More tales from Shakespeare William Shakespeare(1564-1616)

More tales from Shakespeare

William Shakespeare(1564-1616)

• Was born in Stratford-upon-Avon.
• He was an English playwright, poet and actor, regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the greatest dramatist of the world.
• His exact works consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems.
• His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare’s works:

• Comedies: Tragedies: Histories:
• All’s Well that Ends Well Julius Caesar King Henry V
• As You Like It Hamlet King John
• Comedy of Errors Macbeth Richard II
• Measure of Measure Othello Richard III
• Taming of the Shrew Romeo and
• Much Ado About Nothing Juliet
• Twelfth Night King Lear
• Merchant of Venice

MACBETH

Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, is a brave Scottish general in King Duncan’s army. However, upon hearing the three witches’ prophecy that he would become King of Scotland, he becomes tyrannical. With his wife’s help and encouragement he kills King Duncan, but this fills him with deep regret and guilt. Plagued by insecurities and the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendants would be kings, he keeps spies on all the noblemen and arranges for Banquo and his son to be murdered, although he hides this from his wife. Banquo's ghost haunts him and he suffers from insanity and insomnia. He seeks out the witches again, who still affirm the prophecy, and he goes on a murderous rampage. He mourns his wife’s death and contemplates killing himself too as Malcolm’s army approaches him. However, Macduff challenges him and he decides to die fighting.

The Comedy of Errors Summary

After both being separated from their twins in a shipwreck, Antipholus and his slave Dromio go to Ephesus to find them. The other set of twins lives in Ephesus, and the new arrivals cause a series of incidents of mistaken identity. At the end, the twins find each other and their parents and resolve all of the problems caused earlier.