SHAKESPEAREEEEEEE

QUOTES
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlains Men
company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which
Shakespeares professional life molded his artistry.

Synopsis
William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlains Men
company of theatrical players. Written records give little indication of the way in which
Shakespeares professional life molded his artistry.

Mysterious Origins
Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed in
countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years. And yet, the
personal history of William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery. There are two primary
sources that provide historians with a basic outline of his life. One source is his work
the plays, poems and sonnetsand the other is official documentation such as church and
court records. However, these only provide brief sketches of specific events in his life
and provide little on the person who experienced those events.

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. From this, it
is believed he was born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars
acknowledge as William Shakespeare's birthday.
Located 103 miles west of London, during Shakespeare's time Stratford-upon-Avon was a
market town bisected with a country road and the River Avon. William was the third child
of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William
had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and
Edmund. Before William's birth, his father became a successful merchant and held
official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records

indicate John's fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s.

Scant records exist of William's childhood, and virtually none regarding his education.
Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King's New School, in Stratford,
which taught reading, writing and the classics. Being a public official's child, William
would have undoubtedly qualified for free tuition. But this uncertainty regarding his
education has led some to raise questions about the authorship of his work and even
about whether or not William Shakespeare ever existed
House. Shakespeares family home in Stratford was called New Place. The house stood
on the corner of Chapel Street and Chapel Lane, and was apparently the second largest
house in the town

Married Life And Child

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.
After the birth of the twins, there are seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no
records exist. Scholars call this period the "lost years," and there is wide speculation on
what he was doing during this period. One theory is that he might have gone into hiding
for poaching game from the local landlord, Sir Thomas Lucy. Another possibility is that
he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire. It is generally
believed he arrived in London in the mid- to late 1580s and may have found work as a
horse attendant at some of London's finer theaters, a scenario updated centuries later by
the countless aspiring actors and playwrights in Hollywood and Broadway.
Shakespeares family was not large by standards of the time. Shakespeares sister, Joan,
was his only sibling to survive him. She was five years younger than him and much loved
by him. He died a rich man and he left her well provided for in his will with both
property and money. He also made sure that her sons would be comfortable
Born in 1569, she was named after John and Mary Shakespeares first born child, Joan,
born in 1558 but dying, sadly, after only two months. The second Joan lived to be
seventy-seven, dying in 1646, thirty years after her famous brother. For those times it was
a very long life. Her descendents, with the surname, Hart, lived in Stratford until 1806.
The Bard and his sister were very close and one of her sons, William Hart, followed in
his uncles footsteps, went to London and became an actor with the renowned Kings
Men acting company.
There was a third sister, also unknown to Shakespeare. Shakespeares sister, Margaret,
was born in 1562. she lived for one year, probably dying of the Black Death.

The fourth of Shakespeares sisters was Anne, who was born in 1571 when the Bard was
seven years old. What a sorrow it must have been for the teenaged William when she died
from the Black Death aged eight. We know that in spite of the familys sever financial
problems at that time she was given a very expensive funeral.
Families at that time were large. It was important to have as many children as possible
because the child mortality rate was high. The Shakespeare boys all survived. Richard
died in 1613, aged 38, and Gilbert in 1612, aged 46, and William in 1616 aged 52.
Joan lived on to see her brother become even more famous than he had been in his
lifetime

Theatrical Beginnings
By 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a
playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. The September 20, 1592
edition of the Stationers' Register (a guild publication) includes an article by London
playwright Robert Greene that takes a few jabs at William Shakespeare: "...There 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," Greene wrote of Shakespeare.
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 like Christopher 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- and second-published poems: "Venus and
Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).
During his life, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, 154 sonnets and a number of poems!
that we know of. In addition there are a number of lost plays and plays that
Shakespeare collaborated on. This means Shakespeare wrote an average 1.5 plays a year
since he first started writing in 1589.

Establishing Himself
By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by William Shakespeare were published. 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.

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

THIGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Few people realise that apart from writing his numerous plays and sonnets,
Shakespeare was also an actor who performed many of his own plays as well as
those of other playwrights. There is evidence that he played the ghost in Hamlet
and Adam in As You Like It.

