# data[].attributes.headline
William Shakespeare Biographical Information 

# data[].attributes.subject
William Shakespeare Biographical Information 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.

Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare's plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote. Shakespeare's poems also remain popular to this day.

Shakespeare's Family Life

Records survive relating to William Shakespeare's family that offer an understanding of the context of Shakespeare's early life and the lives of his family members. John Shakespeare married Mary Arden, and together they had eight children. John and Mary lost two daughters as infants, so William became their eldest child. John Shakespeare worked as a glove-maker, but he also became an important figure in the town of Stratford by fulfilling civic positions. His elevated status meant that he was even more likely to have sent his children, including William, to the local grammar school.

William Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six. It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony. Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was just 11 years old.

Shakespeare in London

Shakespeare's career jump-started in London, but when did he go there? We know Shakespeare's twins were baptised in 1585, and that by 1592 his reputation was established in London, but the intervening years are considered a mystery. Scholars generally refer to these years as ' The Lost Years '.

During his time in London, Shakespeare's first printed works were published. They were two long poems, 'Venus and Adonis' (1593) and 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594). He also became a founding member of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a company of actors. Shakespeare was the company's regular dramatist, producing on average two plays a year, for almost twenty years.

He remained with the company for the rest of his career, during which time it evolved into The King's Men under the patronage of King James I (from 1603). During his time in the company Shakespeare wrote many of his most famous tragedies, such as King Lear and Macbeth, as well as great romances, like The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

Shakespeare's Works

Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all. They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays. These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio ('Folio' refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36 of his plays, but none of his poetry.

Shakespeare's legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures. His plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film. His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which include all of his plays, sonnets, and other poems. William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most important literary figures of the English language.

New Place; a home in Stratford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare's success in the London theatres made him considerably wealthy, and by 1597 he was able to purchase New Place,the largest house in the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon. Although his professional career was spent in London, he maintained close links with his native town.

Recent archaeological evidence discovered on the site of Shakespeare's New Place shows that Shakespeare was only ever an intermittent lodger in London. This suggests he divided his time between Stratford and London (a two or three-day commute). In his later years, he may have spent more time in Stratford-upon-Avon than scholars previously thought.

Watch our video for more about Shakespeare as a literary commuter:

On his father's death in 1601, William Shakespeare inherited the old family home in Henley Street part of which was then leased to tenants. Further property investments in Stratford followed, including the purchase of 107 acres of land in 1602.

Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April 1616 at the age of 52. He is buried in the sanctuary of the parish church, Holy Trinity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564. Read about his life and works.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Tudor & Stuart Dynasties
Following the Reformation that swept through Europe and as a product of Henry VIII's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1527, England split from the Roman Catholic church. This led to the eventual founding of the Church of England in 1536 with the king, and not the pope, at its head. In the decades preceding Shakespeare's birth, England underwent a prolonged period of religious and political tumult as the throne passed swiftly between Henry VIII's three children-Edward, Mary and Elizabeth-swinging the country between Catholicism and Protestantism. With each shift in allegiance came the threat of violence and persecution for those who were deemed disloyal and heretical by the ruling order.

In 1558, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, came to the throne following the death of her Catholic half-sister, Mary I. Her 44-year reign, though not without ideological tensions and conflict, provided stability to the country, firmly established Protestantism as the state religion and consolidated England's position as a political power in Europe. This shift in England's political fortunes was accompanied by a remarkable flowering of vernacular literary expression and an unprecedented increase in knowledge of the world beyond England. The Elizabethan era is considered one of the most prolific in the history of English literature, producing such poets and dramatists as Sidney, Spenser, Donne, Marlowe, Jonson and Shakespeare.

