Books with title Henry VIII by William Shakespeare: Henry VIII by William Shakespeare

Everyone has heard of plays like "Macbeth" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". But why do we know so little about the man who wrote them? Who exactly was William Shakespeare from Stratford-upon-Avon, and why do so many people believe that he was not the person he seemed to be? This book is an exciting detective story, which goes back over 400 years to the dramatic events of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and explores the way that a brillian and ambitious young man was caught up in a violent world of murder, revenge and treason.

Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (two plays, including Henry IV, Part 2), and Henry V. Henry IV, Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon in Northumberland against Douglas late in 1402, and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403. From the start it has been an extremely popular play both with the public and critics.

William Shakespeares influence on drama and literatureand even the English language itselfis unprecedented. Surprisingly, the renowned playwrights life is full of mystery. This biography presents what is known about Shakespeare as well as the current theories about the unknown, even touching on the controversies about the authorship of some of his plays. Readers will also become familiar with 16th-century England, the monarchs Shakespeare entertained, and what being an actor was like at that time. Doubtless, the introduction to his masterpieces will inspire young thespians to read or attend one of the dramatists great works.

Many people regard William Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time. Every year millions of people all over the world attend performances of his plays. Some of these plays have been made into movies, which attract even more people. His sonnets have wooed lovers for centuries. Nothing in Shakespeare s early life hinted at how famous he would later become or how he developed his writing talent. He grew up in a small town, dropped out of school early, and went to work. He had to get married when he was just eighteen. He had three children by the time he was twenty-one. Yet within a decade he was one of England s most successful playwrights. He wrote hit after hit after hit. Some were tragic and ended with corpses littering the stage. Others were comedies that wound up with happy couples getting married. They all expressed a wide variety of human feelings that are just as pertinent today as they were when Shakespeare wrote them. The universal emotions evoked by his work has guaranteed he would be not of an age, but for all time.

Almost 400 years after his death, interest in Shakespeare's life and work still persists. Much is often made of the fact that Shakespeare is an engima - the usual facets of biographical accounts are irretrevably missing, further enhancing his mystique. But as Dominic Shellard shows in this account, by viewing the playwright in the context of contemporary Elizabethan politics and the business of the theatre, we know more of his existence than is often generally thought, providing a background against which his literary output can be assessed.