Shakespeare lived a double life. By the seventeenth century he had become a

famous playwright in London but in his hometown of Stratford, where his wife
and children were, and which he visited frequently, he was a well known and
highly respected businessman and property owner.

Nobody knows what Shakespeare did between 1585

and 1592.

To the dismay of his biographers, Shakespeare disappears from the historical record
between 1585, when his twins baptism was recorded, and 1592, when the playwright

Robert Greene denounced him in a pamphlet as an upstart crow. The insult suggests
hed already made a name for himself on the London stage by then. What did the newly
married father and future literary icon do during those seven lost years? Historians
have speculated that he worked as a schoolteacher, studied law, traveled across
continental Europe or joined an acting troupe that was passing through Stratford.
According to one 17th-century account, he fled his hometown after poaching deer from a
local politicians estate.

Shakespeares plays feature the first written

instances of hundreds of familiar terms.

William Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any
other writer in history, coiningor, at the very least, popularizingterms and phrases
that still regularly crop up in everyday conversation. Examples include the words
fashionable (Troilus and Cressida), sanctimonious (Measure for Measure),
eyeball (A Midsummer Nights Dream) and lackluster (As You Like It); and the
expressions foregone conclusion (Othello), in a pickle (The Tempest), wild
goose chase (Romeo and Juliet) and one fell swoop (Macbeth). He is also credited
with inventing the given names Olivia, Miranda, Jessica and Cordelia, which have
become common over the years (as well as others, such as Nerissa and Titania, which
have not).

Shakespeares epitaph wards off would-be grave

robbers with a curse.

William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52not bad for an era when
the average life expectancy ranged between 30 and 40 years. We may never know what
killed him, although an acquaintance wrote that the Bard fell ill after a night of heavy
drinking with fellow playwright Ben Jonson. Despite his swift demise, Shakespeare
supposedly had the wherewithal to pen the epitaph over his tomb, which is located inside
a Stratford church. Intended to thwart the numerous grave robbers who plundered
Englands cemeteries at the time, the verse reads: Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare, /
To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, / And cursed
be he that moves my bones. It must have done the trick, since Shakespeares remains
have yet to be disturbed.

Some people think Shakespeare was a fraud.

How did a provincial commoner who had never gone to college or ventured outside
Stratford become one of the most prolific, worldly and eloquent writers in history? Even
early in his career, Shakespeare was spinning tales that displayed in-depth knowledge of
international affairs, European capitals and history, as well as familiarity with the royal

court and high society. For this reason, some theorists have suggested that one or several
authors wishing to conceal their true identity used the person of William Shakespeare as a
front. Proposed candidates include Edward De Vere, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe
and Mary Sidney Herbert. Most scholars and literary historians remain skeptical about
this hypothesis, although many suspect Shakespeare sometimes collaborated with other
playwrights.
hakespeares plays are set in many locations, some of them fictional
Europe, Africa and the Middle East are all settings for Shakespeare's plays, as you can
see on this interactive map. His plays are set in 12 countries, with cities in what is now
Italy being Shakespeares favourite backdrop. Some plays, such as The Tempest, take
place in entirely fictional worlds. The only comedy to be set in the UK is The Merry
Wives of Windsor.
Shakespeare took phrases from other languages
For instance, 'fat paunches make lean pates' was originally a Greek and Latin proverb by
St Jerome. Shakespeare's 'Greek to me' could also be from a similar phrase in Latin, a
language which Shakespeare could read.
The word love appears 2,191 times in the complete works
The number is based on the 1864 Globe Edition the amount could vary slightly from
edition to edition. Altogether, there are 28,829 unique word forms in all of Shakespeare's
works, and 12,493 occur only once. You can find more text statistics as Open Source
Shakespeare.
Since 1960, there have been publications and productions of Hamlet in more than 75
languages
These languages even include Klingon, Esperanto, and Interlingua. Other popular plays
in translation include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice.
Shakespeare's works overall have been translated into more than 100 languages.
From 2005 to 2014, there have been seven professional productions of Shakespeare and
Shakespearean adaptations in Arabic.
Romeo and Juliet has been performed in 24 countries in the last ten years
The WSB lists the following countries across five continents: US, UK, Germany, Korea,
France, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia, Austria, Poland, Finland, Netherlands,
Switzerland, South Africa, Belgium, Estonia, Czech Republic, Israel, Spain, Ukraine,
Cuba, Mexico, and Romania.
The play has been performed in multiple languages, including English, German, Spanish,
Korean, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Dutch, Estonian, Czech,
Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Romanian.
These performances include musicals, ballets and puppet shows.
Shakespeare has inspired lots of films in Hollywood, Bollywood, and beyond
Western films:

