Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on about April 23, 1564, to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare, noted citizens of the town. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, when she was 26 and he was 18; their daughter Susannah was born six months later. In 1585, Hathaway gave birth to twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith. But in 1586, Shakespeare left his family in Stratford and traveled to London to pursue a career in the theater. At the time, theater companies were beginning to establish permanent buildings and operated under the patronage of wealthy gentlemen, but still relied on the public for money. The men in the troupes often had multiple responsibilities, including playing female roles, as women were not allowed to perform in public.
Shakespeare was originally just one of several Renaissance Era playwrights who worked in and around London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In the 1580s, the “University Wits,” a group of six highly educated writers influenced by the classical models of ancient Greece and Rome began to create theatrical productions more elevated in subject,
tone, and language than those of the popular mystery and morality plays of medieval times. These playwrights, the most famous of whom was Christopher Marlowe, wrote dramas and comedies based on historical and literary subjects rather than biblical themes or stock characters, used a highly poetic style rather than ordinary speech, and revived devices such as soliloquies, ghosts, and confidantes. While the Wits defined early Elizabethan drama, other playwrights also thrived in this new style, including Ben Jonson, who did not actually have a university education but was one of the most ardent followers of classical models, and William Shakespeare.
In London, Shakespeare joined an acting company and, between 1589 and 1591, wrote his first plays—a trilogy chronicling the reign of King Henry VI. But an outbreak of the plague in 1592 forced the closure of all central London theaters for two years. Despite the rarity of theatrical performances, Shakespeare continued to write plays, including Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew. He also turned to poetry and eventually wrote 154 sonnets as well.
A friendly competition for audience favor arose between the newcomer Shakespeare and the more established Marlowe, but it ended abruptly when Marlowe was killed in a bar fight in 1593. When the theaters reopened in 1594, Shakespeare joined Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a troupe that had been recently formed by several performers of the defunct Lord Strange’s Men, who worked from 1588 to 1594. The group soon produced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as plays by Jonson, Marlowe, and others. In 1599, the Globe Theatre, a new permanent public theater, opened for the exclusive use of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
A production of Shakespeare’s Richard II in 1601 was implicated in a failed rebellion attempt by Robert Devereux, the earl of Essex, against Queen Elizabeth I because of its subversive themes and the political leanings of some of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, but the playwright was not charged in the ensuing investigation. The queen died in 1603 and was succeeded by James I, who was a great supporter of the theater and of Shakespeare’s work in particular. After King James saw a production of As You Like It, he issued a royal order to change the name of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men to the King’s Men. Shakespeare would write for the King’s Men for the rest of his career, sometimes in collaboration with
other troupe members, and he produced a total of 38 plays before his death on April 23, 1616, his 52nd birthday.
In those 52 years, Shakespeare’s artistic achievements displayed deep levels of insight into human character and a brilliant mastery of the English language. He is often called simply “the Bard” or “the Poet” to attest to his poetic supremacy; he originated hundreds of now-common English phrases and quotations such as “with bated breath,” “salad days,” and “foregone conclusion.” Four centuries after his death, Shakespeare’s works are still produced as traditional plays, as movies, and in adaptations such as West Side Story, Jerome Robbins’s and Leonard Bernstein’s 1957 musical version of Romeo and Juliet.
Of Shakespeare’s plays, 10 are tragedies, 10 are historical dramas, and 18 are comedies. His works make frequent use of such Elizabethan dramatic devices as prologues and epilogues delivered directly to the audience, double entendres, comic interludes to relieve the tension in the tragedies, and improbable instances of mistaken identity. Shakespeare, like Marlowe, wrote in blank verse, mostly unrhymed iambic pentameter , the poetic meter that uses five consecutive pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables in each line. This convention gives the plays a distinctive and even quaint sound today, but was not unusual for the time in which they were written. Shakespeare, like most of his contemporaries, borrowed plots and ideas from existing stories, legends, and historical incidents. But the deeply felt psychological portraits of his characters, his sensitivity to the cruelties and absurdities of life, his alternately structured and playful approach to plot, and his extraordinary use of imagery are the elements that give his works their lasting power and vitality.
♦Shakespeare’s Sonnets So much has been written about Shakespeare’s plays that we often forget he also wrote some of the most beautiful love poetry in English, mostly in the sonnet form. Sonnets (literally “small sounds”) originated in Renaissance Italy. They are 14-line poems that can express strong emotions and profound thoughts. Shakespeare wrote his sonnets relatively early in his career, sometime during the years 1592 and 1596. His sequence of 154 sonnets, aside from the last two, divide into two groups: those addressed to or about a Young Man (1–126) and those addressed to or about a Dark Lady (127–152). In the past, much attention was given to the sonnets as if they are a
story, as in a novel or play. While a narrative element is surely present, Shakespeare’s sonnets are now generally viewed by critics as technical “verbal contraptions” pointing to underlying moral questions behind their wordplay of metaphor, images, and rhyme.
