William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564. Shakespeare was a literary genius who wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout his lifetime, although he only started at age 28. Shakespeare passed away on his birthday in 1616, at the age of 52. While Shakespeare did write both plays and sonnets, this paper will be more focused on his plays, which are more well-known to the common world. Shakespeare’s works in and of themselves were not influenced by the world around him, but certain traditions were included in his plays. Instead, he created his own brand by making new phrases and inventing words. There are several proofs that Shakespeare was very original in his works. While on occasion taking an idea already set forth, as in the historical fiction works Julius Caesar or Richard III, and expanding on it, he expanded on it with his own ingenious style. He also wrote many independent plays, however, such as Taming of the Shrew and Othello. A phrase that very accurately describes Shakespeare comes from Jonathan Bates’ book The Genius of Shakespeare: …show more content…
The settings are the most obvious, such as the real-life cities of Venice and Verona. He also accurately portrayed the different moods cast by these cities. He also accurately represented his historically fictional plays, such as Julius Caesar. He did take creative liberties in these plays but didn’t waver from established facts. Another way Shakespeare incorporated reality into his plays was the use of certain insults and sayings. One example is in Romeo and Juliet, when the character Sampson of the Capulets bites his thumb at Abram of the Montagues (1.1.36). Biting one’s thumb was considered to be the same as thumbing one’s nose today, but more