The writings of William Shakespeare cannot be compared in the history of literature. He was a versatile English poet, play writer and actor. He has written nearly 38 plays, 154 sonnets and innumerous poems between 1582–1612, which are remembered even to this day. They had important impact on English literature and western theater. All his works have been translated into various languages and they have been performed around over the world more than a million times.
Eventough many of his writings are for the English audience the appeal was universal. Christopher Marlowe greatly influenced his writing style. In 1594, Shakespeare became part owner of Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a drama play company. By then he had even began acting, along with writing plays. Under his presence the company became popular which made King James I buy the company and then it was named as King’s men.
His plays revolved around tragedy, comedy, romance and history. He started working with other writers which was common at that time. Since then he helped the playwrights to finish their work fast. Like Hamlet was the new adaptation of a lost play named Ur-Hamlet and King Lear was the new version of King Leir. His plays on history were inspired by the Greek, Roman and English history. Plays like Plutarch’s Parallel Lives and Raphael Holinshed’s The Chronicle of England inspired plays like Macbeth and King Lear. Tempest was his original work.
Shakespeare’s early works of 1590s were based on romantic comedies and historic nostalgia which were the storyline of works like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry IV, Part I. After the plague, he began incorporating rhymed couplets and dramatic dialogues in his work. His middle period works focused around betrayal, murder, egoism, power, ambition, lust, tragedy and comedy. Plays like Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida were based on them. His later works were mostly romantic and fantasies such as The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest. His works were also published in press as a series of quartos. Two actors named John Heminges and Henry Condell embarked on First Folio to reward and publish Shakespeare’s work exclusively during the year 1623. Categories such as comedies, tragedies and histories were made in First Folio. Modern critics have added up categories like problem-play and tragic-comedies.
The chronology of his plays is not known and has always been the subject of an argument as at his time, plays weren’t authoritatively printed. A number of his plays had various blueprints and because of technical glitches like printing errors and reading mistakes, so the recognition of his original work is a problem. Shakespeare coined many words. One of the peculiarities of his works is his habit of writing them a number of times using different words and spellings. After his death, there came the questions on the authenticity of his work. There are only few available details on the accounts of his life and nor does his will gives an account on any of his plays, poems, sonnets and ownership of the Globe theater. There were rumors that they might be writings of Christopher Marlowe or Francis Bacon.
The works that have been lost are Cardenio, Love’s Labour’ Won, and Quixote. Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, As You Like It, Hamlet, and Richard III are some the critically acclaimed works of William Shakespeare.
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