The format found in the Shakespearean sonnet—three-quatrains with a closing couplet—lends itself to a logical progression: “When… then… and then… so…” As a matter of fact, some of the best sonnets begin with the word when, (e.g. 15, 29, 30, 106). Many of the sonnets are about the fleeting nature of love and life.
Sonnet 30
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night,
And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish’d sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
♦The Shakespeare Controversy Since the middle of the 19th century, several studies have appeared asserting that Shakespeare was not a real person, but the pseudonym of another author of the Elizabethan era. Others say that because the works are so brilliant, they cannot possibly be the work of one man, and therefore bear the mark of many writers. Behind these theories are the bare facts of Shakespeare’s life, which would indicate that he was not highly educated, so therefore incapable of writing such magnificent works. Mark Twain and Sigmund Freud helped lend credence to this idea.
Some theories suggest that Francis Bacon wrote much of what we attribute to Shakespeare, since Bacon possessed the range of cultural knowledge
exhibited in Shakespeare’s works and was often seen in the royal court. Another popular contender for the real identity of Shakespeare is the 17th earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, whose life seems to be reflected in a number of Shakespeare’s works. An obvious candidate for Shakespeare’s identity has been the playwright, poet, and translator Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare’s rival. Marlowe and Shakespeare always competed with each other to turn out popular plays, all of which followed a similar poetic style—a blank verse version of iambic pentameter.
These theories notwithstanding, several local government and church documents from Stratford-upon-Avon in the 16th century mention John Shakespeare and his various business and government dealings, in addition to the births of his children. Today, virtually every serious scholar of Shakespeare believes that Shakespeare did exist and wrote all of his own dramatic and poetic works. But the controversy endures; the Calvin Hoffman Prize, worth almost one million British pounds, is still offered as an incentive to investigate and uncover a concrete answer to the question of Shakespeare’s identity.
♦Romeo and Juliet A prologue tells of the titular doomed “starcrossed lovers” and their feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets in Verona, Italy. In Act I, after a brawl between servants of these families, Romeo, a Montague, sneaks into the Capulet ball, where he and Juliet fall in love at first sight. In the famous balcony scene in Act II, they declare their love for each other and later secretly marry, hoping their marriage will pacify the feud. In Act III, Tybalt, a Capulet, challenges Romeo to fight, but now secretly married to Juliet, he refuses. Romeo’s friend Mercutio takes up the challenge and is killed by Tybalt. Enraged, Romeo slays Tybalt and is punished by exile. Before he leaves, he spends a rapturous night with Juliet, who, in marrying Romeo, has spurned her parents’ desire that she marry Count Paris. In Act IV, Juliet obtains a potion from Friar Laurence that will make her appear dead until Romeo returns. When the Nurse fails to awaken Juliet, she is presumed to have actually died. In Act V, at Juliet’s tomb, a distraught Romeo encounters Paris, whom he slays, then (believing Juliet has died) poisons himself. Juliet awakes, sees Romeo’s dead body, and stabs herself with his dagger.
The two families arrive and are moved to end the feud.
This early tragedy features literature’s most famous lovers and expresses the dangers of their impulsiveness, using rich poetic language contrasted with ribald humor. It is one of the fullest expressions of romance in the English language.
♦Julius Caesar Set in 44 B.C. Rome, this play shows how the fear of a power-hungry dictator led to betrayal and self-sacrifice. In Act I, Cassius and Brutus agree that Caesar’s tyranny must be forestalled. Caesar ignores a warning about the Ides, or 15th, of March and refuses Mark Antony’s offer of a crown. In Act II, Brutus joins the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar, who in Act III continues to ignore warnings, goes to the Senate on the Ides of March, and is stabbed to death by conspirators. Among them is Brutus, and shocked by this betrayal, Caesar asks with disbelief, “Et tu, Brute?” (“and you too, Brutus?”), as he falls dying. Brutus and Cassius speak to the angry citizens and try to justify the murder, but Mark Antony’s famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech stirs the crowd to fury, forcing Brutus and Cassius to flee. In Act IV, Mark Antony and his allies plan to attack the armies of Brutus and Cassius. On the night before the battle, Brutus is haunted by Caesar’s ghost. During the battle in Act V, Cassius and Brutus both commit suicide. Mark Antony declares Brutus the “noblest Roman of them all” because he did not act out of envy but rather “honest thought” for the good of Rome.
This political play abounds in powerful speeches that display a high level of rhetoric appropriate to its subject matter.
