William Shakespeare Questions and Answers
William Shakespeare
Why did Robert Greene dislike Shakespeare?
One of the most interesting consequences of Robert Greene's attack on Shakespeare, whom he referred to as "an upstart Crow . . . an absolute Johannes Factotum [man of all trades] . . . the only...
William Shakespeare
Why is Shakespeare so important?
William Shakespeare is widely acknowledged as the most important figure in English literature. Although some people consider him the "best" author in the English language, that point of view is...
William Shakespeare
How does Shakespeare portray masculinity in the Elizabethan age?
Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, under Queen Elizabeth and King James. His plays depict a broad range of masculine expressions throughout many eras. His young men tend to...
William Shakespeare
How were Shakespeare's tragedies influenced by the society of his time? Are there specific themes, events, or...
Though his plays were full of universal themes of love, betrayal, and power, Shakespeare was certainly influenced specifically by the society that existed at the time. Contemporary events...
William Shakespeare
What was Shakespeare's worldview?
I would argue that Shakespeare did not really have a worldview. This does not mean that he did not believe in anything, it just means that his beliefs and convictions, whatever they were, did not...
William Shakespeare
What is the meaning of "Shake-scene" used by Robert Greene in reference to Shakespeare?
In October, 1592, a pamphlet entitled Greenes, Groats-worth of Witte, bought with a million of Repentance (usually referred to as Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, or simply as Groatsworth of Wit) was...
William Shakespeare
Did William Shakespeare have a lover when he was married to Anne Hathaway?
Since the true biographical documentation of William Shakespeare is limited, any such information concerning possible lovers and affairs is even more scarce. There is no true factual data that...
William Shakespeare
How many biblical references did Shakespeare make in his works?
I'm sure some scholar somewhere has made an exhaustive study and perhaps printed an unabridged concordance of all the scriptural references and biblical allusions in Shakespeare. One such scholar...
William Shakespeare
Please give me some advice on writing a conclusion on Shakespeare's Romantic Comedies.
Let me see if I can identify what you are exactly asking for in this question. If you already have an essay and want to create a conclusion to this essay, then you have a couple of choices. A...
William Shakespeare
Compare and contrast Shakespeare to Bernard Shaw as a dramatist.
In the roughly 300 years separating Shakespeare and Shaw, theatrical tastes and audiences changed. Shakespearean theatergoers were a more economically diverse group, and the tastes of the times...
William Shakespeare
When plays began, white, red, and black flags were raised. What did each flag represent?
The flags flown over the Globe Theatre were a way of advertising, since many people then did not know how to read. Also, the play changed very frequently -- sometimes as many as 20 different plays...
William Shakespeare
I need a paraphrase for William Shalespeare's poem "Under Greenwood Tree," printed in Palgrave's Golden Treasury, 1875.
Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875. William Shakespeare VII. "Under the greenwood tree" UNDER the greenwood tree Who loves to lie with me, And tune his...
William Shakespeare
In which Shakespeare plays and through which characters is the Electra Complex notable? Concrete examples and names...
First, let's define the Electra Complex. As it relates to Freud's definition of the Oedipal Complex, it is defined as: the psychoanalytic theory that a female's psychosexual development involves...
William Shakespeare
What does the word "constant" mean in Shakespeare?
Though in late modern English we most often use the word constant to mean continual, as in the phrase "constant traffic on the highway," Shakespeare uses it primarily to mean unchanging or...
William Shakespeare
How did the Globe Theater affect the people/Patrons types of plays performed. How do the Theater differ from the ones...
The Globe Theatre where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed helped the people to see the Chamberlain's Men (Shakespeares travelling acting troupe) at close quarters in a customized venue -...
William Shakespeare
What does this saying by Shakespeare mean? When daffodils begin to peer... Why, then comes in the sweet o' the...
This is from the song that opens Act 4, scene 3 of The Winter's Tale. The rogue Autolycus is singing about how, as the first response noted, it is springtime, the sweetest time of the year, during...
William Shakespeare
It has been said that in Shakespeare's tragic plays, "character is destiny." What does this expression mean?
