INDEX

1. Introduction...............................................................................................................1
2. William Shakespeare Biography...............................................................................1
3. Romeo and Juliet.......................................................................................................4
 Plot.........................................................................................................................4
 Argument origins...................................................................................................5
 Characters..............................................................................................................7
 Themes and motifs................................................................................................8
4. Hamlet.....................................................................................................................10
 Plot.......................................................................................................................10
 Argument origins.................................................................................................12
 Characters............................................................................................................13
 Themes and motifs..............................................................................................14
5. Conclusion...............................................................................................................14
6. Bibliography............................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction
My essay is going to be about Shakespeare and his two master pieces: Romeo and Juliet
and Hamlet. I am going to talk about Shakespeare life and situate both works on his life.
I am going to explain both stories’ arguments, of his characters, the main themes...
I have also introduced some images because it’s easier to get the ideas and get well with
the specific situation.

2. William Shakespeare Biography

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in

Stratford on Avon, a rural village.
Shakespeare’s family was catholic and it is
supposed that he was educated on this,
although it was not a prohibited religion, but it
was frowned upon. His father got a position
for being the administrator on the city council
and he was the first to invite travelling
companies of actors to perform in Stratford.
Since he was 10 years old he attended to
Secondary School, where almost all teachers
teach only Latin authors. When he left school,
his family had just started loading an
economic decline that will put his father on debts. William doesn’t study at university,
but he also doesn’t come as an apprentice in any trade. When he was eighteen he got
married with Anne Hathaway (who was 8 years older than him) as an obligation; Anne
Hathaway’s family offered him a very poor drawly. Six moths later they had a daughter,
Susanna, who will take care of William during his last days. Two years later they had
twins, Hamnet and Judith; Hamnet died when he was eleven years old.
Between 1586 and 1592 we don’t know with certainty anything about him. It is
supposed that he fled from Stratford to join with the travelling company of the clown
William Kempe. As an actor with studies we can suppose that eventually he contributed

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to improving and adapting the works of repertoire, to remake old themes and to create
new works; it is also possible that, as an apprentice, he had to interpret female roles.
On 1592 we had news of Shakespeare when Robert Greene alerts his colleagues of the
danger of the success of an ambitious intruder who threatens to outshine them.
For two years fever forces to close the theatres and, the ones who can afford it, fleeing
from London. It is said that Shakespeare could be hosted at the country house of the
Count Southampton, and from that moment he will be his protector.
On 1594, with the reopening of the theaters, Shakespeare associates to Lord
Chamberlain’s company; as they are a new company and they need some authors. This
was a great chance for Shakespeare; in less than two years he writes A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew and
Romeo and Juliet; of this last one I will talk about later.
With this works he opens a new dramatic style: a poetic style, refined and witty, where
musicality of the verse is almost as important as the action.
On 1596 his son Hamnet dies in accident, this personal tragedy matches with a change
in the social and politic environment of the country. The optimism is replaced for an era
of cynicism and burocratic stiffness that will affect theaters. One day all theaters were
closed because of one work, which was considered to be too brazen. The government
only authorizes children’s representations, but at the end this ones tend to be more critic
than the adult ones. Shakespeare criticizes this environment on his work Henry IV; he
makes mockery of the great values, of dignity, of honor, of respect, love... which
coincides with the spirit of the time (but Shakespeare stays away from the disillusioned
and skeptical tone of the other playwrights). Shakespeare chooses to write romantic
comedies where love and wit triumph over the dangers that observe them. It even
change the way of doing humor: obscene jokes of Falstaff disappear and are substituted
for a more lyrical wit, more thoughtful, and hardly ever rude.
On 1597 are forced by the owner of the land to leave “The Theatre” and the Lord
Chamberlain’s company have to act at “The Curtain”. But one night they took the wood
of the theatre and they build “The Globe”, on the other side of the Thames.
Although the government provided to write about national history, because of the
delicate status of the Queen, Shakespeare continued writing about it but placing the
story in Rome.
The new century stars with some problems; the Count of Essex stands against the
Queen, but they don’t win and the Queen and the assailants will be judged on the next

