iWilliam Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and nicknamed the Bard of Avon. William Shakespeare is a very important writer for job exam preparation.
William Shakespeare is included in the job exam syllabus of BCS, BJS, NTRCA and other important exams. For English Honours and Masters students of Public Universities and National University, Shakespeare is a must read writer. So lets learn about his short biography and his works.
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William Shakespeare’s Biography
Birth & Death
William Shakespeare was born in 23rd April, 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. His father’s name was John Shakespeare and Mother’s name was Mary Arden. His father was a successful local businessman and mother was the daughter of a landowner. Shakespeare was the third son of his parents. He was baptized on April 26, 1564. And he died on 23 April, 1616, at the age of 52, at his home town. William Shakespeare died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in “perfect health”. In his will Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna.
Childhood and Education
Little is known of Shakespeare’s childhood and education. It is speculated that he attended the king’s New School in Stratford, where he learned to read and write. Since all the grammar schools then followed the same curricula, it is believed that he received intensive education in grammar based upon Latin classical authors.
Married Life
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, at the age of 18, in 1582. She was eight years older than him. They had three children. They are Susanna Hall, Hamnet Shakespeare and Judith.
Writing Career
William Shakespeare has been conferred with the honour of being England’s national poet and Bard of Avon. Though it is not exactly known as to when did Shakespeare begin his writing career, records of performances show that his plays started to feature on the London stage by 1592. Scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare’s ‘lost years’. In 1592, London Theatre Scene, Shakespeare’s writings were called as Rubbish by another play writer. Afterwards, the same play writer documented his Biography.
Shakespeare’s play were solely performed by Lord Chamberlain Company in 1594, of which Shakespeare himself was one of the Actors. After the queen Elizabeth died, the new King James I issued a Royal patent to the company an it was renamed as “The King’s Men”. In 1598, William Shakespeare’s name appeared on the title page of the work. By 1599, Shakespeare’s work were famous all over the globe. He continued writing until at least 1613. He write 38 dramas, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.
Style of Writing
Talking about the style that Shakespeare adopted for his work, he was extremely innovative. he adapted the traditional and convention style in his own way by adding metaphors and rhetorical phrases. however, the additions hardly ever aligned to the plot or the characters of the story.
William Shakespeare’s Works
William Shakespeare writes 38 dramas, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems. There are twelve tragedies and fourteen comedies.
Tragedies: Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Timon of Athens, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Cymbeline
Comedies: Twelfth Night, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, All’s Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Winter’s Tale, The Tempest
Historical Play: Henry VI: Part-I, Henry VI: Part-II, Henry VI: Part-III, King John, Richard II, Richard III, Edward III
Poems: The Passionate Pilgrim, The Phoenix and the Turtle
Sonnet: 154 sonnets
Tragedies of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare has written 38 dramas in which there are twelve tragedies. his well known tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar and Macbeth.
Hamlet
Hamlet is one of the Shakespeare’s longest and complicated plays. In this play there are two Hamlets. First one is the old King of Hamlet. He was the king of Denmark who died before the play began. The second Hamlet is Prince Hamlet, the son of the old King Hamlet. he is the main character of this play. After the death of the old Hamlet, his brother, Claudius, married Gertrude, the mother of prince Hamlet. Claudius also assumed the throne of Denmark. Hamlet is very sad about it. he tried to forget this sadness by loving the girl Ophelia. She is the daughter of Polonius, Claudius’s trusted adviser.
Main Characters
The Old King Hamlet: Father of Price Hamlet
Hamlet: Prince of Denmark
Claudius: The brother of the old king Hamlet
Gertrude: The mother of price Hamlet and present wife of Claudius
Horatio: Friend of Prince Hamlet
Ophelia: Lover of Hamlet
Polonius: Father of Ophelia and trusted advisor of Claudius
Laertes: Son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Spies of Claudius
Fortinbras: A Norwegian crown prince
Summary of The Play
The play starts at midnight. A group of soldiers are patrolling the battlements of Ellsinore castle. hamlet’s close friend Horatio is watching closely. The ghost of the old King Hamlet appears right in front of hm. He is not sure if the ghost is god or evil. But he decides Hamlet needs to know about it.
