Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Shakespeare |
ShakespeareNoun1. English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Shakespeare" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1593. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Biographical Satire | SHAKESPEARE, William, the man who was born at Stratford-on-Avon. When a young man he amused himself by poaching, visiting the Hathaway cottage, and being the village pest. Married the inmate of the cottage and went to London, a city in England. S. became an apprentice actor, and was said to have been nearly as bad an actor as his contemporaries. His fame later arose due to his growing popularity. He died. S.'s birthplace is now one of the tourist sights of the world. More post-cards are sent from this town than from any of its size in Europe. The church where he lies buried has an immense floating congregation. S. also shared honors with one Bacon for writing a few plays. Ambition: Present-day prices in Elizabethan theatres. Recreation: Rehearsals. Address: The World. Epitaph: (Has been obliterated.). Source: Who was Who: 5000BC - 1914. |
Literature | Shakespeare usually called "Gentle Will." His wife was Anne Hathaway, of Shottery, about eight years older than himself. He had one son, named Hamnet, who died in his twelfth year, and two daughters. Ben Jonson said of him - "And though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek ..." Milton calls him "Sweetest Shakespeare, fancy's child," and says he will go to the well-trod stage to hear him "warble his native wood-notes wild." (L'Allegro, 133.) Akenside says he is "Alike the master of our smiles and tears." (Ode i.) Dryden says of him - "He was a man who of all modern and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul." Young says - "He wrote the play the Almighty made." (Epistle to Lord Lansdowne.) Mallett says - "Great above rule ... Nature was his own." (Verbal Criticism.) Collins says he "joined Tuscan fancy to Athenian force." (Epistle to Sir Thomas Hanmer.) Pope says - "Shakespeare (whom you and every play-house bill Style "the divine," "the matchless," what you will) For gain, not glory, winged his roving flight. And grew immortal in his own despite." Imitations of Horace, Ep. i. The dedication of Shakespeare's Sonnets has provoked much controversy. It is as follows: - TO THE ONLIE BEGETTER OF THESE INSUING SONNETS MR. W. H. ALL HAPPINESSE AND THAT ETERNITIE PROMISED BY OUR EVER-LIVING POET WISHETH - that is, Mr. William Herbert [afterwards Lord Pembroke] wisheth to [the Earl of Southampton] the only begetter or instigator of these sonnets, that happiness and eternal life which [Shakespeare] the ever-living poet speaks of. The rider is - THE WELL-WISHING ADVENTURER IN SETTING FORTH. T.T. That is, Thomas Thorpe is the adventurer who speculates in their publication. (See Athenaeum, Jan. 25, 1862.) Shakespeare. There are six accredited signatures of this poet, five of which are attached to business documents, and one is entered in a book called Florio, a translation of Montaigne, published in 1603. A passage in act ii. s. 2 of The Tempest is traced directly to this translation, proving that the Florio was possessed by Shakespeare before he wrote that play. The Shakespeare of divines. Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667). The Shakespeare of eloquence. So Barnave happily characterised the Comte de Mirabeau (1749-1791). The Spanish Shakespeare. Calderon (1601-1687). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564 (O.S.) - April 23, 1616 (O.S.)) is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. As a playwright, he wrote not only some of the most powerful tragedies, but also many of the funniest comedies ever to appear on an English stage. He also wrote 154 sonnets and several major poems, some of which are considered to be the most brilliant pieces of English literature ever written, because of Shakespeare's ability to rise beyond the narrative and describe the innermost and the most profound aspects of the human nature. Some of the most famous examples of his ability can be found in quotations from Shakespearean plays. He is believed to have written most of his works between 1585-1610, although the exact dates and chronology of the plays attributed to him are not accurately known. (See Chronology of Shakespeare plays.)