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day. But the day before, the actors of Southampton represent a story. On Hamlet we can
see this image, which reminds us this situation, where the actors represent a work in
front of the Court.
On the four works that her writes on this period we can see a vacillating mood, black
humor and a lack of clarity (which is considered to be strange from Shakespeare); as
equal in terms of structure as in theme.
When the Queen dies on 1603, the
new King (James I) signs a decree
where he adopts Shakespeare’s
company as “Kings Men” (as
King’s company). But Shakespeare
refused to participate on the solemn
celebration of events. From this
year on, Shakespeare writes in a
more tragic vision, we can see this
on his works: Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra and
Coriolanus.
On 1608 they finally get the license to perform in a living room of an old Dominican
convent. To perform in a closed room suppose a great change with the relation of a big
circular outdoor theatre. Shakespeare does not follow his contemporaries with the new
style that produces this change. Instead of the realistic dramas and satires of urban
actuality, he began to practice a new genre, the romance; it is a mixture of tragedy,
comedy and lyrical drama, it similarly reproduces the habitual effects that where hold
on the luxury Courts (choreographies, dances, appearances... Cymbeline, The Winter’s
Tale and The Tempest show romantic situations: the old family conflicts, ideological or
political are solved by the forgiven and the conciliatory spirit.
On The Tempest, Shakespeare farewells from his works and his followers; he will pass
his latest days in Stratford with his family. But even when he was retired, he helped
some young playwrights.
On the 23rd of April 1616 he died (maybe for a drunkenness), on the day that was
pretended to reach 52 years old. On his will he leaves almost all he had to his daughter
Susanna; to his wife much less (the second best bed); to his cousin some actor dresses;
and other belonging to relatives and friends.

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3. Romeo and Juliet

 Plot

The story starts with a

street brawl in Verona,
between Montagues and
Capulets, who are sworn
enemies. The Prince of
Verona intervenes and says
that further failure of the
peace will be punishable
with death. After that
Count Paris talks with
Juliet’s father about
marrying his daughter, but
he cautiously answered that
Juliet was too young
(thirteen years old) and offers Paris to wait at least two more years and invites him
to attend a Capulet ball. Juliet’s mother and her nurse try to convince Juliet to
marry with Count Paris.

Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo (Lord Montague's son) about his
depression. This was caused by Rosaline (a Capulet’s niece) because of an
unrequited love. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the Capulet
ball and then meets and falls in love with Juliet. After the ball, Romeo slips into
the Capulet ground and overhears Juliet on her balcony promising her love to him
in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo feels the same, so they
agree to get married. Friar Laurence helps them by marrying them secretly on the
next day.

Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin) was feeling unworthy because Romeo had sneaked into the
Capulet ball and he challenges him to a duel. Romeo refuses to duel with him
because he was seeing him has a kinsman. Mercutio offended by Tybalt’s
insolence accepts the challenge in the place of Romeo. Mercutio is wounded and

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 Romeo attempts to break up the fight. Disconsolate and feeling guilty Romeo fight
and kills with Tybalt.

Montague argues that Romeo killed Tybalt because he have already killed
Mercutio. The Prince exiles Romeo from Verona and declares that if Romeo
returns he will kill him. Romeo spends the night in secret with Juliet, and that
night they consummate their marriage. Juliet’s father misinterprets his daughter
grief and accepts the proposal of Count Paris and threatens to disown her when
she refuses to become Paris's bride. Then she begs for the marriage to be
cancelled, but his mother rejects this idea.

Friar Laurence helps Juliet and offers her a drug that will put her into a death-like
coma. He promised to send a messenger to Romeo to inform him about their plan.
On the night before the wedding she takes the drug and she is laid in the family
crypt. But the messenger does not reach Romeo and he think that Juliet is death, so
he buys a poison and goes to Capulet’s crypt. He finds Count Paris who was
mourning Juliet in private. Paris believes that Romeo is a vandal and he confronts
with him and Romeo kills Paris. He still believed that Juliet was death so he drank
the poison. Then Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo is death and she grabs a dagger
and she kills herself.