West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins) Romeo and Juliet

Kiss Me, Kate (George Sidney) The Taming of the Shrew

Forbidden Planet (Nicholas Nayfack) The Tempest

My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant) Henry IV parts 1 and 2

Gnomeo and Juliet (Kelly Asbury) Romeo and Juliet

Looking for Richard (Al Pacino) Richard III

Bollywood:

Omkara, Maqbool, Haider (all by Bhardwaj) Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet

Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) Romeo and Juliet

Japan:

Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa) Macbeth

Ran (Akira Kurosawa) King Lear

Since 2000, there have been Shakespeare movies or TV shows made in...
...Japan, India, France, Argentina, Germany, Thailand, Italy, China, Poland, Russia, South
Africa, Tibet, The Netherlands, Japan, Vietnam, Israel, Chile, Estonia, and Brazil. To
these, we can add English-speaking countries Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US
and the UK.
The first performances of Shakespeare in the Middle East were in the late 19th
century
According to Graham Holderness: 'Shakespeare entered the Arab world in the late 19th
century as theatre; that is, the plays were translated and adapted specifically to form the
repertoire of dramatic companies in Egypt and other Arab countries. Hamlet was first
performed in Egypt around 1893.'
Shakespeare invented lots of expressions that we still use today
Heres a selection of popular expressions; you can find lots more at BBC America.

'Heart of gold' (Henry V)

'Wild-goose chase' (Romeo and Juliet)

'Faint-hearted' (Henry IV part I)

'Brave new world' (The Tempest)

'Break the ice' (The Taming of the Shrew)

'For goodness sake' (Henry VIII)

'Foregone conclusion' (Othello)

'Love is blind' (The Merchant of Venice)

The most popular name from a Shakespeare play used today is Olivia

That's according to the list of most popular US and British baby names in 2014. Olivia is
the name of a character in Twelfth Night. Shakespeare was the first person to use the
name with this spelling.
Oliver (As You Like It), Harry (Hotspur, Henry IV, and characters in other plays), Isabella
(Measure for Measure) and William (As You Like It) are also popular today. Shakespeare
didnt invent these names but they are enduringly popular.
The stories told in most of Shakespeares plays are not original
Shakespeare's primary source materials were English and Latin works: histories, plays,
and poems.
For the histories (and King Lear and Cymbeline), Shakespeare relied heavily on
Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He also used Geoffrey of
Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and other books by historians (called 'chronicle
histories'). For the Roman history, he relied on Plutarch's Lives.
Romeo and Juliet is based on an Italian folktale, which Shakespeare read in translation.
Some plays he took directly from classical sources, like The Comedy of Errors, which he
took from Plautus's The Brothers Menaechmus and simply added an extra set of twins
(the servants, Dromio of Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse). He took many plot elements
from Ovid's Metamorphosis, which can be found in Titus Andronicus, Midsummer
Night's Dream and other plays.
For other plays, we conjecture there are lost sources, such as an earlier version of Titus
Andronicus and Hamlet. Sometimes, he rewrote earlier plays, as we think was the case
with Hamlet (the missing play is called the Ur-Hamlet) and as he did with King John,
which he reworked from an anonymous play called The Troublesome Raigne of John,
King of England; King Lear is based on The Chronicle History of King Leir.
The British Council has supported the production of a film version of Sarah
Frankcoms critically acclaimed stage production of Hamlet, which recently enjoyed
a sell-out run at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2014 and stars
Maxine Peake as Hamlet (pictured above). The film will be shown in nearly 300 UK
cinemas on 23 March 2015, with some encore screenings to follow.
The British Council will screen this film internationally in non-English speaking
countries in 2016 as part of its Shakespeare on Film touring collection

