William Shakespeare is considered the greatest English writer and poet of all times and the world's most renown dramatist. His plays are still the most frequently performed in theatres worldwide, outshining by far any other playwright. With about 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and a few other works, his legacy is...fairly considerable and a subject of exploration and continuous interpretations. Shakespeare essay topics may focus on his characters and their struggles, on love, loyalty, fate, sacrifice identity, vengeance, human nature, the corrupting effect of power, etc. This makes them relevant for students even nowadays. Check out the samples of Shakespeare essay topics in this rubric for additional topics and examples of good writing focused on Shakespeare’s works.
William Shakespeare’s highly acclaimed drama Romeo and Juliet is the story of two lovers against fate who by their death end the quarrels between their families, The Montagues and the Capulet. After meeting each other at a masquerade, Romeo and Juliet fall in one. The...
William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer of the English language, known for both his plays and sonnets. Much about his life remains open to debate due to incomplete evidence. In the mid-sixteenth century, William Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, moved to the idyllic town...
In Shakespearean plays, women have always played important roles. Whether their purpose was to create the base of the play, main conflicts, or generate moral and cultural questions, women are always put in arduous situations. Often, the role of women surpasses the role of male...
In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, feminine homoeroticism emerges as an interplay of passive and aggressive opposition. Women take the sphere of romantic love — one sphere to which they have access in the midst of an oppressive patriarchal order...
Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies, a comedy does not demand the ‘the degree of concentration and belief’ required by tragedy. As a result, an audience of a play ‘is amusedly aware that it’s all a play, a game that they are sharing with the actors’. FN1...
In the play “Romeo and Juliet,” William Shakespeare suggested both genders in the play to be losers but there are themes that won the play at the end. Women in the play such as Lady Capulet and Juliet were considered to be losers due to...
Throughout history, we have seen many writers blossom and impact the English literature communities as we know it. One famous writer and playmaker is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a big role in English and educational society. Though some may say we must take Shakespeare out...
Racism and sexism are prominent twentieth century ideas, both which are main themes in many of Shakespeare’s works. In The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare, the character of Othello is used as the subject of discrimination and his wife, Desdemona,...
Sonnet 18 was written by William Shakespeare, that articulates and accentuates the sentiment of passion and love. The poem expresses the poet’s endearment and perpetual devotion of his subject and how the subject surpasses all tangible beauty. He explicitly expresses this notion through the manipulation...
“To be, or not to be: that is the question” (Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1). Everyone knows or has heard this iconic quote from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, whether you have read the written work or not. This recognizable quote illustrates just how impactful...
During the 14th century until the 17th century, the renaissance era was happening. This time gave birth to many artists, poets, and musicians and new ways to express their arts. In the mid-16th century, one of the most known poets was born. His name was...
In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare explores the tragic lives and deaths of the two “star-crossed lovers”. Both Romeo and Juliet are unable to escape their dreadful destiny, even though the strength of their love. While fate plays a significant role in the tragic...
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”- Jimi Hendrix. The power of love is strong enough to open the hearts of powerful men, who abuse their power, to obtain dominance, control, and to seek revenge. Lust for...
Though the reasons for William Shakespeare creating such sinister character as Iago is unknown, it can be seen as commentary on the inexplicable evil that exists in the world and how good and innocent men can fall victim to it. In Othello, Shakespeare creates a...
“Triumph, my Britaine, thou hast one to showe, To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time!” These were words written by Ben Jonson, about the one and only William Shakespeare. As a poet and a...
Plays written by William Shakespeare are irrelevant and have no place in modern society including modern school curriculums. During the 16th century when these plays were written they were based on themes from that time in history making the plays relevant in their times. But...
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a tragedy between all the characters, but most importantly Macbeth himself. This play is one of the most gruesome and tragic plays Shakespeare has written. It is about a man who is hungry for power and will do...
King Lear, is a play written by Shakespeare, any critic will attest to how thoughtfully this piece of art was contrived. However, many unwaveringly argue that this play is to be described as a tragedy, nothing more and nothing less. On the other hand, some...
«The family is like a body. Just as the organs and limbs of a body are connected and interdependent, so the members of the family are connected physically and are also bound together by ties of emotional and practical interdependence» Bruce W. Young. The family...
BBC Television Shakespeare, Characters in Romeo and Juliet, Daughter, English Renaissance plays, Family, Father, First Folio, Frances Barber, John Gielgud, Judi Dench
There are many powerful stories in the world. Tales of intrigue, revenge and redemption. But it is the skilful craft of storytelling which makes these narratives memorable. Narratives which are well told that involve the compelling characterisation of complex individuals, an engaging and suspenseful plot...
Much Ado About Nothing is a play filled with deception, love and most importantly lies. Throughout the play, Shakespeare creates scenes where misunderstandings and lies help develop and destroy relationships and characters. The couples are influenced by the efforts of others to find their love...
Introduction There are a number of dramas and other stories that have been written over time and each one of these have their significant position in literature. These stories and plays not only have a great story but there is also substantial material present that...
Drama is the most powerful move of communication. It is seen as a way to improve young our reading and vocabulary skills. Shakespeare was one of the main influencers of this. He created drama as a way of communication while still being creative and making...
The main characters in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Julius Caesar have distorted self-perception, showing throughout the play that they see themselves as actors in a great historical play rather than actual people (Van Laan 139). Brutus, Antony, Cassius, and Caesar all overact in a sense and...
Battle of Philippi, Cicero, Cleopatra VII, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus Licinius Crassus, Mark Antony, Pompey, Roman dictator
In the Shakespearean play, “Macbeth,” the witches influence on how Macbeth made his decisions played a crucial part in contributing to his eventual destruction. The witches were trying to create chaos by prophesying to Macbeth in order to get him to act. They planted the...
Shakespeare’s iconic sonnet 29 is a sonnet that embodies the superficial nature of humanity, both intrinsically and extrinsically. The sonnet begins with the speaker denouncing his current state, which is quite unfavorable, as he “beweep[s] [his] outcast state” (line 2). However, the speaker continues to...
Many of Shakespeare’s plays contain the structural and symbolic elements of mythology. The inheritance of mythological conventions, which shall be explored in this essay, create an effect that is ritualistic and leads to Nietzsche’s observation of ‘an overpowering feeling of unity which leads back to...
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Anthropology of religion, Archetypal literary criticism, Carl Jung, Death, Dream, Edward III, First Folio, Greek mythology, Hamlet
Hamlet is a tragic story where there is a hero and criminals. Everyone has an imperfection that leads to something tragic or r emotional in all of the history. The main evil in this story is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In Shakespeare’s Theatrical Story, Hamlet...
There is still reluctance among many high school students to accept Shakespeare work as an author who speaks to them and their problems. This misguided them into thinking and focusing on the fact that Shakespeare’s language is “too difficult”. His work shows various perspectives that...
The renaissance was an era of great change in philosophical thought and morality. Before the 15th century, monastic scholasticism had dominated European thinking. Monasticism’s emphasis on a black and white system of morality, which relied on a dogmatic and narrow interpretation of Christian theology, created...
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