As Stephen Holliday has already said, the tragedies in Shakespeare tend to be based in some key flaws on the part of its protagonist. More generally, we might say that Shakespeare's dramas tend to...
William Shakespeare
Which structural element in Sonnet 116 is present in the following two lines: "if this be error and upon me proved, I...
These two lines mark the closing couplet of the sonnet. A Shakespearean sonnet has fourteen lines, with the first twelve of these lines divided into quatrains—essentially, groups of four lines. If...
William Shakespeare
Why is Shakespeare called the founder of English language?
The English language has its foundation in many languages and, in Shakespeare's day, as ideas expanded and innovations increased, there were not enough words in the vocabulary to describe them....
William Shakespeare
Why are there no children in Shakespeare's plays?
In reply to above question: I wouldn't know. I can't remember seeing a stage performance of Macbeth. Chances are that the scene in which Macduff's son is murdered is left out of a lot of stage...
William Shakespeare
Why are Shakespeare's plays/ works still relevant today?
One reason Shakespeare remains relevant is because he created characters anyone can relate to. He developed such a wide variety of characters that it is almost impossible not to find one who...
William Shakespeare
What were Shakespeare's views on parenting? Want to understand what he felt about the way parents were, or what he...
Shakespeare demonstrates a nuanced attitude toward parenting, clearly illustrating the prevalent attitude of the time (children are their parents' possessions and owe them absolute obedience) as...
William Shakespeare
How many siblings did William Shakespeare have?
William Shakespeare apparently had seven siblings, but several died as children. William was the first child out of three to survive childhood. His parents then had a son named Gilbert, who became...
William Shakespeare
What happened to William Shakespeare in 1610?
In 1610, Shakespeare wrote the last play that is credited to him alone. The play is "The Tempest" and was written in either 1610 or 1611. Despite the fact that it is known as Shakepeare's last...
William Shakespeare
What time did the plays at the Old Globe Theatre begin? it for a webquest for school
The Old Globe Theater was built in 1599. Due to the time period that this theater existed in, the theater did not have access to any type of artificial/electric lighting and it would have been...
William Shakespeare
What was the architectural shape (octagon) of the globe theater? we are making a reporduction of the sturcture that...
It is commonly noted that the Globe Theatre was an octagon, though it did have more than eight sides, as noted above. It was constructed with wooden pegs, and the reconstructed Globe was built in...
William Shakespeare
What is the role of women in Shakespeare In Love?
The women of Shakespeare In Love must navigate the difficult position of being, as the queen puts it, “a woman in a man’s world." Viola, as a young woman born into wealth but not aristocracy, finds...
William Shakespeare
Compare the three characters Richard III, Lady Macbeth, and Shylock, and explain which character has most...
This question is asking you to examine three different villains and make a decision as to which character you think is the most villainous. Feel free to take your pick. There isn't a definitively...
William Shakespeare
How did William Shakespeare depict women in his plays?
The way Shakespeare represents women in his plays varies wildly from play to play. This is a facet of his work that is both lauded and disliked by critics. Some believe Shakespeare has presented a...
William Shakespeare
What conventions are present in all Shakespearean comedies?
A Shakespearian comedy, as seen in the vast number of plays that he wrote such as As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, can be defined by a number of conventions...
William Shakespeare
What did William Shakespeare achieve during his life?
Only limited biographical information about William Shakespeare is preserved in the historical record; most of our knowledge about him pertains mainly to his activities as a writer. Shakespeare was...
William Shakespeare
How did political events shape plays written by William Shakespeare?
Political events had a profound impact on Shakespeare's plays in ways large and small. Shakespeare was inspired by both the politics of his time and the politics of previous eras of English history...
William Shakespeare
What is the difference and similarity between Shakespeare and Greek tragedy?
Shakespeare's earlier tragedies are considered to be exaggerated in the use of blood and gore (typical of the Greek tragedy "formula" and almost ritualistic advancement of plot reiterated in...
William Shakespeare
What is William Shakespeare's nationality?
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, a small town about 80 miles northwest of London, England. The region is named Warwickshire and is considered "the heart of England." The area is...
