shakespeare essay thesis

A Guide To Writing Shakespeare Essays, Including Pitfalls & Tips

William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the most significant personalities of the world and culture in particular. This dramatist is considered to be an inventor of literary English language, an inventor of modern theater, and the greatest poet in the history of England. Starting in the 15th century, Shakespeare’s poems and plays have been published in a lot of countries and translated into almost all languages of the world. It is no wonder that students have to write a Shakespeare essay despite their disciplines and specialization. The assignments vary. You might get a task to analyze the sonnets or a play of a famous playwright and writer, write a book report, or say some words about his life in a Shakespeare biography essay. No matter what is your writing about, experts from  ProHighGrades  collected some ideas and essential tips that will help.

How to Write a Shakespeare Biography Essay

If you are to write essays about the background of a great author, you need to know his biography, and the peculiarities of the time he lived in. Here are some ideas:

• Describe the town he was born and lived. Stratford-upon-Avon was a small English town, and his family was among the noble ones. You can analyze the primal education and the reasons to move to London.
• Literature resources give a little knowledge of young Shakespeare. No one knows the real day of birth. The authors know he was baptized in April. History did not save much about his school or university education. The period which starts in the year 1585 and finishes in 1593 is called “the lost years of Shakespeare.” An excellent attempt to analyze and make suggestions concerning his real life and a search for additional facts will amaze the professors.
• You can analyze the relationship between Shakespeare and other people. Some works and pages contain suggestions about his love, friends, etc. A good Shakespeare biography essay will try to study the stories related to the company surrounding him. Study the writers he mailed.
• Finally, his last years and death are covered in mystery as well. You can try to find a reason why Shakespeare left a big part of his property to his daughter Susanna. Write about a real reason to move back to Stratford.

A good story about a simple man, people to follow him, the political and historical circumstances and terms, the rights of a human of Shakespeare’s society, popular suggestions, and references to his biography from other sources deserve to appear in an excellent Shakespeare essay.

How to Write an Essay About Shakespeare’s Works

Everybody read the author. Students compose tons of writings, where they give information about his collection of works. In order to claim some originality and score free points on exclusiveness, you need to consider many things:

• All the essays about Shakespeare’s literature are written. People wrote about the classic plays after his sonnet or plots. Scholars read, search, and research the significance of his works in almost every paper. You need something contemporary. New plays and interpretations of the texts appear today (for example, a fresh Hamlet play with Benedict Cumberbatch). New movies come from Hollywood and other countries. Take them into account. Many original Shakespeare essay topics are reserved for you
• If you are in despair, choose a way that worked for centuries. Analyze the title of a particular poem or play. A Midsummer Night’s Dream , the plays entitled by names ( Romeo and Juliet , Macbeth , Much Ado About Nothing and others are a reason to write a good, short essay about William Shakespeare.
• A good idea is to analyze the characters of Shakespeare. His plays are not all full of action, but characters are deep. Conflicts, emotions, experience, and background stand behind every one. To make a Shakespeare paper better, reading work is not enough. Try to watch the performance of actors from plays and movies. Usually, they do not make an exact copy of the text but bring the new interpretation.
• Good Shakespeare essay examples choose famous critics for referencing. A catchy quote or a properly referenced idea will make your essay worth money and effort. Remember that the question you ask in the Shakespeare paper must find its answer despite the length of a paper, and a number of essay pages needed.
• Adjust your essay to a discipline. In every Shakespeare text, you can find something for a history, sociology, culture, linguistics, psychology, arts, mythology, and literature essay.

Shakespeare was not a simple person and now has a truly global identity. His impact on his and further times are great. Many people study him, and increasingly significant numbers will no doubt do so in the future. You can also count on the guys from EditProofRead to check out your paper to make sure it’s good.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Writers — William Shakespeare

Essays on William Shakespeare

What makes a good william shakespeare essay topic.

When it comes to crafting an exceptional essay on the works of William Shakespeare, the choice of topic is paramount. The right topic can breathe life into your essay, making it captivating, unique, and unforgettable. Here are some innovative tips to help you brainstorm and select an essay topic that will mesmerize your readers:

- Research and Immerse Yourself: Begin by immersing yourself in the vast repertoire of William Shakespeare's works. Dive into his plays, poems, and sonnets. This deep exploration will provide you with invaluable insights into his themes, characters, and writing style.

- Personal Passion: Opt for a topic that ignites a genuine spark of interest within you. When you are truly passionate about the subject matter, it will shine through in your writing, captivating your readers and making your essay more compelling.

- Unveiling the Unexplored: Seek out uncharted territory and lesser-known aspects of Shakespeare's works. Instead of treading the well-worn path of common themes or characters, venture into the hidden gems that lie within his literature.

- Contemporary Connections: Explore the relevance of Shakespeare's works in today's society and connect them to modern-day issues. Examining the timeless themes and their impact on the present can render your essay thought-provoking and engaging.

- Characters and Relationships Under the Microscope: Shakespeare's characters are multifaceted and intricate. Choose a topic that allows you to analyze their motivations, relationships, or character development within his plays.

- Comparative Analysis: Engage in a comparative exploration of Shakespeare's works alongside other literary pieces, historical events, or even contemporary movies or plays. This fresh perspective will make your essay stand out from the crowd.

- Social and Cultural Context: Delve into the social and cultural milieu that shaped Shakespeare's plays. Discuss how his works were influenced by the Elizabethan era and how they mirror the society of that time.

- Unveiling Symbolism and Imagery: Shakespeare's works are a treasure trove of symbolism and vivid imagery. Select a topic that allows you to analyze and interpret these literary devices, offering profound insights into the text.

- Controversial Contemplations: Shakespeare fearlessly explored contentious themes such as power, love, and morality. Choose a topic that tackles these provocative issues, sparking a lively debate among your readers.

- Unconventional Interpretations: Present a fresh and unconventional interpretation of a particular play, scene, or character. Challenge conventional ideas and encourage critical thinking with your unique perspective.

Remember, a remarkable Shakespeare essay topic should be captivating, original, and thought-provoking. By considering these recommendations, you will be able to select a topic that will enrapture your readers and showcase your exceptional analytical skills.

