According to Raphel Holinshed, Macbeth and
Banquo are conspirators for murdering King Duncan. But Shakespeare has completely absolved Banquo and the entire blame is shifted
to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Probably, Shakespeare felt that James I, the King of England would be offended if his grand predecessor,
Banquo is presented as a conspirator to murder the King.
Hamlet , as presented in the play was thirty years old. (Act
V, Scene 1.144)
The tragedy King Lear was presented as a holiday entertainment and Christmas play at the
palace of White Hall in 1606.
Nahum Tate, a poet laureate, produced a version of King Lear with a happy ending in
which Cordelia survives and marries Edagr. Dr. Johnson defended this production.
Thomas Rhymer refers to Othello as "So much ado,
so much stress, so much passion and repetition about a handkerchief."
Cressida is described by Hazlitt as
"a giddy girl, an unpractised jilt."
Chaucer, Lydgate, Dryden and Henryson are four poets other than Shakespeare who have handled the
Troylus and Cressida theme.
In one of Shakespeare’s plays, Troylus and Cressida, a sleeve and a glove are exchanged
as love-knots.
At the end of the play King Lear, Gloucester
is blinded and King Lear becomes mad.
Hamlet speaks of Jephthah, judge of Israel to Polonius in the play Hamlet. Jephthah
sacrificed his daughter for victory in war.
Macbeth is regarded as "Jonah of the Theatre."
Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are not
grouped under historical plays because Macbeth is Scottish history and the other two are Roman. Plays belonging to English
history alone are classified under history plays.
Bolinbroke occupied the English throne assuming the name Henry IV. After deposing Richard II, Henry
IV proposes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. John Falstaff and party robe a few pilgrims at Shrewsbury, but they are in turn robbed by
Prince Hal and Poins incognito. The above instances are interpreted as mortality elements by modern critics.
It is believed that Shakespeare wrote
Henry VIII in collaboration with Fletcher, a notable dramatist of the day.
In his tragedy Macbeth, Shakespeare makes use of Scottish history.
Henry V is the ideal king of Shakespeare because he possessed heroic qualities founded on
eternal values.
Sir John Falstaff was nicknamed as Ribs, Tallow, Wool Sack,
Chops and Fat guts in Henry IV part I.
Kemp played the role of Falstaff for the first time.
The dying speech of John of Gaunt is generally considered to be the most wonderfully patriotic
passage in Shakespeare.
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© 2005 Atanu Bhattacharya
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