Shakespeare is the playwright and widely recognized as the greatest writer in the English Language.

1. A portrait of
William
Shakespeare
This is an engraved
image of William
Shakespeare in
William Marshall
Style.

2. William Shakespeare, poet
and playwright, Shakespeare
would have come to Holy
Trinity every week when he
was in town, i.e. all through
his childhood and on his
return to live at New Place.
His wife Anne Hathaway is
buried next to him along
with his eldest daughter
Susanna.
Above the grave, a badly
eroded stone slab displays
his epitaph:
GOOD FREND FOR IESUS SAKE
FORBEARE,TO DIGG THE DVST
ENCLOASED HEARE.BLESTE BE
YE MAN YT SPARES THES
STONES,AND CVRST BE HE
YT MOVES MY BONES.
Location of
Shakespeare’s
funerary
monument, Holy
Trinity Church

3. Chandos
portrait-
National Portrait
Gallery
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE-
1564-1616

4. Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is
a tragedy written early in the
career of William
Shakespeare about two
young star-crossed lovers
whose deaths ultimately unite
their feuding families.
Verbal Irony in Romeo and
Juliet, Act III Scene IV.
Verbal irony occurs when a
character says one thing and
means another. This is an
example of verbal irony from
Romeo and Juliet.

5. Hamlet fights a duel
Hamlet and Laertes
select their foils
(blunted swords used
in fencing), and the
king says that if Hamlet
wins the first or second
hit, he will drink to
Hamlet’s health, then
throw into the cup a
valuable gem (actually
the poison) and give
the wine to Hamlet.
The duel begins.
Hamlet strikes Laertes
but declines to drink
from the cup, saying
that he will play
another hit first. He
hits Laertes again, and
Gertrude rises to drink
from the cup

6. Verbal Irony in Romeo
and Juliet, Act III Scene IV
Indeed, I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him
dead
—Is my poor heart for a kinsman
vex’d.
Madam , If you could find out
but a man
To bear a poidon, I would temper
it;
That Romeo should, upon receipt
thereof,
Soon slept in quiet. O, how my
heart abhors
To hear him named, and cannot
come to him
To wreck the love I bore my
cousin
Upon his body that slaugher’d
him!
(Juliet has just heard that Romeo
has killed her cousin. Romeo
and Juliet have been secretly
married and here Juliet explains
to her mother how angry she is
because of her cousin Tybalt’s

7. IRONY
Irony is a way of expression , through words or events which conveys a reality different from and
usually opposite to appearance or expectation. A writer may say the opposite of what they mean,
or create a reversal between expectation and its fulfillment, or give the audience knowledge that
a character lacks, making the character’s words have meaning to the audience which is not
Known by the character. (Irony in Hamlet, Act V, Scene II)
 Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience knows something that a character or characters in a
play don’t.
 This is an example of dramatic irony from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
 This scene occurs at the end of the play, Hamlet fights a duel with another character.
Claudius wishes Hamlet dead and has plotted with Laertes, with whom Hamlet fights, to make
sure Hamlet dies. Claudius also poisons the cup of wine from which Gertrude drinks to toast
Hamlet during the fight. The audience knows that Gertrude’ s cup has been poisoned but she
doesn’t.

8. SHAKESPEARE’s
HOUSE
Explore this historic market town and its surroundings and
discover where Shakespeare was born and grew up, where he
gained inspiration for his work. Now in the belonging of
Shakespeare’s trust.

9. SHAKESPEARE’S
BIRTHPLACE
There are five houses
linked to Shakespeare
and his family - all
around Stratford-upon-
Avon -where he was
born, lived, worked and
lies buried.
In town visit
Shakespeare's
Birthplace. Hall's Croft
where his daughter
lived and Nash's House
the home of his
granddaughter.
 In the neighbouring village of Wilmcote
visit Mary Arden's House - a rambling
Tudor farmhouse which belonged to
Shakespeare's mother. Anne Hathaway's
Cottage nestles in the village of Shottery,
on the edge of Stratford, and was the
family home of Shakespeare's wife.
 In Stratford Old Town by the River Avon
is Holy Trinity Church - one of the most
beautiful parish churches in England -
where you can visit Shakespeare's
grave.