As an unmarried queen, Elizabeth had to establish her authority in a patriarchal society and refute the widespread conviction that women were unfit to rule. Opposition to her rule was countered by forwarding the notion of "the king's two bodies." As divinely ordained monarch, her person was divided between the mortal and fallible "body natural" and the immortal and infallible "body politic," making her sex inconsequential to her ability to rule. Possibly in order to retain her independence and political power, Elizabeth never married, skillfully prolonging marriage negotiations and playing one faction against the other. This meant, however, that she died childless in 1603, bringing an end to the Tudor dynasty.

The crown then passed to Elizabeth's appointed successor, James VI of Scotland, whose ascent to the English throne marked the beginning of the Stuart dynasty. During his reign, England continued to establish itself on the international stage, emerging as a colonial and trading power in the New World (North America) and in Asia. Literary expression also continued to flourish and the 1611 King James Bible, the new English translation of the Bible, is considered to have had one of the most profound influences on the subsequent history of English literature.

James was a prolific writer himself and much of his work centered around his political ambitions: the consolidation of absolute power in the monarchy and the union of the two kingdoms, England and Scotland, under the name of Great Britain. He did not entirely succeed on both fronts and his extravagant expenditure and continued squabbles with Parliament began a prolonged conflict between the monarchy and Parliament that would come to a head in the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the beheading of his son and successor Charles I in 1642.

Shakespeare's lifetime spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, an era of relative stability that was sandwiched between decades of uncertainty and turmoil. However, even during this period issues of succession and political allegiance, the threat of rebellion, the conflict between different sects of Christianity, questions of faith and morality and the perils of a rapidly shifting social landscape were all part of public discourse and were concerns that impacted and influenced the literature of the period.
London Theater & Shakespearean Tragedy
From the 1570s till their closure in 1642, theaters were a prominent part of early modern London landscape as the city grew and established itself as a center of commerce. The early modern theater industry was one that operated on the principle of profit, catering to different tastes and audiences from the royal courts to the crowded open-air venues in London's Bankside. It was also an industry that functioned through a process of collaboration, where plays were the property of companies rather than playwrights; the idea of an individual author as owner of his creative output was only just beginning to take shape. Shakespeare was imbricated in this market as an actor, playwright and sharer of the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men under the patronage of James I), which meant that he was invested in the fortunes of the company beyond simply producing its dramatic material.

The theater, while extremely popular, faced a great deal of opposition both from city authorities and from religious anti-theatricalists. For the former, the theaters attracted large crowds that were difficult to control, were sites for petty crime and, importantly, were identified as helping to spread the plague. Thus, there were several long stretches of time during plague outbreaks when the theaters remained closed. For the latter, theatrical spectacle, particularly the use of cross-dressing, was seen as inciting the members of the audience to sin.

It is important to note that the drama of this period was primarily considered a commercial mode of entertainment and was only really fashioned as literature retrospectively. Thus, while some plays were published, printed and circulated, their primary function was to be performed. Some of Shakespeare's plays were published during his lifetime in quarto form. But his collected works were published only after his death in the First Folio (1623), which contained 36 plays divided into tragedies, comedies and histories.

On the early modern stage, on the other hand, genre divisions were far less rigid and the conventions and characteristics that defined different dramatic genres were in a state of flux. While Shakespeare's tragedies - such as Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet and Othello - are now touchstones for the dramatic genre of tragedy and widely considered pinnacles of artistic achievement, he did not invent this genre. Rather, Shakespeare developed this form over the course of his career, drawing on a number of different ancient, historical and contemporary sources and influences, ranging from Senecan tragedy to the morality and mystery play cycles of medieval England to the works of his peers, playwrights like Kyd and Marlowe. Shakespearean tragedies intertwine the individual and the social, the psychological and the political and are an arena for the exploration of primal human desires and values-revenge, love, ambition, hatred and power. Macbeth, the shortest of his tragedies, is emblematic of this description.

