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Law-Breaker

When Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, he was 18. She was, surprisingly 26. Incredible, huh? I

mean, we are talking about hundreds of years ago. People back then had strict rules regarding age and

marriage. Clearly, we can see that Shakespeare and Anne were law-breakers! Will Shakespeare:

Identity- Poet; a.k.a. The Bard; Status- Criminal.

Shakespeare: The Mysteries Behind the Genius

Okay, let me break this to you- William Shakespeare might have never existed! Because, you see,

there are no scientifically proved correct records of Shakespeare's childhood and education.

Therefore, William Shakespeare might have not even been a real person! Historians say that it is

highly possible that his name was a fake. SCARY...deep fear for his Shakespeare fans!

Quote

"All the world's a stage."
Okay, actually, the whole quote is "All the world's a stage, and the men and women merely players. We all have roles, and I play a sad one."
This quote is from As You Like It, and the melancholy Jacques in Act 2, Scene 7. Also, "All the world's a stage" is the motto of the Globe Theatre. To be precise, it's actually "totus mundus agit histrionem" which means "All the world's a stage" in Latin. Okay, study up! This is one of the most frequently mentioned Shakespearean quote of all-time, right after "To be or not to be".

Rome and Egypt

William Shakespeare wrote two continuous plays: Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. Both are historic tragedies. In Julius Caesar, there was a character named Mark Antony. Well, in Antony and Cleopatra, Mark Antony is the main character! After Julius was assassinated, Antony took his place and reigned. As you probably know, Antony is part of the Roman Empire. But he fell in love with Cleopatra, who was the queen of Egypt. So anyways, in the end, they both die-Antony by war and Cleopatra by grief of his death. So there you go! The watered-down version of the connection between Rome and Egypt in Shakespeare's plays!

Coat of Arms

First of all: what is the coat of arms? A "coat of arms" is a family symbol, usually a crest with some kind of weapon and/or animal. Now, what does this piece of information have to do with Will Shakespeare? Back in Shakespeare's time, all high-positioned families had a coat of arms. A coat of arms was a symbol of pride and honour. Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, wanted permission to earn a coat of arms for his family, so he made a trip to the College of Arms and attempted to get a coat of arms from the Heralds. The thing is, he didn't have enough money to prove that he was "worthy" for the official symbol of pride. So, William Shakespeare always kept his father's wish in that genius mind of his. After John Shakespeare died, sometime when Will was famous and rich, he went to the College of Arms and was granted a coat of arms. Yay! Hooray! Here's a pic:

Mysterious Rest Place

Shakespeare's corpse was buried in the Holy Trinity Church at Stratford-Upon-Avon. He put a curse on his grave, warning people never to disturb his final resting place. His epitaph on the tombstone was:
"Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he who moves my bones."
Creepy huh? As a result, Shakespeare's tomb is one of the very few tombs undisturbed to this day.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Shakespeare actually couldn't spell? The genius poet who could rhyme like crazy couldn't spell his own name! In fact, on several Shakespeare documents, his name is spelled differently from one to the next. He could spell "Shakespeare" as "Shakespear", "Shakspere". Even his signatures weren't right. Here are some:

Shakespeare Quote

"Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of Greensleeves."

Wow. That's scary, Will. That's like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs coming to life. Raining potatoes? Insane!

The Obvious Question: Which Shakespearean play is the above quote from?

Not-So-Obvious Answer: The Merry Wives of Windsor

Another Question, But It's Not That Obvious: Which YA novel is this quote featured in?

The Awesome Answer: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare; pg. 519

Something I Should Have Posted a Long Time Ago...

As the self-explanatory post-title shown above shows, this post will be about something that is so basic about Shakespeare I should have posted it millions of centuries ago. Who was his family? Well, his parents were John and Mary Shakespeare. (I don't get it. I thought old people would have super long and fancy names like Jeremiah or Gwendolyn. Turns out I was wrong. Like, in Titanic, the characters' names were so simple, too! Jack and Rose? Serious?) Will had seven brothers and sisters. That's right. SEVEN. Wow, huge family! Joan Shakespeare, Margaret Shakespeare, Gilbert Shakespeare, Joan Shakespeare (Apparently, John and Mary loved the name Joan, so they named another daughter of theirs Joan, too), Anne Shakespeare, Richard Shakespeare, and Edmund Shakespeare. Does the name Edmund ring a bell? Of course it does. Edmund is the name of a LOT of characters in Shakespeare's plays. He probably was Will's fav bro or something.