Identity and Authorship
The identity of William Shakespeare the playwright has been the subject of considerable debate and confusion. The vast majority of academics hold that actor Shakespeare and the playwright Shakespeare are one and the same person, but this subject has been hotly debated over the years. The idea that Shakespeare himself wrote all or some of his plays has also been called into question. There is substantial evidence to suggest that at least some of his plays were written by a different author - Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, and Christopher Marlowe are often suggested as alternative authors or co-authors for some of Shakespeare's work. (See Shakespearean authorship.)
Biography
Most historians agree that actor and playwright were the same William Shakespeare for whom we have considerable historical records. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in April 1564, the son of John Shakespeare, a glove maker, and Mary Arden. The baptism of Shakespeare is recorded on April 26 of that year and the 23rd has traditionally been considered his birthday. His father, prosperous at the time of William's birth, was prosecuted for participating in the black market in wool, and later lost his position as an alderman. There is some evidence that both sides of the family had Roman Catholic sympathies.
After his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582 at Stratford-upon-Avon (being witnessed by Fulk Sandalls and John Richardson), which seems to have been rushed by the bride's pregnancy, little is known of William Shakespeare until he appears on the London literary scene.
On May 26, 1583 Shakespeare first child, Susanna was baptised at Stradford. This was soon followed on February 2, 1585 with the baptisims of a son Hamnet and a daughter Judith.
By 1592, he was sufficiently known to be denounced by Robert Greene as "an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." (The italicized line is a parody of the phrase, "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" which Shakespeare used in Henry VI, part 3)
In 1596 Hamnet died; he was buried on August 11, 1596. Because of the similarities of their names, some suspect that his death was the impetus for Shakespeare's The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
In 1597 William sold "one messuage, two barns, two gardens, two orchards, with appurtenances, in Stradford-upon-Avon" to William Underhill for sixty pounds. The house on this property was that built by Sir Hugh Clopton.
By 1598 Shakespeare had moved to the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopgate and appeared top of a list of actors (Every man in his Humor) produced by Ben Jonson.
Shakespeare's signatureShakespeare became an actor, writer and ultimately part-owner of an acting company known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men - the company was named, like others of the period, for their aristocratic sponsor. It was sufficiently popular that after the death of Elizabeth I and the coronation of James I (1603), the new monarch adopted the company and it became known as The King's Men. Various documents recording legal affairs, and business transactions show that Shakespeare grew increasingly affluent in his London years. He did well enough to buy a property in Blackfriars, London, as well as the largest house in Stratford. He retired approximately 1611 and died in 1616, on April 23rd, perhaps the reason behind the tradition of his birthday being this same day. He remained married to Anne until his death. Of their three children, Hamnet, the only boy, died at the age of 11. There were two daughters, Susannah and Judith. Susannah married Dr John Hall, and was later the subject of a court case.
Plays and their Categories
Shakespeare's plays continue to be widely studied and performed and are a firm part of the Western canon of literature. (See Folios and Quartos) Other indicators of his comtemporary influence are his inclusion in the top 10 of the "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public, and the fictional account of the writing of Romeo and Juliet in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love.
We can divide his dramatic work in this way (although there are many scholarly categorizations of his plays):
Some scholars of Shakespeare break the category of "Comedies" into "Comedies and "Romances." The plays included in this category would be Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, Pericles Prince of Tyre, and The Tempest. See Shakespeare's Late Romances.
- Shakespearean tragedies
- The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
- The Tragedy of Macbeth
- The Tragedy of King Lear
- The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice
- The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus
- The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
- The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra
- The Tragedy of Coriolanus
- The History of Troilus and Cressida
- The Life of Timon of Athens
- Shakespearean comedies
- The Comedy of Errors
- All's Well That Ends Well
- As You Like It
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Measure for Measure
- The Tempest
- Taming of the Shrew
- Twelfth Night or What You Will
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Love's Labour's Lost
- Love's Labour's Won, a lost play
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Pericles Prince of Tyre
- Cymbeline
- The Winter's Tale
- Cardenio (lost)
- Shakespearean histories
- The Tragedy of Richard III
- The Tragedy of Richard II
- Henry VI, part 1
- Henry VI, part 2
- Henry VI, part 3
- Henry V
- Henry IV, part 1
- Henry IV, part 2
- The Life of Henry VIII
- The Life and Death of King John
- Edward III (attributed)
Other Works
His other literary works include:
For a period it was thought on the basis of evidence researched by Don Foster that Shakespeare wrote a Funeral Elegy for William Peter. However most scholars now accept that this piece was not written by Shakespeare.