Likely written in 1606, Macbeth is considered one of Shakespeare's most topical plays for a number of reasons. As a dramatization of an episode of Scottish history, the play is clearly associated with the reigning monarch, James I, who was also the patron of Shakespeare's company, the King's Men. Specifically, the presence of Banquo in the play, a Scottish nobleman from whom James claimed descent serves to consolidate and reinforce James's ancient and royal lineage. The central thematic tropes in the play-the specter of treason, the psychological and social impact of regicide, the precariousness of power and the demonic potential of the supernatural-are all subjects that occupied the king.

James believed in the divine and supreme right of kingship, holding regicide to be a cardinal sin. Simultaneously, he lived in fear of assassination and there were numerous attempts on his life. The most significant of these was the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and the failure of this plot to blow up Parliament and the royal family is still celebrated in England as Guy Fawkes' Day. The trial and execution of those involved in the plot occupied the public imagination, in particular that of accused conspirator Father Henry Garnet, the author of a Treatise on Equivocation (1598), who employed these principles in his defense. Both the word and the concept of equivocation - as a form of linguistic ambiguity and evasion of the truth - runs through Macbeth.

James was also a strong believer in the diabolical powers of witchcraft. He was an author of a treatise on this threat, Daemonologie (1597), and had presided over the violent persecution of witches in Scotland. Macbeth contains Shakespeare's most extended engagement with the supernatural in the figures of the witches, the most prominent equivocators in the play. The ambiguity surrounding the extent of their control over the fates of others and the implication that the divine right of kingship is susceptible to manipulation by the occult works through James's obsession with this subject.

While it is clear that Macbeth engages with some of James's personal preoccupations, it would be problematic to read the play as an unequivocal tribute to England's new king. Instead, it is the paradoxical and incongruous nature of the play-a hero who is also a villain, the competing dominance of individual agency and supernatural forces, and a pattern of linguistic and syntactical ambiguity-that makes it compelling and insures it against any such simplistic reading.
Written by Taarini Mookherjee, Ph.D. candidate in English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University Works Consulted
The Norton Shakespeare. Edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Suzanne Gossett, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus and Gordon McMullan.W W Norton & Company Incorporated, 2015

Macbeth. Edited by Sandra Clark and Pamela Mason. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2015

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Tudor & Stuart Dynasties Following the Reformation that swept through Europe and as a product of Henry VIII's desire to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1527, England split from the Roman Catholic church. This led to the eventual founding of the Church of England in 1536 with the king, and not the pope, at its head.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Chain of Being and the Natural Order

# data[].attributes.subject
The Chain of Being and the Natural Order

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People were extremely superstitious in Shakespeare's day. This affected people's views on everything from religion to treating illnesses. Some people even accused local women of being witches.

Almost everyone in England in Shakespeare's day was Christian. Everyone would go to church on a Sunday, or even more often. Most people believed in Hell as a very real place, and that the Devil was a specific person.

Queen Elizabeth I's father, Henry VIII, broke away from the Catholic Church in Rome and became head of the Church in England. Across Northern Europe at this time groups of people 'protested' against the Roman Catholic Church - they were known as 'Protestants'. They did not obey the Pope. In England people were on both sides. They were often burnt at the stake.

Religion was a big political issue - being the wrong religion at home could get you imprisoned, tortured or executed. It also affected relations with other countries. Spain, a Catholic country, wanted England to return to Catholicism and the Spanish king sent an Armada - a fleet of ships - which tried to invade. Because religion was so closely associated with politics, playwrights had to be very careful. Shakespeare avoids talking directly about Christianity, but throughout his plays we see references to Heaven and Hell. Hamlet, for example, can't bring himself to kill his uncle while he is praying, because he will go straight to Heaven - the opposite of what Hamlet wants!

There were a few small Jewish communities too. King Edward I expelled the Jews in 1290, but some Jews had returned to England. Outwardly they had to pretend to be Elizabethan Christians and go to church. There was a lot of prejudice against Jews. This is reflected in The Merchant of Venice which features a law case between a Jew and a Christian at its centre. The case is settled with the Jew being punished by being forcibly converted to Christianity.

