William Shakespeare

Shakespeare was often inspired by history. He wrote many plays with historical figures, and based his kings and queens and other characters on them as well. We know he was also inspired by Greeks...

Excellent answer. One other reason for the prohibition is that society tended to assume women in acting groups were prostitutes. Partly this was a prejudice based on the travelling of acting...

William Shakespeare's contributions to English literature are so numerous that it would be difficult to discuss them fully in a single eNotes post. Therefore, some highlights of his many...

It is important to note that during Shakespeare's lifetime, there were two monarchs ruling in England. Elizabeth I came to the throne at the age of twenty-five, following "Bloody Mary's" disastrous...

According to Hardin Craig and David Bevington in their introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Elizabethan England was a place of explosive economic growth as well as growing...

As noted in the other answer, these words are written by Shakespeare and appear in Henry V, Act IV, scene iii. As background, the English troops massed in France are about to fight the Battle of...

Shakespeare's greatest contribution to literature would probably be the variety of material that he produced during his lifetime. He wrote histories, such as Julius Caesar. He wrote love stories,...

The Globe was significant in the past because it was part of the English Renaissance, a time when theater and the arts flourished. It was also the place where many of Shakespeare's plays saw their...

"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the bones enclosed here! Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones." In his epitaph, which he oddly wrote...

William Shakespeare wrote plays and poems, and in fact, it was one of his poems that helped him gain popularity: "As early as 1593 he had an overnight sensation with [Venus and Adonis]," a...

There have been many movies based on "Hamlet." We just finished watching the Mel Gibson edition. I'd ask Shakespeare to watch them all and let us know which most closely embodies his...

Enough historical evidence exists to prove that the full name of the poet and playwright now known to be one of the world's greatest dramatists was William Shakespeare. That was his true name. He...

Shakespeare lived and worked through the reign of two monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I and King James I of England (who was also King James VI of Scotland). This was generally a time of relative...

Hamlet and Macbeth are both obsessed with death. They are both nobles. Both are doomed to be tragic heroes. They are different in many ways, though. Hamlet is younger, and he’s not married. He...

No, for the most part at least, Shakespeare is not mimicking the voices of people living in Elizabethan England in his plays. Shakespeare wrote his plays primarily in blank verse, which is the...

In sixteenth century France and England, to “die” could also mean to orgasm. Both are a climactic conclusion, one to life and the other to sex. This connection between sex and death can be seen in...

Absolutely. Shakespeare was a phenomenal writer for his time. The fact that we still discuss his writing indicates it should be taught as quality literature. Do we, however, have to teach all parts...

Shakespeare is famous because he wrote some great stories. People love stories above all else. One of the reasons his plays are so popular is because he wrote about kings and queens, and big lives...

I agree that Romeo and Juliet should catch a break. They are just kids! However I would like to change the ending to Macbeth. The problem is that if we did, Macbeth would not be a tragic hero...

One of the most interesting things about Shakespeare is that, unlike almost every other successful writer of his time, he was working class. His father was in trade in Stratford, and Shakespeare...

This is, in fact, as the previous educator has said, not a quote from William Shakespeare at all. Instead, it is a quote from "Bedouin Love Song" by Bayard Taylor, and it was written in the 19th...

I'm not entirely sure what you might be meaning by the word "era", so I'll give a few interpretations. Shakespeare wrote most of his plays right around the year 1600. 1589 to 1613 to be exact....

The two plays are tragedies, the principal characters both have close encounters with the supernatural. For Hamlet, the ghost of his father tries to hell him the story of his murder, for Macbeth,...

William Shakespeare is well known for his extensive use of metaphors, similes, symbolism and imagery in his writing. Although understanding his works requires knowledge of the English terms used at...

The typical, simplest English sentence structure takes the subject (S), verb (V), object (O) grammatical pattern, which is frequently abbreviated to SVO. In other words, a typical English sentence...

As you can see by the previous answers, this question is almost a trick question. Depending on whether you consider certain parts of Shakespeare’s famous plays “poems” or whether you consider works...

Most scholars believe that Shakespeare came to London as an actor in the 1580's. He was well established by the early 1590's and had joined a theatrical company named the Lord Chamberlain's men....

William Shakespeare needs no real introduction as his name is a world-wide phenomenon. One of the benefits of reading Shakespeare is that his plays are still relevant even to a twenty-first century...

Another example of the difference between the use of iambic pentameter and prose for a specific purpose in a play is seen in Hamlet. Hamlet, as the prince of Denmark, speaks in iambic pentameter...

You can actually find out this information from the Globe Theatre itself, although the modern Globe is only the latest iteration of what was, in fact, the first purpose-built theatre in England. In...

William Shakespeare, the Bard, was an extremely prolific playwright during his time. He wrote comedies, tragedies, and histories--37 plays total. I organized his plays into genres for you, so you...

Most of what is known about Shakespeare's views, philosophy and attitude toward life are inferred indirectly from the themes of his plays and poetry. Nothing is extant or mentioned in history in...

Scholars are divided on the issue of Shakespeare's sexuality and whether or not he had affairs. There are very few primary source documents available, and those that are accessible are debatable....

William Shakespeare is famous for his plays and his sonnets. He probably wrote 38 plays during the course of his life (his authorship of some are disputed) and 154 sonnets. Several of his plays...

William Shakespeare's poetry and, particularly his plays, are still among the greatest ever, and his work is unmatched in the history of the English language. It is no wonder that students around...

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is all about love, beauty, and poetry. The main purpose of this sonnet is to immortalize the beauty of the speaker’s love, not to teach a concrete moral lesson the...

Further, for the ancient Greeks, honoring the gods via the plays' plots was extremely important. For example, one major theme of the popular Sophocles drama, Oedipus Rex, is that one simply cannot...

A bit of ancient history here: In William Parkes book, Curtain-Drawer of the World (1612), we find this reference to the practice of raising flags to announce plays:"Each play-house advanceth his...

You're not alone: no-one knows and no-one really understands. Certainly, as an actor and playwright, Shakespeare needed to be at the hub of social and Court life, which was London; there is...

The previous Educator has already answered this question, so I'll try to provide some additional context which might prove useful. To begin with, though: no, Shakespeare is not Middle English. He...

Though it can be hard to imagine in our modern age, in which all of the most respected writers are novelists or authors of other long form fiction, in Shakespeare's day, the poem was considered the...

William Shakespeare was an actor, a playwright, and a poet, and, possibly, a soldier. Born in the country, Shakespeare was the son of a farmer, who was the son of a farmer. Determined to make his...

You could most effectively argue that it should not be taught because the language is just too arcane for students to understand. I love Shakespeare, but teaching it requires spending a lot of time...

One-hundred-and-fifty-four of William Shakespeare's sonnets were published together in a single volume entitled Shakespeare’s Sonnets in 1609. The sonnets were likely written between 1592 and the...

It is difficult to know which of Shakespeare’s plays were controversial when they first came out. Troilus and Cressida was likely very contentious during its time because it parodies classical...

You thesis statement should read something like this: William Shakespeare is one of the most important figures in English literature because of his contribution to the language itself, his...