In this study guide, we explore the life and legacy of William Shakespeare. Through his iconic plays and poems, you’ll learn why his works continue to be studied, performed, and celebrated worldwide.
Learning Objectives
Through this study guide, students will:
1. demonstrate an understanding of themes and characters in three of Shakespeare’s most important plays.
2. demonstrate an understanding of language and literary structure in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
3. examine Shakespeare’s life and times to understand the historical context for his work.
4. explore Shakespeare’s lasting legacy on our language and popular culture.
Who Was William Shakespeare?
While many details surrounding the life of William Shakespeare remain unclear, scholars believe he was born around April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, a market town some 100 miles from London. His father was John Shakespeare, a glove-maker who also served as an elected official before suffering business losses that left his family in debt beginning when William was in his teens. William’s mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a wealthy nearby landowner.
William was the third of eight children, two of whom died in infancy and another who died before age 10. His younger sister, Joan, was the only sibling to outlive the famous playwright, who left her money, clothing, and the deed to the family home in his later will. Scholars believe there is strong evidence that the Shakespeare family was Catholic, a fact they would have likely kept secret due to anti-Catholic sentiment following the Reformation of the English church earlier in the 16th century.
Shakespeare likely attended the nearby grammar school, and while some scholars have expressed doubt that Shakespeare’s education was comprehensive enough to allow him to create his later work, it’s now believed that the Stratford school was well-regarded and Shakespeare would have received a solid education, including Latin and the Classics.
He left school in his mid-teens and, unlike some of his contemporaries including Christopher Marlowe, didn’t attend college. Shakespeare was expected to become an apprentice, but that plan was interrupted in 1592 when the 18-year-old married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior who was already pregnant with their first child. Their daughter, Susanna, was born the next year, then the couple had twins, Hamnet and Judith, in 1585. Hamnet died in 1596 at age 11, but by that time, Shakespeare had moved to London, returning to Stratford only intermittently over the next several decades. Shakespeare retired from his writing career around 1613 and returned permanently to his family in Stratford where he died in late April 1616 at age 52 of unknown causes.
Shakespeare’s Plays
Little is known about Shakespeare’s life in the years immediately after his marriage, a period scholars consider “the lost years.” But by 1592, Shakespeare had moved to London and established himself as an actor in The Lord Chamberlain’s men, a theater group led by its star Richard Burbage. The troupe eventually made their home in the newly-built Globe Theatre on London’s Southbank. Shakespeare helped with the Globe’s construction, and his partial ownership stake brought him much-needed financial security.
However, it was through his work as the group’s primary playwright that he found fame. Between the late 1580s and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays. Some scholars believe he might have made contributions to plays by other people or that some original Shakespearean works were subsequently lost. Despite their place in the literary canon, there has been much debate over whether Shakespeare was actually the author of his plays. Opponents claim Shakespeare didn’t have the educational background and knowledge displayed in the works and have proposed several alternate candidates, but the consensus among scholars is that he was indeed the real author.
His works drew deeply on historic events and were frequently set in foreign lands few of his audience had ever visited. As with much of Shakespeare’s life, the timeline of the writing of his plays remains unclear. He likely started on his first plays around 1589. Although there is continued debate surrounding which came first, his earliest works are the three Henry VI plays, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Shakespeare’s plays are generally grouped into three categories:
🎭 Comedies:
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona (written between 1589–1591*)
- The Taming of the Shrew (1590–1591)
- The Comedy of Errors (1594)
- Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594–1595)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
- The Merchant of Venice (1596–1597)
- The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597–1598)
- Much Ado About Nothing (1598–1599)
- As You Like It (1599–1600)
- Twelfth Night (1601)
- Troilus and Cressida (1602)
- Measure for Measure (1603–1604)
- All’s Well That Ends Well (1606–1607)
- Pericles (1607)
- The Winter’s Tale (1609–1610)
- Cymbeline (1610–1611)
- The Tempest (1610–1611)
- The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613)
→ Get an overview of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including key themes and characters, by downloading our free Shakespeare study guide PDF
🎭 Tragedies:
- Titus Andronicus (1592)
- Romeo and Juliet (1595)
- Julius Caesar (1599)
- Hamlet (1600–1601)
- Othello (1603–1604)
- King Lear (1605–1606)
- Timon of Athens (1606)
- Macbeth (1606)
- Antony and Cleopatra (1606)
- Coriolanus (1608)
→ Get an overview of Romeo and Juliet, including key themes and characters, by downloading our free Shakespeare study guide PDF
🎭 Histories:
- Henry VI, Part 2 (1590–1591)
- Henry VI, Part 3 (1591)
- Henry VI, Part 1 (1592)
- Richard III (1592–1593)
- Richard II (1595)
- King John (1596)
- Henry IV, Part 1 (1596–1597)
- Henry IV, Part 2 (1597–1598)
- Henry V (1598–1599)
- Henry VIII (1613)
→ Get an overview of Richard III, including key themes and characters, by downloading our free Shakespeare study guide PDF
*Editor’s Note: Sources vary on when Shakespeare wrote many of his plays. Data based on The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition) and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Shakespeare also wrote poetry, including at least 154 sonnets. The sonnets were first published in 1609 likely without his permission. Each sonnet is 14 lines long, divided into three stanzas of four lines each (known as a quatrain) followed by a two-line couplet. Like his plays, the sonnets were written in iambic pentameter rhyming scheme with 10 syllables in each line.