♦Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Considered the most complex of Shakespeare’s tragedies, this revenge drama begins with the line “Who’s there?” A ghost on the ramparts of Castle Elsinore has appeared to friends of Hamlet, whose father, the king, has died under mysterious circumstances. Hamlet’s mother hastily married Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, now the de facto king. The ghost, Hamlet’s father, reveals to his son that Claudius was responsible for his death, and instructs Hamlet to seek revenge. In Act II, Hamlet feigns madness with Ophelia, once his lover, in order to confuse Claudius and his counselor, Polonius, who is Ophelia’s father. Hamlet also engages a troupe of actors to perform a scene mimicking his father’s murder to trick Claudius into revealing his guilt. During the “play within the play,” Claudius runs from the room, thereby convincing
Hamlet of his guilt. In Act III, Hamlet contemplates suicide in the famous “To be, or not to be” monologue. On his way to see Gertrude, Hamlet spies Claudius praying and passes up the opportunity to kill him, believing that if killed during prayer, Claudius’s soul would ascend directly to heaven. In conversation with Gertrude, Hamlet senses someone hiding behind a curtain. Thinking that it is Claudius, he now seizes the opportunity for revenge, but stabs Polonius instead. In Act IV, Claudius sends Hamlet to England in a plan to have him killed. Distraught Ophelia loses her mind and is found drowned, covered in flowers. Having outwitted his executioners, Hamlet returns to Elsinore in Act V and encounters jolly gravediggers who have dug up the skull of Yoric, the king’s jester whom Hamlet remembers fondly. The gravesite is for Ophelia, and Hamlet confronts her grieving brother, Laertes, who blames Hamlet for her death. Claudius arranges a duel between them, giving Laertes a poisoned sword, and preparing a poisoned chalice for Hamlet should he survive the duel. In the duel, the swords get switched and both are fatally wounded. Gertrude mistakenly drinks from the poisoned chalice and confesses her and Claudius’s guilt. Hamlet then stabs and kills Claudius. Hamlet dies, and an invading Norwegian force conquers Denmark.
The complex motives, emotions, action—and inaction—of a hero tormented by duty, grief, and conscience make a compelling theatrical experience that delves deeply into the mystery of human existence.
♦Othello, the Moor of Venice This compactly structured play reveals the pernicious power of jealousy and self-delusion. In Act I, the diabolical Iago declares revenge on Othello, the black Moor who is military commander in Venice, for promoting Cassio over him. He reveals the secret marriage of Othello to Desdemona, angering her father, to whom Othello defends himself nobly. As Othello is ordered to Cyprus to fight the Turks, Iago plots to make him suspect an affair between Desdemona and Cassio. In Act II, Iago provokes a drunk Cassio into a fight and Othello demotes Cassio for the incident. Iago then urges Cassio to appeal to Desdemona for reinstatement. In Act III, Iago has Othello secretly listen to a conversation between Cassio and Desdemona, furthering Othello’s jealous suspicions. Iago conceals a handkerchief Desdemona has dropped, a memorable gift from Othello, telling him he has seen Cassio carrying it. Othello asks his wife for the handkerchief, but she says she has lost it. In Act IV, Iago provokes Othello’s
“green-eyed monster” of jealousy further, and Othello resolves to kill his wife. In Act V, Iago attacks Cassio, wounding him. Othello confronts Desdemona, declaring his love and yet the need to kill her because of the implications of the lost handkerchief. He smothers her in the marriage bed. When Emilia, Iago’s wife, reveals Desdemona’s fidelity and Iago’s villainy, Othello, “one that lov’d not wisely, but too well,” wounds Iago, then stabs himself and dies. Fiendish Iago lives to face torture for his crimes.
♦Macbeth This swift and bloody tragedy explores the conflict between fate and overpowering ambition. In Act I, King Duncan of Scotland awards Macbeth the title Thane of Cawdor after he is victorious in battle. Three witches tell Macbeth he will one day be king, and so he hesitates to usurp Duncan until resolute Lady Macbeth urges him to action. In Act II, Macbeth murders Duncan, and Lady Macbeth plants the bloody dagger on the king’s guards. Macbeth is crowned king. In Act III, Macbeth orders the death of Banquo, whose descendants the witches had prophesied would be future kings. Banquo’s ghost appears to the overwrought Macbeth at a banquet celebrating his kingship. In Act IV, the witches give Macbeth new prophecies, which he misinterprets as favorable. Malcolm, Duncan’s son, and his ally, Macduff, plan to attack Macbeth’s forces. In Act V, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and is driven mad and dies, presumably a suicide. Macbeth, when told of his wife’s death, famously reflects that life is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” He now realizes the witches’ prophecies have fated Macduff to defeat him. Macduff beheads Macbeth, and Malcolm is proclaimed king.