Essay Topic Ideas for William Shakespeare

Prepare to be dazzled by these outstanding essay topics on William Shakespeare:

• The Empowerment of Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies
• Fate and Its Grip on Romeo and Juliet
• The Fine Line Between Madness and Sanity in Hamlet
• Love's Intricacies and Deception in Much Ado About Nothing
• Unraveling the Allure of Power and Ambition in Macbeth
• Exploring the Dark Depths of Evil in Othello
• Shakespeare's Brave Confrontation of Racism in The Merchant of Venice
• The Mighty Influence of Language and Wordplay in A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Revenge and Justice Collide in Titus Andronicus
• The Greek Mythology Odyssey within Shakespeare's Plays
• The Symbolic Tapestry of Nature in King Lear
• Gender Roles and Identity in Twelfth Night
• Time's Elusive Spell in The Tempest
• The Supernatural's Sinister Dance in Macbeth
• The Illusion of Appearance versus the Reality of Truth in Measure for Measure
• The Complexities of Love's Dominion in Antony and Cleopatra
• The Intricate Weaving of Politics in Julius Caesar
• Jealousy's Venomous Touch in Othello
• The Struggle between Duty and Desire in Hamlet
• A Profound Exploration of Human Nature in Troilus and Cressida

Provocative Questions for Your William Shakespeare Essay

Prepare to embark on an intellectual journey with these thought-provoking essay questions on William Shakespeare:

• How does Shakespeare challenge traditional gender roles in his plays?
• What is the significance of the supernatural elements in Macbeth?
• How does Shakespeare explore the theme of power and its corrupting influence in his tragedies?
• Analyze the portrayal of love and relationships in Shakespeare's comedies.
• To what extent does fate play a role in Romeo and Juliet, and are the characters responsible for their own destinies?
• Discuss the concept of madness and its impact on the characters in Hamlet.
• How does Shakespeare employ symbolism and imagery to convey his themes in The Tempest?
• Analyze the role of loyalty and betrayal in Julius Caesar.
• How does Othello's race affect the outcome of the play?
• Discuss the portrayal of revenge in Shakespeare's plays.

Creative William Shakespeare Essay Prompts

Ignite your creativity with these captivating essay prompts on William Shakespeare:

• Imagine you are a director staging a modern adaptation of one of Shakespeare's plays. How would you interpret the setting, costumes, and overall production to make it relevant to a contemporary audience?
• Write a heartfelt letter from one of Shakespeare's characters to another, expressing their deepest desires, fears, or regrets.
• Create a powerful monologue from the perspective of a minor character in any of Shakespeare's plays, unveiling their untold story or hidden emotions.
• Write a riveting dialogue between Shakespeare and a modern-day playwright, discussing the enduring appeal and relevance of his works.
• Imagine you are a literary critic tasked with analyzing a previously undiscovered Shakespearean sonnet. Interpret its meaning and discuss its significance within the context of his other works.

William Shakespeare Essay FAQ

Q: How should I begin my essay on William Shakespeare?

A: Commence with a captivating introduction that sets the stage for your essay and introduces your thesis statement. You can start with a compelling quote, an intriguing fact, or a thought-provoking question.

Q: Can I choose a lesser-known play by Shakespeare as my essay topic?

A: Absolutely! Exploring lesser-known plays can provide a fresh perspective, allowing you to delve into unexplored themes and characters. Just ensure that you provide enough context and background information for your readers.

Q: Should I include direct quotes from Shakespeare's works in my essay?

A: Including quotes can enhance your analysis and provide evidence to support your arguments. However, make sure to seamlessly integrate and analyze the quotes, rather than using them as mere filler.

Q: Can I incorporate modern examples or references in my essay on Shakespeare?

A: Yes, incorporating modern examples or references can help readers connect with the themes and relevance of Shakespeare's works. Just ensure that the examples are relevant and enhance your analysis, rather than overshadowing it.

Q: How can I make my Shakespeare essay stand out from others?

A: To make your essay shine, choose a unique and thought-provoking topic, offer fresh interpretations, and employ engaging language and writing style. Support your arguments with evidence and provide a well-structured analysis.

Remember, writing a Shakespeare essay is an opportunity to showcase your critical thinking and analytical skills. Embark on a thrilling journey through the world of Shakespeare and let your creativity illuminate your writing!

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April 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom - April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Playwright, Poet, Actor

English Renaissance

Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing,Twelfth Night, Macbeth, etc.

William Shakespeare, widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights in history, possessed a unique and influential style of writing. His works demonstrate a mastery of language, poetic devices, and dramatic techniques that continue to captivate audiences centuries later. Shakespeare's writing style can be characterized by several distinctive features. Firstly, his use of language is rich and vibrant. He employed a vast vocabulary and crafted elaborate sentences, often employing complex wordplay and puns to create layers of meaning. Shakespeare's writing is renowned for its poetic beauty, rhythmic verse, and memorable lines that have become ingrained in the English language. Secondly, Shakespeare excelled in character development. His characters are multidimensional, with complex emotions and motivations. Through their soliloquies and dialogues, he explores the depths of human nature, delving into themes of love, jealousy, ambition, and morality. Each character's speech and mannerisms reflect their unique personality, contributing to the depth and realism of his plays. Lastly, Shakespeare's dramatic structure and storytelling techniques are unparalleled. He skillfully weaves together intricate plots, incorporating elements of comedy, tragedy, romance, and history. His plays feature dramatic tension, unexpected twists, and powerful climaxes that keep audiences engaged and emotionally invested.

One of Shakespeare's major contributions was his ability to delve into the depths of human emotions and the complexities of the human condition. Through his plays, he explored themes such as love, jealousy, ambition, revenge, and moral dilemmas, offering profound insights into the human psyche. His characters, like Hamlet, Macbeth, Juliet, and Othello, are iconic and have become archetypes in literature. Shakespeare's language and wordplay revolutionized English literature. He introduced new words, phrases, and expressions that have become an integral part of the English lexicon. His plays are a testament to his mastery of language, employing poetic techniques such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, and iambic pentameter to create rhythm, beauty, and depth in his writing. Moreover, Shakespeare's plays transcended the boundaries of time and place, showcasing universal themes and resonating with audiences across cultures and generations. His works continue to be performed and adapted in various forms, including stage productions, films, and literary adaptations, further solidifying his contribution to the world of literature.

Film Adaptations: Many of Shakespeare's plays have been adapted into films, bringing his stories to life on the silver screen. Notable examples include Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V" (1989), and Baz Luhrmann's modernized version of "Romeo + Juliet" (1996). TV Series and Episodes: Shakespeare's works have been featured in TV series and episodes, either through direct adaptations or by incorporating his themes and characters. For instance, the popular TV show "The Simpsons" has parodied Shakespeare in episodes like "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" and "Tales from the Public Domain." Shakespearean-Inspired Films: Some films draw inspiration from Shakespeare's works without being direct adaptations. Examples include "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), which explores the fictionalized romance between Shakespeare and a noblewoman, and "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999), a modern-day adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew." Literary References: Shakespeare is often referenced in literature, showcasing his enduring influence. For instance, Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World" features characters who quote Shakespeare, and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" includes a clandestine resistance group called "Mayday," derived from "May Day" in Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

1. Shakespeare is known for writing 39 plays, including tragedies like "Hamlet," comedies like "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and histories like "Henry V." 2. Shakespeare is credited with introducing over 1,700 words to the English language, including popular terms such as "eyeball," "fashionable," and "lonely." 3. Shakespeare's works have been translated into more than 80 languages, making him one of the most widely translated playwrights in history. 4. Shakespeare's plays continue to be performed and studied worldwide, with an estimated 17,000 performances of his works every year. 5. Despite his literary fame, little is known about Shakespeare's personal life. There are gaps and uncertainties surrounding his birthdate, education, and even the authorship of his works. 6. The Globe Theatre: Shakespeare's plays were performed at the famous Globe Theatre in London, which he co-owned. The reconstructed Globe Theatre stands in London today and offers modern audiences a glimpse into the world of Elizabethan theatre. 7. In addition to his plays, Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, which are celebrated for their lyrical beauty and exploration of themes such as love, time, and mortality.

