "Four Periods of Shakespeare’s Life" (Shakespeare Online) Many students of Shakespeare organize his life into four periods. Although these periods have been labelled in various ways, they can be described as the early period, the balanced period, the overflowing period, and the final period. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (Amazon) The well-known early modern literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt published this "attempt" at a Shakespeare biography in 2004. Though he admits the gaps in our knowledge make this biographical project difficult, he successfully fleshes out the details. This book, though intended for a wide readership, is a few steps above "entry-level" treatments of the topic. Shakespeare's career overlapped with the Elizabethan era, when the eponymous Queen Elizabeth reigned (1558–1603). This period, also known as the “Golden Age” and apex of the English Renaissance, was a time of economic growth, international expansion, and nationalistic fervor. The resources below will help you get to know the world in which Shakespeare lived. "Shakespeare’s Medieval World" (University of Cambridge) We tend to think that Shakespeare’s world was thoroughly Elizabethan, characterized by the optimism of the English Renaissance. In reality, as this essay by a prominent early modern scholar asserts, Shakespeare’s “world was largely a medieval one.” "Shakespeare’s Life and Times" (Royal Shakespeare Company) Although this article is largely biographical, it provides some insight into drama during Shakespeare's day and the way that Shakespeare himself profited from his plays. "How the Tudor Dynasty Shaped Modern Britain" (BBC) To understand Shakespeare in his historical context, it’s important to understand the period of the Tudor Dynasty in English history. This BBC timeline surveys the period from 1485 to 1603, during which Shakespeare lived. "Theater Experience in Shakespeare's Lifetime" (ThoughtCo) One of the best ways to understand Shakespeare’s plays is to understand what the theater experience was like in his day. What would it be like to attend a Shakespearean comedy at the Globe? This article discusses 16th century theater etiquette, the absence of female actors, and the business of running a theater. "Shakespeare's Time and the Renaissance" (ThoughtCo) Shakespeare lived during the apogee of the English Renaissance. Never before in English history had there been such a proliferation of masterful art, literary interest, and popular appeal in theater. This article discusses the nexus of the English Renaissance with Shakespeare’s life, how the era shaped the man, and how the man shaped the era. "History and Politics" (Internet Shakespeare Editions) To understand an era, it’s important to examine it from many angles—cultural, political, legal, and religious. This resource from Internet Shakespeare Editions provides some background on the many streams of influence in Shakespeare’s lifetime. "Elizabethan Era" (Wikipedia) The Wikipedia entry on Elizabethan England provides a helpful overview of the period, and includes sections on "government," "social history," "religion," and more. "English Renaissance Timeline: Some Historical and Cultural Dates" (Univ. of Oxford) For an at-a-glance-reference to major dates during the English Renaissance, check out this page from an English literature graduate student at the University of Oxford. "Shakespeare’s London" (British Library) Shakespeare was a Londoner, and his identity and daily activities were shaped by the city’s expansion, politics, and turmoil. This article provides a compelling description of London city life. There are 37 extant plays attributed to Shakespeare, each of which is categorized below under tragedies, comedies, or histories. Clicking on the title of the play provides you with the full text alongside a modern English translation. Antony and Cleopatra Julius Caesar   King Lear   Romeo and Juliet Timon of Athens   Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It   The Comedy of Errors   Love's Labor's Lost   Measure for Measure Merchant of Venice Merry Wives of Windsor   A Midsummer Night's Dream   Much Ado about Nothing   The Taming of the Shrew   The Tempest   Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter's Tale Henry IV, Part I   Henry IV, Part II Henry VI, Part I Henry VI, Part II   Henry VI, Part III   Richard III Most of us know Shakespeare as a playwright, but he first gained fame as a poet. Shakespeare’s poetry is no less masterful than his plays—some would even argue that Shakespeare was a better poet than playwright. Shakespeare’s poems contain some of the best-loved lines and popular expressions in the English language. The resources below will introduce you to this body of work. The Sonnets "Shakescleare: Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (LitCharts) Our Shakescleare series provides the full text of all 154 Shakespearean sonnets, along with a line-by-line modern English translation and a one-line summary of each poem. Sir John Gielgud’s Reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (YouTube) One of the best ways to understand and even interpret poems is to hear them read aloud. Sir John Gielgud performs each of Shakespeare’s sonnets in this YouTube collection. "Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (Shakespeare Online) Shakespeare Online has the complete text of each sonnet with accompanying interpretive notes. The introduction to the resource discusses