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William Shakespeare Research Paper

757 Words4 Pages

Shakespeare is known by many and is one of the most common playwrights in the world, for he is the second most quoted writer in the English language (Shakespeare Facts”). Shakespeare’s shortest play was only 1,770 lines long, and is only a third of the length of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet takes four hours to perform (Shakespeare Facts”). Shakespeare is known for his many works, like his comedies, tragedies, and sonnets. The first aspect of Shakespearean comedy is the theme. A main point for comedies is often love and the struggle between good and bad. (Dozier, Izurieta, Lazell, and Viar) Shakespeare names his comedies with sayings and phrases. (Immerwahr) Shakespeare’s comedies usually “treat subjects lightly.” (Dozier, Izurieta, Lazell, …show more content…

All of Shakespeare’s tragedies are named with a name, names, or a name and a number. (Immerwahr) All of Shakespeare’s tragedies end with a main character dying (Spens). All of the deaths are not accidental, but on purpose (Spens). Shakespeare wrote many tragedies. Macbeth is one of the only dramas recorded in detail. It was all because of Dr. Simon Forman. (“Shakespeare’s Plays”) Romeo and Juliet is another popular tragedy (“Shakespeare’s Plays”) . It displays the love people can have for each other, and how it can be beautiful and dangerous. Othello is about a general who is tricked by Lago, his fake friend (“Shakespeare’s Plays”). A third main portion of Shakespeare’s works were his sonnets. The structure of sonnets is a huge part of Shakespeare's sonnets. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets (“Famous Shakespeare Sonnets”). “Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable” (“Shakespearean Sonnet Basics”). Only three of Shakespeare’s sonnets did not follow this structure (“Shakespearean Sonnet …show more content…

Sonnet number eighteen was called Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?. It is the most famous of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets (“Famous Shakespeare Sonnets”). The sonnet explains that beauty lies within (“Famous Shakespeare Sonnets”). Sonnet number twenty-nine is When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes. It explains love and how it can cure almost anything (“Famous Shakespeare Sonnets”). Sonnet number thirty is called When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought. This sonnet illustrates how people focus on what mistakes they believe they have made, but in the end the pain is not remembered by those you love (“Famous Shakespeare

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