Five Best William Shakespeare Stories Ever!
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| best William Shakespeare stories |
When Queen Elizabeth 1 and King James 1 were ruling Britain people did have fun watching performances of Shakespeare's plays. The plays were and still are, every bit as entertaining as today's television soap operas.
They have death and destruction, jokes and jests, weird witchcraft, rogues and royals, blood and butchery, hatred and heartache.
The five most popular plays over the past 150 years are:
1-Romeo And Juliet
Everyone has heard of the two main characters even if they have never heard of Shakespeare. They are Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare wrote plays but he didn't think of the original stories. A poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet inspired him to write the famous play, Romeo and Juliet.
In the 1970s, a film was made at a time when Russia and America were close to war. A Russian boy and an American girl fell in love. The film was called Romeo and Juliet.
Cleopatra, The Most Interesting Woman In The Ancient World
Cleopatra, The Most Interesting Woman In The Ancient World
2-Macbeth
The second most popular play of Shakespeare is his shortest and one of his spookiest.
It is called Macbeth and Shakespeare wrote it to please the new king, James 1. James was fascinated by witchcraft and believed firmly in the power of witches. The play is not only popular because it is short, but it's also popular because it has all the things that interested audiences. Lots of murders, lots of blood, magical supernatural forces, and powerful characters seeking justice and revenge and also witchcraft.
Over the past hundreds of years, actors have come to believe that any performance of the play stirs up the ancient spirits and can bring bad luck. They believe that Macbeth is cursed. They were so superstitious that they would never say the name Macbeth while they were in a theater unless they are performing in it. Instead, they simply call it 'The Scottish Play.'
3-Julius Caesar
This story is one of Shakespeare's history plays-Julius Caesar. Shakespeare wasn't very well educated in Stratford so he couldn't read the Latin histories. He read translations from Latin into English. Then he changed the history to suit his plays. He also made careless mistakes about roman life and didn't seem to care.
4-Hamlet
Of all Shakespeare's plays Hamlet is probably the most famous. It has been performed all over the world in hundreds of languages. Books have been written about it- more books than any other play or novel.
Hamlet's famous line, " To be, or not to be: that is the question," is known by most people- people who couldn't quote another word from Shakespeare's plays.
Hamlet has everything Elizabethan audiences loved. It is a murder story, it is a ghost story, it is a love story and it is a mystery. There are sword fights hauntings comic scenes and even a mime play within the play. There were so many deaths that it would take a whole police department to work out who did what to whom.
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5-The Tempest
Shakespeare read many history books and travel stories from all around the world.
The reports of Sir George Somers shipwreck in Bermuda made Shakespeare interested in writing the "shipwreck" play. He spoke to some survivors of that accident and wrote the great play, The Tempest.
Most Shakespeare experts agree that 'The Tempest' was his last complete one.
No one knows why he retired to his home in Stratford when he was just 47 years old. Probable reasons were : he was worn out, or ill, or just so rich he wanted an easy life or London with its constant plagues too dangerous?
Audiences do not always sit and watch Shakespeare play in silence. Many people treat the plays a bit like theatrical entertainment and enjoy shouting at the actors. This is a great problem when the actors are trying to perform a serious play.
These five stories have been retold in a way you are more familiar with, using modern language and modern styles.
Thanks to Shakespeare, we have many fine theaters today. The theater was very young when Shakespeare started working on it. The sign of a great writer is that their work survives beyond a lifetime and Shakespeare is one of them.