the dates of composition for the sonnets and their narrative objects. Sonnet Facsimiles (Internet Shakespeare Editions) The form in which we read Shakespeare’s sonnets today are not the form in which they were originally written. These images from the UCLA Library and hosted by a University of Victoria site offer facsimiles (exact copies of printed material) of the early editions of Shakespeare’s sonnets. "Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Don Paterson" ( The Guardian ) One arena of scholarly dispute is the interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets. For those who are interested in surveying the scholarly melee (and better understanding the sonnets), this essay from The Guardian should help. "Understanding Shakespeare's Sonnets" (YouTube) This video is a Q&A discussion between three Shakespeare authors and educators discussing the context and interpretation of Shakespeare’s sonnets. It is hosted by the University of Warwick. CrashCourse Video: "Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (YouTube) For an entertaining and humorous survey of Shakespeare’s sonnets, look no further than this 12-minute video from Crash Course Literature. Other Poems Aside from the famous sonnets, Shakespeare also published a handful of other, longer poems. The LitCharts Shakescleare series provides access to the text, alongside a modern English translation. The Rape of Lucrece Venus and Adonis   A Lover's Complaint The Phoenix and Turtle Although Shakespeare sometimes followed dramatic conventions of the Renaissance, he also forged his own path. The Tempest  follows Aristotle's classical unities of time, space, and action (for example, that the play's action should occur during 24 hours or less), while The Winter's Tale traverses 16 years and two diverse kingdoms. The resources below survey Shakespeare's stylistic approaches and lasting influence on literature.   "Shakespeare’s Writing Style" (Wikipedia)   This entry gives an overview of Shakespeare’s style in both his plays and poems. One helpful aspect of the entry is the discussion on similarities to and differences from contemporaries. "The Writing Style of William Shakespeare" (Freelancewriting.com)   For a simple discussion of Shakespeare’s writing style, this article is a helpful place to start. The article surveys Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and explores the depth of character development in his work. "Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter" (TED-Ed)   This TED-Ed original introduces students to Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and explains why "Shakespeare's words have such staying power." "Shakespeare’s Reputation" (YouTube) Gordon McMullan, a literature professor at King’s College, suggests that Shakespeare’s writing style was a result both of his inherent genius and the extrinsic forces of market and popular appeal. Many of the themes in Shakespeare's work are easy to spot—for example, love in Romeo and Juliet . Other themes may be less obvious, but are no less significant. Had you noticed that  Romeo and Juliet also has a recurring theme of servants and masters? These figures' presence conveys a subtle message that the disadvantaged possess identity and worth apart from their menial duties. The resources below will help you get to know these common threads. "'Romeo and Juliet' Themes" (LitCharts) Each LitChart for Shakespeare's plays contains a guide to its major themes. Linked above is the "themes" section for  Romeo and Juliet , which features colors and icons you can use to track each theme across the play. "What are the typical recurring themes in Shakespeare's plays?" (Mytutor) When introducing students to the subject of themes in Shakespeare’s plays, it may be helpful to start at a basic level. Each Shakespeare play may have multiple themes, but the elemental ones are power, nature, love, and conflict. "Themes in Shakespeare’s Plays" (Abilene Christian Univ.) This resource by Shakespeare professor Tracey Sanders explains how Shakespeare communicates his themes, and discusses the four recurring themes found throughout Shakespeare’s plays and poetry. "Teachers' Notes: Plays, Themes and Characters" (BBC) This BBC archived page provides a list of Shakespeare's plays followed by the key themes of that play. For example, the listed themes for  Twelfth Night  are love and disguise. "Shakespeare Tragedies" (ThoughtCo) Shakespeare’s tragedies share several common features, as explained in this brief summary of tragic themes. It was written by a former university lecturer of Theater Studies. "Thinking in Shakespeare" (Oxford Univ. Press via Vimeo) This short animation from Oxford University Press discusses the theme of thinking in Shakespeare, and provides helpful examples from several of his plays. According to some analyses, Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the English language, not counting quotations from the Bible. Shakespeare quotations are so common, in fact, that many people quote him without realizing it. Phrases like “Greek to me,” “fair play,” and “into thin air” come directly from Shakespeare plays ( Julius Caesar , King John , and  The Tempest , respectively). Each of the resources below deals with Shakespeare's contributions to the English language. "Here Are Shakespeare's 15 Most Beloved Quotes" (TIME) Rather than choosing quotations at random, TIME counted the Kindle highlights across three editions of Shakespeare’s works. Their quasi-scientific