♦King Lear Many consider this tragedy of greed and madness as Shakespeare’s finest. In Act I, the aging King Lear divides his kingdom among his three daughters. Two of them, Goneril and Regan, try to outdo each other in winning their father’s favor, but Cordelia, the youngest, is unwilling to participate in the insincere flattery and so is disinherited. Edmund, bastard son of Gloucester (Lear’s ally) tricks his father into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is plotting against him. In Act II, Lear and Gloucester, attended by the all-knowing Fool, begin to realize their children’s treachery. Lear agitatedly wanders onto the stormy heath. In Act III, Lear, now mad, curses the storm, then finds shelter with his Fool. Regan and her husband attack Gloucester, ripping out his eyes. In Act IV, Edgar helps his blind father to safety. Goneril and
Regan battle for power, and for the love of Edmund. In Act V, as the opposing armies prepare for battle, the jealous treachery of Goneril and Regan is fully revealed and they kill each other. Edgar wounds Edmund fatally, but not before the latter has ordered Cordelia hanged. Lear carries her body onstage, momentarily believing she lives, and he dies saying, “Never, never, never, never, never.”
This profound drama, dense in themes and poetic imagery, explores with shattering power the boundaries of human capacity for good and evil.
♦A Midsummer Night’s Dream In this charming comedy set on Midsummer Night (June 23), the follies of the play lend themselves to staging for both existential spareness and theatrical spectacle. In Act I, on the eve of the wedding of the duke of Athens, young Hermia and Helena are kept away from their respective lovers, Lysander and Demetrius. In the woods outside Athens, they cross paths with Nick Bottom and other rustics who are bumbling through the rehearsal of a play to celebrate the duke’s wedding. In Act II, Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the woods, quarrel, and the king commands Puck, the jester, to create a love potion to make the sleeping queen fall in love with the first person she sees upon waking, whom he hopes will be himself. Puck also anoints the sleeping Lysander, who sees Helena upon waking and is struck with love. In Act III, Demetrius is also given the love potion and wakes to see Helena, falling in love. Puck transforms Bottom’s head into a donkey’s, but when the queen awakens and sees him, she is nonetheless infatuated. In Act IV, the queen realizes that she has become “enamour’d of an ass,” and the mismatched lovers are restored to their original choices. In Act V, a triple wedding feast is celebrated as the rustics present their hilarious version of Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisby” to entertain the lovers.
♦The Merchant of Venice This dark comedy about love and revenge presents one of Shakespeare’s most complicated characters, the comically vengeful, but legitimately wronged, Jewish moneylender Shylock. In Act I, the Christian merchant Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help Bassanio woo the heiress Portia. Shylock agrees but on condition that Antonio forfeit a pound of his flesh if he cannot repay the debt on time. In Act II, Shylock’s daughter, Jessica, steals Shylock’s gold and runs away with Lorenzo, her secret love. In Act III, Bassanio wins Portia, but Antonio is unable to repay his debt. Portia and her maid,
Nerissa, disguise themselves as men to witness Antonio’s trial. In Act IV, Shylock demands his pound of flesh, and Portia (as “Balthazar” the judge) rules in his favor but invokes the “quality of mercy,” allowing Shylock to take exactly one pound of flesh, but with not a drop of blood, and furthermore requiring Shylock to become a Christian. In Act V, Jessica and Lorenzo compare themselves to storied lovers from literature, and Portia and Nerissa reveal their roles in the judgment against Shylock.
♦As You Like It Composed alternately in verse and prose, this comedy is also an earnest exploration of the nature of love, social classes, cruelty, and redemption. In Act I, Oliver plots to have his brother Orlando killed in a wrestling match, but Orlando wins. Rosalind, daughter of banished Duke Senior, observes the match and falls in love with Orlando and he with her. Frederick, brother to the duke, orders Rosalind to join her father in the Forest of Arden, where she decides to disguise herself as a man, “Ganymede.” In Act II, the duke finds comfort in the forest, away from court, and a place where shepherds philosophize. As Oliver continues to threaten him, Orlando also flees to the forest, where he is welcomed by the duke. The melancholy courtier Jaques entertains the men with a cynical speech on the “seven ages” of man. In Act III, Frederick orders Oliver to find and kill Orlando, who has been hanging love poems on trees in the forest, hoping to find Rosalind. Instead, he finds “Ganymede,” who poses as Rosalind so Orlando can practice courtship, and with whom he trades witticisms about love. In Act IV, “Ganymede” and Orlando continue courting as Rosalind, still in disguise, realizes she truly loves Orlando. Later, Oliver encounters “Ganymede” with news that Orlando has been wounded, and the sight of a bloody cloth causes her to faint. In Act V, Oliver and Orlando reconcile, and “Ganymede” assures Orlando he will marry Rosalind, who finally reveals herself, and wedding blessings are bestowed on several joyous couples.