Did you know?

The Queen is still the head of the Church of England.

In Shakespeare's time the law said that you had to go to church every week.

One of the main translations of the Bible still used today is called the King James Bible - King James I, Elizabeth's successor, ordered a 'modern' English version in 1611.

Elizabethans believed that God set out an order for everything in the universe. This was known as the Great Chain of Being. On Earth, God created a social order for everybody and chose where you belonged. In other words, the king or queen was in charge because God put them there and they were only answerable to God (the Divine Right of Kings). This meant that disobeying the monarch was a sin, which was handy for keeping people in their place! It also led to the idea that if the wrong person was monarch everything would go wrong for a country, including whether the crops would be good, or if animals behaved as they should. The Elizabethans were very superstitious.

The Great Chain of Being includes everything from God and the angels at the top, to humans, to animals, to plants, to rocks and minerals at the bottom. It moves from beings of pure spirit at the top of the Chain to things made entirely of matter at the bottom. Humans are pretty much in the middle, being mostly mortal, or made of matter, but with a soul made of spirit. The theory started with the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato, but was a basic assumption of life in Elizabethan England. You were a noble, or a farmer, or a beggar, because that was the place God had ordained for you.

The Great Chain of Being is a major influence on Shakespeare's . Macbeth disturbs the natural order of things by murdering the king and stealing the throne. This throws all of nature into uproar, including a story related by an old man that the horses in their stables went mad and ate each other, a symbol of unnatural happenings.

In Shakespeare's time people believed in witches. They were people who had made a pact with the Devil in exchange for supernatural powers. If your cow was ill, it was easy to decide it had been cursed. If there was plague in your village, it was because of a witch. If the beans didn't grow, it was because of a witch. Witches might have a familiar - a pet, or a toad, or a bird - which was supposed to be a demon advisor. People accused of being witches tended to be old, poor, single women. It is at this time that the idea of witches riding around on broomsticks (a common household implement in Elizabethan England) becomes popular.

There are lots of ways to test for a witch. A common way was to use a ducking stool, or just to tie them up, and duck the accused under water in a pond or river. If she floated, she was a witch. If she didn't, she was innocent. She probably drowned. Anyone who floated was then burnt at the stake. It was legal to kill witches because of the Witchcraft Act passed in 1563, which set out steps to take against witches who used spirits to kill people.

King James I became king in 1603. He was particularly superstitious about witches and even wrote a book on the subject. Shakespeare wrote especially to appeal to James - it has witches and is set in Scotland, where he was already king. The three witches in manipulate the characters into disaster, and cast spells to destroy lives. Other magic beings, the fairies, appear in A Midsummer Night's Dream . Elizabethans thought fairies played tricks on innocent people - just as they do in the play.

Did you know?
There are still Elizabethan superstitions that we follow today:

don't walk under a ladder - they are bad luck because they are linked to gallows (the wooden frame for hanging people)

say 'Bless you' when someone sneezes - this is to stop the Devil entering your body through your mouth

don't spill salt - salt was very expensive in Elizabethan times, so spilling it was very bad luck

black cats are unlucky - they were associated with witches

And some ones we don't:

if you can touch a condemned man, that's good luck

losing your hair suddenly was a sign of bad luck to come

Medicine in Shakespeare's England followed the theory of the 'humours'. These were four liquids in your body - blood, yellow bile, black bile and - which needed to be in balance for you to be healthy. Each liquid gave off vapours, which entered the brain and altered the person.

If someone was ill, you could treat them by altering the amount of the humour they had in them. You might give them an emetic (something to make them throw up), or you might bleed them, to take excess blood away.

Each humour was supposed to correspond to a type of personality.

