Shakespeare's plays are significant at least in part because they were difficult to write. Shakespeare used a lot of Iambic Pentameter, so he had to work out how each line sounded as it was spoken, as well as getting across the story and the message of the different characters.
His work is also significant because his plays often have a lot of layered meanings. Some writing is very plain, and says only one thing. Shakespeare's stuff though, you have to think about a little bit more to find all the different things that are being said.
It is also significant that his plays have been popular for so long. His characters are strong and enduring, and since they have been around so long, many people know about them. So, if I start talking about Romeo and Juliet for instance, almost everyone will know who I am talking about, even if they haven't read the play.
Shakespeare is best known for his tragedies Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet, which are often taught in school. His comedies Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice are also well known for the same reason.
For many people, their exposure to Shakespeare in school is the only exposure they will get, so the plays studied in school are the ones they know.
Many plays. Very famous. Still performed. New vocabulary. Wonderful poetry. Well-known quotations.
It was an annotated guide to Shakespeare's plys and work.
Shakespeare married Anne in 1582 and stayed married to her for the rest of his life. Anything of any significance that Shakespeare did, he did after his marriage, including joining the Lord Chamberlain's Men
Shakespeare's family was a solid middle class country family: neither rich nor poor. His father had a fine leather-making and glove-making business and played the markets to a certain extent. He was a man of some significance in local politics; he was on the town council. John Shakespeare (Shakespeare's dad), made some bad investments at one point and the family was without cash, but they bounced back.
The significance of Desdemona's relationship with Othello is that she marries him dispite knowing her father would not approve. Othello was a black man and was looked down upon because of his race and color. Shakespeare was tackling the race issue way ahead of most people.
No, of course not. They were writing stage plays in ancient Greece 2000 years before Shakespeare. The Romans wrote plays as well. Shakespeare was not even the first English playwright. Not counting Morality plays such as Everyman, which were written centuries before, plays like Ralph Roister Doister, Gammer Gurton's Needle and Gorboduc were written when Shakespeare was a child. The entire theatrical output of Christopher Marlowe, an undeniably great playwright whose plays are performed even nowadays, was written before Shakespeare had written anything of significance.
It was an annotated guide to Shakespeare's plys and work.
Shakespeare married Anne in 1582 and stayed married to her for the rest of his life. Anything of any significance that Shakespeare did, he did after his marriage, including joining the Lord Chamberlain's Men
It represents a key scene in Hamlet, in which the gravedigger unearths the skull of the jester Yorick.
Shakespeare's family was a solid middle class country family: neither rich nor poor. His father had a fine leather-making and glove-making business and played the markets to a certain extent. He was a man of some significance in local politics; he was on the town council. John Shakespeare (Shakespeare's dad), made some bad investments at one point and the family was without cash, but they bounced back.
The significance of Desdemona's relationship with Othello is that she marries him dispite knowing her father would not approve. Othello was a black man and was looked down upon because of his race and color. Shakespeare was tackling the race issue way ahead of most people.
No, of course not. They were writing stage plays in ancient Greece 2000 years before Shakespeare. The Romans wrote plays as well. Shakespeare was not even the first English playwright. Not counting Morality plays such as Everyman, which were written centuries before, plays like Ralph Roister Doister, Gammer Gurton's Needle and Gorboduc were written when Shakespeare was a child. The entire theatrical output of Christopher Marlowe, an undeniably great playwright whose plays are performed even nowadays, was written before Shakespeare had written anything of significance.
In "Julius Caesar" that date refers to the Ides of March, the day prophesied that Julius Caesar would be killed. That's where we get the phrase "Beware of the Ides March".
In medieval times this was the equivalent of giving someone the middle finger.
Yes! Shakespeare's name was really Shakespeare. His whole name was William Shakespeare.
John Shakespeare (father) Mary (Arden) Shakespeare (mother) Anne (Hathaway) Shakespeare (wife) Susanna (Shakespeare) Hall (daughter) Hamnet Shakespeare (son - twin) Judith (Shakespeare) Quiney (daughter - twin) Joan (Shakespeare) Hart (sister) Gilbert Shakespeare, Richard Shakespeare, Edmund Shakespeare (brothers)
Will Shakespeare is William Shakespeare, the famous playwright.
Yes, fear of anarchy was a big factor in Shakespeare's time. The Wars of the Roses, a period which represented a loss of coherent government and proliferation of violence, were not so far in the past as to be erased from the consciousness of the people. That is why people were afraid that Queen Elizabeth had no child to succeed her: they were afraid that disputes over the succession would result in civil war. This explains why the theme of the succession of power was of such significance in Shakespeare's work.