10. HOLL’S CROFT
Shakespeare
‘s daughter
lived there.

11. HAMLET
The prince of Denmark, and a student
at the University of Wittenberg. At the
beginning of the play, Hamlet’s father,
King Hamlet, has recently died, and
his mother, Queen Gertrude, has
married the new king, Hamlet’s uncle
Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter,
and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle
and disgust at his mother for marrying
him. When the ghost of Hamlet’s father
appears and claims to have been
murdered by Claudius, Hamlet
becomes obsessed with avenging his
father’s death but keeps thinking of
reasons why he should wait before
killing Claudius—then chastizes
himself for failing to act boldly. Hamlet
is a character of contradictions. He
admires characters like Fortinbras and
the Player King, who behave
passionately and even violently for no
good reason, but is himself thoughtful,
reflective, and philosophical. At times
Hamlet is indecisive and hesitant, but
at other times he is prone to rash and
impulsive acts of violence.

12. NASH’s
HOUSE
This is the homeof his
grand daughter

13. Shakespeare’sBaptismalRecord
Though no birth records exist, church records
indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized
at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on
April 26, 1564.

14. Quotes
All the world's a stage,
and all the men and women
merely players
Give every man thy ear,
but few thy voice.
I say there is no darkness
but ignorance.
I wasted time, and now
doth time waste me.
Some are born great,
some achieve greatness, and
some have greatness thrust
upon them.
 BEST KNOWN FOR
William Shakespeare, English
poet, dramatist, and actor, often
called the English national poet,
is widely considered the greatest
dramatist of all time.

15. Prose writing
By using Prose, Shakespeare demonstrates that the discussion is less
profound than others in the play. He often elevates his language to
another level by using poetry.
Shakespeare does not have a set pattern or rhythm. He wrote poetry and
prose. Shakespeare often uses poetry to indicate unimportant events.

16. Prose in King Lear
Shakespeare used Prose for important characters who would normally
have used verse when speaking. When this happens, there is usually a
point being made. In these instances consider when they are speaking
differently from the way they normally do.
GLOUCESTER :
Kent banished thus? And France in choler parted?And the king gone tonight,
prescribed his power confined to exhibition? All this done upon the gad?—
Edmund, how now? What news?

17. Quick Facts
 NAME: William Shakespeare
 OCCUPATION: Playwright, Poet
 BIRTH DATE: c. April 23, 1564
 DEATH DATE: April 23, 1616
 EDUCATION: King's New School
 PLACE OF BIRTH: Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
 PLACE OF DEATH: Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom
 NICKNAME: Bard of Avon
 NICKNAME: Swan of Avon
 AKA: Shakspere
 AKA: Will Shakespeare
 NICKNAME: The Bard

18. MARRIED LIFE
 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in
Canterbury Province. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford.
William was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter
they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585,
twins Hamnet and Judith were born,. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11.
 It has often been inferred that Shakespeare came to dislike his wife, but there is no existing
documentation or correspondence to support this supposition. For most of their married life,
he lived in London, writing and performing his plays, while she remained in Stratford.
However, according to John Aubrey, he returned to Stratford for a period every year.[7] When
he retired from the theatre in 1613, he chose to live in Stratford with his wife, rather than
London.

19. Hathaway married
Shakespeare in
November 1582
His age difference, together with Hathaway's antenuptial pregnancy, has been
employed by some historians as evidence that it was a "shotgun wedding", forced
on a reluctant Shakespeare by the Hathaway family.