Many of Shakespeare's characters correspond to one of these types - and he often makes specific reference to the name of these types. Characters use ' ' as an insult - Prince Hal does in Henry IV Part I . Today we might call someone sanguine if they were very relaxed about things - Prince Hal uses it to mean someone who is so laid back that he is a coward and a lazy person. In The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio shouts at his servants for serving mutton because it is ' ' - and he and his wife Katherine are already bad-tempered enough!

Did you know?

This is where the idea of someone being 'good-humoured' or 'bad-humoured' comes from.

To cure excess blood - if you had a fever for example - healers would apply leeches to your skin to suck the blood out. Leeches have made a bit of a comeback in recent years - they are used now to help heal patients who have had skin grafts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
About Shakespeare - beliefs and superstitions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
People were extremely superstitious in Shakespeare's day. This affected people's views on everything from religion to treating illnesses. Some people even accused local women of being witches. Almost everyone in England in Shakespeare's day was Christian. Everyone would go to church on a Sunday, or even more often.

# data[].attributes.body
Link #2: https://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/blog/the-witchcraft-of-shakespeares-time-and-why-macbeth-really-didnt-help/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In he used characters such as the witches to bring dark magic and suspense. In Shakespeare's day those accused of witchcraft, or being a witch, were generally old, poor and single women, widows or 'wise women'.

In 1542 Parliament passed the Witchcraft Act which defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death. It was repealed five years later, but restored by a new Act in 1562.

A further law was passed in 1604 during the reign of James I who took a keen interest in demonology and even published a book on it. The 1562 and 1604 Acts transferred the trial of witches from the Church to the ordinary courts.

As well as the charge of 'mischief following anger', there were other ways witches were identified at trial. One was the presence of 'witch marks', a mark supposed to have been put on a woman's body by the Devil.

Water was another commonly used means of determining whether women were witches: water was seen as inherently pure, so a suspected witch would be tied up and thrown in a pond or lake.

If the suspect sank, the water 'accepted' her and therefore she was not a witch, but if she floated, the water 'rejected' her, and she was presumed a witch.
What techniques did Shakespeare use to create drama?
In the Tempest Shakespeare used storms and bad weather to create the feeling of both justice and revenge. This is a technique used widely by writers where the weather is used as an indication that trouble is on the way. The play uses a variety of forms of the natural world throughout, such as: the sea, air and wind, earth, wildlife and thunder and lightning.

These images of nature are presented both as calm and as threatening, depending on the situation of each scene and this suggests that Shakespeare believes that nature is extremely powerful.

In Julius Caesar, the omens from a fortune teller known as a soothsayer warn of what is to come. Shakespeare uses the soothsayer character to build suspense in the play.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shakespeare, Witchcraft and the Supernatural

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In he used characters such as the witches to bring dark magic and suspense. In Shakespeare's day those accused of witchcraft, or being a witch, were generally old, poor and single women, widows or 'wise women'. In 1542 Parliament passed the Witchcraft Act which defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death.

# data[].attributes.body
Link #2: https://therealmacbeth.com/king-macbeth/macbeths-world/society/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Macbeth was a king of the Scots whose rule was marked by efficient government and the promotion of Christianity, but who is best known as the murderer and usurper in William Shakespeare's tragedy.

Shakespeare's Macbeth bears little resemblance to the real 11th century Scottish king.

Mac Bethad mac Findláich, known in English as Macbeth, was born in around 1005. His father was Finlay, Mormaer of Moray, and his mother may have been Donada, second daughter of Malcolm II. A 'mormaer' was literally a high steward of one of the ancient Celtic provinces of Scotland, but in Latin documents the word is usually translated as 'comes', which means earl.

In August 1040, he killed the ruling king, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, Morayshire. Macbeth became king. His marriage to Kenneth III's granddaughter Gruoch strengthened his claim to the throne. In 1045, Macbeth defeated and killed Duncan I's father Crinan at Dunkeld.

For 14 years, Macbeth seems to have ruled equably, imposing law and order and encouraging Christianity. In 1050, he is known to have travelled to Rome for a papal jubilee. He was also a brave leader and made successful forays over the border into Northumbria, England.

