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| | [[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|[[portraits|Engraving]] of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]] | | [[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|[[portraits|Engraving]] of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]] |
| − | '''William Shakespeare''' (1564-1616) is a [[playwright]] who is generally regarded as the greatest English language writer. Many of his plays are required reading in schools throughout the English-speaking world. Those taught include ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' and ''[[Hamlet]]''. | + | '''William Shakespeare''' (1564-1616) was the greatest [[playwright]] in history. Many of his plays are beloved throughout the world, and required reading most English-speaking schools. Those taught most include ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', ''[[Macbeth]]'', ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'' and ''[[Othello]]''. |
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| − | Like nearly every Englishman of his time, evidently he was a devout [[Christian]], because he wrote in his will: "I commend my soul into the hands of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting."<ref>[http://www.bardweb.net/will.html Shakespeare's Last and Testament]</ref> Yet his work is also loved by people who are not religious, who consider it "the secular [[canon]], or even the secular [[scripture]]."<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981571-2,00.html#ixzz13lnUzy40 Hurrah for Dead White Males! - TIME]</ref>
| + | Shakespeare was a devout [[Christian]], as proven by what he wrote in his will: "I commend my soul into the hands of God, my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of life everlasting."<ref>[http://www.bardweb.net/will.html Shakespeare's Last and Testament]</ref> Yet his work is also loved by people who are not religious, who consider it "the secular [[canon]], or even the secular [[scripture]]."<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981571-2,00.html#ixzz13lnUzy40 Hurrah for Dead White Males! - TIME]</ref> |
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| | + | Shakespeare was a [[conservative]] then, and by today's standards. His play the ''[[Taming of the Shrew]]'' is anti-[[feminist]] and censored from most schools today for that reason. Major conservative themes in his works include the sacred nature of the familial structure in [[King Lear]], the recognition of God in his plays and personal life, the existence of necessary war in ''[[The Famous Life of King Henry V]]'', and the exposed injustice of taxation in [[Coriolanus]]. Not surprisingly, modern [[liberal]] literary critics often ignore these themes because of their place on the modern political spectrum. Shakespeare's hilarious jokes were often at the expense of the [[liberal]] base, such as his following quip for utopia by Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's ''Henry VI'': "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."<ref>Part II, act IV, Scene II, Line 73.</ref> |
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| | Shakespeare wrote 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 historical plays, 154 love [[sonnet]]s, and several other works of non-dramatic poetry. All his plays are freely available on the internet.<ref>[http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ Shakespeare]</ref> | | Shakespeare wrote 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 historical plays, 154 love [[sonnet]]s, and several other works of non-dramatic poetry. All his plays are freely available on the internet.<ref>[http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ Shakespeare]</ref> |
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| | He is also famous for his 154 [[sonnet]]s, short poems written in a very strict [[rhyme scheme]]. The sonnets fall into series or sequences. Most of them are usually read as expressions of romantic or platonic love; some appear to be written to a married woman known in the sonnets as the "Dark Lady," some to a young man known as the "Fair Lord." | | He is also famous for his 154 [[sonnet]]s, short poems written in a very strict [[rhyme scheme]]. The sonnets fall into series or sequences. Most of them are usually read as expressions of romantic or platonic love; some appear to be written to a married woman known in the sonnets as the "Dark Lady," some to a young man known as the "Fair Lord." |
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| − | Considering his major themes, Shakespeare is undoubtedly a conservative figure by today's standards. Major conservative themes in his works include the sacred nature of the familial structure in [[King Lear]], the recognition of God in his plays and personal life, the existence of necessary war in ''[[The Famous Life of King Henry V]]'', and the exposed injustice of taxation in [[Coriolanus]]. Not surprisingly, modern [[liberal]] literary critics often ignore these themes because of their place on the modern political spectrum.
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| | His tomb in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, England, reads as follows:<ref>[http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-04-23&view=View American minute for April 23]</ref> | | His tomb in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-on-Avon, England, reads as follows:<ref>[http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-04-23&view=View American minute for April 23]</ref> |