William Shakespeare is an essential topic for essay writing due to his immense significance in the world of literature and his enduring influence on various aspects of human culture. Exploring Shakespeare's works provides a rich opportunity to delve into themes of love, tragedy, power, and human nature. His plays and sonnets continue to captivate readers and audiences with their universal themes and timeless relevance. Studying Shakespeare allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the English language itself, as he contributed numerous words and phrases that are still in use today. Additionally, his innovative use of language, poetic techniques, and complex characterizations showcase his unparalleled mastery as a playwright. Furthermore, Shakespeare's impact extends beyond literature. His works have been adapted into numerous films, theater productions, and other art forms, making him a cultural icon. His plays also provide a valuable lens through which to analyze historical and social contexts, as they reflect the values, beliefs, and conflicts of the Elizabethan era.

"All that glitters is not gold." "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks!" In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, "to be, or not to be, that is the question." In the 21st century, "to code, or not to code, that is the challenge.

1. Shakespeare, W., Shakespeare, W., & Kaplan, M. L. (2002). The merchant of Venice (pp. 25-120). Palgrave Macmillan US. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-07784-4_2) 2. Shakespeare, W. (2019). The tempest. In One-Hour Shakespeare (pp. 137-194). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429262647-9/tempest-william-shakespeare) 3. Johnson, S. (2020). The Preface to The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765). In Samuel Johnson (pp. 423-462). Yale University Press. (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300258004-040/html?lang=de) 4. Denvir, J. (1986). William Shakespeare and the Jurisprudence of Comedy. Stan. L. Rev., 39, 825. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/stflr39&div=38&id=&page=) 5. Demmen, J. (2020). Issues and challenges in compiling a corpus of early modern English plays for comparison with those of William Shakespeare. ICAME Journal, 44(1), 37-68. (https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/icame-2020-0002) 6. Liu, X., Xu, A., Liu, Z., Guo, Y., & Akkiraju, R. (2019, May). Cognitive learning: How to become william shakespeare. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6). (https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3290607.3312844) 7. Xu, W., Ritter, A., Dolan, W. B., Grishman, R., & Cherry, C. (2012, December). Paraphrasing for style. In Proceedings of COLING 2012 (pp. 2899-2914). (https://aclanthology.org/C12-1177.pdf) 8. Craig, H. (2012). George Chapman, John Davies of Hereford, William Shakespeare, and" A Lover's Complaint". Shakespeare Quarterly, 63(2), 147-174. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/41679745) 9. Zhao, Y., & Zobel, J. (2007, January). Searching with style: Authorship attribution in classic literature. In Proceedings of the thirtieth Australasian conference on Computer science-Volume 62 (pp. 59-68). (https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=3973ff27eb173412ce532c8684b950f4cd9b0dc8)

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• Shakespeare Research Guide

This guide is designed for Harvard students and faculty doing research on Shakespeare. Because of the vast number and range of Shakespeare studies, this guide is only an introduction to the field, a survey that is nowhere near exhaustive. The principle of selection was that "less is more": What are the essential readings someone needs to know about to begin research on a topic? It's usually not much more than a couple of classic studies and one or two recent entries in the discussion.

This guide includes reliable editions and key scholarship as well as useful databases, reference works, and research tools (Shakespeare studies is such a vast field that you need a research guide to the research guides). Most of the below items are specific to Shakespeare studies, but sometimes resources used for literary studies more generally are included if they frequently arise when researching Shakespeare. Efforts have been made to provide links, including links to full access for Harvard affiliates, whenever possible.

• Gary Taylor, John Jowett, Terri Bourus, and Gabriel Egan (Eds.), The New Oxford Shakespeare (2016)
• Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, and Katharine Eisaman Maus (Eds.), The Norton Shakespeare (3rd ed., 2015)
• The Arden Shakespeare Series
• The Pelican Shakespeare Series
• The Norton Shakespeare Series
• The Shakespeare in Performance Series
• World Shakespeare Bibliography   [ Harvard Access]
• The MLA International Bibliography   [ Harvard Access]

Dictionaries

• Oxford English Dictionary   [Harvard Access]
• Lexicons of Early Modern Englis h  [Harvard Access]
• Ben and David Crystal,  Shakespeare’s Words  (2002)
• Stanley Wells,  A Dictionary of Shakespeare  (2 nd  ed., 2005)
• Gordon Williams,  A Glossary of Shakespeare’s Sexual Language  (1997)

Concordances

• Marvin Spevack, The Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare (1973)
• Open Source Shakespeare
• Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells, The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2001) [  Harvard Access   ]
• David Scott Kastan, A Companion to Shakespeare (1999)
• Andrew Dickson, The Rough Guide to Shakespeare (2005; revised 2009)
• Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard, A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works (2003)
• Samuel Crowl, Shakespeare and Film: A Brief Norton Guide (2008)
• Arthur F. Kinney (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare (2012)
• The Cambridge Companions
• Margreta De Grazia and Stanley Wells (Eds.), The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare (2nd ed., 2011) [  Harvard Access ]
• Claire McEachern (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Tragedy (2nd Ed., 2013) [  Harvard Access ]
• Alexander Leggatt (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Comedy (2001) [  Harvard Access ]
• Michael Hattaway (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's History Plays (2002) [  Harvard Access ]
• Catherine M. S. Alexander (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Last Plays (2009) [  Harvard Access ]
• Patrick Cheney (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Poetry (2007) [  Harvard Access ]
• Ton Hoenselaars (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Dramatists (2012) [  Harvard Access ]
• Stanley Wells and Sarah Stanton (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (2002) [ Harvard Access ]
• Russell Jackson (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film (2nd ed., 2007) [  Harvard Access ]
• Robert Shaughnessy (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture (2007) [  Harvard Access ]

Annotated Bibliographies

• David Bevington, "William Shakespeare," in  Oxford Bibliographies: Renaissance and Reformation   [ Harvard Access ]
• Andrew Hadfield and Amy Kenny, "William Shakespeare," in  Oxford Bibliographies: British and Irish Literature   [ Harvard Access ]
• Larry S. Champion, The Essential Shakespeare: An Annotated Bibliography of Major Modern Studies (1986; 2nd ed., 1993)
• The Garland Shakespeare Bibliographies
• David Bevington, "English Renaissance Drama," in  Oxford Bibliographies: Renaissance and Reformation   [ Harvard Access ]
• Shakespeare Quarterly  [ Harvard Access  ]
• Shakespeare: Journal of the British Shakespeare Association   [ Harvard Access ]
• Shakespeare Studies  [  Harvard Access ]
• Shakespeare Jahrbuch  [  Harvard Access ]
• Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation  [  Harvard Access ]
• Shakespeare Bulletin  [  Harvard Access ]
• Shakespeare Survey
• Shakespeare International Yearbook  
• Multicultural Shakespeare