Later on, everyone is gathered in the royal court to hear Claudius talking about how happy his marriage to Gertrude is and impart fatherly wisdom to Laertes, son of Polonius. There is also the matter of Fortinbras, the Prince of Norway who wants to invade Denmark to take revenge his father who was murdered by the old king Hamlet. But everyone is concerned about Hamlet who has taken the marriage of his mother and his uncle very badly. When everyone is gone, Hamlet tells the audience that he is very sad because of his father’s death and the remarriage of his mother.
Horatio comes and tells Hamlet about the ghost of the old king Hamlet. meanwhile, Laertes has left home to study in France. he advises his sister Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet. At night Hamlet meets with the ghost who reveals that he did not die from the snake bites but Claudius poured poison in his ear and murdered him. Hamlet is outraged and he swore that he will have his revenge.
Polonius pays a servant to spy on his son. Ophelia comes in and tells his father that Hamlet has gone mad. he wears dirty clothes. he trembles around. Polonius thinks this is a great news because hi thinks Hamlet is just upset because Ophelia has rejected him. Elsewhere Claudius is engaged with little spying of his own. he hires Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. Pretending that he is very worried about the mental health of his nephew. Polonius also rushes in and updates Claudius about Hamlet’s mental health.
A trope of travelling actors arrive. They are called players. Hamlet cheers up when he watches them perform. But it does not long last as one of the actors delivered his speech in such a way that makes Hamlet sad again. he starts forming a plan to avenge his father. He asks the players to act a play for the whole court, The Murder of Gonzaga. When Hamlet is alone, he talks to himself that this play will serve as a mouse trap as he will include a scene which he has written that will replicate the way Claudius murder the old King Hamlet. When Claudius react Hamlet will have proof of Claudius’s guilt.
Hamlet has another dramatic run with Ophelia who has abuses her by saying he has never loved her at all. Ophelia is distorted. Claudius and Polonius who are spying on Hamlet think that there must be another reason for Hamlet’s uncontrolled behaviour. Later on the whole court turned on to watch the play. Claudius freaked out when he sees the act which replicate the way Claudius murdered the old King Hamlet. he leaves in a rush. Now Hamlet has his proof.
Claudius decides to deal with Hamlet by asking Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to take away hamlet to England. He is praying and revealing that he has no remorse for murdering his brother. While he was praying Hamlet creeps up to kill him. But he realizes that if Claudius dies in his prayer he will go to heaven. He definitely does not want that. So eh decides to kill Claudius later on. Hamlet goes off to talk with his mother. Polonius has hidden himself behind a curtain. So that he can spy on Hamlet. Mother and Son have a huge argument. When Hamlet hears sound near the curtain, he thinks that it is Claudius who is spying on him. Angrily, he stabs him through the fabric. He gets frustrated when he sees it is Polonius not Claudius whom he has killed.
Claudius is now very angry and worried. He searches ways to keep his grasp on power and get rid of Hamlet. he gets Hamlet on a boat to England. This is a one way trip. Meanwhile Ophelia gets very sad because of the cruelty of Hamlet and the death of her father. Everyone in the court s worried about her especially Laertes. he has arrived back from Franc. he wants Hamlet to pay for the death of his father.
Claudius tell Laertes that he could be the one who can punish Hamlet. The two will take part in a fight. Claudius will poison the blade which will be used to stab Hamlet so that he will die. Gertrude comes in tells them that Ophelia has drowned herself in a river. Hamlet is now spending time in graveyard thinking the futility of life and inevitability of death. He watches a funeral begins and realize that it ifs Ophelia’s funeral. hamlet and Laertes have engaged into a huge argument. They need to be physically separated.
When talking with Horatio, he tells him that Claudius had arranged to murder him when he arrived at England. he has managed to escape the trap and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are gone. he decides to duel with Laertes. In the fight, things go quite according to the Claudius’s plan. Laertes and Hamlet are both struck with the prisoned swords. Gertrude has accidentally drunk from a poisoned wine which was prepared for Hamlet as a backup if the original plan did not work. When Gertrude falls down, Laertes confesses The whole pan. Finally, Hamlet kills Claudius. hamlet and Laertes forgive each other just before Laertes die.