1) BIOGRAFA DE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Resulta imposible llevar a cabo una exposicin completa y rigurosa de la vida de este
famoso autor ingls, pues son muy pocos los datos comprobados que se tienen de l. Se
mantiene tradicionalmente que naci el 23 de abril de 1564, y se sabe a ciencia cierta que
fue bautizado al da siguiente, en Stratford-upon-Avon. Tercero de ocho hermanos, fue el
primer hijo varn de un prspero comerciante, y de Mary Arden, hija a su vez de un
terrateniente catlico. Probablemente, estudi en la escuela de su localidad y, como
primognito varn, estaba destinado a suceder a su padre al frente de sus negocios. Sin
embargo, segn un testimonio de la poca, el joven Shakespeare tuvo que ponerse a

trabajar como aprendiz de carnicero, por la difcil situacin econmica que atravesaba su
padre. Segn otro testimonio, se convirti en maestro de escuela. Lo que s parece claro
es que debi disfrutar de bastante tiempo libre durante su adolescencia, pues en sus obras
aparecen numerosas y eruditas referencias sobre la caza con y sin halcones, algo poco
habitual en su poca y ambiente social. En 1582 se cas con Anne Hathaway, hija de un
granjero, con la que tuvo una hija, Susanna, en 1583, y dos mellizos un nio, que
muri a los 11 aos de edad, y una nia en 1585. Al parecer, hubo de abandonar
Stratford ya que le sorprendieron cazando ilegalmente en las propiedades de sir Thomas
Lucy, el juez de paz de la ciudad.
Se supone que lleg a Londres hacia 1588 y, cuatro aos ms tarde, ya haba logrado un
notable xito como dramaturgo y actor teatral. Poco despus, consigui el mecenazgo de
Henry Wriothesley, tercer conde de Southampton. La publicacin de dos poemas erticos
segn la moda de la poca, Venus y Adonis (1593) y La violacin de Lucrecia (1594), y
de sus Sonetos (editados en 1609 pero que ya haban circulado en forma de manuscrito
desde bastante tiempo atrs) le valieron la reputacin de brillante poeta renacentista. Los
Sonetos describen la devocin de un personaje que a menudo ha sido identificado con el
propio poeta, hacia un atractivo joven cuya belleza y virtud admira, y hacia una oscura y
misteriosa dama de la que el poeta est encaprichado. El joven se siente a su vez
irresistiblemente atrado por la dama, con lo cual se cierra un tringulo, descrito por el
poeta con una apasionada intensidad que, no obstante, no llega a alcanzar los extremos de
sus tragedias, sino que, ms bien, tiende al refinamiento en el anlisis de los sentimientos
de los personajes. De hecho, la reputacin actual de Shakespeare se basa, sobre todo, en
las 38 obras teatrales de las que se tienen indicios de su participacin, bien porque las
escribiera, modificara o colaborara en su redaccin. Aunque hoy son muy conocidas y
apreciadas, sus contemporneos de mayor nivel cultural las rechazaron, por considerarlas,
como al resto del teatro, tan slo un vulgar entretenimiento.
La vida de Shakespeare en Londres estuvo marcada por una serie de arreglos financieros
que le permitieron compartir los beneficios de la compaa teatral en la que actuaba, la
Chamberlain's Men, ms tarde llamada King's Men, y de los dos teatros que sta posea,
The Globe y Blackfriars. Sus obras fueron representadas en la corte de la reina Isabel I y
del rey Jacobo I con mayor frecuencia que las de sus contemporneos, y se tiene
constancia de que slo en una ocasin estuvo a punto de perder el favor real. Fue en 1599
cuando su compaa represent las obras de la deposicin y el asesinato del rey Ricardo
II, a peticin de un grupo de cortesanos que conspiraban contra la reina Isabel,
encabezado por un ex-favorito de la reina, Robert Devereux, y por el conde de
Southampton, aunque en la investigacin que sigui al hecho, la compaa teatral qued
absuelta de toda complicidad.
A partir del ao 1608, la produccin dramtica de Shakespeare decreci
considerablemente, pues al parecer se estableci en su ciudad natal donde compr una
casa llamada New Place. Muri el 23 de abril de 1616 y fue enterrado en la iglesia de
Stratford.
2) OBRA
La obra de William Shakespeare puede clasificarse en cuatro etapas, y en ellas pueden
observarse diferentes estilos:

a.- ETAPA PRIMERA (antes de 1594):

Dramas
Primera, Segunda y Tercera parte de Enrique VI (1590-1592): Trata las funestas
consecuencias que tuvo para el pas la falta de un centro monrquico fuerte.
Ricardo III (1593): Trata, al igual que los anteriores, del egosmo existente en la familia
real a causa de la inexistencia de una mano fuerte.
Tragedia
Tito Andrnico (1594): tragedia poblada de justas venganzas. Es tratada entre los crticos
como canibalesca.
Comedias
La comedia de las equivocaciones (1592): Comedia ambientada en la guerra civil
francesa donde una pareja de gemelos provoca errores de identidad.

Comedias
La comedia de las equivocaciones (1592): Comedia ambientada en la guerra civil
francesa donde una pareja de gemelos provoca errores de identidad.
La doma de la brava (1593): comedia de caracteres entre un mancebo y una mujer muy
fuerte y muy brava.
Los dos hidalgos de Verona (1594): basada en el uso del amor idlico de forma coetnea a
la guerra civil de Francia.
Trabajos de amor perdidos (1594): satirizacin de los amores de sus personajes
masculinos.
b.- ETAPA SEGUNDA (1594-1600):
Comedias
Ricardo II (1595): Estudio de la figura del dbil que pierde su trono en favor de Enrique
IV.
Primera y Segunda parte de Enrique IV (1597): Reconocimiento real de las culpas y
miedo infundado hacia su hijo.
Sueo de una noche de verano (1595): obra donde se mezcla el amor puro, el desamor y
la fantasa.
El mercader de Venecia (1596): Aparecen retratadas las cualidades renacentistas del amor
viril.
Mucho ruido y pocas nueces (1599): Deforma a los personajes femeninos.
Como gustis (1600): Descripcin del contraste entre las costumbres de la corte y las
reas rurales.
Noche de Epifana (1600): Desventura de dos parejas de amantes.

Las alegres casadas de Windsor (1599): farsa sobre la vida de la clase media.

Tragedias
Romeo y Julieta (1595): Trgico destino de dos amantes a causa de los enfrentamientos
entre las dos familias.
Julio Csar (1599): Rivalidad poltica muy intensa.
c.- ETAPA TERCERA (1600-1608):
Tragedias
Hamlet (1601): Mezcla de gloria y sordidez que caracteriza la naturaleza humana.
Otelo, el moro de Venecia (1604): Surgir y expansin de unos injustificados celos que
desembocarn alguna que otra muerte.
El rey Lear (1605): Descripcin de las consecuencias de la irresponsabilidad y los errores
de juicio de Lear que le llevaran a entregar el poder a su hijo malo y no al bondadoso.
Antonio y Cleopatra (1606): Pasin del general romano Marco Antonio por Cleopatra.
Macbeth (1606): Descripcin del proceso de un hombre esencialmente bueno que,
influenciado, sucumbe a la ambicin y llega hasta el asesinato.
Troilo y Cressida (1602): Pone de manifiesto el abismo extendido entre lo ideal y lo real.
Coriolano (1608): Aparece un legendario hroe romano que se ve incapaz de seducir a las
masas o dominarlas por la fuerza.
Timn de Atenas (1608): Narracin de la historia de un personaje reducido a la
misantropa por la ingratitud de sus sicofantes.
Comedias
A buen fin no hay mal principio (1602): Cuestionamiento de la moral oficial.
Medida por medida (1604): tiene el mismo tema que la anterior comedia.
ETAPA CUARTA (despus de 1608):
Tragicomedias
Pericles, prncipe de Tiro (1608): Retrato de un personaje abatido por la prdida de su
esposa y la persecucin de su hija.
Cimbelino (1610): Despus de un gran sufrimiento, los personajes consiguen la preciada
felicidad.
El cuento de invierno (1610): Mismo tema que el anterior.
La tempestad (1611): Un hermano del rey de Italia es exiliado y, en el exilio, se utiliza de
sus poderes mgicos para vengarse de su hermano.
Dramas
Enrique VIII (1613): Drama histrico.
Los dos nobles caballeros (1613): Historia de dos jvenes caballeros enamorados de la
misma dama.