Associations

• Shakespeare Association of America
• British Shakespeare Association
• Folger Shakespeare Library
• Shakespeare's Globe

Life and Times

• S. Schoenbaum, William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life (1977; revised 1987)
• Katherine Duncan-Jones, Ungentle Shakespeare: Scenes from his Life (2001)
• Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (2004)
• James Shapiro, 1599:A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (2005)
• David Bevington, Shakespeare and Biography (2010)
• E.M.W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan World-Picture (1943)
• J. D. Cox and D. S. Kastan, A New History of Early English Drama (1997)
• John Morrill (Ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain (1996)
• John Cannon (Ed.),  The Oxford Companion to British History (2009)
• Geoffrey Bullough, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare (1957–73)
• Kenneth Muir, The Sources of Shakespeare’s Plays (1977)
• Stuart Gillespie (Ed.), Shakespeare’s Books: A Dictionary of Shakespeare's Sources (2001)

Language and Style

• Sister Miriam Joseph, Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language (1947)
• M. M. Mahood, Shakespeare’s Wordplay (1957)
• Richard A. Lanham, The Motives of Eloquence: Literary Rhetoric in the Renaissance (1976)
• Russ McDonald,  Shakespeare and the Arts of Language  (2001)
• David Crystal,  Think on my Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language (2008)
• Peter Mack, Reading and Rhetoric in Montaigne and Shakespeare (2010)
• Lawrence Danson, Shakespeare’s Dramatic Genres (2000)
• Anthony R. Guneratne (Ed.),  Shakespeare and Genre: From Early Modern Inheritances to Postmodern Legacies (2011)
• C. L. Barber, Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy (1959, revised 1972)
• Northrop Frye, A Natural Perspective: The Development of Shakespearean Comedy and Romance (1965)
• Franquois Laroque, Shakespeare’s Festive World: Elizabethan Seasonal Entertainment and the Professional Stage (1993)
• A. C. Bradley, Shakespearian Tragedy (1904)
• Stanley Cavell, Disowning Knowledge in Seven Plays of Shakespeare (1987)
• Paul Kottman, Disinheriting the Globe: Tragic Conditions in Shakespeare (2009)
• E. M. W. Tillyard, Shakespeare’s History Plays (1944)
• Lily B. Campbell, Shakespeare’s Histories (1947)
• Peter Saccio, Shakespeare’s English Kings (1977, revised 2000)
• Phyllis Rackin, Stages of History: Shakespeare’s English Chronicles (1990)
• Romances/Tragicomedies
• F.S. Boas, “The Problem Plays,” in Shakespeare and His Predecessors (1896)
• Russ McDonald, Shakespeare’s Late Style (2006)
• Joel Fineman, Shakespeare’s Perjured Eye: The Invention of Poetic Subjectivity in the Sonnets (1986)
• Helen Vendler, The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1997)

Stephen  Orgel and Sean Keilen (Eds.),  Shakespeare’s Poems (1999)

Textual Issues

• Textual Editing
• Margreta de Grazia,  Shakespeare Verbatim: The Reproduction of Authenticity and the 1790 Apparatus  (1991)
• Leah Marcus, Unediting the Renaissance (1996)

Sonia  Massai,  Shakespeare and the Rise of the Editor (2007)

• David Scott Kastan, Shakespeare and the Book (2001)
• Lucas Erne,  Shakespeare and the Book Trade (2013)
• Ron Rosenbaum, The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups (2006)
•  Hugh Craig and Arthur F. Kinney (Eds.),  Shakespeare, Computers, and the Mystery of Authorship (2012)
• The Authorship Question
• Jonathan Hope, The Authorship of Shakespeare’s Plays (1994)
• Brian Vickers, Shakespeare, Co-Author (2002)
• James Shapiro,  Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?  (2011)
• The Shakespeare Authorship Page

The Critical Tradition

• Brian Vickers, Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage (1974–81)
• Jonathan Bate, The Romantics on Shakespeare (1992)
• Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, Women Reading Shakespeare, 1660-1900 (1997)
• Michael Dobson, The Making of the National Poet (1992)
• Michael Taylor (Ed.), Shakespeare Criticism in the Twentieth Century (2001)
• John Gross, After Shakespeare (2003)

Shakespeare and ...

• Shakespeare and English Literature
• Lukas Erne, Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist (2003)
• Shakespeare and Drama
• Anne Righter, Shakespeare and the Idea of the Play (1962)
• Shakespeare and Literary Theory
• Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman (eds.), Shakespeare and the Question of Theory (1985)
• Alternative Shakespeares (3 vols.: 1985, 1996, and 2007)
• Jonathan Gil Harris, Shakespeare and Literary Theory (2010)
• Shakespeare and the Classics
• Jonathan Bate, Shakespeare and Ovid (1994)
• Heather James, Shakespeare’s Troy: Drama, Politics, and the Translation of Empire (1997)
• Charles Martindale and A. B. Taylor (Eds.),  Shakespeare and the Classics (2004)
• Shakespeare and Philosophy
• Arthur F. Kinney, Shakespeare and Cognition: Aristotle’s Legacy and Shakespearean Drama (2006)
• A. D. Nuttall, Shakespeare the Thinker (2007)
• Jennifer Bates and Richard Wilson (Eds), Shakespeare and Continental Philosophy (2014)
• Shakespeare and Politics
• Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield (Eds.), Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism (1994)
• Louis Montrose, The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of the Elizabethan Theatre (1996)
• Andrew Hadfield, Shakespeare and Republicanism (2005)
• Shakespeare and Law
• Bradin Cormack, Martha C. Nussbaum, Richard Strier (Eds.),  Shakespeare and the Law: A Conversation among Disciplines and Professions (2013)
• Andrew Zurcher,  Shakespeare and Law (2014)
• Shakespeare and Religion
• Jonathan Dollimore, Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology, and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (1984)
• Allison Shell, Shakespeare and Religion (2010)
• Shakespeare and Psychology
• Ernest Jones, Hamlet and Oedipus (1949)
• Norman Holland, Psychoanalysis in Shakespeare (1966)
• Julia Reinhard Lupton and Kenneth Reinhard, After Oedipus: Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis (1992)
• Harold Bloom, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998)
• Shakespeare and Race
• James Shapiro, Shakespeare and the Jews (1996)
• Peter Hulme and William H. Sherman,  ‘The Tempest’ and its Travels (2000)
• Ania Loomba, Shakespeare, Race and Colonialism (2002)
• Shakespeare and Gender
• Juliet Dusinberre, Shakespeare and the Nature of Women (1975)
• Patricia Parker, Literary Fat Ladies: Rhetoric, Gender, Property (1987)
• Janet Adelman, Suffocating Mothers: Fantasies of Maternal Origin in Shakespeare’s Plays, Hamlet to the Tempest (1992)
• Stephen Orgel, Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare’s England (1996)
• Bruce Smith, Shakespeare and Masculinity (2000)
• Shakespeare and Sexuality
• Jonathan Goldberg, Queering the Renaissance (1994)
• Bruce R. Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’s England: A Cultural Poetics (1994)
• Madhavi Menon (Ed.),  Shakesqueer:  A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare (2001)
• Shakespeare and the Arts
• W. Moelwyn Merchant, Shakespeare and the Artist (1959)
• Jane Martineau (Ed.), Shakespeare in Art (2003)
• Tarnya Cooper, Searching for Shakespeare (2006)
• Shakespeare and Music
• David Lindley, Shakespeare and Music (2006)
• Julie Sanders, Shakespeare and Music: Afterlives and Borrowings (2007)
• Shakespeare and Dance
• Alan Brissenden,  Shakespeare and the Dance  (1981)
• Shakespeare and Modernity
• Jan Kott, Shakespeare Our Contemporary (1964)
• Richard Halpern, Shakespeare Among the Moderns (1997)
• Marjorie Garber,  Shakespeare and Modern Culture (2008)