approach brought up 15 well-loved quotes. "34 Of The Most Brilliant Shakespeare Quotes" (Buzzfeed)   This admittedly arbitrarily-chosen Buzzfeed list will introduce you to many of the most quoted Shakespearean lines, including a few by Polonius ( Hamlet ), Jacques ( As You Like It ), and Cordelia ( King Lear ). "Top Shakespeare Quotes" (ThoughtCo) ThoughtCo, which publishes a wide variety of Shakespeare resources, offers this article on ten Shakespeare quotes. It was written by a former English teacher and believer in the persuasive power of quotations. "William Shakespeare Quotes" (BrainyQuote) If visual quotations are more to your liking, BrainyQuote provides quotations overlaid on scenic landscapes. Each quotation is tagged with its corresponding themes. "William Shakespeare Quotes and Quotations" (William Shakespeare Info) Although this website is dated and a bit clunky, it helpfully nests famous quotations under headings for the play in which the line is found. Did Shakespeare actually write the plays attributed to him? The relative lack of records for Shakespeare's life has led to rampant speculation. The resources below will introduce you to the "Stratfordian position" (that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon authored the plays), along with the “anti-Stratfordian” position that he did not. Alongside these questions, it is important to note that recent scholarship has named a number of collaborators on plays we usually think of Shakespeare's alone. "Shakespeare Authorship Question" (Wikipedia) The Wikipedia treatment of the authorship question is thorough and well-organized. It is the perfect place to begin attempting to understand the main arguments for and against Shakespeare’s authorship. AKA Shakespeare: A Scientific Approach to the Authorship Question (Amazon) Peter A. Sturrock, an astrophysicist, uses Bayesian statistics to tackle the authorship question. Sturrock invites readers to answer the question themselves, but furnishes all the information needed to make up your mind.   "The Simple Case for Shakespeare" (Shakespeare Resource Center) This author makes a case for Shakespeare’s authorship by setting the stage with the four most likely authors, a discussion of motive and plausibility, and a conclusion—“the plausibility of Shakespeare.” "Did Shakespeare Really Write His Plays? A Few Theories Examined" (BBC America) Wade gently into the controversy by understanding the theories, the purported evidence, and who else might conceivably have written the plays if not William Shakespeare himself. "Did Shakespeare Really Write His Own Plays?" (The History Channel)   Another entry-level treatment of the question comes from History.com. In the end, the author takes the traditional position that Shakespeare authored the works attributed to him, but provides an informative sketch of the issue. "Why the Shakespeare Authorship Question Matters to Teenagers" ( The Guardian ) For high school literature teachers wondering if this question matters, The Guardian says “yes.” They tend to side with the Stratfordians, and suggest that “if Shakespeare did write those works (and all the evidence makes that more likely than not) it reminds us that genius is not delimited by our start in life." "Who Really Wrote Shakespeare?" ( The Guardian ) Robert McCrum of The Guardian uses James Shapiro’s book  A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (1599)  as a springboard for his own editorializing on the authorship question. McCrum’s article buzzes with the energy of the debate, while also naming names and pointing fingers at various characters. "Who Were Shakespeare's Collaborators?" ( Oxford University Press Blog) This piece from Oxford University Press's blog, an excerpt from the  New Oxford Shakespeare, will introduce you to the actors, poets and playwrights who scholars have identified as Shakespeare's collaborators. "Who Was Shakespeare?" (WhoWasShakespeare.org) Using primary source documents and visuals from as far back as 1597, Kennedy Center award-winning Shakespeare producer Ron Song Destro examines the case for the most popular candidate of the last hundred years, Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford, referencing such famous doubters as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Teaching students about Shakespeare is no easy task, but it can be immensely rewarding. The resources below offer starting points for preparing lessons geared toward any grade level. You'll find classroom activities, distinct resources to create units on the Bard's life and work, and entire websites devoted to teaching Shakespeare. Classroom Activities on Shakespeare  Online Shakespeare Games The Shakespeare’s Globe website has a full selection of online games for kids on Shakespearean topics. The "Shakespeare Word Games" page provides a scrambled word game of Shakespearean terms and characters, as well as a Weird Words Quiz. "Who Am I" Shakespearean Character Game (Folger Shakespeare Library) The Folger Shakespeare Library has a list of eight "Who Am I" questions to help students learn about several important Shakespearean female characters. "Life in Shakespeare’s Time" (Shakespeare Globe) This page offers ten bits of trivia about life in Shakespeare’s era, and will help students to visualize the world in which Shakespeare lived. Tales from Shakespeare (Amazon) The classic children’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays comes from Charles and Mary Lamb. Although