Shakespeare (W. william shakespeare; ; 1564 ~ 16 16) was a great playwright and poet in the English Renaissance and a master of humanistic literature in the European Renaissance. There are four tragedies in Shakespeare's representative works: Hamlet (English: Hamlet), Othello (English: Othello), King Lear (English: King Lear) and Macbeth (English: Macbeth). Four comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night and All is Happy. Historical plays: Henry IV, Henry V, Richard II, etc. He also wrote 154 sonnets and two long poems. Ben Jonson called him "the soul of the times", and Marx called him and Aeschylus of ancient Greece "the greatest drama genius of mankind". Although Shakespeare writes only in English, he is a world-famous writer. Most of his works have been translated into many languages, and his plays have been staged in many countries. 1665438+ passed away on April 23rd, 2006. Shakespeare was born in the same year as Galileo, a famous Italian mathematician, physicist, astronomer and philosopher, and a pioneer of modern experimental science. William shakespeare, a great playwright and poet in the English Renaissance, 1 1564 was born in Stratford, Varvik, central England on April 23rd. His father, Jone Shakespeare, is a grocer, engaged in wool, leather manufacturing and grain business. From 65438 to 0565, he served as the town civil affairs director and was elected mayor three years later. As a teenager, he studied in a local "literature school" which mainly taught Latin, and mastered the basic skills and rich knowledge of writing. However, due to his father's bankruptcy, he failed to graduate and embarked on his own way of making a living. He was an apprentice in a butcher shop, taught in a rural school and engaged in various other occupations, which made him gain a lot of social experience. Historian George Stevenson said that later generations roughly outlined Shakespeare's life track from these written materials: after the age of 20, he went to London, first as a groom, working as a handyman in the theater, and later as an actor, director and screenwriter, becoming a shareholder in the theater; He started writing around 1588, first adapting his predecessors' plays, and soon began to write independently. At that time, the theater was full of "university talents" with Oxford and Cambridge backgrounds. A famous playwright once wrote an article scornfully mocking Shakespeare, a "vulgar cloth" and a "nouveau riche crow", who dared to be compared with a "noble genius"! But Shakespeare later won the support and love of the audience, including college students' groups. The students performed some Shakespeare's plays at school after school, such as Hamlet and Wrong Comedy. 1597 Go back to your hometown to buy real estate and spend the last time of your life. Although he received a good basic education, he didn't go to college. 1598, F. Mills, a university scholar, listed Shakespeare's plays before the age of 35 in his treasure house of wisdom, praising his comedies and tragedies as "unparalleled" and equal to the first-class drama poets in ancient times. But he never published his own play before his death. The success of writing made Shakespeare win the favor of Lord Southampton, who became his protector. In the early 1990s, Shakespeare dedicated his two long poems Venus and adonis and the Shame of Lucretius to the Lord, and wrote some sonnets for the Lord. With the help of the Lord, Shakespeare entered the aristocratic culture salon, giving him an opportunity to observe and understand the upper class, expanding his life vision and providing a rich source for his later creation. Since 1594, the troupe to which he belongs has been sheltered by the palace minister and is called "the palace minister troupe". 1596, he applied for the title of "gentleman" and the right to own the coat of arms in the name of his father, and bought considerable real estate in three times. 1603, James I succeeded to the throne, and his troupe was renamed "King Sacrifice Troupe". He and the actors in the troupe were appointed as attendants of the court. Therefore, in addition to frequent tours, the troupe often performs in the court, and Shakespeare's plays are famous in all walks of life. Shakespeare has lived in London for more than twenty years, while his wife has been living in Stratford. He retired and returned to his hometown of Stratford when he was close to his fate (about 16 12). 1665438+On April 23rd, 2006, Shakespeare died unfortunately around his 52nd birthday and was buried in Trinity Church. Leave a will before death. Shakespeare was a famous homosexual, and all his sonnets were written to his homosexual lover. According to British media reports, a British collector recently reconfirmed the identity of the person in a family oil painting. It turns out that this beautiful "woman" is none other than the legendary gay couple in Shakespeare's works-Henry Riotsley III, Earl of Southampton. Alec Cobb, who discovered this "stunning" oil painting and inherited all the art collections, said in an interview that he always thought that the person in the painting was a woman named Norton since he was a child, because the words Mrs. Norton were written on the back of the oil painting. But a few years ago, an accidental art collector told Cobb that he thought the people in the painting were not women, but men disguised as women. It was not until the beginning of this year that Cobb began to re-examine his true identity. The history of this painting can be traced back to the end of 16. The Earl of Southampton in the painting is painted with makeup, lipstick on his lips, exquisite earrings on his left ear and long hair hanging down to his chest, which looks very feminine. The National