Performance

• Early Modern Performance
• E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (1923)
• Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage, 1574–1642 (Fourth Edition, 2009)
• Andrew Gurr, Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London (Third Edition, 2004)
• Modern Performance
• J. R. Mulryne , ‎ Margaret Shewring , ‎and  Andrew Gurr (Eds.),  Shakespeare's Globe Rebuilt  (1997)
• Jonathan Bate and Russell Jackson (eds.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage (revised 2001)
• The Actors on Shakespeare Series
• Film and Television Performance
• Lynda E. Boose and Richard Burt, Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video (1997)
• Kenneth S. Rothwell, A History of Shakespeare on Screen (1999, revised 2004)
• Mark Thornton Burnett and Ramona Wray, Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century (2006)
• Barbara Hodgdon, The Shakespeare Trade: Performances and Appropriations (1998)
• Ton Hoenselaars (Ed.), Shakespeare and the Language of Translation (2004)

Internet Resources

• Shakespeare Magazine
• The Shakespeare Standard
• Shakespeare Post
• Folger Online Resources
• Mr William Shakespeare and the Internet
• Internet Shakespeare Editions
• Royal Shakespeare Company’s Online Resources
• Shake Sphere
• Play Shakespeare
• Encyclopedia Britannica’s Guide to Shakespeare
• The British Library, Shakespeare in Quarto
• The Furness Collection
• JSTOR, Understanding Shakespeare
• Hamlet Works
• Shakespeare’s Globe, The Globe Player
• The English Short-Title Catalogue
• Early English Books Online
• Records of Early English Drama
• The British Universities Film and Video Council, The International Database of Shakespeare on Film, Television and Radio
• Shakespeare Documented
• Shakespeare Unlimited
• LUNA: Folger Digital Image Collection
• Furness Theatrical Image Collection
• Victorian Illustrated Shakespeare Archive
• Royal Shakespeare Company YouTube Channel
• Globe Theatre YouTube Channel
• Shakespeare in Performance
• Kanopy Shakespeare Series
• MIT Global Shakespeares
• Theatre in Video
• Shakespeare Across the Disciplines
• Shakespeareana
• Public Shakespeare

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Shakespeare Quarterly (SQ) is a leading journal in Shakespeare studies, publishing highly original, rigorously researched essays, notes, and book reviews. Published for the Folger Shakespeare Library by Oxford University Press, SQ is peer-reviewed and extremely selective.

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To honor Meghan Andrews, we at  Shakespeare Quarterly  are proud to make the articles that Meghan published in our pages open-access, to share her work in larger collaborative networks and to honor her invaluable contributions to our field.

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Essay on William Shakespeare

500 words essay on william shakespeare.

William Shakespeare was certainly a very famous writer. The man is credited with an unbelievable thirty-eight plays, two narrative poems, several other poems and a whopping one hundred fifty-four sonnets. So let us take a peek inside the life of this genius with this essay on William Shakespeare.

                                                                                                                               Essay On William Shakespeare

Early Life of William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is the world’s pre-eminent dramatist and according to many experts is the greatest writer in the English language. Furthermore, he is also called England’s National Poet and also has the nickname of the Bard of Avon. Such a worthy reputation is due to his top-notch unmatchable writing skills.

William Shakespeare was born to a successful businessman in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23rd April in the year 1564. Shakespeare’s mother was the daughter of a landlord and came from a well-to-do family. About the age of seven, William Shakespeare began attending the Stratford Grammar School.

The teachers at Stratford were strict in nature and the school timings were long. One can say that William Shakespeare’s use of nature in his writings was due to the influence of the fields and woods surrounding the Stratford Grammar School on him.

Warwickshire was an interesting place to live, especially for those who were writers. Furthermore, the river Avon ran down through the town and because of this Shakespeare later got the title ‘Bard of Avon’. At the age of eighteen, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a woman who in age was eight years older than him.

Illustrious Career of William Shakespeare

After his education, William Shakespeare became engaged in theatrical life in London. Furthermore, it was from here that his career likely took off. Moreover, by the year 1592, the popularity of William Shakespeare had grown to be very much.

Shakespeare became a member of one of the famous theatre companies in the city. Moreover, this company was ‘the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’. Also, the theatre companies during that era were commercial organizations that were dependent upon the audience who came to watch the plays.

From the year 1594, Shakespeare became the leading member of the acting group and remained that for almost the entire rest of his career. By the year 1594, the production of at least six plays had taken place by William Shakespeare.

Evidence shows that Shakespeare became a member of a well-known travelling theatre group. After joining this theatre, Shakespeare did plays in the presence of many dignitaries in various places.

Shakespeare, throughout his life, came up with some outstanding pieces of English literature , involving memorable timeless characters with human qualities. Furthermore, the human qualities and struggles of Shakespeare’s characters are such that one can relate with them even today. Shakespeare retired from his acting profession in 1613 and became completely devoted to writing many excellent plays.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

 Conclusion of the Essay on William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is, without a doubt, one of the greatest writers of all times. Furthermore, his excellence in story writing, narrative building, and character development is of the highest order. Individuals of such a high calibre appear once in a century or are even rarer than that.

FAQs For Essay on William Shakespeare

Question 1: Why is William Shakespeare so famous?

Answer 1:  William Shakespeare’s story writing skills are of an extremely high-quality. Furthermore, his works are characterized by outstanding narrative building around the topics of jealousy, mystery, love, magic, death, murder, life, revenge, and grief. That is why William Shakespeare is so famous.

Question 2: What are some of the most famous works of William Shakespeare?

Answer 2: Some of the most famous works of William Shakespeare are as follows:

• Romeo and Juliet
• The Merchant of Venice
• Much Ado About Nothing

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Hamlet Research Paper & Essay Examples

When you have to write an essay on Hamlet by Shakespeare, you may need an example to follow. In this article, our team collected numerous samples for this exact purpose. Here you’ll see Hamlet essay and research paper examples that can inspire you and show how to structure your writing.