As Hamlet is dying, a servant brings news that Fortinbras is marching on castle. hamlet instructs that Fortinbras should be the new king of Denmark. As he has proven himself as excellent leader. When Fortinbras arrive at the court full of dead bodies, he declares that Hamlet was a great man and he must be buried with honour and respect.
Comedies of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare is famous for his plays. He is a great playwright. He has written 38 plays in which there are fourteen comedies. he is mostly famous for his tragedies. But his comedies are also very popular. His well known comedies are As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Twelfth night, etc.
As You Like It
The play begins with two pairs of brothers. Each pair is from different family and within each pair brother feuds with brother. A brother from one pair has a daughter called Rosalind. She falls in love with Orlando the brother of other pair. The story uses some of Shakespeare’s favourite devices, family rivalry, characters in disguise, and plenty of Romantic mix-ups and confusions. As You Like It is written in 1599. It is first performed in 1603, though it did not appear in printing form until 1623 and it is a comedy. It means there is humor throughout the play and it has a happy ending. This is a pastoral story. It means most of the scenes take place in countryside among green fields and forests.
Main Characters
Duke Senior: Father of the heroin of the paly
Rosalind: The heroin of the play
Duke Fredrick: Brother of Duke Senior
Celia: Daughter of Duke Fredrick
Orlando: The hero of the paly
Oliver: Elder brother of the hero of the play
Ganymede: Rosalind disguised herself as a shepherd.
Celia: Allena disguised herself as the younger sister of the shepherd Ganymede.
Celsius: A shepherd in the forest of Arden. He loves a girl named Phoebe.
Adam: Servant of the hero of the play, Orlando.
Touchstone: A fool of the court of Duke Fredrick
Phoebe: Celsius loves her but she loves Ganymede.
Audrey: Touchstone loves Audrey.
Summary of The Play
The story opens in a small dukedom in France. There is much family rivalry because of who is going to rule the dukedom. The heroin Rosalind is the daughter of Duke Senior. Duke Senior was cut off the family members by his brother Due Fredrick. The fight ends only when Fredrick deposed Senior and took his place. He became the ruler of the dukedom and exiled his brother Duke Senior.
Duke Senior’s daughter Rosalind is allowed to stay at the court because she is very dear to the daughter of Duke Fredrick, Celia. The hero of the play, Orlando, is cut off from the family because of the fight with his brother Oliver. Oliver makes a plan to kill Orlando by arranging a wrestling match.
Rosalind and Celia are watching the wrestling match. Rosalind falls in love with strong and handsome Orlando. Orlando manages to outwit the scheme of his brother and he wins the match. When Rosalind presents a chain as a symbol of his victory, Orlando also falls in love with Rosalind.
Later Orlando learns that his brother Oliver tried to manipulate wrestling match and tried to kill him. He understand that Oliver is still threat to his life. So he has left no choice to flee from the Dukedom with a servant. They hide themselves in the forest of Auden.
At the same time, Duke Fredrick decides that he can no longer tolerate the daughter of his brother, Rosalind. he exiled her just as he exiled her father. but Celia will not go her beloved cousin alone. The two women decides to secretly leave together and hide so that they will not be found. The fool of the court Touchstone also leaves with them.
Rosalind now disguised as a young man named Ganymede. Celia disguised as the shepherd’s sister Allena. The two women and Touchstone made their way to the forest of Auden. In the open field of the forest, they meet a man named Celsius. He is shepherd. He loves a girl named Phoebe. To live in the forest, they have bought a house in the forest.
Elsewhere in the forest of Arden, Orlando and his servant Adam find the exiled Duke Senior and his men. They welcomed Orlando and Adam as fellow exiles. Among the Duke Senior’s men, one is Jaques who is a sad and pessimistic man. While most of the other members are happy and hopeful. Thinking that he has lost Rosalind., Orlando writes love poem for her and pin them in trees. Soon Ganymede finds the poem and Orlando. Ganymede offers Orlando to woo him as if he were Rosalind.