- Sonnets (See also sonnet)
- Shakespearean Long Poetry
- Funeral Elegy by W.S?
- The Two Noble Kinsmen, published in quarto in 1654, was attributed to playwrights John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, and about half of it seems to be written by Shakespeare and half by Fletcher.
- The Book of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative work by several playwrights, one of whom may have been Shakespeare. That Shakespeare had any part in this play is no longer generally accepted, however.
See also
- His contemporaries Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Queen Elizabeth I, Edward de Vere, Edmund Spenser
- His godson, William Davenant.
- BBC Television Shakespeare.
External links
- Wikiquote - Quotes by William Shakespeare
- online texts of William Shakespeare's plays
- Project Gutenberg e-texts of the works of William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare Literature, Chapter-indexed, searchable versions of Shakespeare's works.
- The Works of Shakespeare, completely searchable.
- Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "William Shakespeare."
Synonym: ShakespeareSynonym: the bard (n). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And tell Shakespeare, something more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in Love; writing credit: Marc Norman; Tom Stoppard) You enjoy Shakespeare and possess a sense of honour (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; writing credit: Arthur Conan Doyle; Nicholas Meyer) Shakespeare. I find vocabulary studies so limiting (Shannon's Deal; writing credit: David Greenwalt) Hmmm I could read Shakespeare while you spank me. (Just Shoot Me!; writing credit: David Renwick) Any world that can produce the Taj Mahal, William Shakespeare, and striped toothpaste can't be all bad. (One, Two, Three; writing credit: Ferenc Molnár; Billy Wilder) | |
Clever | A killing tongue, but a quiet sword. (references; author: Shakespeare) Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all. (references; author: Shakespeare) Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes. (references; author: Shakespeare) They lose the world who buy it, with much care. (references; author: Shakespeare) Back-wounding, calumny the whitest virtue strikes. (references; author: Shakespeare) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Shakespeare og Kronborg (1950) Master Will Shakespeare (1936) Shivering Shakespeare (1930) Strolling Player Master Shakespeare (1916) The Life of Shakespeare (1914) | |
Song Titles | Brush Up Your Shakespeare (performing artist: National Symphony Orchestra) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Mosaic of the Shakespeare quadrangle of Mercury. Credit: NASA. |  | The Earl of Southampton--The benevolent friend and distinguished patron of Shakespeare / J.R. Jobbins, delt. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Half-length statue of William Shakespeare, marking his grave site in Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Shakespeare House, Wellesley College. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Close ups. Folger Shakespeare Library, Merchant of Venice, a.m. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Shakespeare Festival and Academy, Stratford, Connecticut. Entrance foyer. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Folger Library copy work. Bust of Shakespeare I. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Miscellaneous subjects. Scuplture of Shakespeare. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Juliusz Cezar [by] William Shakespeare / Tomaszewski. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Robson & Crane as the knaves of Shakespeare. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Royal Shakespeare Company Thea" by Philip Jackson Commentary: "I took this after attending a performance of measure for measure. several second exposure i think, supported on the bridge." | "Huntly Castle" by Jesse Adams Commentary: "This image is of the front of Huntly Castle in Scotland. It functioned as the main castle for the Gordon Clan. The lady of the castle employed three witches that Shakespeare may have based his three witches in Macbeth on. Note the photographer is hangi" |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
William Shakespeare | The game is up. |
| It was Greek to me. | |
| Words pay no debts. | |
| They laugh that win. | |
| We are in God's hand. | |
| We cannot all be masters. | |
| We have seen better days. | |
| Every why has a wherefore. | |
| Love all, but trust a few. | |