✍ Hamlet: Essay Samples

• What Makes Hamlet such a Complex Character? Genre: Essay Words: 560 Focused on: Hamlet’s insanity and changes in the character Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia
• Shakespeare versus Olivier: A Depiction of ‘Hamlet’ Genre: Essay Words: 2683 Focused on: Comparison of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Laurence Olivier’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude
• Drama Analysis of Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1635 Focused on: Literary devices used in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia
• Hamlet’s Renaissance Culture Conflict Genre: Critical Essay Words: 1459 Focused on: Hamlet’s and Renaissance perspective on death Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Horatio
• Father-Son Relationships in Hamlet – Hamlet’s Loyalty to His Father Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 1137 Focused on: Obedience in the relationship between fathers and sons in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, Fortinbras, Polonius, the Ghost, Claudius
• A Play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1026 Focused on: Hamlet’s personality and themes of the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Polonius
• Characterization of Hamlet Genre: Analytical Essay Words: 876 Focused on: Hamlet’s indecision and other faults Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, the Ghost, Gertrude
• Hamlet’s Relationship with His Mother Gertrude Genre: Research Paper Words: 1383 Focused on: Hamlet’s relationship with Gertrude and Ophelia Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius
• The Theme of Revenge in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 1081 Focused on: Revenge in Hamlet and how it affects characters Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, the Ghost
• Canonical Status of Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 1972 Focused on: Literary Canon and interpretations of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Horatio, Claudius
• A Critical Analysis of Hamlet’s Constant Procrastination in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1141 Focused on: Reasons for Hamlet’s procrastination and its consequences Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius
• Role of Women in Twelfth Night and Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Research Paper Words: 2527 Focused on: Women in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Hamlet Characters mentioned: Ophelia, Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, Polonius
• William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Genre: Essay Words: 849 Focused on: Key ideas and themes of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes
• Shakespeare: Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1446 Focused on: The graveyard scene analysis Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Laertes, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius
• Oedipus Rex and Hamlet Compare and Contrast Genre: Term Paper Words: 998 Focused on: Comparison of King Oedipus and Hamlet from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet . Characters mentioned: Hamlet
• The Play “Hamlet Prince of Denmark” by W.Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 824 Focused on: How Hamlet treats Ophelia and the consequences of his behavior Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 635 Focused on: Key themes of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Fortinbras
• Hamlet’s Choice of Fortinbras as His Successor Genre: Essay Words: 948 Focused on: Why Hamlet chose Fortinbras as his successor Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Fortinbras, Claudius
• Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras: Avenging the Death of their Father Compare and Contrast Genre: Compare and Contrast Essay Words: 759 Focused on: Paths and revenge of Hamlet, Laertes, and Fortinbras Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras, Claudius
• Oedipus the King and Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 920 Focused on: Comparison of Oedipus and King Claudius Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude
• Hamlet Genre: Term Paper Words: 1905 Focused on: Character of Gertrude and her transformation Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Hamlet, Claudius, the Ghost, Polonius
• Compare Laertes and Hamlet: Both React to their Fathers’ Killing/Murder Compare and Contrast Genre: Compare and Contrast Essay Words: 1188 Focused on: Tension between Hamlet and Laertes and their revenge Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia, Polonius, Claudius, Gertrude
• Recurring Theme of Revenge in Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1123 Focused on: The theme of revenge in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Laertes, Ophelia
• The Function of the Soliloquies in Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 2055 Focused on: Why Shakespeare incorporated soliloquies in the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude
• The Hamlet’s Emotional Feelings in the Shakespearean Tragedy Genre: Essay Words: 813 Focused on: What Hamlet feels and why Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius
• Blindness in Oedipus Rex & Hamlet Genre: Research Paper Words: 2476 Focused on: How blindness reveals itself in Oedipus Rex and Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Horatio, the Ghost
• “Hamlet” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” Genre: Essay Words: 550 Focused on: Comparison of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern
• The Role of Queen Gertrude in Play “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 886 Focused on: Gertrude’s role in Hamlet and her involvement in King Hamlet’s murder Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Polonius
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 276 Focused on: The role and destiny of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Hamlet, Claudius
• Passing through nature into eternity Genre: Term Paper Words: 2900 Focused on: Comparison of Because I Could Not Stop for Death, and I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce by Emily Dickinson with Shakespeare’s Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude
• When the Truth Comes into the Open: Claudius’s Revelation Genre: Essay Words: 801 Focused on: Claudius’ confession and secret Characters mentioned: Claudius, Hamlet
• Shakespeare Authorship Question: Thorough Analysis of Style, Context, and Violence in the Plays Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night Genre: Term Paper Words: 1326 Focused on: Whether Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night Characters mentioned: Hamlet
• Measuring the Depth of Despair: When There Is no Point in Living Genre: Essay Words: 1165 Focused on: Despair in Hamlet and Macbeth Characters mentioned: Hamlet
• Violence of Shakespeare Genre: Term Paper Words: 1701 Focused on: Violence in different Shakespeare’s plays Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Horatio, Claudius, Gertrude, Palonius, Laertes,
• Act II of Hamlet by William Shakespeare Genre: Report Words: 1129 Focused on: Analysis of Act 2 of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Polonius, Ronaldo, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, First Player, Claudius
• The Value of Source Study of Hamlet by Shakespeare Genre: Explicatory Essay Words: 4187 Focused on: How Shakespeare adapted Saxo Grammaticus’s Danish legend on Amleth and altered the key characters Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, the Ghost, Fortinbras, Horatio, Laertes, Polonius
• Ophelia and Hamlet’s Dialogue in Shakespeare’s Play Genre: Essay Words: 210 Focused on: What the dialogue in Act 3 Scene 1 reveals about Hamlet and Ophelia Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia
• Lying, Acting, Hypocrisy in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 1313 Focused on: The theme of deception in Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Gertrude, Claudius, Ophelia
• Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s Behavior in Act III Genre: Report Words: 1554 Focused on: Behavior of different characters in Act 3 of Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius
• The Masks of William Shakespeare’s Play “Hamlet” Genre: Research Paper Words: 1827 Focused on: Hamlet’s attitude towards death and revenge Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost
• Ghosts and Revenge in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 895 Focused on: The figure of the Ghost and his relationship with Hamlet Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Gertrude, Claudius
• Macbeth and Hamlet Characters Comparison Genre: Essay Words: 1791 Focused on: Comparison of Gertrude in Hamlet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth Characters mentioned: Gertrude, Claudius, Hamlet
• Depression and Melancholia Expressed by Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 3319 Focused on: Hamlet’s mental issues and his symptoms Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes, the Ghost, Polonius
• Meditative and Passionate Responses in the Play “Hamlet” Genre: Essay Words: 1377 Focused on: Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play and Zaffirelli’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia, Polonius
• Portrayal of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Play and Zaffirelli’s Film Genre: Essay Words: 554 Focused on: Character of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play and Zaffirelli’s adaptation Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Ophelia
• Hamlet in the Film and the Play: Comparing and Contrasting Genre: Essay Words: 562 Focused on: Comparison of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Zeffirelli’s version of the character Characters mentioned: Hamlet
• Literary Analysis of “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare Genre: Essay Words: 837 Focused on: Symbols, images, and characters of the play Characters mentioned: Hamlet, the Ghost, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia
• Psychiatric Analysis of Hamlet Genre: Essay Words: 1899 Focused on: Hamlet’s mental state and sanity in particular Characters mentioned: Hamlet, Claudius, Ophelia, Laertes, Polonius
• Hamlet and King Oedipus Literature Comparison Genre: Essay Words: 587 Focused on: Comparison of Hamlet and Oedipus Characters mentioned: Hamlet

Thanks for checking the samples! Don’t forget to open the pages with Hamlet essays that you’ve found interesting. For more information about the play, consider the articles below.