Ganymede teaches Orlando how to get over his unrequited love for a woman whom he thinks he will never see again. This is where the Romantic chaos begins. As with many Shakespeare’s comedies the humor comes from infatuated lovers falling for the wrong person, especially someone who is in disguised.
Silvius loves Phoebe while Phoebe loves Ganymede. Rosalind loves Orlando who thinks he is Ganymede. Touchstone fall in love with Audrey. William, a shepherd, loves Audrey but she leaves him for Touchstone. Audrey loves Touchstone. The confusion end s in an argument between Ganymede and Orlando , Celsius and Phoebe.
Ganymede ends the dispute by making Orlando promise that when he finds Rosalind, he will marry her Phoebe still wants to marry Ganymede. But she agrees to settle that if she does not get Ganymede, she will marry Silvius.
Back in the Dukedom, Duke Fredrick learnt that exiled Orlando and Rosalind as well as Celia and Touchstone all disappeared at the same time. he orders Oliver to find his brother Orlando. In the forest of Arden, Orlando saves Oliver from wild animal. But he gets injured. Ganymede who is now taking care of Orlando finds it is very hard to hide her real identity from Orlando. The two brothers reconcile after this incident. now it is time for the romantic confusion and family stifle to be resolved.
Most comedy ends with marriage. As You Like It ends with marriage but not one but four weddings. Oliver meets Celia and falls in love with her and marriages her. Rosalind reveals her identity and marries Orlando. Touchstone and Audrey are marring. Now by knowing the identity of Ganymede, Phoebe marries Celsius. Duke Fedrick now decides to leave the Dukedom and becomes a religious hermit. Duke Senior now gets back his Dukedom. With it all lives happily ever after.
Sonnets of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare has written 154 sonnets. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The Italian poet Petrarch had developed this form of poetry. Shakespeare has greatly modified it . Now lets deal with some of the well known Shakespearean Sonnets.
Sonnet I
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory,
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-subtantial fury
Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament.
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest try content,
And, tender chud, mak’st waste in niggarding.
Pity the world, or else this ghutton be,
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.
Short Analysis
This is the introductory sonnet of the whole collection of William Shakespeare. It has themes of beauty, love, immortality, time and death in a way all of the sonnets in miniature. In the first four lines the speaker talks about the immortality of beauty. A rose may die with its all beauty. But new blossom will come with the same beauty. So in this way beauty is immortal. In the first four lines, you will find The general principle of the sonnet.
The young man is keeping his beauty by himself y not marrying. This s the argument. This is the behaviour of narcissist who falls in love with himself. He causes his own downfall by being in love with himself. The young man is greedy about his own beauty. These are the accusations against the young man. One of the purposes of human being is to become multiple. you are not performing your duty which is to marry someone and to produce children.
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William Shakespeare in Job Questions
William Shakespeare is very important writer from whom questions come in almost every competitive exams. So the candidates who want to do well in their job exams must study about Shakespeare. Now here we are going to discuss some previous job questions from this writer. These questions are important because you will see them in many of your exams. So lets get started.
(1) Shakespeare was a ___ play writer.
Ans: English
(2) Shakespeare was a writer from ___.
Ans: England
(3) William Shakespeare is a great ___.
Ans: playwright
(4) Where was Shakespeare born?
Ans: Stratford-upon-Avon
(5) William Shakespeare was orn in __.
Ans: 1564
(6) The national poet of England is ___
Ans: Shakespeare
(7) Which period of British literature does Shakespeare belong to ?
Ans: Elizabethan
(8) William Shakespeare was an English dramatist and poet of __ century.
Ans: sixteenth
(9) Shakespeare lived in the reign of __.
Ans: Elizabeth I
(10) William Shakespeare is a famous __.
Ans: dramatist
(11) Shakespeare composed much of his plays in what sort of verse?
Ans: Iambic pentameter
(12) Who has written the play ‘Julius Caesar’?
Ans: William Shakespeare
(13) Who wrote the plays ‘The Tempest’ and ‘A Mid Summer Night’s Dream’?
Ans: William Shakespeare
(14) Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Measure’ is a successful __.
Ans: tragi-comedy
(15) ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is written by __.
Ans: William Shakespeare
(16) Who is the author of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’?