In 1054, Macbeth was challenged by Siward, Earl of Northumbria, who was attempting to return Duncan's son Malcolm Canmore, who was his nephew, to the throne. In August 1057, Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire by Malcolm Canmore (later Malcolm III).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
medieval king of Scotland, inaccurately portrayed by Shakespeare

# data[].attributes.headline
Superstition and the curse of the Scottish Play

# data[].attributes.subject
Superstition and the curse of the Scottish Play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The curse of Macbeth: is it more than superstition?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Has the witchcraft of Shakespeare’s tragedy – renowned for its violence and murder – transcended the production, or is it simply unlucky?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, a play with a name so synonymous with personal disaster that you can't even say it out loud in the theater world, simply referred to as "The Scottish Play" or "The Bard's Play". Like many Shakespeare plays, has proven to be incredibly flexible, having been staged in countless ways. In the '70s, Ian McKellan and Judi Dench played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in an avant-garde-style production, while Alan Cumming played every part in an amazing one-man show, recasting the whole story as taking place in the mind of a mental patient.

In film, the play has been adapted in straightforward adaptations, or as a muddy, dirty period piece, or as a Bollywood crime thriller. In light of Joel Coen's stylized take on The Tragedy of Macbeth with Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in the lead roles, here's a look at the 7 best cinematic adaptations of Macbeth, ranked.

RELATED: From 'Romeo + Juliet' to 'West Side Story': Comparing Classic vs. Contemporary Shakespeare Interpretations

7. Macbeth (1971)

The basic story of Macbeth remains essentially unchanged throughout most of the filmed adaptations, and Rosemary's Babydirector Roman Polanski's version hews close to the text. Macbeth ( Jon Finch), the Thane (or lord) of Cawdor, wins a decisive battle for King Duncan ( Nicholas Selby), and as he and his friend Banquo ( Martin Shaw) return from the war, three witches prophesize that Macbeth will next be awarded Thane of Glamis, then become king. As for Banquo, he will "beget kings." Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth ( Francesca Annis) collude to assassinate Duncan and take the throne. It all ends in tears, like any good tragedy.

Polanski's first film after the tragic death of his wife Sharon Tate at the hands of Charles Manson's deranged followers is one of the bloodiest, gloomiest Shakespeare adaptations ever made. Shot on location in some forbidding places around the British Isles, Polanski's Macbeth aimed for bleak period detail. It's a bloody, brooding film with strange surrealistic touches. Polanski includes an unnecessary amount of nudity for a Shakespeare film, especially in the scene where Macbeth palavers with the entire coven of witches. Still, this version has held up quite well, and likely represents the opposite end of the visual spectrum from what Coen and company have up their sleeve.

6. Maqbool (2003)

The notion that all modern storytelling owes a blood debt to Shakespeare is best left for painfully earnest academic debate. Still, it's a testament to the universality of many of the Bard's plays that their plots are flexible enough to withstand a variety of settings. The 2004 Indian crime thriller is one such example, with the late, great Bollywood star Irrfan Khan as the title character.

The chief lieutenant of a crime lord, Maqbool is also having an affair with his boss' mistress, Nimmi ( Tabu). The structure of Macbeth works surprisingly well when overlaid onto a Bollywood gangster flick, with Irrhan Khan proving effective and convincing as the ambitious Maqbool, who quickly finds himself in over his head. Maqbool successfully streamlines some of the characters' motivations, and deftly switches characters around. Maqbool wants to be with Tabu and out from under his boss' thumb, for example, and the witches are transformed into a pair of corrupt cops who predict Maqbool's moves.