The enemy families and the Prince meet at the tomb and find all three dead. Friar
Laurence explains all the story and both families are reconciled by their children’s
death.

 Argument origins

Romeo and Juliet is a story that has a great literary tradition. Shakespeare was
not the first to write about two lovers love, but he was the one that elevate it to a
mite category. The main idea could provide from Ovidi’s Metamorphoses;
Pyramus and Thisbe.
The Elizabethan drama often took the Italian novelle arguments for their work.
Shakespeare showed a special predilection for these popular melodramatic
issues: Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, All's Well That Ends
Well, Measure for Measure, Othello...

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 For many textual outstanding loans we know that when
Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet (1595) he
had in hand and he keeps the narrative quite faithfully
from Arthur Brooke’s poem.

Along with this poem is more than a dozen mentions of

extensions and other works on the same subject in English: with stresses in the
popular version of William Painter, Rhomeo and Julietta (1567) and For the
Mountacute Viscount (1575) of George Gascoigne.

The olderst version that we know is The Ephesiaca (third

century AD) of Xenophon: the married Antia is
kidnapped by thieves and rescued by Perilao, which aims
to make her his wife. To avoid this she asks a doctor for a
poison. Believing her dead they bury her, and when she
wakes up she falls in the hands of a group of tombs
looters.
During the Renaissance, on 1476, Masuccio Salernitana published its Cinquante
Novelle. One set in Siena, the story of Mariotto, who bribes a friar to marry
secretly with Giannozza. Shortly after the marriage is wrapped on a fight and
kills an important citizen, so it is banished to Alexandria. To be able to meet
with him Gionnoza bribe the friar, who gives her a potion that will happen for
dead; after buried, Mariotto will remove her out of the tomb. But the messenger
who had to tell this plan to Mariotto ends in pirates’ hands and the message he
gets is that Gionozza is dead. When he returns to Siena and is about to open the
door is captured and beheaded. Gionozza wakes up in pain and dies in a
convent.

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 Closer to our work Luigi da Porto published in
1530 his Historia novellamente ritrovata di dui
nobili amanti, placing it in Verona. He introduces
many details which would be unchangeable: the
city (Verona), the names of lovers (Romeo and
Giuletta), the families, Fray Lorenzo Mercuccui,
Theobald and Conte di Londrone (Count Paris).

Matteo Bandello in 1554 includes among its Novelle another

version of the theme with new details: initial melancholy of
Romeo, the characters of the nurse and a friend of Romeo, the
name of Paris for the noble suitor.

The changes introduced by Shakespeare are not very numerous, but they are
certainly very significant as we can see for the success that it has had.

 Characters

Verona House:
 Prince Escalus is the ruling Prince of Verona
 Count Paris is a kinsman of Escalus who wishes to marry Juliet.
 Mercutio is another kinsman of Escalus, and a friend of Romeo.

Capulet’s:
 Capulet is Juliet’s father.
 Lady Capulet is Juliet’s mother.
 Juliet is the daughter of the Capulets (in love with Romeo)
 Tybalt is a cousin of Juliet, and the nephew of Lady Capulet.
 The Nurse is Juliet's personal attendant and confidante.
 Peter, Sampson and Gregory are servants.

Montague’s

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  Montague is Romeo’s father.
 Lady Montague is Romeo’s mother.
 Romeo is the son of Montague and Lady Montague and is in love with
Juliet
 Benvolio is Romeo's cousin and his best friend.
 Abram and Balthasar are servants.

Others

 Friar Laurence is a Franciscan friar, and is Romeo's confidant.

 Friar John is sent to deliver Friar Laurence's letter to Romeo.

 Themes and motifs

 Love and marriage

Love is the central theme of Romeo and Juliet. But true love and passion
is channeled through marriage. This attitude corresponds with the new
value that gives the protestant movement to the institution of marriage.
Shakespeare presents an idealized and perfect love, for its freshness,
generosity and happiness; it will be able to overcome all obstacles
(including death).

