The Most Famous Shakespearean Play of All-Time

And the most famous Shakespearean play of all-time is... Hamlet!
Hamlet was a very significant play of Shakespeare. The title Hamlet was named after Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, who died at age 12. Hamlet was a play all about the philosophy of death. And yes, apparently people back in Will's time loved to learn all about the gory facts of death. How appetising. The word "Hamlet" is literally world-famous. Everywhere you go, all you have to do is to yell "Hamlet!" and people will start to think about (again) the gory facts of death, the famous line "To be, or not to be/that is the question", and the legendary skull. The skull is Yorick's, and King Hamlet, the protagonist of Hamlet, holds up the skull and says the most well-known line of the history of plays : "To be, or not to be/that is the question."
Here's the brief synopsis:
Claudius killed Hamlet's father, the King of Denmark, by pouring poison into the king's ear. Hamlet's mother, though, still married Claudius two months later after the murder because she had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO KILLED HER HUSBAND. Jeez. She should pay more attention. The guards of the castle see Hamlet's father: as a ghost. The ghost tells Hamlet that Hamlet's uncle (Claudius) killed him and Hamlet shall avenge him, so Hamlet pretended to go insane and crazy like a harpy or something, so no one would suspect anything. The king and queen feel like something is wrong with Hamlet (Yes, it's so obvious) because he is deeply in love with Ophelia. So they put him in a room with Ophelia to make sure (I wonder what they do). But Hamlet was pretending to be mean to Ophelia, so Claudius suspects that Hamlet knows for sure that he killed Hamlet's father. Ophelia goes insane (insanity was popular in Hamlet) and drowns herself because Hamlet doesn't love her. (Wow. She suicided because someone rejected her. Typical.) Hamlet goes to the theatre and tells the theatre guys to perform a certain play, but change the ending into... The boyfriend of the queen shall poison the king by pouring toxic liquid into his ears. Then the king died. Claudius, who was watching the play, thought Hamlet's father's ghost had cursed him and was damning him to hell. He decided to murder Hamlet.
Ophelia's brother blames Hamlet for the death of Ophelia and challenges him to a death fight- a duel to the death. At the duel, Claudius puts poison in a glass of wine and all over a sword because he wants to kill Hamlet. The queen mistakenly drank the wine... Ta da! She dies. Hamlet and Ophelia's brother stab one another repeatedly. Hamlet dies, but not before he killed Ophelia's revenge-seeking brother first.

 

Know the Symbols of Each Shakespearean Play

Symbols are the key point, the real and exact significance and theme of the whole play. Don't understand? It's alright! Let's get into the deep stuff: the SYMBOLS OF EACH (famous) SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY.

Hamlet: A skull. The main character, King Hamlet, holds up Yorick's skull and says: "To be, or not to be; that is the question." Oh! The most famous line of all-time!

Othello: Believe it ar not, the symbol of the play "Othello" is actually a handkerchief! Yep. A plain, simple handkerchief. But why? This rather sneaky character Iago had this wonderfully brilliant idea one day to change and manipulate a plain handkerchief into what Othello (the main character) comes to think of as the symbol of Desdemona- her faith and chastity. Oh, the horror! (scream!) By taking the magical and unique handkerchief, Iago is able to convert the little square cloth into evidence and proof of Desdemona's infidelity.

Midsummer Night's Dream: The moon itself. The whole play and everything revolves around the moon and moonlight. William Shakespeare must have definitely been nocturnal.

Okay, so that was three symbols of three plays. Study up!

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Did You Know?

Shakespeare disappeared for two long periods of his life, each years long! Those years were referred to as "The Lost Years of Shakespeare". One was when he escaped school and vanished from public until his marriage with Anne Hathaway, and the second period lasted for seven years while he practiced and perfected his "suave" acting and drama skills.
How cool is that? He just disappeared!
The first period: 1578-1582; The second period: 1585-1592.
Amazing, right? Hope you guys enjoyed that little fact!

A Few Awesome Quotes by Will Shakespeare

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."-Julius Caesar 
Are you depressed, Will?

"Come not between the dragon and his wrath."-King Lear 
Duh. Common sense.

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"-The Merchant of Venice 
Spoken like a true philosopher-warrior, Shakespeare.

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."-Twelfth Night
Wow. How inspiring.

"Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"- Romeo and Juliet
Yep. I did.

The First Folio

What is a folio? A folio is basically a thick book, or collections of classics. The First Folio, or "Mr. William Shakespeares  (that was not a grammar mistake, people back then didn't use apostrophes) Comedies, Histories, Tragedies" is a huge book filled with... come on, guys, the title's self-explanatory. Filled with Mr. Will's plays! You can now visit it at the Shakespeare memorial in the UK. The First Folio, as I have mentioned in older posts, was actually published after Will's death, and printed by two of the actors that worked for him. They put together The First Folio and that was the first time Will's plays were ever printed out! What a shocker! Yeah, I know. The First Folio consisted of twenty of Will's comedies, tragedies, and historical plays. It looks pretty ancient, but come on, it's so cool!
The thing is, this book not only included Will's plays, it also had Pericles, Prince of Tyre and The Two Noble Kinsman and two "lost plays", Cardenio and Love's Labour's Won.

Okay, that's all about The First Folio! Hope I answered all your queries about Will's folio!

Bonus Fact!

Alright, guys! Here's a little bonus and random fact about Will Shakespeare-

Shakespeare died a very rich man. He left a number of gifts to different people but left the rest of his money and properties to his daughter, Susanna. The only part in his will that mentioned his wife (Anne Hathaway) was "I gyve unto my wife my second best bed with the furniture". What exactly did he mean about the "furniture"? No, it wasn't the chairs or tables. The "furniture" was, apparently, bedclothes for the bed.

Hope you guys enjoyed that totally random fact! Nice furniture, Will!

The Globe

Okay, guys. Just want to say to you all, thanks for checking and viewing my blog. I really appreciate it. Now, to the main issue. What is the Globe? Yep. Globe with a capital "G". No, it's definitely NOT the spherical model of our holy Earth. It's actually a theatre! Now, what does this totally random and weirdly-named theatre have to do with our dear friend Will Shakespeare? The thing is, it's NOT a totally random theatre. It's the modern replica of the original Globe, the theatre where Shakespeare's plays were performed. How cool is that? Back to the point. Why exactly did they name it the GLOBE? That's because it's literally shaped like a dome for its roof. It's freakishly amazing.
Okay. Let's get serious. The original and ancient Globe was built at 1599. It was built with timber and wood and shaped like a dome, with an open roof. Meaning that it had absolutely no sign of a roof anywhere. What did they do when it rained or stormed, then? Cancel the show? NO! They performed and the audience enjoyed the show, even under heavy rain. (Come on, man! Join the wet party!) The most famous Shakespearean (I absolutely love that word. It's so perfect and awesome and so... Shakespearean.) plays were performed in the Globe. Macbeth (he looks like a vampire), Henry VIII, As You Like It (No, As You Despise It) and, of course, the tragic love story- Romeo and Juliet. Now here comes the interesting part- the layout of the stage. The stage had two parts: Outer and inner. Underneath them was a cellar called (amusedly) "Hell", which was an entry place for actors portraying ghouls and ghosts. The "Hell" was accessed by a trapdoor called "The Grave Trap". Will apparently had a hilarious and creepy sense of humour back then.
Alright, guys! That's it about The Globe. Join me again... sooner or later about more interesting Shakespearean facts!