The Wisdom Of Shakespeare

Description

A man of Renaissance England, William Shakespeare encircles us in the twenty-first century. His plays are constantly in production throughout the world, and his words appear in headlines, editorials, advertisements, book titles, and comic strips. Shakespeare links cultures, centuries, generations, and genders. Born in Elizabeth I’s reign in 1564, William Shakespeare grew up in Stratford-on-Avon, marrying Anne Hathaway from nearby Shottery when he was eighteen and she twenty-six. Few records remain of their first decade together, except for the births of their three children, Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet; but by 1592 Shakespeare was recognized in London as a poet, playwright, and actor. During the next twenty-five years, until his death in 1616, he wrote thirty-seven plays, a canon which includes indisputably the greatest plays in the English language. The wisdom of Shakespeare shines in the speeches of his characters. Arranged here in rough chronological order by categories, some passages are familiar; some are not. Whether these are truly Shakespeare’s thoughts and attitudes, we do not know. Uttered by major and minor characters, and sometimes by those most unsympathetic, these lines reveal Shakespeare’s breadth of understanding of the diversity of humankind and his fascination with the motivations that drive behavior. The enormous variety of his expressions is astonishing, and, despite the thousands and thousands of words in his works, he never repeats himself. The editions used were The Complete Works of Shakespeare edited by Hardin Craig and David Bevington (Scott, Foresman, & Co., 1973), and The Two Noble Kinsmen, edited by Lois Potter (The Arden Shakespeare, 1997). My appreciation goes to professors Louis A. DeCatur and Rebecca Jaroff for their helpful suggestions. Use this book to find a message for a friend or loved one, a passage for a special occasion, or simply to read and admire.