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Article Cluster Illuminates “The World of Shakespeare and Company”

“What’s left to learn about Shakespeare and Company?”

The question motivates “The World of Shakespeare and Company,” a new cluster of articles co-published by the Journal of Cultural Analytics ( JCA ) and Modernism/modernity ( M/m ) and edited by Joshua Kotin , associate professor of English at Princeton University, and Rebecca Sutton Koeser , lead research software engineer at The Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton (CDH).

The cluster features eight articles using data from the Shakespeare and Company Project , a CDH-sponsored digital humanities initiative and web application launched four years ago, in May 2020 . Kotin and Koeser serve as project director and technical lead of the Project , respectively, which centers on Sylvia Beach’s celebrated bookshop and lending library in interwar Paris. Among Shakespeare and Company’s members were Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, and hundreds of other intellectuals, artists, and everyday readers who have been identified by Project researchers.

The Project allows users to explore Shakespeare and Company’s members and holdings —that is, the books that circulated at the lending library. It also offers public access to three datasets —members, books, and events (which comprises borrows and purchases, among other activities)—derived from Shakespeare and Company’s lending library cards, logbooks, address books, and inventories, many of which are available in the Beach Papers, held at Special Collections at Princeton University Library.

The Shakespeare and Company Project allows researchers not only to view members’ lending library cards, such as Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 card above, but also to see and interact with their borrowing and purchasing records.

As Kotin and Koeser write in their introduction ( JCA , M/m ), the essays in the cluster use these datasets to explore and analyze a wide range of topics—from individual authors (Virginia Woolf) and lending library members (Reed Peggram); to questions of canonization; to communities of readers, such as the Black intellectuals who frequented Shakespeare and Company; to methodological issues in the digital humanities.

“Readers of the cluster will learn about the differences between Woolf’s conception of ‘the common reader’ (a central idea in her work) and her actual readers in Paris; about how the reading habits of a small community of expatriates and French intellectuals determined the modernist canon; and how researchers might respond to the gaps that almost inevitably perforate historical archives,” Kotin explains. “The articles in the cluster transform Shakespeare and Company into a key for understanding literary history in the early twentieth century.”

By featuring articles that both engage with data produced by Project researchers and apply computational approaches to arrive at new insights, the cluster, write Kotin and Koeser, shows that the “ Shakespeare and Company Project is a work of scholarship and an instrument of scholarship.”

Table of Contents

Introduction.

• “The World of Shakespeare and Company: An Introduction” ( JCA , M/m ) Joshua Kotin and Rebecca Sutton Koeser

Authors, Readers, and Books

• “Virginia Woolf’s Common Readers in Paris” ( JCA , M/m ) Helen Southworth, Alice Staveley, Matthew Hannah, Claire Battershill, and Elizabeth Wilson
• “Unpacking Reed Peggram’s Library” ( JCA , M/m ) Ethelene Whitmire
• “Sylvia Beach’s Final Book” ( JCA , M/m ) Keri Walsh

Reading Practices

• “A Counterfactual Canon” ( JCA , M/m ) Fedor Karmanov and Joshua Kotin
• “The Afterlives of Shakespeare and Company in Online Social Readership” ( JCA , M/m ) Maria Antoniak, David Mimno, Rosamond Thalken, Melanie Walsh, Matthew Wilkens, and Gregory Yauney

Communities

• “Black Internationalism and Shakespeare and Company” ( JCA , M/m ) Caitlin O’Keefe
• “Lending Books on the Left and Right Banks: Borrowing Practices at the American Library in Paris and Shakespeare and Company” ( JCA , M/m ) Nissa Ren Cannon

Archival Absences

• “Missing Data, Speculative Reading” ( JCA , M/m ) Rebecca Sutton Koeser and Zoe LeBlanc

The cluster’s co-publication in the Journal of Cultural Analytics , where Kotin and Koeser previously published an article about the Shakespeare and Company Project datasets , and Modernism/modernity not only broadens its readership but also highlights the diversity of approaches invited by the Project ’s datasets—and others like them. Several of the authors are trained as literary scholars, and others bring perspectives from history, library and information science, and computer science.

For instance, Koeser’s work in both literature and computer science informs “Missing Data, Speculative Reading” ( JCA , M/m ), co-authored by former CDH postdoc Zoe LeBlanc (School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). In the essay, Koeser and LeBlanc engage with the gaps in the datasets—for example, missing lending library cards and logbooks—applying computational methods to predict the contents of these “archival absences.”

Koeser explains that “Missing Data, Speculative Reading” is one of several essays that feature “interactive charts and maps,” noting that she was “impressed” with how the editorial team of Modernism/modernity was “willing to work with me to figure out how to embed [them] into a few of the articles.”

“I know it made extra work for their team, but my hope is that it will make the work more engaging and the data more accessible to the readers, and particularly to those scholars who might not otherwise seek out the more quantitative work in the cluster,” she adds.

Interactive figures from cluster articles. Clockwise from top left: network graph of Woolf borrowers and purchasers (Southworth et al.); Reed Peggram‘s addresses in Paris (Whitmire); raincloud plot of Hemingway‘s borrowing (Koeser and LeBlanc); gendered reading differences (Karmanov and Kotin); titles by popularity in Shakespeare and Company and Goodreads (Antoniak et al.)

As Kotin and Koeser point out in their introduction, the essays in the cluster represent only a few of the insights made possible by the Shakespeare and Company Project . Ongoing projects and updated datasets promise to shed new light on “the world of Shakespeare and Company,” as well as produce new ways to apply computational approaches to archival material.

“This is what the best digital humanities projects can do: harness intellectual and methodological differences to address a common set of concerns,” they write.

Kotin and Koeser wish to thank the editors of the Journal of Cultural Analytics and Modernism/modernity; English graduate student Emily Lobb, who coordinated co-publication; and the contributors to the Shakespeare and Company Project .

Call for Lightning Talks at DH2024: Teaching Machine Learning in the Digital Humanities

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'Who Owns Shakespeare?' - Shakespeare's Globe

As part of the forthcoming Shakespeare and Race Festival at Shakespeare’s Globe, we are delighted to announce a two-day symposium to be held in London on 25-26 October 2024.  