So there's that. Shakespeare's family. Seven siblings... and counting! (Just kidding)

Shakespeare Trivia

Did you know that back in Shakespeare's time, tickets to the theatre only cost 1 penny, whereas nowadays, people pay a minimum of 10 dollars. If you are going really posh, you could even pay a maximum of 50 dollars today!

Love's Labour... The Secrets Behind the Lost Play...

As you probably know, Love's Labour's Lost was a comedy written by our dear genius friend Will.

It is nowadays commonly known as Much Ado About Nothing.  It was written in the mid-1590s.

However, Love's Labour's Lost faded away from popularity, and so it is unclear about the plot. And

here's something rather interesting (oh, gosh. I'm starting to speak Shakespearean!)- There was a

rumour that there was a lost sequel to Love's Labour's  Lost. The sequel was called "Love's 

Labour's Won", and it described the hopes of a broken family to reunite. It was published at 1603,

but no copies survived all years. The lost work continues to be a

   great mystery... or have people unlocked the secrets of it?

 an excerpt (real or not real? Who knows?) from Love's Labour's  Won





The cover of Love's Labour's Lost

An Interesting Fact You Should Know

Here's something that will totally blow your mind...

Some of Shakespeare's plays was banned back then!

The tragedy King Lear was actually banished from playing or performing in the Globe Theatre! But,

why? It was banned because the Elizabethans thought that it was making fun of the English

monarchy and King George III.

Cool huh? Alright, join me on this blog some other time for more interesting Shakespeare stuff!

SHAKESPEARE 101: FACT

Guess what? Shakespeare was unlucky! Now, you may wonder "why?", and that's because:
HE WROTE SUICIDAL PLOTS IN AN UNLUCKY 13 TIMES IN HIS PLAYS. That was well-planned, I'd say. A round of applause for Mr. Will Shakespeare!

 

Shakespeare Insults, Insults, Insults... Again!

Here are some really smart and original retorts to use in a Shakespearean way when insulting someone:

“Poisonous bunch-back’d toad”

Thou art a noxious, foul-smelling toad-frog!

“Knotty-pated fool”

Doesn't "fool" pretty much cover everything?

“Vile standing tuck”

I don't get ya.

“Pigeon-livered and lacking gall”
Hey, now, no criticisms about my organs; This is getting weirdly personal.


And there you have it! Study up and learn these smart and high-class insults!

(BONUS: These quotes were featured in Into the Gauntlet)

Shakespeare Quote

Here's an interesting life lesson brought to you by the legendary Will Shakespeare-

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”

- All’s Well That Ends Well

BONUS! This quote is also featured in the popular book Into the Gauntlet from The 39 Clues series.

Shakespeare Insults, Insults, Insults!

Normally, I would never describe "insults" as fabulous. But, here's the deal- Shakespearean insults ARE fabulous. Sooner or later, you'll see why.
Here are some famous Shakespearean insults:

“You muddy conger!”

Uh huh.

“Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle!” 

You're comparing me to a disease? Like... Ebola?

“Thy tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile!”

Beware the mighty SNAKE, guys!

Cool, huh? I'm soon going to insult like that if I keep studying Shakespearean language...
BONUS! Did you know that these insult quotes above are also featured in a popular book? It's called: Into the Gauntlet from The 39 Clues!

Shakespeare Vocab

Vocab word: assassination
Meaning: A murder attempt to kill a person secretly
Connection with Shakespeare: Will created the word "assassination". He used it in the awesome play "Julius Caesar" when describing the assassination :) of Julius Caesar, the way-too powerful Roman general. 

Shakespeare Trivia

Question: Which Shakespearean play starts off during a storm at sea?
Answer: The Tempest

Shakespeare Fact!

Here's an interesting fact for y'all Shakespeare fans-
William Shakespeare's shortest play, The Comedy of Errors, was 1770 lines long. That's a shocker!

Interesting Shakespeare Fact

Guess what?
Shakespeare was actually good friends with the queen! He was very close to Queen Elizabeth I.