William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is about the unhappy love and death of Romeo and Juliet, the only children of two powerfull houses of Verona – the House of Montague and the House of Capulet. These two houses hated each other. Romeo Montague fell in love with Juliet Capulet. They loved each other very much.
Their love and marriage were secret and by an unfortunate coincidence Romeo killed Tybalt who was Juliet´s cousin.
Romeo was send to the exile and Juliet was forced to get married.
She asked Friar Laurence for help and he gave her some magic drops after which she fell asleep for several hours and looked as if she was dead. Romeo learnt about Juliet´s death and hurried to the Capulet´s Monument in a churchyard. He didn´t know about the trick and he killed himself. Soon after, Juliet woke up and when she saw Romeo dead, she killed herself too. Both Houses reconciliated after the death of their children.

Hamlet

This is the tragedy of the sufferings and hesitation of an honest, strong and responsible man who is not able to kill or punish without having a clear proof of guilt. Hamlet also thinks about life and death. In his monologue he says: “To be or not to be – that is the question”.
This sentence is know in the whole world.

The most important translator of Shakespeare´s plays was Josef Václav Sládek.

William Shakespeare wrote 37 theatre plays and 154 sonnets – for he was also a poet.

Comedies:

The Comedy of Errors Komedie plná omylu
The Taming of the Shrew Zkrocení zlé ženy
The two Gentlemen of Verona Dva muži z Verony
The Merchant of Venice Kupec Benátský
A Midsummer-Night´s Dream Sen noci Svatojánské
Merry Wives of Windsor Veselé paničkyWindsorské
Much Ado about Nothing Mnoho povyků pro nic
As You Like It Jak se Vám líbí
Twelfth Night Večer Tříkrálový

History plays:

Richard the II.
Richard the III.
Henry IV.
Henry V.
Henry VI.
Julius Caesar

Tragedies:

Romeo and Juliet
Mackbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
Othello

William Shakespeare was one of the biggest dramatists in the world.
He was born in April 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon.
He lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
He was the third child of mary and John Shakespeare. His father worked as a glove-maker.
William attended the local grammar school. When William was 18 years old he marred Ann Hathaway. She came from the nearby village called Shottery. She was 8 year older than William. They had two daughters: Susan and Judith. Judith had a twin brother Hamnet, but he died when he was eleven years old.

In 1592 he came to London and joined a group of actors. They played in the Globe Theatre. At first he rewrote and edited older plays. Later he started to write his own plays. He was very succesful. His plays were first published in 1623. After his son´s death he went back to Stratford and live a quiet life with his family. He died on the same day as he was born – on 23rd of April 1616. He is buried in the church at Stratford upon-Avon.