- •William Shakespeare
- •Shakespeare’s Theatrical Genius
- •The Sonnets
- •The Real Shakespeare
- •Romeo and juliet by William Shakespeare
- •What's in a Name?
- •Ah, What an Unkind Hour
- •A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
- •A Double Cherry Parted
- •Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- •Words like Daggers
- •Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- •Unsex me Here
- •Act 1, Scene 5: a room in Macbeth's castle at Inverness
- •The Sound and the Fury
- •Sonnets by William Shakespeare
- •Sonnet 29
- •Sonnet 130
- •Contents
The Real Shakespeare
The few existing documents about Shakespeare only certify that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, got married at eighteen, had three children, left Stratford and went to London, became an actor and owned a share of the Globe Theatre. Evidence also exists that he returned to Stratford in his forties, bought a big house, looked after his properties and died in 1616. In his will there is no mention of returns from plays or poems. Only six examples of his handwriting exist: six signatures, all with a different spelling of his name. His death went totally unnoticed. Scholars have wondered how someone with Shakespeare's social and educational background could know so much about history, Italy, Latin, Greek and all the other subjects that filled his plays. For over a century now many have voiced their doubts about the real identity of the author of 'Shakespeare's plays'.
The works of Shakespeare: TIMELINE
|
||
Period |
Date |
Plays
|
Period I Plays of Experimentation |
1590-1591
1592-1593
1593-1594
1594-1595
1593-1595 |
Henry VI (parts I, II, III) (History plays) Titus Andronicus (Tragedy) Richard III (History play)
The Comedy of Errors (Comedy) The Taming of the Shrew (Comedy)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Comedy) Love's Labour's Lost (Comedy) Romeo and Juliet (Tragedy) Richard II (History play) A Midsummer Night's Dream (Comedy) King John (History play)
Sonnets |
Period II Artistic maturity: Lyrical masterpieces and Chronicle Plays
|
1596-1597
1598-1599
|
The Merchant of Venice (Comedy) The Merry Wives of Windsor (Comedy) Henry IV (I, II) (History plays) Much Ado About Nothing (Comedy) Henry V (History play)
As You Like It (Comedy) Twelfth Night (Comedy) Julius Caesar (History play) |
Period III The Great Tragedies |
1600-1601
1602-1603
1604-1605 1606-1607
1608 |
Hamlet (Tragedy) Troilus and Cressida (Tragedy)
All's Well That Ends Well (Comedy/Romance) Measure for Measure (Comedy/Romance) Othello (Tragedy)
King Lear (Tragedy) Macbeth (Tragedy) Antony and Cleopatra (Tragedy) Coholanus (Tragedy)
Timon of Athens (Tragedy) |
Period IV Last Plays |
1609 1609-1610
1611
|
Pericles (Tragedy)
Cymbeline (Romance) The Winter's Tale (Romance)
The Tempest (Romance) Henry VIII (probably incomplete. History play) |