Trusteeship Association, the authoritative organization of British historical relics, has confirmed that the painting is authentic. This painting was completed from 1590 to 1593, when Shakespeare was living in the house of Earl III of Southampton. Although Shakespeare, a great literary master, married Anna Hathaway, his true sexual orientation has always been a controversial topic in literary critics. The legend that the Earl of Southampton is gay has a long history, and his relationship with Shakespeare is even more confusing. The count once hosted Shakespeare in his apartment, and Shakespeare's famous sonnets were dedicated to a handsome young man who was "as beautiful as a woman". Students think that the first ten capitals of the sonnet set are devoted to the family line and cannot be understood as written for boyfriends. Many historians have verified that the admiration in Shakespeare's poems is probably directed at this handsome boyfriend who pretends to be a woman. 16 16 Shakespeare died unfortunately around his 52nd birthday and was buried in Trinity Church. The day he died was the same as the day he was born. Leave a will before death. His two portraits, which are said to be reliable, are busts in the church and portraits of Droshute. His handwriting has six signatures and a three-page manuscript of Sir Thomas More. As a personal work, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays (including Two Noble Parents co-written with Fletcher), two long poems Venus and adonis, The Shame of Lucretius and 154 sonnets in more than 20 years. His plays are mostly based on historical records, novels, folklore and old plays, which reflect the historical reality of the transition from feudal society to capitalist society and publicize the humanitarian thought and human nature view of the emerging bourgeoisie. On the one hand, he borrowed extensively from ancient drama, English medieval drama and emerging culture and art in Europe, on the other hand, he deeply observed life, understood society and grasped the pulse of the times, which enabled Shakespeare to create many vivid characters and paint a broad and colorful picture of social life, and was famous for his blending of sadness and joy, poetic and picturesque, unity in contradiction and change, philosophy of life and critical spirit. Generally speaking, in Macbeth, Shakespeare's drama creation can be divided into the following three periods: the first period (1590 ~ 1600) is mainly about writing historical dramas and comedies, 9 historical dramas, 10 comedies and 2 tragedies. Of the nine historical dramas, except King John, which is about English history at the beginning of the 65438+3rd century, the other eight are all two tetralogy: the first, middle and last three of Henry VI and Charles III; Charles ii, Henry IV (known as the most successful historical drama) and Henry V, these historical dramas summed up the turmoil in British history for more than 100 years, shaped a series of positive and negative monarchies, and reflected Shakespeare's humanistic political and moral ideals of opposing feudal separatism, supporting centralization, condemning tyrants and tyranny, demanding enlightened monarchies to carry out top-down reforms and establishing harmonious social relations. 10 Most comedies, The Wrong Comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The futility of love, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much ado about nothing, All Happy and Twelfth Night, are all about it. Praise progress and beautiful new features, but also gently expose and ridicule the decay and ugliness of old things, such as the wrong correction of asceticism, the hypocrisy of Puritans and the greed of usurers. The basic tone of Shakespeare's drama creation in this period is optimistic and clear, full of confidence in solving social contradictions with humanistic ideals, so that the tragicomedy Romeo and Juliet written in this period is also full of comedy atmosphere. Although the hero died of double suicide, the ideal of love overcame death and got the reconciliation of feudal feud. However, the mature comedy The Merchant of Venice in the later period of this period contains melancholy and tragic factors. While advocating kindness, friendship and sincere love, it reflects the class oppression and racial discrimination of the law of the jungle in Christian society, which shows that the author has gradually realized that there is an intractable contradiction between ideal and reality. The second issue (160 1 ~ 1607) is mainly about tragedies, with three Roman plays, five tragedies and three "black comedies" or "problem plays". The Roman plays Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Cory Ollanu are historical plays adapted from Plutarch's biographies of Greek and Roman heroes. These four tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Timon of Athens, mark the author's deep thinking about the times and life, and strive to shape some tragic protagonists in the new era: they woke up from the imprisonment and ignorance of the Middle Ages and developed or improved themselves ambitiously under the dawn of modern times, but they could not overcome the limitations of the times and themselves, and finally found themselves in the same environment and inner hostile forces. In order to avenge his father, Hamlet found that "the whole era was out of tenon" and decided to take on the responsibility of "rectifying Gankun". As a result, he was too ambitious to return to heaven. Othello is honest and simple, and people hate him. He killed his wife at the mercy of traitors, and was punished for pursuing perfection. King Lear lost his nature and reason in the honor, pride and self-confidence brought by power. He fantasized that