Ans: Shakespeare
(17) In what year did Shakespeare died?
Ans: 1616 AD
(18) Who wrote Hamlet?
Ans: Shakespeare
(19) Hamlet is a __.
Ans: tragedy
(20) The name of Hamlet’s fiancée is __.
Ans: Ophelia
(21) ‘Frailty thy name is woman’ is a famous dialogue from ___.
Ans: W. Shakespeare
(22) ‘Frailty, thy name is woman’ -in which play you find this?
Ans: Hamlet
(23) ‘brevity is the soul of wit’ who told it?
Ans: Shakespeare
(24) To be or not to be_ that is the question, _ is a famous soliloquy from__.
Ans: Hamlet
(25) ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy’ is a famous dialogue from__
Ans: Hamlet
(26) Where is expressed the view that ‘There is a divinity that shapes our ends’?
Ans: In Hamlet
(27) ‘King Lear’ is written by __.
Ans: Shakespeare
(28) Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ is a __.
Ans: Tragedy
(29) Macbeth is __.
Ans: a play
(30) What kind of literary creation ‘Macbeth’ is?
Ans: Tragedy
(31) ‘Three Witches’ are important characters in__.
Ans: Macbeth
(32) ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand’ is a quotation from__.
Ans: Macbeth
(33) ‘All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ -Who said this?
Ans: Lady Macbeth
(34) The name of Othello’s wife is __.
Ans: Desdemona
(35) Othello gave Desdemona __ as a token of love.
Ans: Handkerchief
(36) Othello is a Shakespeare’s play about __.
Ans: A Moor
(37) Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ is a__.
Ans: tragedy
(38) Who said ‘Cowards die many times before their death’?
Ans: Shakespeare
(39) ‘Cowards die many times before their death.’ said by __.
Ans: Julius Caesar
(40) Cowards die __ before death.
Ans: many times
(41) The play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written by __.
Ans: William Shakespeare
(42) The drama ‘ Romeo and Juliet’ is a __.
Ans: tragedy
(43) ‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ -Who said thsi?
Ans: Juliet
(44) ‘Sweet are the uses of adversity’ was stated by __.
Ans: Shakespeare
(45) ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrance, And each man in his time plays many parts, His act being seven ages’ These lines are written by __.
Ans: William Shakespeare
(46) ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players’ a quotation from Shakespeare’s __.
Ans: As you like it
(47) Who wrote the short song ‘Love and Friendship’?
Ans: William Shakespeare
(48) The poem ‘Under the Green Wood Tree’ was written by __.
Ans: William Shakespeare
(49) In ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ the ‘Tree’ refers to __.
Ans: forest
(50) In the lines “Here shall he see/No enemy’ taken from ‘Under the Greenwood Tree.’ here stands for __.
Ans: nature
(51) In ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ the poet __.
Ans: mentions two enemies
(52) What is the major attraction of life as expressed in ‘under the green wood tree?’
Ans: no enemy
(53) ‘The sweet bird’s throat’ in ‘Under the Greenwood tree’ refers to __.
Ans: The melodious song of the bird
(54) Shakespeare thinks that the only enemies in the forest are __
Ans: cold winter and rough weather
(55) The drama ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is written by __.
Ans: Shakespeare
(56) ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is written by __.
Ans: Shakespeare
(57) Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant of Venice’ is a ___.
Ans: Comedy
(58) The Merchant of Venice is a Shakespearean play about __.
Ans: a Jew
(59) ‘I am a Jew. hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs-‘ Where is this from?
Ans: The Merchant of Venice
(60) ‘Twelfth Night’ is __.
Ans: A comedy
(61) William Shakespeare wrote __.
Ans: Tempest
(62) ‘__ is Shakespeare’s last play.
Ans: Tempest
(63) Which is know as Shakespeare’s swansong?
Ans: The Tempest
(64) Caliban is a character in__.
Ans: The Tempest.
(65) The characters Prospero, Alonso, and Antonio are from __.
Ans: The Tempest
This is a short article about William Shakespeare’s biography and works. Students must know about Shakespeare. We think this article is going to be very helpful for job seekers and graduate and post graduate students.
