Were Shakespeare's plays based on true life?

Answer 1

Despite what you may have read, Romeo and Juliet was not based on two real lovers who died for each other. It was a story adapted from a story originally told about two people in Mantua which was ultimately based on the old Latin story of Pyramus and Thisbe. The details changed every time it was told.

Many other plays were based on old stories some of which are clearly fictional and others are legendary and so have only the slightest relationship to historical reality. Some of those with a legendary background are King Lear, Hamlet, Coriolanus and Troilus and Cressida.

Some of the plays, however, are based on actual history as it was understood by the historians of Shakespeare's day, particularly Raphael Holinshed. His Chronicles form the basis of the ten history plays and also of Macbeth. Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are also based on real events.

Answer 2

How can you possibly determine the truth of something like "With a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no, with a hey nonny nonny no", which is part of the lyric to "It was a lover and his lass" from As You Like It? The songs were mostly just fun and silly. They don't say anything worth asking whether it is true or not.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by "true". Are the events portayed in any of Shakespeare's plays exactly what happened? Of course not. Nobody talks like that in real life. On the other hand, the ten history plays and the three tragedies Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are based on real historical events, although they do not reflect them accurately because Shakespeare's history books were inaccurate and because Shakespeare changed events to make them suit his dramatic purpose.

For example, there was a real king Macbeth of Scotland. He had a long reign which was fairly peaceful and when he died he was succeeded not by Malcolm but by his stepson (Lady Macbeth's son) Lulach. The Shakespeare picture of Macbeth is quite different.

So these thirteen plays are more accurate presentations of actual historical events than any movie you might care to watch which bills itself as a "true story". I guess that makes them true.

Answer 4

He wrote his own plays, certainly.The plots or stories told by those plays were almost always drawn from other plays, as well as stories, poems and history books. Shakespeare usually tweaked them to make them play better on stage, and always gave everyone wonderful things to say.

Answer 5

Well, sort of. The history plays are based on events in English history. There really was a King Henry V, a Richard III, and Edward IV. That is not to say that the real people were really like Shakespeare portrayed them or that they did everything that Shakespeare said they did. The same can be said for Macbeth, which is also based on historical characters, although very loosely. The plays Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are also based on characters from Roman History.

The characters of King Lear and King Cymbeline are drawn from the legendary early history of Britain, but they are more legendary than historical, and the plots of their plays are only remotely connected with the legends.

Answer 6

Nope, none. Shakespeare did not use stories from his own life. He used much better stories he got from books. Thank heavens. By all accounts, Shakespeare's life was rather dull.

Answer 7

The history plays (King John, Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, Henry V, the three parts of Henry VI, Richard III and Henry VIII), Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth.

Answer 8

None whatsoever.