the style is very much that of the 18th century, it remains a popular choice for young readers. "Top 10 Shakespeare Books for Children" ( The Guardian ) The Guardian provides a list of ten excellent Shakespeare books for kids, from Leon Garfield's  Shakespeare Stories  to Bloomsbury's  Shakespeare Today. Websites Devoted to Teaching Shakespeare Teaching Shakespeare Blog (Folger Shakespeare Library) This Folger education blog highlights individual lessons on Shakespeare and other resources. Under the "resources" tab, you'll find Shakespeare lesson plans, a digital image collection, and more. Teaching Shakespeare website This website, a collaboration between some of the U.K.'s major cultural institutions, aims to "provide creative routes into the world of Shakespeare." "Teacher Resources" (Royal Shakespeare Company) Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company offers a number of resources for teaching Shakespeare on its website. Simply choose a play, type of resource, and age range. (Note: KS1 corresponds to ages six and seven, while KS5 corresponds to ages 16 through 18). "Teaching Shakespeare with 'The New York Times'" The New York Times 's Learning Network has compiled a list of articles that will help your students connect Shakespeare's work to our contemporary world. (Note: Though access to The New York Times requires a subscription, you can access a few free articles a month). Units on Shakespeare Plays Though all of Shakespeare's plays are worthy of study, some of them are particularly suited for use in the middle school and high school classroom, or in undergraduate surveys. These links contain practical suggestions for selecting appropriate plays and advice for designing lesson plans. "Best First Shakespeare Plays for High School Students" (Kenludwig.com) Playwright Ken Ludwig suggests that educators start with A Midsummer Night’s Dream , since its themes and humor are accessible to both younger and older age groups. Among the tragedies, Ludwig singles out Macbeth  and  Romeo and Juliet . Commonly Taught Shakespeare Plays (Folger Shakespeare Library)   According to research from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the most common plays to teach in the high school English classroom are:  Romeo and Juliet , Hamlet , Macbeth , A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Othello , and  Julius Caesar . "Best Works of Shakespeare to Use in High School Classes" (ThoughtCo) ThoughtCo writer Melissa Kelly, a veteran high school English teacher, lists eight Shakespeare plays to use in the classroom. She starts with Romeo and Juliet  and concludes with T he Merchant of Venice . Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Unit (Teachers Pay Teachers) This top-rated TPT unit on  Twelfth Night , designed for middle school and high school students, includes student handouts, a quiz and test, a character information sheet, and more. Macbeth and Shakespeare Unit (Teachers Pay Teachers) Another top-rated TPT Shakespeare unit, this resource includes an internet scavenger hunt, graphic organizers, group project, power writing prompt, and unit test. PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover Downloads of 1999 LitCharts Lit Guides Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide Explanations and citation info for 42,231 quotes across 1999 books Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play Need something? Request a new guide . How can we improve? Share feedback . LitCharts is hiring! Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more. 429 IMAGES Essay on William Shakespeare Short Essay on William Shakespeare [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF Essay on William Shakespeare William Shakespeare: Unraveling the Mystery of the Bard's Life Free Calaméo Understanding William Shakespeare’s Works Essay Example VIDEO Hamlet and His Problems objective correlative By T.S Eliot in hindi summary Essay points on Shakespeare. Briefly discussed in Malayalam The Flowers of Shakespeare by Esther Singleton Hamlet Short Essay Prompt #3 William Shakespeare essay in english || Biography of William Shakespeare || Essay on Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare COMMENTS Essay on William Shakespeare in English for Students 500 Words Essay On William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was certainly a very famous writer. The man is credited with an unbelievable thirty-eight plays, two narrative poems, several other poems and a whopping one hundred fifty-four sonnets. So let us take a peek inside the life of this genius with this essay on William Shakespeare. Essay on William Shakespeare 200 Words Essay on William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is one of the renowned names of English playwrights. He was a multi-talented man who was a writer, poet and actor. He produced about one hundred and fifty-four sonnets, two narrative poems, thirty-eight plays and a few verses. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to a good family with ... Short Essay on William Shakespeare [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF Short Essay on William Shakespeare in 400 Words . Little is known about William Shakespeare, one of the greatest names in the British canon of dramas and poems. His biography does not much reveal about his childhood or early occupation. Yet among his contemporaries, Shakespeare is by far the best literary personality of all times and centuries. Writing A Perfect Shakespeare Essay: Tips, Approaches & Ideas Analyze the title of a particular poem or play. A Midsummer Night's Dream, the plays entitled by names (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing and others are a reason to write a good, short essay about William Shakespeare. A good idea is to analyze the characters of Shakespeare. William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon) was a poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet. He is considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time. Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature.Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo ... William Shakespeare Essay: A+ Student Examples and Topics William Shakespeare is an essential topic for essay writing due to his immense significance in the world of literature and his enduring influence on various aspects of human culture. Exploring Shakespeare's works provides a rich opportunity to delve into themes of love, tragedy, power, and human nature. 1,000 Word Essay on the Life Of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564 to his parents Mary Arden and John Shakespeare. Shakespeare was the third child of eight. He was the oldest surviving son, because in the time Shakespeare was born there was a plague going around called the Bubonic Plague. This is also known as Black Death because it killed ... William Shakespeare Critical Essays In short, Shakespeare's nondramatic poems grow out of and articulate the strains of the 1590's, when, like many ambitious writers and intellectuals on the fringe of the court, Shakespeare ... William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is perhaps one of the well-known poets and playwrights. Although it seems not well known when he began his writing career, Greenblatt reports the staging of his plays in 1592 in London (12). He was born of a staunch Roman Catholic family with his parents living in the times of conflicting stands between Catholics and ... William Shakespeare in World Literature Essays and criticism on William Shakespeare, including the works Henry IV, Parts I and II, As You Like It, Hamlet, The Tempest, Sonnets - Magill's Survey of World Literature The life and plays of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare, (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Eng.—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet and playwright, often considered the greatest writer in world literature.. Shakespeare spent his early life in Stratford-upon-Avon, receiving at most a grammar-school education, and at age 18 he married a local woman, Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare's life Since William Shakespeare lived more than 400 years ago, and many records from that time are lost or never existed in the first place, we don't know everything about Shakespeare's life. For example, we know that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, 100 miles northwest of London, on April 26, 1564. But we don't know his exact birthdate ... Writing a Shakespeare Essay with Topics, Tips, and Examples Here is an example of a descriptive essay on this topic: The Shakespeare biography is a mystery that contains a lot of uncertainty. The great writer's date of birth remains unknown, but it is clear that he was born in 1564, during the Tudor period in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. PDF Essays on Shakespeare Hema Dahiya's Essays on Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts has at its heart a study of two empires: the British Raj in the nineteenth century, and the rise and spread of Imperial Rome. Brought together by Shakespeare, and hinged by a pair of chapters on the poet's own garden and on his most Shakespeare and the Essay As Shapiro writes, 'The breakthrough is one that Shakespeare might have arrived at sooner or later, but it was given tremendous impetus at the time that he was writing Hamlet by his interest in a new literary form: the essay.'. Shapiro goes on, 'Shakespeare cared less about appropriating Montaigne's language or philosophy than about ... Shakespeare Essays and Resources Please also see the plays, sonnets and biography home pages for extensive essays and resources. Essays on the Plays. Essays on the Sonnets and Poems. Essays on Shakespeare's Life. Essays on Shakespeare's Theatres. General Essays. Accurate and comprehensive information on Shakespeare's plays and poems, from your trusted Shakespeare source. Essays on Hamlet Essays on Hamlet. Written as the author taught Hamlet every semester for a decade, these lightning essays ask big conceptual questions about the play with the urgency of a Shakespeare lover, and answer them with the rigor of a Shakespeare scholar. In doing so, Hamlet becomes a lens for life today, generating insights on everything from ... Shakespeare Research Resources Shakespeare Research Resources. Four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, millions of people continue to read his poems, repeat his phrases, watch his plays, and use the words he coined. In addition to being the most celebrated writer in the English language, Shakespeare is also the most studied. Though understanding the breadth of research ... Shakespeare's Sonnets Essays The rhyme scheme of most of Shakespeare's sonnets, #29 included, is abab, odod, efef, and gg, underlining the four sections of the poem. The meter of the sonnet is by definition iambic pentameter ... essay homework paper phd project resume review study thesis