 Love against hate

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 Along all the work we can see that after a love action continues a hate
action. Romeo and Juliet love each other, but their own families are
enemies. There’s always a relation with love and hate.

 Fate or chance

The reasons for the success of Romeo and Juliet are difficult to explain.
Some critics have attributed to what they consider heroic confrontation
between a human love and a pure superhuman blind and cruel fate. This
is embodied in the tragic fate of a chain that seems to make random
conspiration against the protagonists. Chance only allows players to
output, because they will not, in any case, betray their love(even with
death).

 A race against time

Shakespeare concentrated the action in four days. The reduction in space

and time is common in the drama genre, but in this case it also becomes a
key element of the action. The brevity of the action is accentuated
through the contrast with the immobility of life in Verona, where the
facts seem to have a long history (the enmity of the families).

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4. Hamlet

 Plot

The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince

Hamlet of Denmark, son of the lately
deceased King Hamlet and his wife
(Queen Gertrude).

The play opens on a chilly night at

Elsinore, the Danish royal castle.
Francisco, one of the sentinels, is
relieved of his guard by Bernardo,
another sentinel, and exits while
Bernardo remains. A third sentinel,
Marcellus, enters with Horatio,
Hamlet's best friend. The sentinels
inform Horatio that they have seen a ghost that looks like the dead King Hamlet.
After hearing from Horatio of the Ghost's appearance, Hamlet goes to see the
Ghost himself. That night, the Ghost appears again. It leads Hamlet to a secluded
place, claims that it is the actual spirit of his father, and discloses that he (Hamlet’s
father) was murdered by Claudius' pouring poison in his ear. The Ghost demands
that Hamlet has to revenge him; Hamlet agrees, swears his companions to secrecy.
Hamlet does not know if the ghost was real, so he decides not to act.

Polonius is Claudius' trusted chief counsellor; Polonius's son, Laertes, is returning

to France, and Polonius's daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet. Both Polonius
and Laertes warn Ophelia that Hamlet is surely not serious about her. Shortly
afterward, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlet's strange behaviour, reporting to her
father that Hamlet rushed into her room, stared at her, and said nothing.

Claudius sends two of Hamlet's acquaintances (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) to

find out the cause of Hamlet's changed behavior. Hamlet greets his friends warmly
but quickly discerns that they have been sent to spy on him.

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Together, Claudius and Polonius convince Ophelia to speak with Hamlet while
they secretly listen.

Hamlet remains uncertain

whether the Ghost has told
him the truth, but the arrival
of a troupe of actors at
Elsinore presents him with a
solution. He will have them
into a stage play, The Murder
of Gonzago, re-enacting his
father's murder and determine
Claudius's guilt or innocence
by studying his reaction to it.
The court assembles to watch
the play; Hamlet provides an
agitated running commentary
throughout. When the murder
scene is presented, Claudius abruptly rises and leaves the room, which Hamlet
sees as proof of his uncle's guilt.

Gertrude summons Hamlet to her closet to demand an explanation. On his way,

Hamlet passes Claudius in prayer, but hesitates to kill him, reasoning that death in
prayer would send him to heaven. An argument erupts between Hamlet and
Gertrude. Polonius, spying on the scene from behind an arras and convinced that
the prince's madness is indeed real, panics when it seems as if Hamlet is about to
murder the Queen and cries out for help. Hamlet kills Polonius by accident. The
Ghost appears, urging Hamlet to treat Gertrude gently, but reminding him to kill
Claudius.

Claudius finds a good excuse to get rid of the Prince: he sends Hamlet to England
on a diplomatic pretext, accompanied by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Alone,
Claudius discloses that he is actually sending Hamlet to his death.

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 Laertes returns from France, horrified by his father's death and his sister's
madness. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible, because he
has heard that Hamlet is still alive. He concocts a plot to kill his nephew but make
it appear to be an accident. Knowing of Hamlet's jealousy of Laertes' prowess with
a sword, he proposes a fencing match between the two. Laertes, enraged at the
murder of his father, informs the king that he will further poison the tip of his
sword so that a mere scratch would mean certain death. Claudius plans to offer
Hamlet poisoned wine. Gertrude enters to report that Ophelia has drowned.

Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with one of them, who unearth the skull
of a jester whom Hamlet once knew.

Laertes and Hamlet grapple, but the fight is broken up by Claudius and Gertrude.

Later that day, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped death on his journey. Laertes
invites Hamlet to a fence with him and he accepts it. After several rounds,
Gertrude toasts Hamlet accidentally drinking the wine he poisoned. Laertes attacks
and pierces Hamlet with his poisoned blade; Hamlet is able to use Laertes's own
poisoned sword against him. Gertrude falls and, in her dying breath, announces
that she has been poisoned.

In his dying moments, Laertes is reconciled with Hamlet and reveals Claudius's
murderous plot. Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and then forces
him to drink from his own poisoned cup. Hamlet names Prince Fortinbras of
Norway as the probable heir to the throne in his final moments.

When Fortinbras arrives to greet King Claudius, he encounters the deadly scene:
Gertrude, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet are all dead.

 Argument origins

Legends like Hamlet are so widely found. The first that can be identified is the
anonym Saga of Hrolf Kraki. In this work, the murdered king has two sons, who
spend most of the story in disguise, under false names, rather than feigning
madness. The second is the Roman legend of Brutus. Its hero changes his name
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 and persona to Brutus, playing the role of a fool to avoid the fate of his father and
brothers, and eventually slaying his family's killer.

According to a popular theory, Shakespeare's main source is believed to be an

earlier play known today as the Ur-Hamlet. Possibly written by Thomas Kyd or
even William Shakespeare himself.

Hamlet maybe is connected with Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet Shakespeare,

who died in 1596 at the age of eleven.

But some people also said that the name of Hamnet Sadler, the Stratford neighbour
after whom Hamnet was named, was often written as Hamlet Sadler and that, in
the loose orthography of the time, the names were virtually interchangeable.
Sadler's first name is spelled "Hamlett" in Shakespeare's will.

 Characters
 Claudius–King of Denmark
 Hamlet–Son of the former king, and nephew of the present King
 Gertrude–Queen of Denmark, and mother of Hamlet
 Polonius–Lord Chamberlain
 Ophelia–Daughter of Polonius
 Horatio–Friend of Hamlet
 Laertes–Son of Polonius
 Voltimand, Cornelius–Courtiers
 Rosencrantz, Guildenstern–Courtiers, friends of Hamlet
 Osric–a Courtier
 Marcellus–an Officer
 Bernardo–an Officer
 Francisco–a Soldier
 Reynaldo–Servant of Polonius
 Ghost of Hamlet's Father
 Fortinbras–Prince of Norway

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  Gravediggers–A sexton and a clown

 Themes and motifs

It may have some religious interpretations, some philosophical interpretations,

some psychoanalytic views or some feminist views.

Hamlet certainly embodies the love between his mother and loyalty to his father,
between his fears and the duty to revenge his father death. This complex
character is one of the main attractions of the work.

The tragic action has some comic elements, such as dialogues between servers,
making counterpoint. In addition, the country denouncing corruption and poor
border between reality and appearance.

The characters are mostly based on monologues that are where they explain their
problems and anticipate future actions. It is a tragedy, therefore, more reflective
rather than action, despite the large number of events taking place in court.

Hamlet must revenge his father's death. This is achieved with the doubts of
Hamlet when carrying out the murder.

Shakespeare introduced elements to distract the public, as ghosts, battles,

conspiracies and plots secondary. This is a feature of all his production;
making its representations to have different reading levels.

5. Conclusion
To conclude I would say that watching these two masterpieces carefully was
amazing. Now I can deduce why Shakespeare is so successful, he has his own
way of writing.

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6. Bibliography
 Shakespeare, William (2008) Hamlet. 1st Edition. Barcelona: Quaderns
Crema.
 Shakespeare, William (2008) Romeu i Julieta. 5th Edition. Barcelona: Vicens
Vives.

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