5. Macbeth (2015)

Assassin's Creeddirector Justin Kurzel is lucky Marion Cotillard exists. Her icy performance as Lady Macbeth is the most compelling part of this straightforward, period-set adaptation starring Michael Fassbender. Kurzel uses a dialogue-free prologue sequence to make implicit what Shakespeare's text hints at, the Macbeths had a child who died. "I have given suck, and know/How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me," as Lady Macbeth tells her husband in Act 1, Scene 7. Macbeth wavers in their plan to murder King Duncan, and his wife must steel his resolve, telling him that she'd have killed her own baby if it meant following through with such a serious task.

Kurzel's film is sometimes too earnest and baroque in its pacing, but the cast, which includes David Thewlis as King Duncan, is uniformly excellent. There is evidence in the text that the Macbeths had been considering their move on the throne for some time before the play begins, and Kurzel's version provides some tragic motivation to make us believe it. The whole thing revolves around Cotillard's brilliant Lady Macbeth, and she is nothing less than captivating every time she appears.

4. Macbeth (1948)

Director and star Orson Welles' was only the fourth American-produced film adaptation of a Shakespeare play and helped set a template for decades. Welles crafts a very effective, straightforward interpretation of Macbeth, even if everyone speaks with less-than-convincing Scottish brogues. A tight budget forced Welles to use whatever costumes he could find, resulting in an odd, otherworldly atmosphere. The imaginative cinematography utilizes some tight framing to make the most out of the scant resources. The look of The Tragedy of Macbeth seems to have been at least partially inspired by Welles' version.

Most Shakespeare adaptations change things up, (with the exception of Kenneth Branagh 's four-hour from 1996, which includes absolutely every line of dialogue from every collected version of the play over the centuries), and Welles was of course no different. He adds a character called the Holy Man, who appears here and there as a symbolic counterpoint to the pagan witches. Welles also wisely put scenes on film which happen off-stage in the play, such as Lady Macbeth's suicide.

RELATED: 15 Best Shakespeare Film Adaptations, Ranked From Branagh to Olivier

3. Macbeth (2010)

Patrick Stewart takes on the lead role in director Rupert Goold's 2010 television adaptation of his own celebrated 2007 stage production. Stewart's Macbeth might be the most militarized and masculine characterization and is also one of the most convincing portrayals ever filmed. Set in the modern era, the production design seems to evoke 1960s Romania, when a communist dictatorship came to power.

Like many theater directors, Goold's style on film feels a bit stagebound, with the story taking place in very few exteriors. This all works in Stewart's favor, as his tough attitude cracks under pressure toward the end. One of the centerpieces of any version of Macbeth is the famous "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." speech from Act 5, Scene 5, which Macbeth delivers after hearing of his wife's death. Stewart breaks down during the scene, but not completely. His is one of the most controlled and captivating performances in any version of the play.

2. Scotland, PA (2001)

There are plenty of modernized and updated Shakespeare adaptations, such as 10 Things I Hate About You(Taming of the Shrew) and 2001's , a prep-school update of starring Josh Hartnett and Mekhi Phifer. One of the best and funniest is Scotland, PA, a dark comedy revamp of Macbeth, set in a fast-food restaurant in a Pennsylvania small town. When Joe "Mac" McBeth ( James LeGros) is passed over for a promotion at the fast-food joint owned by Norm Duncan ( James Rebhorn), three stoned hippies give him a vision of a future where Mac takes over the restaurant and puts in one of the first fast-food drive-through windows.

Not every Shakespeare tragedy would work as a comedy (try imagining where to put the laughs in Coriolanus), but Scotland, PA makes a strong case for giving it a try. The committed cast includes Christopher Walken as Investigator McDuff, who eventually unravels the plot as McBeth and his wife Pat (the brilliant Maura Tierney) lose their minds under the pressure of guilt and shame. There really should be more dark comedy Shakespeare tragedies. Preferably set in the '70s, and starring Walken.

