William Shakespeare
Dramatist · Poet · English · Renaissance
William Shakespeare
1564–1616
He invented the soliloquy as a place where a mind can be caught mid-argument with itself. Read him for hesitation, not for plot.
The life
A glover's son from Stratford who went to London, acted, wrote for a company he part-owned, and retired rich enough to buy the second-largest house in his home town. He left no letters and no diary — only thirty-eight plays and a sequence of sonnets that behave like a private life kept in public code.
The writings
Play
Play · c. 1600
Hamlet
c. 1600 · Tragedy · Revenge drama
A prince is asked by a ghost to avenge a murder and spends five acts interrogating the request, the ghost, and himself.
Play · c. 1606
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Macbeth
c. 1606 · Tragedy
A soldier hears a prophecy, murders a king, and discovers that the crown is the least interesting thing he has taken.
Play · c. 1606
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
King Lear
c. 1606 · Tragedy
A king divides his kingdom by asking his daughters to price their love.
Play · c. 1604
Othello
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Othello
c. 1604 · Tragedy
Iago talks a great general into murdering the person who loves him.
Play · c. 1595
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Romeo and Juliet
c. 1595 · Tragedy · Romance
Two adolescents invent a private language in a city that has no room for it.
Play · c. 1595
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
A Midsummer Night's Dream
c. 1595 · Comedy
Four lovers, a fairy quarrel and a troupe of amateur actors lose a night in the wood.
Play · c. 1611
The Tempest
William Shakespeare
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
The Tempest
c. 1611 · Romance · Comedy
A deposed duke rules an island by magic and then gives it up.