Our festival theme is ‘Who Owns Shakespeare?’ and aims to examine the contested space that Shakespeare occupies in the world of theatre, academia and the public sphere.

We are inviting paper submissions for individual 45-minute sessions, which includes time for audience Q&A, engaging with the conference theme: ‘Who Owns Shakespeare?: Adaptation, Appropriation, Authority’.

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following: 

Adaptation, appropriation, translation

Early modern and modern-day performance 

Early modern theatre practices and print culture

Gender and sexuality

Disability and embodiment

Race, colonialism and post-coloniality

Canons and archives, formation and exclusion

Education, activism, and global inequalities

Audience reception and interaction (early modern to the present)

Proposals from any discipline and intersectional approaches are particularly welcomed. Please email abstracts (no more than 250 words) and a brief biographical note to Hanh Bui ( [email protected] ) by Friday 26 July. Notifications of acceptance will be emailed in August. 

The symposium will be free and open to the public.

Vol. 48 No. 1 (2024)

Author Meets Critics

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Congress Signed the Checks, but Artists Paid the Price

In “The Playbook,” James Shapiro offers a resonant history of the Federal Theater Project, a Depression-era program that gave work to writers and actors until politics took center stage.

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By Laura Collins-Hughes

Laura Collins-Hughes, a freelance journalist, has written about theater for The New York Times since 2013.

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THE PLAYBOOK: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War, by James Shapiro

A week before Election Day 1936, when a landslide vote would keep Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House for a second term, the antifascist play “ It Can’t Happen Here ” opened nationwide: 21 productions in 18 cities, from Los Angeles to New York.

Adapted from Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel of the same name, the show became a hit for the Federal Theater Project , a jobs-for-artists division of Roosevelt’s Depression-era Works Progress Administration.

But it was a chaotic scramble to get the play onstage. Long before the advent of email or even fax machines, the show’s text was still evolving as opening night approached, the script changes mailed cross-country to the various companies.

The Federal Theater, meanwhile, was so nervous about being perceived as partisan that it had prohibited the play and its publicity materials from directly mentioning fascism or real-world political figures. Posters in Detroit depicting a military man resembling Hitler were ordered, by telegram, to be destroyed.

Ambitious, civic-minded and self-sabotaging, the whole enterprise moved fast, fast, fast. The Federal Theater, which lasted just four years, spent its brief life in that mode. Its final months were devoted to trying to fend off the wild accusations of a Communist-hunting congressman, who in headline-grabbing hearings smeared it baselessly, ruinously, as un-American.

With the American theater struggling to regain the vitality it had before Covid-related shutdowns, some creators and critics have called for a new version of the Federal Theater to come to the rescue. The U.S. government is hardly a spendthrift with arts dollars, but what if it were to pony up for the industry again?

Well, let James Shapiro’s piquant and resonant history banish any romantic fantasies. His new book, “The Playbook: A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War,” is about how messy and compromised the situation can get for artists when Congress is signing the checks, how cynical the politics can be and how familiar — how Trumpian — some of the muddying tactics deployed in the 1930s now seem.

To Shapiro, whose previous books include “ Shakespeare in a Divided America ” (2020), “the health of democracy and theater, twin-born in ancient Greece, has always been mutually dependent.”

In his view, then, it was to the joint benefit of democracy and theater that the federal program came into existence in 1935 and to their detriment when it was eliminated in 1939 after having “staged, for a pittance, over a thousand productions in 29 states seen by 30 million, or roughly one in four Americans.”

The underdog hero of “The Playbook” is Hallie Flanagan , the Vassar professor and experimental theater maker tapped to direct the Federal Theater. She believed, with moving sincerity, that “the theater, when it is any good, can change things,” as she told a group of directors and designers midway through the project.

She added: “And if, in making people laugh, which we certainly want to do, we can’t also protest … against some of the evils of this country of ours, then we do not deserve the chance put into our hands.”

Flanagan seized that chance, producing classics and new works, some of which — like the 1938 play “ One-Third of a Nation ,” about the housing crisis — smacked of pro-Roosevelt propaganda. That didn’t exactly endear her to the president’s adversaries.

Among them was Martin Dies , a cigar-chomping Texas Democrat and onetime New Deal supporter who that year became the founding chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was, Shapiro writes, “an opportunistic, America-first, anti-immigrant, antilabor, racist politician with few scruples, for whom power and popularity mattered more than ideology.”

Possessed of “a canny sense of where American democracy’s guardrails were flimsiest,” Dies scare-mongered about the Federal Theater partly because he craved attention, which was easy to get from the press that way.

But did he truly, as Shapiro argues, innovate a right-wing playbook whose strategies — like “battling over culture and identity,” threatening violence to gin up campaign support and overwhelming the news media with so much unsubstantiated information that reporters wouldn’t have time to fact-check it — remain “widely used today”?

Without sufficient evidence, the assertion comes across as overreach. In a nation as fractious and puritanical from the get-go as this one, it is hard not to wonder if Dies’s playbook was just a modern iteration of what others had done before.

“The Playbook,” though, is nonetheless an engrossing read (Willa Cather, once a fledgling theater critic in Nebraska, makes a very smart cameo), and the present-day echoes of Dies’s culture-warring are unambiguous.

Shapiro wraps the story of the Federal Theater and Dies’s committee around five chapters dedicated to individual Federal Theater shows, like the “Macbeth” that a 20-year-old Orson Welles directed in 1936, in Harlem, for its Negro Unit. Ever after, he and the show’s producer, John Houseman, would tell ostensibly witty anecdotes about it, recalling their Black collaborators in grotesquely debased terms.

The book’s most gripping and enraging chapter is about “Liberty Deferred,” a daring play by two young Black playwrights, Abram Hill and John Silvera, that was watered down in development and not produced. Set partly “in ‘the fabled land where all lynch victims go,’ Lynchotopia,” the play, whose targets include the racism of Northern whites, is described in riveting detail. Shapiro notes that it has never been staged. Maybe it’s time to change that.

The Federal Theater was no paradise for Black artists, but the program’s relative progressivism on race riled up Dies and other politicians.

So did the notion of the government, in the midst of grievous unemployment, paying theater makers to generate art. Yet one of the most compassionate speeches quoted in “The Playbook” comes from the Democratic senator Sherman Minton of Indiana, imagining some ordinary playwright on relief who perhaps “did not create a Hamlet or a Launcelot Gobbo” (shout-out there to “The Merchant of Venice”), but deserves to eat.

After Dies triumphed and opinion turned against the Federal Theater, Roosevelt himself signed it out of existence. Decades on, when Flanagan was old and unwell and living in a nursing home, the memory of Dies’s wrecking-ball pursuit disturbed her still, according to a biography of her that Shapiro quotes in his epilogue.

“In moments of self-doubt,” the biographer wrote, “she would wonder if the voices she heard in the corridor outside her room were accusing her of being a Communist.”

THE PLAYBOOK : A Story of Theater, Democracy, and the Making of a Culture War | By James Shapiro | Penguin Press | 384 pp. | $30

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