1. Throne of Blood (1957)

The great Akira Kurosawa sets Macbeth in feudal Japan, with General Washizu, played by Kurosawa's favorite star Toshiro Mifune, overthrowing his sovereign Lord Tsuzuki, following an evil spirit's prophecy. Kurosawa's Throne of Blood changes some key plot points, leans on the supernatural aspect of the story, and is one of the greatest screen versions of the story ever made.

Kurosawa does away with Shakespeare's text, shedding the Bard's trademark dialogue in favor of a narrative full of intrigue and a style, partly influenced by the Noh theater tradition. Kurosawa's bold visual flair culminates in a devastating final act, beautifully rendered in crisp black and white by cinematographer Asakazu Nakai. Unlike, say, on Netflix, which was an attempt to adapt portions of Shakespeare's plays and without any of the dialogue, Throne of Blood transcends its trappings thanks to Kurosawa's understanding of Macbeth 's real tragedy.

Shakespeare raises questions of fate versus free will in Macbeth. Macbeth is a noble, loyal warrior when the play begins. He is the hero of his own story but becomes a villain without realizing it, as hubris and deadly ambition drive him and Lady Macbeth into the realm of murder. As arrows slam into either side of Washizu's head in Throne of Blood, we wonder if he, like Macbeth, like "Mac" McBeth, like Maqbool, would have tread this path if not for the prophecy pointing the way. To what degree are we in control of our own choices? The tragedy of Macbeth begs an answer, as it has for more than 400 years.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's one of William Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, a play with a name so synonymous with personal disaster that you can't even say it out loud in the theater world, simply referred to as "The Scottish Play" or "The Bard's Play". Like many Shakespeare plays, has proven to be incredibly flexible, having been staged in countless ways.

# data[].attributes.body
Link #2: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/heathland-and-moorland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore the detailed map of Scotland featuring its major cities and their names. Perfect for teaching Shakespeare and Macbeth lessons.

# data[].attributes.body
Link #2: https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/shakespeare-influence-english/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
How the English Language Is Shakespeare's Language | Grammarly Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Almost all students of English, native and non-native speakers alike, have to study the works of William Shakespeare. Most do so begrudgingly. Part of this reaction is because, despite reassurances from teachers that Shakespeare was one of the most influential writers in the English language (and in the world), many students don't understand exactly how profound Shakespeare's influence was on the development of the English language.

Here's a tip: Want to make sure your writing always looks great? Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites.

Shakespeare's influence on the English language

Here's some food for thought:

Before Shakespeare's time, written English was, on the whole, not standardized. His works contributed significantly to the standardization of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. Shakespeare introduced 1,700 original words into the language, many of which we still use (despite significant changes to the language since Shakespeare's time). These words include: "lonely," "frugal," "dwindle," and many more.

In addition to all these words, many phrases that we use daily originated in Shakespeare's work. When you talk about "breaking the ice" or having a "heart of gold," or when you use any number of other phrases, you're using Shakespeare's language.

Finally, Shakespeare had a profound impact on poetry and literature that has lasted centuries. He perfected blank verse, which became a standard in poetry. Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Charles Dickens were all heavily influenced by Shakespeare. The impact led George Steiner to conclude that romantic English poets were "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes."

Because of the profound impact of Shakespeare's language on the way we speak today, studying the works of Shakespeare is an indispensable part of cultural education. Exploring the thousands of ways we still use Shakespeare's language and themes is not only worthwhile and fascinating, but also fun.

Did you study Shakespeare's works? What did you like? What did you dislike?

Here's a tip: Grammarly's Citation Generator ensures your essays have flawless citations and no plagiarism. Try it for citing Shakespeare in Chicago , MLA , and APA styles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the English Language Is Shakespeare's Language

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Almost all students of English, native and non-native speakers alike, have to study the works of William Shakespeare. Most do so begrudgingly. Part of this reaction is because, despite reassurances from teachers that Shakespeare was one of the most influential writers in the English language (and in the world), many students don't understand exactly how profound Shakespeare's influence was on the development of the English language.