# Shakespeare's Works
Confidence: high
Last verified: 2026-05-22
Generation: ai_assisted


## TL;DR

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the most influential writer in the English language. 39 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 narrative poems. Genres: tragedies (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello), comedies (A Midsummer Night's Dream), histories (Henry V), romances (The Tempest). Invented ~1700 words still used today.

## Core Explanation

Hamlet: 'To be, or not to be' — most performed play globally. Romeo and Juliet: defining love story. Iago (Othello): literature's great villain. Globe Theatre: open-air playhouse, reconstructed in London (1997). Shakespearean sonnet: 14 lines, iambic pentameter, ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG. Authorship question: some argue it wasn't Shakespeare (vast majority of scholars disagree).

## Further Reading

- [Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (Harold Bloom)](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/75451/shakespeare-by-harold-bloom/)