20. Burial
Hathaway was interred next
to her husband in the Church
of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-
upon-Avon. The inscription
states, "Here lyeth the body
of Anne wife of William
Shakespeare who departed
this life the 6th day of August
1623 being of the age of 67
years." A Latin inscription
followed which translates as
"Breasts, O mother, milk and
life thou didst give. Woe is
me – for how great a boon
shall I give stones? How
much rather would I pray
that the good angel should
move the stone so that, like
Christ's body, thine image
might come forth! But my
prayers are unavailing. Come
quickly, Christ, that my
mother, though shut within
this tomb may rise again and
reach the stars."[11] The
inscription may have been
written by John Hall on
behalf of his wife, Anne's
daughter, Susanna.[3]

21. THEATRICAL BEGINNINGS IN LONDON
 By 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a
playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. In the September 20,
1592 edition of the Stationers' Register (a guild publication), there is an article by
London playwright Robert Greene that takes a few jabs at William Shakespeare:
 "...there [William Shakespeare] is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that
with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast
out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his
own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country."
 Scholars differ on the interpretation of this criticism, but most agree that it was Greene's
way of saying Shakespeare was reaching above his rank, trying to match better known
and educated playwrights likeChristopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe or Greene himself.
 By the early 1590s, documents show William Shakespeare was a managing partner in the
Lord Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in London. After the crowning of
King James I, in 1603, the company changed its name to the King's Men. From all
accounts, the King's Men company was very popular, and records show that Shakespeare
had works published and sold as popular literature. The theater culture in 16th-century
England was not highly admired by people of high rank. However, many of the nobility
were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. Early in his career,
Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of
Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first published poems "Venus and Adonis"
(1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).

22. ESTABLISHING HIMSELF
 By 1597, William Shakespeare had published 15 of the 37
plays attributed to him. Civil records show that at this time
he purchased the second largest house in Stratford, called
New House, for his family. It was a four-day ride by horse
from Stratford to London, so it is believed that Shakespeare
spent most of his time in the city writing and acting and
came home once a year during the 40-day Lenten period,
when the theaters were closed.
 By 1599, William Shakespeare and his business partners
built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames
River, which they called the Globe. In 1605, Shakespeare
purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for 440
pounds, which doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds
a year. This made him an entrepreneur as well as an artist,
and scholars believe these investments gave him the time
to write his plays uninterrupted.

23. LATER WORKS: TRAGEDIES AND TRAGICOMEDIES
It was in William Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that
he wrote the tragedies "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Othello" and
"Macbeth." In these, Shakespeare's characters present vivid
impressions of human temperament that are timeless and
universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is
"Hamlet," with its exploration of betrayal, retribution,
incest and moral failure. These moral failures often drive
the twists and turns of Shakespeare's plots, destroying the
hero and those he loves.
In William Shakespeare's final period, he wrote
tragicomedies. Among these are "Cymbeline," "The
Winter's Tale," and "The Tempest." Though graver in tone
than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of "King
Lear" or "Macbeth" because they end with reconciliation
and forgiveness.

24. Anne Hathway
Cottage
Enjoy the peace
and tranquility of
beautiful cottage
gardens and
traditional
orchards

25. Shakespeare's
Birthplace from
Henley Street
Shakespeare's Birthplace
has been welcoming visitors
for over 250 years. William
Shakespeare grew up here
and he played here. He ate
meals in the hall and he slept
and dreamed in these rooms.
Shakespeare also spent the
first five years of married life
in this house with his new
wife, Anne Hathaway.
For millions of Shakespeare
enthusiasts worldwide, the
house is a shrine. You
will discover the world that
shaped the man and you'll
find out what other famous
writers thought when they
visited here. Well-known
visitors have included
Charles Dickens, John Keats,
Walter Scott and Thomas
Hardy.
Shakespeare's Birthplace is
a fascinating house that
offers a tantalising glimpse
into Shakespeare's early
world. It's a special place
that everyone should see at

26. The most romantic
Shakespeare’s
House
Willow Sculpture
Trail
Discover where the
young William
Shakespeare
courted his future
bride Anne
Hathaway at her
picturesque family
home.