Scholars believe 126 of the sonnets are addressed to a handsome, young aristocratic man, known as the “Fair Youth.” In these poems, Shakespeare details his close relationship with the Fair Youth, praising his beauty and urging him to marry and procreate to carry on his line. While some scholars believe these sonnets depict a romantic intimacy between the two men, others believe that the relationship was platonic.
Each sonnet is 14 lines long, divided into three stanzas of four lines each (known as a quatrain) followed by a two-line couplet. Like his plays, the sonnets were written in iambic pentameter rhyming scheme with 10 syllables in each line
Approximately two dozen of the sonnets were addressed to the “Dark Lady,” a woman who infatuates Shakespeare. Based on his physical descriptions, some scholars believe the Dark Lady might have been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, a female poet, or even a London prostitute. As in the case of the Fair Youth, the Dark Lady’s identity hasn’t been confirmed. In any case, these sonnets alternate between desire, obsession, jealousy, and anguish.
In addition to the sonnets, Shakespeare wrote several longer narrative poems. The two most important of which were Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594).
📝 Activity Time
Download our complete William Shakespeare Study Guide—for free—to delve into Sonnet 18, arguably the most famous of his sonnets. Read and discuss the text, plus test your own sonnet-writing ability.
Shakespeare Today
Shakespeare’s influence on our language is deep and everlasting. But did you know that he even invented words we still use today? Scholars estimate he used more than 20,000 different words in his work. Among them are some 1,700 words that Shakespeare either invented or published for the first time in his works.
Check out a few of his inventions:
- Alligator (Romeo and Juliet)
- Bedazzled (The Taming of the Shrew)
- Cold-blooded (King John)
- Eyeball (Henry VI, Part 1)
- Fashionable (Troilus and Cressida)
- Gossip (The Comedy of Errors)
- Obscene (Love’s Labour’s Lost)
- Rant (Hamlet)
- Swagger (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
- Uncomfortable (Romeo and Juliet)
He didn’t just stick to innovative words and phrases, either. Shakespeare’s plays also introduced or popularized names that have become widespread in the centuries that followed, including Jessica, Miranda, Olivia, and Viola.
Shakespeare’s works are also full of some of the best examples of Elizabethan humor: insults.
Here are five of his best put-downs, with modern-day translations in the dropdown:
Shakespeare Onscreen
Shakespeare’s plays have been continuously performed around the world for more than 425 years, and several of them have been made into movies. Some are straightforward versions of the original plays, while others have used Shakespeare’s stories as a launching pad for original works. These include musicals like West Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet) and Kiss Me Kate (The Taming of the Shrew).
The creators of the Disney musical The Lion King based much of its plot and several characters on Hamlet. Simba is a prince whose father is murdered just like Hamlet, and he also receives ghostly visitations from his father. Simba must avenge his father’s death and vanquish his murderous uncle Scar (a stand-in for Claudius). The Lion King also makes nods to other Shaskpearian works, including a character named Timon (the lead character’s name in Timon of Athens) and Pumbaa, the gluttonous warthog many scholars believe resembles the character of Falstaff, who appears in three of Shakespeare’s history plays.
🎞️ Films Based on Shakespeare Works
The Taming of the Shrew also served as inspiration for 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), reusing several of the original character’s names to tell the story of Katherine “Kat,” an unlikable “shrew” who is tricked into a fake relationship with Patrick so that her father will allow her younger sister, Bianca, to date.
Another adaptation involving high school is She’s the Man (2006), which stars Amanda Bynes as Viola, a teen who switches places with her twin brother, Sebastian, as in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Both are set in Illyria, an island in the play and a boarding school in the film. In both versions, Olivia falls in love with “Sebastian,” not realizing it’s really Viola in disguise.
How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA Style
When listing Shakespeare’s plays in your works cited, include the author’s last name then first name separated by a comma. Next comes the italicized play title followed by the book or website name. For book citations, include the version or edition information, editor(s), publisher, publication year, and page range. Web sources should be followed by the URL and access date. Examples:
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Cambridge Edition, edited by William Aldis Wright, Doubleday & Company Inc., 1936, pp. 731–779.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Folger Shakespeare Library, www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/hamlet/read/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.
Including Shakespeare’s poetry in your works cited follows similar rules. Remember the name of the sonnet or poem should appear in quotation marks. Examples:
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Cambridge Edition, edited by William Aldis Wright, Doubleday & Company Inc., 1936, p. 1418.
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds.” Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems
/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.
To cite Shakespeare using an in-text parenthetical citation, include the italicized play name then the act, scene, and line number(s). For sonnets, include the author’s last name and the line number(s). The citation should appear at the end of the sentence. Examples:
(Hamlet 3.1.55-57)
(Shakespeare 1-2)
As each edition of Shakespeare’s work has different line numbers, make sure to check the accuracy based on the edition you are using.
Additional Resources
- Biography.com’s Complete Biography of William Shakespeare
- Why Is William Shakespeare’s Life Considered a Mystery?
- Was Shakespeare the Real Author of His Plays?
- Shakespeare Wrote Three of His Famous Tragedies During Turbulent Times
- 20 Famous Shakespeare Quotes That Show the Bard’s Wit and Wisdom
- How Did Shakespeare Die? What the Few Intriguing Clues Tell Us
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Poetry Foundation: William Shakespeare
Barbara Maranzani is a New York–based writer and producer. She is a frequent contributor to HISTORY and Biography.com, covering American and European history, politics, pop culture, and more. In her free time, she enjoys planning and plotting her next travel adventure.
