William Shakespeare
1564–1616
Biography
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor, and the most celebrated dramatist in the English language. He grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, and married at eighteen; he and his wife had three children. In the mid-1580s to early 1590s he moved to London and began acting and writing for a company of players, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, in which he also held a share. The company later became the King's Men under James I. He spent his final years back in Stratford, where he died in 1616. Records of his private life are sparse, and that gap has invited a wide range of guesswork.
About forty plays survive under his name, along with 154 sonnets and a few long narrative poems, though some of the attributions are disputed. His early plays are comedies and histories; in the middle years he wrote tragedies such as Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth; and in his last period he turned to romances such as The Tempest and The Winter's Tale. After his death, two fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, gathered thirty-six of his plays into the First Folio of 1623. Half of the plays it contains had never been printed before. His plays are staged more often than those of any other dramatist, and they have been rendered into most of the world's major languages.
Three of his plays are in this library. A Midsummer Night's Dream mixes quarrelling lovers, fairies in an Athenian wood and a group of amateur actors rehearsing a play for a duke's wedding. Antony and Cleopatra is a late tragedy in which a Roman general's passion for the Egyptian queen plays out against the struggle for power across the Mediterranean. As You Like It is a comedy of exile and disguise in the Forest of Arden, where banished courtiers and a heroine in men's clothing make a more generous world than the court they left.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by William Shakespeare
Four young lovers flee into a wood outside Athens, where the quarrelling king and queen of the fairies are at work and a love potion in the wrong hands tangles everyone's affections. Nearby a company of amateur actors rehearses a play for the Duke's wedding, and its weaver…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Antony and Cleopatra
by William Shakespeare
The Roman general Mark Antony, torn between his duty in Rome and his love for Cleopatra of Egypt, is drawn into war with Octavius Caesar. The play follows the lovers from the feasts of Alexandria to the defeat at Actium and the monument where each chooses death over capture.…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
Rosalind, banished from her uncle's court, flees to the Forest of Arden dressed as a young man and finds Orlando, who is carving love poems on the trees. Disguised, she teaches him how to woo, while exiles, shepherds and the melancholy Jaques fill the wood. This book uses the…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Coriolanus
by William Shakespeare
Caius Martius wins the name Coriolanus by taking a city for Rome, but his contempt for the common people costs him the consulship and gets him banished. He turns on his own city at the head of its enemies, and only his mother can stop him.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle…
Summary from Wikipedia: Hamlet (CC BY-SA 4.0)Henry V
by William Shakespeare
The young King Henry claims the crown of France and leads a small, exhausted English army across the Channel. Through the siege of Harfleur and the long night before Agincourt, the play weighs the glory of a famous victory against what it costs the men who win it. This book…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
Brutus joins a conspiracy to stab Julius Caesar before he can make himself king of Rome. Mark Antony's funeral speech turns the crowd against the killers, and the conspirators are driven to defeat at Philippi.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.King Lear
by William Shakespeare
The aged King Lear divides his kingdom between the two daughters who flatter him and banishes Cordelia, the one who loves him honestly. Stripped of power and driven out into a storm, he learns what he has thrown away, while a parallel plot of treachery unfolds around the Earl of…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Love's Labour's Lost
by William Shakespeare
The King of Navarre and three lords swear to give up women and study for three years, and the arrival of the Princess of France and her ladies soon undoes their vow. The play is a festival of wordplay that ends, unusually for a comedy, with a sobering turn. This book uses the…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
Macbeth is a thriller novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, a re-telling of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare for a more modern audience. It is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project. Macbeth was released in April 2018. The book tells the story of Macbeth in a Nordic noir…
Summary from Wikipedia: Macbeth (Nesbø novel) (CC BY-SA 4.0)Measure for Measure
by William Shakespeare
Duke Vincentio of Vienna leaves the city in the hands of the strict Angelo and secretly stays to watch, disguised as a friar. When Angelo condemns young Claudio to death and offers to spare him if his sister Isabella gives herself up, the Duke has to arrange a very awkward…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Much Ado about Nothing
by William Shakespeare
In Messina the sparring Beatrice and Benedick are tricked by their friends into believing each loves the other, while the young Claudio is deceived into rejecting Hero at the altar. Dogberry's bumbling watch eventually uncovers the villain's plot.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Othello
by William Shakespeare
Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, secretly marries Desdemona and is then drawn into a plot by his ensign Iago, who feeds him false proofs of her infidelity. Jealousy turns a trusted soldier into her murderer, and the truth comes out too late.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Richard III
by William Shakespeare
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, schemes his way to the English throne by slander, seduction and the murder of his own brothers and nephews. His reign unravels into guilt and rebellion and ends on Bosworth Field against Henry Tudor. This book contains scenes of violence as its…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, often shortened to Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one…
Summary from Wikipedia: Romeo and Juliet (CC BY-SA 4.0)Shakespeare's Sonnets
by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (c. 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) wrote sonnets on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. However, there are…
Summary from Wikipedia: Shakespeare's sonnets (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
To help his friend Bassanio court Portia, the merchant Antonio borrows money from the moneylender Shylock and signs a bond for a pound of his own flesh. When his ships fail, the case goes to court, and Portia appears in disguise to argue it. This book uses the racial and other…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
A drunken tinker is tricked into believing he is a lord and is shown a play, in which Petruchio comes to Padua to marry the sharp-tongued Katherina so that her gentler sister Bianca can be courted. His methods of taming her have been argued over ever since.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.The Tempest
by William Shakespeare
Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, has lived twelve years on an island with his daughter Miranda, the spirit Ariel and the creature Caliban. When his enemies are shipwrecked on the shore by his magic, he arranges a courtship, a rebellion and a reckoning before deciding to give…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.The Winter's Tale
by William Shakespeare
King Leontes of Sicilia, seized by a sudden jealousy, accuses his wife Hermione and casts out their newborn daughter. Sixteen years later, in Bohemia, the lost child has grown up among shepherds, and the play moves toward a reunion that no one expects. This book contains scenes…
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
Viola, shipwrecked in Illyria, disguises herself as a page and enters the service of Duke Orsino, whom she loves, while the Countess Olivia falls in love with her instead. Meanwhile Sir Toby and his friends play a cruel trick on the steward Malvolio.
Summary written by Claude Sonnet 5.5.