William Shakespeare Research Paper

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William Shakespeare, don't we all know the name? What you might not know is all the things he has done. He wrote plays that we all loves like, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet” and many more, some of which I will talk about. Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed local heiress. He was one of 8 children, 2 of them died. Shakespeare was married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and she was 28. They had 3 children; three daughters. One of their daughters died when she was 11. William Shakespeare disappeared from all records, and then he finally turned up again in London some time in 1592. This period, is known as the "Lost Years,” it has created as much controversy about Shakespeare's life as …show more content…

They all had different genres. The genres were tragedy, comedy, romance and history. Some of his famous plays are Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. I’m going to focus on the genres of comedy and tragedy. I have listed a few plays below that I will use as reference. Shakespeare wrote many of his plays in the era of Queen Elizabeth I, so many of his tragedies were called Elizabethan Tragedies. The era was called the “Elizabethan England” it was a time of many developments. This was mostly during the renaissance. It was also considered the “Golden Age” in English history. The following lists of Shakespeare’s plays are generally classified as tragedies. The characteristics of Shakespeare’s tragedies are the fatal flaw for example. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes are basically all flawed. It is weakness that ultimately leads to their sudden fall. He uses the theory that “the bigger they are, the harder they fall”. I like that because it simply means that they often focus on the fall of a nobleman. He does this by presenting the audience with a man with excessive wealth or power. His eventual downfall is more tragic. How brilliant? The last characteristic Shakespeare uses is external pressure. This is when tragic heroes often end up becoming victims to external pressures. Fate, evil spirits and manipulative characters those all play a hand in the hero’s sudden fall. Shakespeare's tragedies are the following: Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens, Titus

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