Page 5 - Taming Of the Shrew demo

Introduction

Introduction to William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, or the “Bard,” as he is
affectionately known, pervades practically
every area of our civilization. He is present
in our lecture halls, on our televisions, in our
theatres, and in our motion picture theatres.
Shakespeare speaks on his own life and society
as well as our own through his plays. His
plays are still often performed by actors on
contemporary stages and screens. For instance,
numerous of his plays were adapted for the big
screen in the 1990s, including A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and
Othello.

Shakespeare’s plays are still well-known today, but other authors have modernised
them to appeal to new audiences. Romeo and Juliet, for instance, are placed in New
York City in West Side Story, and King Lear is depicted in the cornfields of Iowa
in A Thousand Acres. His life and works have captivated our cultural imagination
beyond adaptations and plays. Shakespeare’s minor characters Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead were the subject of a play and movie in the 20th century,
as was Shakespeare in Love, a fictional film about Shakespeare’s early years and
sources of lyrical inspiration.

Shakespeare has left a lasting impression on our culture, but he is still mysterious.
He doesn’t specify which of his plays should be read aloud or staged, nor does he
say which of his plays were co-written with other playwrights. Shakespeare the
person does not reveal much about himself, and the few papers that are accessible
about him make it difficult for critics and academics to learn more about the real-life
great dramatist.

Anti-Stratfordians — modern scholars who question the authorship of Shakespeare’s
plays — have used this lack of information to argue that William Shakespeare either

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