27. WRITING STYLE
William Shakespeare's early plays were written in
the conventional style of the day, with elaborate
metaphors and rhetorical phrases that didn't
always align naturally with the story's plot or
characters. However, Shakespeare was very
innovative, adapting the traditional style to his
own purposes and creating a freer flow of words.
With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare
primarily used a metrical pattern consisting of
lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank
verse, to compose his plays. At the same time,
there are passages in all the plays that deviate
from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose.

28. EARLY WORKS: HISTORIES AND COMEDIES
With the exception of "Romeo and Juliet," William
Shakespeare's first plays were mostly histories written in
the early 1590s. "Richard II" and "Henry VI," parts 1, 2, and 3
and "Henry V" dramatize the destructive results of weak or
corrupt rulers and have been interpreted by drama
historians as Shakespeare's way of justifying the origins of
the Tudor dynasty.
Shakespeare also wrote several comedies during his early
period: the witty romance "A Midsummer Night's Dream,"
the romantic "Merchant of Venice," the wit and wordplay of
"Much Ado About Nothing," the charming "As You Like It,"
and Twelfth Night. Other plays, possibly written before
1600, were "Titus Andronicus," "The Comedy of Errors,"
"The Taming of the Shrew" and "The Two Gentlemen of
Verona."

29. Shakespeare’s Literary Devices
USING OPPOSITES:
Shakespeare uses opposite to make a point. The opposites are not
obvious.
LIFE IN THE FOREST LIFE AT COURT
“ free from peril” “painted pomp”
“ finds tongues in trees” “envious court”
finds “books in the running brooks”
“this life more sweet”
“I would not change it”
“winter’s wind,” “cold” and “icy fang” are counsellors that “feelingly
persuade me what Iam”

30. Repetition
Sometimes Shakespeare repeated words and ideas to give more force to a
speech . Eg: The speech comes from “The Taming of the shrew”. Petruchio is
supposed to be wooing Kate to be his wife.
You lie, in faith, for you are call’d plain Kate,
And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom
For dainties are all Kates, and therefore , Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW- ACT II SCENE I

31. Shakespeare’s use of lists:
A little like repeating the same idea or word making a list of items is also a
powerful dramatic tool that Shakespeare used. Listing allows the audience
to contemplate as item is added to them.
 Eg: Cauldron scene from Macbeth Act IV Scene I
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

32. ACT IV, SCENE I
FIRST WITCH
Round about the cauldron go,
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone.
Days and nights has thirty-one.
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' th' charmèd
pot.
ALL
Double, double toil and
trouble, Fire burn, and
cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s
sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s
wing, For a charm of powerful
trouble,Like a hell-broth boil and
bubble
ALL
Double, double toil and
trouble, Fire burn, and
cauldron bubble.

33. HEIGHTENING TENSIONIn the play “Othello”, repetition is used in a very different way. In Act III Scene III
Othello is being taunted by Iago,
somebody he foolishly trusts. Iago, is plainly instills seeds of doubt in Othello’s
mind about the relationship between
Othello’s wife and Michael Cassio. In the extract from Othello, Iago is suggesting
this unfaithfulness in an indirect way
thus leaving Othello to make his own assumptions. Look at the way repeated words
heighten the tension in this short
extract.
OTHELLO:
Honest, ay, honest.
IAGO:
My lord, for aught I know.
OTHELLO
What dost thou think?
IAGO
Think, my lord?
OTHELLO
“Think, my lord?” Alas, thou echo's me
As if there were some monster in thy thought
Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something.
I heard thee say even now thou lik’st not that
When Cassio left my wife. What didst not like?
And when I told thee he was of my counsel
Of my whole course of wooing, thou cried’st “Indeed?”
And didst contract and purse thy brow together
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me
Show me thy thought.