| Patch grief with proverbs. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Greek and Roman writers described symptoms similar to those that we know as AD. In the 16th century, Shakespeare wrote about very old age as a time of “second childishness and mere oblivion,” suggesting that the symptoms of AD, or something quite like it, were known and recognized then. Despite this long familiarity, relatively little was known until recently about the processes in the brain that lead to Alzheimer’s disease. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LEXICOGRAPHER, n. A pestilent fellow who, under the pretense of recording some particular stage in the development of a language, does what he can to arrest its growth, stiffen its flexibility and mechanize its methods. For your lexicographer, having written his dictionary, comes to be considered "as one having authority," whereas his function is only to make a record, not to give a law. The natural servility of the human understanding having invested him with judicial power, surrenders its right of reason and submits itself to a chronicle as if it were a statue. Let the dictionary (for example) mark a good word as "obsolete" or "obsolescent" and few men thereafter venture to use it, whatever their need of it and however desirable its restoration to favor -- whereby the process of improverishment is accelerated and speech decays. On the contrary, recognizing the truth that language must grow by innovation if it grow at all, makes new words and uses the old in an unfamiliar sense, has no following and is tartly reminded that "it isn't in the dictionary" -- although down to the time of the first lexicographer (Heaven forgive him!) no author ever had used a word that was in the dictionary. In the golden prime and high noon of English speech; when from the lips of the great Elizabethans fell words that made their own meaning and carried it in their very sound; when a Shakespeare and a Bacon were possible, and the language now rapidly perishing at one end and slowly renewed at the other was in vigorous growth and hardy preservation -- sweeter than honey and stronger than a lion -- the lexicographer was a person unknown, the dictionary a creation which his Creator had not created him to create. God said: "Let Spirit perish into Form," And lexicographers arose, a swarm! Thought fled and left her clothing, which they took, And catalogued each garment in a book. Now, from her leafy covert when she cries: "Give me my clothes and I'll return," they rise And scan the list, and say without compassion: "Excuse us -- they are mostly out of fashion." Sigismund Smith |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Shakespeare" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 99.95% of the time. "Shakespeare" is used about 1,858 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 99.95% | 1,857 | 4,587 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.05% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,858 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "Shakespeare" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Shakespeare | Last name | 400 | 18,935 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "Shakespeare": approach to shakespeare ♦ William Shakespeare. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Shakespeare": shakespeare-mad, shakespeare-spouting. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Shakespeare"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 莎士比亞 . (various references) | |
Czech | Shakespeare. (various references) | |
Greek | Σαίξπηρ. (various references) | |
Hungarian | shakespeare korában (in the times of shakespeare), amint Shakespeare mondja (as Shakespeare has it), ahogy shakespeare mondja (as it says in shakespeare). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | akespeareshay.(various references) | |
Romanian | introducere la shakespeare (approach to shakespeare). (various references) | |
Russian | шекспир. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Shakespeare" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Shakeshpeare, shakespearan, shakespeares, shakespearre. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-e-e-e-h-k-p-r-s-s" | |
-1 letter: aphaereses. | |
-2 letters: aphereses. | |
-3 letters: reshapes, respeaks, speakers. | |
-4 letters: apheses, asperse, hearses, kashers, keepers, pakehas, pareses, peeress, phrases, reseeks, reshape, respeak, sarapes, seekers, serapes, seraphs, shakers, shapers, sherpas, spahees, speaker, spheres. | |
-5 letters: askers, aspers, erases, eskars, eskers, haeres, harass, hearse, herpes, kashas, kasher, keeper, kreeps, pakeha, parkas, parses, pashas, pashes, passee, passer, peases, perses, phases, phrase. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Derivations | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