by dividing power into different countries to prove that he was not a king, he could be as great as ordinary people, so he suffered painful hardships. Macbeth is a hero with meritorious service, and there are goodness and beauty in his character. Driven by the temptation and ambition of the throne, he degenerated into a "bloody to bloody" sinner and regretted the world. The tragedies of these characters profoundly reveal all kinds of social ugliness and bourgeois egoism that began to appear in primitive accumulation of capital period, and show the irreconcilable contradiction between humanistic ideal and cruel reality, which has a high degree of generalization significance. Due to the enhancement of the ideological depth and realism depth of dramas in this period, comedies such as troilus, Cressida, All ends well, and Tit for Tit also showed a dark side, shrouded in the evil shadow of treachery and conspiracy, so they were called "problem dramas" or "black comedies". The tragicomedy or legendary drama in the third issue (1608 ~ 16 13) tends to compromise and fantasy. His major works are four tragicomedy or legendary dramas Prince Ricci of Tyre, cymbeline, Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Most of these works are about separation, reunion, framing and revenge. Although we still adhere to the ideal of humanism and expose the dark reality, the solution of contradictions mainly depends on magic, fantasy, coincidence and accidental events, and ends with preaching forgiveness, tolerance, compromise and reconciliation. Shakespeare also collaborated with Fletcher to write the historical drama Henry VIII and the legendary drama Two Noble Relatives, which has been included in the existing Shakespeare plays in recent years. [Edit this paragraph] The background of Shakespeare's works 1590 to 1600 is the early stage of Shakespeare's creation, also known as the historical drama and comedy period. During this period, Shakespeare's humanistic thought and artistic style gradually formed. At that time, Britain was in the heyday of Queen Elizabeth's rule, with stable and unified kingship and prosperous economy. Shakespeare is full of confidence in realizing humanistic ideals in the real society, and his works are full of optimism and clarity. During this period, he wrote nine historical plays, including Richard III (1592), Henry IV (parts I and II) (1597- 1598) and Henry V (10). The basic theme of the script is to support the central kingship, condemn the feudal tyrant and praise the enlightened monarch. For example, "Henry IV" shows the picture of the turbulent domestic situation. The nobles United against the king, but the rebellion was finally quelled; The prince lived a dissolute life earlier, but later he made a mistake and made great contributions to quelling civil strife. In the play, historical facts and artistic fiction are highly unified. Falstaff is one of the most vivid characters. He is selfish, lazy and timid, but he is alert, intelligent and optimistic, which makes people laugh. Shakespeare's comedies in this period include poetic A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596), The Merchant of Venice (1597), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598), and Much ado about nothing (/) The basic themes of these plays are love, marriage and friendship, which are full of lyrical colors and show Shakespeare's ideal of humanistic life. At the same time, he also wrote three tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet (1595). Although the work has a sad side, the basic spirit is the same as comedy. Shakespeare also wrote the long poems Venus and adonis (1592- 1593), The Shame of Lucretius (1593- 1594) and 154 sonnets. /kloc-At the beginning of the 0/7th century, the regime of Queen Elizabeth I and James I alternated, the social contradictions in Britain intensified, and the social ugliness became increasingly exposed. During this period, Shakespeare's thought and art became mature, and the humanistic ideal collided fiercely with social reality. He felt that his ideal was difficult to realize, and his creation turned from praising humanistic ideals in the early days to exposing and criticizing social darkness. The second period of Shakespeare's creation (1601-1607) is also called the tragic period. He has written Hamlet (160 1), Othello (1604), King Lear (1606), Macbeth (1606) and Ty of Athens. In Othello, Desdemona, who was born in a noble family, married Othello the Moor privately despite the opposition of her father and society, showing the theme of opposing racial prejudice. The reason for their tragedy is not only Othello's jealousy, but also the powerful evil forces represented by Iago. Othello's sobriety before his death contains the victory of human reason. King Lear shows a broken society. King Lear paid the price of his life because of his stubbornness, and also brought great disaster to the country and people. The protagonist has changed from a feudal monarch with absolute authority to a homeless old man with nothing, and the fate and character of the characters have undergone tremendous changes, which is the most distinctive in Shakespeare's works. In Macbeth, a hero became a personal careerist and tyrant because of his inner ambition and external instigation. Its tragic significance lies in that personal ambition and egoism can destroy a person who is not evil. Generally speaking, these tragedies profoundly exposed the decay of feudal nobles, appalling egoism, the evil of money relations and the suffering of working people; Stylistically, it reduces the atmosphere of romance and joy, increases the mood of melancholy and indignation, and makes the image fuller and the language more proficient. After 1608, Shakespeare entered