3) RICARDO III
3.1.Tema
El tema de Ricardo III es la continua lucha entre los nobles ingleses con la finalidad de
hacerse con el trono de Inglaterra.
3.2.Resumen
Esta obra est ambientada en el siglo decimoquinto y, ms concretamente, la accin
empieza en el ao 1471, despus de la muerte del rey Eduardo IV.
Gloster, hermano del rey, realiza diferentes maniobras para acceder al poder, entre ellas el
asesinato de varios miembros de la casa real. Ante estos hechos, la nobleza se le hecha al
cuello, retndole a una lucha armada, a una batalla.
El conde de Richmond, prximo Enrique VII ser el cabecilla del grupo opositor a
Gloster, ya Ricardo III. En el campo de batalla aparecen los espectros de las diferentes
vctimas de Ricardo III, sealando como vencedor a Richmond y amenazando de muerte
al rey. ste, pensando haber soado tales apariciones ni se plantea abandonar, pero el
destino estaba predeterminado, Ricardo III morira coronndose rey Richmond, el rey
Enrique VII.
3.3.- Personajes
El nmero de personajes importantes, o con un papel principal en la obra, es muy grande,
y todos ellos relacionados parentescamente, por lo que muchas veces su diferenciacin
resulta algo difcil. Es por este motivo por el cual slo nos centraremos en los dos
personajes que, al final, se disputan el papel de rey, tan preciado, pero tan costoso.
Ricardo: Duque de Gloster, despus Ricardo III. Es el hermano del rey Eduardo IV, a
quien el mismo mata para acceder al trono. El egosmo prima en su vida, pues su nico
fin es proclamarse rey, indiferentemente del nmero de vctimas que deje en su camino.
Aunque la mayora de caballeros de la poca se encargaban muchas veces por s mismos
de sus asesinatos, Gloster evita siempre el contacto con la vctima y paga a asesinos para
que sean ellos los encargados de hacer el trabajo sucio. Es tanto su egosmo que mata a su
propio hermano.
Enrique: Conde de Richmond, ms tarde Enrique VII. Ser el encargado de vengarse, en
nombre de las vctimas y en el suyo propio, del rey Ricardo III. Su papel hasta el
momento de la batalla no es demasiado importante, pues sus apariciones son espordicas
y de decorado, pero a partir de esta su importancia aumenta hasta el momento en el que
mata al rey, su ms grande enemigo, y l es proclamado como tal.
3.4.- El lenguaje
El lenguaje de la obra Ricardo III, y del total de sus composiciones en general, es el
propio de la poca, dirigido a una clase alta, no ignorante o inculta como era el tercer
estamento, pues este lenguaje utilizado es bastante culto. Y es que Shakespeare representa
los sentimientos de sus personajes de una forma completa y precisa, como si antes de
elaborar este drama hubiera vivido dentro de cada personaje de los que aparecen en la
obra.
Arduos problemas asaltan al traductor que acomete la larga tarea de traducir fielmente
un texto como el de Shakespeare, que reputa sagrado. Es la lucha titnica entre reproducir

la palabra justa, insustituible y precisa, y atender a la belleza de la frase castellana,

eludiendo todo hiato.. Esto es lo que explica un crtico en una recopilacin de las obras
ms importantes de William Shakespeare.