William Shakespeare: biography

In a Nutshell

O objetivo deste resumo é conhecer melhor a vida e obras do dramaturgo inglês, William Shakespeare.

Biography

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 23, 1564. He attended the local Grammar School, which gave him a thorough grounding in the use of language and deep knowledge of classical authors.

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway when he was 18, and moved to London at the age of 28, in 1592, to pursue acting and playwriting. He then became a shareholder and the main playwright of the most successful company of actors in London, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, who were also responsible for building the Globe Theatre.

Recognised as a genius in his own time, Shakespeare retired from the theatre in 1613 and died on his birthday, in 1616, aged 52.

Works

Shakespeare wrote about 37 plays, some of which will be approached in the summary, such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest.

Some of his plays were tragedies, others were comedies and he also wrote historical plays. Besides, Shakespeare wrote poetry and his ability with words allowed people to create beautiful images only with his poems or plays.

Macbeth

Macbeth is the last of Shakespeare's tragedies and also the shortest.

A Tragedy is a play in which the most important characters die or end their lives unhappily.

Macbeth is a brave soldier, loved and honoured by old King Duncan. But Macbeth's ambition was to be a King and when three witches with supernatural powers tell him he'll rule Scotland, he believes them.

Macbeth is encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth, whose ambitions are strong as her husband's. Soon he gets persuaded to kill King Duncan to become king, but he realises that he has been tricked by the witches because he believed in everything they said.

In the end, an agitated Lady Macbeth is destroyed by her own wickedness, and Macbeth loses the crown to one of King Duncan's sons, Malcolm.

This play is all about ambition, and flaws of character that eventually close the character's fate but also has a significant supernatural presence, which was common in Shakespeare's plays.

Romeo and Juliet

An ancient feud between two families, Montague and Capulet, ends in tragedy.

A group of masked Montagues creates havoc by crashing a Capulet party. A young Romeo Montague falls instantly in love with Juliet Capulet, who was already promised to the County Paris.

With the help of Juliet's nurse, a secret marriage is arranged between Romeo and Juliet, but Romeo's attempt to stop a street fight ended in the death of Juliet's cousin, Tybalt.

Romeo is banished from Verona and Juliet, in a desperate attempt to be with Romeo, fakes her own death. The message fails to reach Romeo, and upon seeing his lover dead, he takes his life in her tomb.

When Juliet wakes to see Romeo's corpse beside her, she kills herself. Both grieving families agree to stop their dispute. Once again, tragedy sets the tone for this timeless love story.

The Tempest

The plot of this play is about a crew of men who are shipwrecked on a magical island and tormented by an old man.

Prospero, former Duke of Milan and deposed in a coup by his brother Antonio, lives on a magical island with his 15-year-old daughter Miranda.

One day, he conjures a storm to sink the boat where his brother is, among other passengers such as the King of Naples' family and the King himself. In the midst of all this, the King's son Ferdinand, thought to be dead, falls in love with Miranda.

This play's climax is the reveal of Prospero as the usurped Duke of Milan, but the conflict is resolved and Prospero leaves the island. Once again, the supernatural plays a big part in this play.