the last period of his creation. At this time, Shakespeare saw that the ideal of humanism could not be realized in the real society, so he turned from writing tragedies to writing legendary dramas, from exposing and criticizing the darkness of the real society to writing dream worlds. Therefore, this period is also called Shakespeare's legendary drama period. During this period, his works often solved the contradiction between ideal and reality through myth and fantasy and supernatural power; The works are permeated with the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. There is no joy in the early stage and no gloom in the middle stage. But full of beautiful life fantasies and rich romantic feelings. The Tempest (16 1 1) best represents the style of this period and is called "a will written in poetry". In addition, he also wrote three legendary dramas, such as cymbeline and The Story of Winter, and the historical drama Henry VIII. Shakespeare's works, starting from the truth of life, profoundly reflect the characteristics of the times and social essence. In his view, drama "seems to give nature a mirror: show its face to virtue, show its posture to absurdity, and show its image and imprint to the times and society". Marx and Engels praised Shakespeare as a classic writer of realism, and proposed that drama creation should be more "Shakespearean". This is a creative principle put forward in view of the disadvantages of "turning the individual into a simple mouthpiece of the spirit of the times" in drama creation. The so-called "Shakespearization" means that the writer, like Shakespeare, is good at starting from the truth of life, showing a broad social background and providing a typical environment with the characteristics of the times for the characters and events in his works; The plot of the work should be vivid and rich, and the characters should have distinctive personality and typical significance; The realistic depiction and romantic atmosphere in the works should be skillfully combined; Language should be rich and expressive; The writer's tendency should be hidden and naturally revealed in the plot and character description. The main tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear (four tragedies), Titus Antelo Knicks, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Corellian Nass, Fortress Besieged Troy, Timon of Athens and so on. The comedy The Merchant of Venice, a midsummer night's dream, is happy. On the twelfth night (four comedies), everything will be fine, and all shall be well. Much ado about nothing, tit for tat, The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Merry Wives of Windsor, The futility of love, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Prince Pelex of Tyre, cymbeline, Winter Story, etc. Tragic comedy (drama) Romeo and Juliet Historical plays Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, King John, Richard II and Richard III. Sonnets: Lover's Complaint, The Shame of Lucretius, Venus and adonis, Enthusiastic Pilgrim, Phoenix and Turtledove, etc. Shakespeare's plays are mostly based on old scripts, novels, chronicles or folklore, but they are rewritten with their own ideas, giving new, rich and profound contents to the old themes. In artistic expression, he inherited and developed the three traditions of ancient Greek and Roman drama, medieval England and Renaissance European drama, and made creative innovations in content and form. His plays are not bound by the three laws, break through the boundary between tragedy and comedy, strive to reflect the true nature of life, and dig deep into the inner mysteries of characters, thus shaping many typical characters with complex and diverse personalities and vivid images, and depicting a broad and colorful picture of social life, which is famous for its profoundness, poetry and philosophy. Shakespeare's plays are popular plays written for the British stage and audience at that time. Therefore, it was criticized by the classicists represented by Voltaire in the18th century, and was arbitrarily deleted during the performance, because of its blending of sadness and joy, appealing to both refined and popular tastes, freedom of time and space, and efforts to mobilize the audience's imagination to make up for the simplicity of the stage. It was not until the beginning of19th century that the real value of Shakespeare's plays began to be known under the discussion of critics such as Coleridge and Khazri. However, Shakespeare's performances at that time were still often included in the model of five-act drama. At the end of 19, W. Bohr and H. glanville Barker strongly opposed the spectacular tradition of Shakespeare's performance at that time, and advocated that the Elizabethan theater should be performed without setting to restore its inherent characteristics. Since the beginning of17th century, Shakespeare's plays have been introduced to Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Northern Europe, and then gradually spread to the United States and even the rest of the world, which has had a great and far-reaching impact on the development of drama in various countries and has become an important link and source of inspiration for the development and exchange of world culture. China began to introduce and translate Shakespeare's plays at the beginning of this century, and published 1 1 Volume The Complete Works of Shakespeare based on Zhu Shenghao's translation. 