William Shakespeare
Why is Shakespeare the greatest writer of all time?
The first point one should make is that there is absolutely no way to prove this claim. There have been many great and influential writers across a wide range of periods and cultures, and there is...
William Shakespeare
Which type of Shakespearean play is lighthearted and usually ends with marriage?
Shakespeare wrote three types of plays including comedies, tragedies and histories. Some critics, however, have argued that Shakespeare's last play The Tempest could be considered a tragicomedy,...
William Shakespeare
Shakespearean Women Create a thesis statement about women in Shakespeare's works.
I would say that Shakespeare wrote about strong women, but it was not always obvious. They did not always win in the end either. For example, even though Juliet defied her father and her family,...
William Shakespeare
I would like to know about acting techniques of the Shakespearean theatre. I would like to know the actual techniques...
You should know a bit about the theatrical construct of theatre companies in Shakespeare's day to understand how acting practices fit in to the world of performance. First, generally, the theatre...
William Shakespeare
Why, in Shakespeare's comedies, do we find that often female characters are protagonists, while in the tragedies male...
Great question and answers. In the tragedies, women were the victims, for the most part, of the men and their bloody, high stakes games and power struggles. In the comedies, Shakespeare could show...
William Shakespeare
What does the word play "Willpower" mean? What would wearing a T-shirt with this word play mean?
In a Shakespearean context "Willpower" or Will-power" or "WillPower" is a play on words often used to refer to the power of William Shakespeare. In 2019, for instance, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare...
William Shakespeare
Did William Shakespeare return to Stratford after he left his house for London? When? Why? When did he die?
Bad news on this one is that, like most questions about Shakespeare's biography, we don't have any hard and fast answers. All we have are the very, very basics of his life story. So we do know that...
William Shakespeare
"With the sleep of dreams comes nightmares" - Is this a Shakespeare quote and if so, which play is it from (the Act...
This particular quote is not a direct quote from Shakespeare. The word "nightmare" only appears once in Shakespeare's plays and it is not in a context anything like this quote. (This is according...
William Shakespeare
How does Shakespeare show the elements of winter in this poem in his poem "Winter"?
Do you mean the poem that is actually entitled "Winter" - because Shakespeare wrote many poems about winter that have the word "winter" in the title. WINTER - by William Shakespeare When icicles...
William Shakespeare
What points of similarity and difference are there that one could use in analyzing The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet,...
It sounds as if you are being asked to write a compare and contrast essay concerning several of Shakespeare’s major plays. The themes of these plays are quite different, and the genres include...
William Shakespeare
There is a quote in the movie "Renditon". The quote had the phrase "on the rack". What play is...
In the movie “Renditon” the agent says that under torture the suspect confessed to things he did not do. The movie was based on a true stroy and was released in 2007. It stared Omar Metwally and...
William Shakespeare
In what play did Shakespeare use the phrase "bag and baggage?"
Though Shakespeare has coined more of our words and phrases than most of us even realize, this one pre-dates him. The phrase "bag and baggage" is from Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, written...
William Shakespeare
What is the qoute by Shakespeare: "________________, in which that nourishes us." I heard it on the show...
There are many references to "nourishing" in Shakespeare's works. When researching the phrase, the initial search showed "Quod Me Nutrit Me Destruit." The origin of this phrase, meaning "that which...
William Shakespeare
What Shakespeare plays use supernatural references?
As the previous posts have noted, many of Shakespeare's works utilize supernatural references. Ranging from Julius Caesar's line, "The fault is not in our stars," to the storm that shipwrecks...
William Shakespeare
Say some memorable incidents in Shakespeare's life??
This happened during his life, pertaining his death: His epitaph is a curse to anyone who dares move him from there, and to this day his resting place is still in the original location. The curse...
William Shakespeare
Compare and Shakespeare's older vs. younger female characters. how does shakespeare present his older women such as...
These women are all very different. Cleopatra is queen and she has power despite the fact that Egypt is under the rule of Rome. She is strong and independent. She uses this power (which is sexual)...
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