Samir Boussarhane Pennington English 1 17 December 2015 Shakespeare’s Historic Plays William Shakespeare is a well know historical poet whose writing have and will be, continued to be studied for generations. Perhaps one of the main reasons why Shakespeare’s plays continue to be studied is the rich history, though not entirely accurate, and influence of its time period present in his writings. Readers can capture glances of history in his works; feasibly the most popular historic plays he has made are King John, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. Shakespearean plays have a historic backbone from which we may learn history from. To begin with, King John is the story the past king of England King John himself and his experiences. During the play there is a dispute about who is the rightful heir of the throne John or his nephew Arthur just as there was in history. Although these events happened in the play Arthur's claim to the throne was indisputable, while in …show more content…
Macbeth is about a Scottish king named Macbeth. Shakespeare's plot is partly based on fact; Macbeth was a real eleventh century Scottish king. The historical Macbeth, who had a valid right to the throne, reigned in Scotland from 1040 till 1057. He replaced Duncan, whom he had defeated in battle, but the real Duncan was a weak man, around Macbeth's age, not the wise figure he is represent as in the play. In reality, Macbeth was replaced by his own stepson, not by Duncan's son Malcolm, who came to the throne later. Also Banquo is a character in the play that is supposedly related to King James. Shakespeare made his version of the story of Macbeth with the Chronicles of Holinshed, the history book of his time. To impress James in, Shakespeare presents Banquo as a wise, noble man who becomes jealous as much for his own good qualities as for the promise the witches make to him of founding a dynasty. Macbeth has a historic background in its