1902, students from St. John's College in Shanghai performed The Merchant of Venice in English for the first time. According to incomplete statistics, there are 65 professional and amateur performing groups in China, which have performed 2 1 Shakespeare's plays in five languages, including English, Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and Cantonese, and in six forms, such as civilized drama, modern drama, traditional drama, radio drama, ballet and puppet drama, including most of Shakespeare's important works. Shakespeare's plays have become the teaching materials of middle schools, universities, especially drama schools in China. The important role of Shakespeare's plays has opened up a vast world for the cultivation and improvement of actors in China. Shakespeare left 37 plays to the world, including some common plays that he co-wrote with others. In addition, he also wrote 154 sonnets and three or four long poems. The activities of religious leaders, scientists, politicians, explorers, philosophers or inventors often affect the development of many other fields of human struggle. For example, the progress of science has had a great influence on economy and politics, as well as the development of religious beliefs, philosophical views and art. A famous painter may have a great influence on later painters' works, but his influence on music and literature may be small, and he has no influence on exploration and other fields of human struggle. A similar statement applies to poets, playwrights and music composers. Generally speaking, literary figures only have an influence on literature and art, but in fact they only have an influence on the special field they are engaged in. It is for this reason that no literary, musical or artistic figures are included in the top 30, and only a few figures are included in this book. So why are there literary figures in this book? This is because appreciating literature and art has a certain direct influence on everyone's life (although this influence is not always great). In other words, a person may spend some time listening to music, some time reading, some time painting, and so on. Even though the time we spend listening to songs has no influence on our other activities (this is definitely an exaggeration), this part of time still represents the boring time in our lives. An artist may have more influence on our lives than the time we spend listening, reading or watching his works. This is because his works are likely to have an impact on the creative activities of other writers, and their works are what we experience and appreciate. In some cases, literary and artistic works have more or less definite philosophical content, which will affect our views on other issues. Of course, literary works are more like this than music or art works. For example, in Romeo and Juliet (Act III, Scene 1), Shakespeare asked the prince to say, "Don't be soft on the murderer, or you will encourage the murder." The ideas put forward here (whether people accept them or not) have distinct philosophical contents, which may have an impact on people's political attitudes, rather than enjoying the Mona Lisa and other influences. It seems indisputable that Shakespeare is second to none among all literary figures. Relatively speaking, few people talk about Chaucer, Virgil or even Homer today, but if Shakespeare's plays are to be staged, there will definitely be a large audience. Shakespeare's genius in writing is unparalleled, and his words are often quoted-even those who have never seen or read his plays. Besides, his fame is not a flash in the pan. In the past 400 years, his works have brought a lot of joy to readers and critics. As Shakespeare's works have stood the test of time, it is reasonable to speculate that they will be widely welcomed in many centuries to come. When evaluating Shakespeare's influence, we should consider that without him, there would be no works at all. According to statistics, Shakespeare used more than 20 thousand words. It widely uses folk languages (such as folk songs, slang, old proverbs and humorous sketches). ), paying attention to absorbing foreign words, and using metaphors, metaphors and puns extensively, can be described as the masterpiece of English at that time. Many sentences in Shakespeare's plays have become idioms, allusions and aphorisms in modern English. Relatively speaking, his early plays like to use gorgeous and sonorous words; The later mature works are more handy, which can not only vividly express the characteristics of different characters in rich and varied languages, but also convey exciting feelings and thoughts in simple and natural words. Although Shakespeare wrote in English, he was indeed a world-famous figure. Although English is not a complete world language, it is closer to the world language than any other language. In addition, Shakespeare's works have been translated into many literary works, and many countries have read his works and staged his plays. Of course, the works of some popular writers will be despised by literary critics, but unlike Shakespeare, literary scholars spare no effort to praise his works. Generations of playwrights have studied his works in an attempt to acquire his literary temperament. It is precisely because of Shakespeare's great influence on other writers and his constant appreciation by the public that he won a quite high ranking in this book. In the preface of a version of Shakespeare's plays, there is a saying that he reveals their characters through the images with strong artistic power, from the complex relationships of his typical protagonists with distinctive personalities, and from their actions and contradictions. The strong humanistic thought and outstanding and bold artistic skills exuded by the play have long gone beyond the scope of his time and country. It has had such a great influence on the literary world that it is no wonder that his friend and famous dramatist ben jones said, "He belongs not only to an era, but to the whole century."