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LOVE IN SHAKESPEARE: FIVE STORIES

NOEMI DRUDA LICEO SCIENTIFICO GALILEO GALILEI 2 O

Author: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is an English playwright known throughout the world. He was very important to English and world culture as his works were translated into all the languages ​​of the world and he added new terms to the English language.

We don't know William's life in detail but thanks to baptism, marriage and death certificates, historians have managed to reconstruct William's life. He was born in Stratford-upon-avon probably on 23 April 1564.

William's family was wealthy and he was educated at King's New Grammar School in Stratford and he learned to read, write, Latin and Greek. Shakespeare married at 18 to Anne Hathaway in 1582.

They had many children together and one of them, Shakespeare's only son died. In 1592 William leaves his wife and children to escape to London because he was wanted. There he formed a theater company together with his friends and built one of the most important theaters in the city: the Globe Theatre, in 1597.

William thus became very rich and also began to invest his money, when he became rich enough to never work again he returned to Stratford. He died on April 23, 1616 and left all his possessions to his daughter Susanna, apart from a bed to his wife Anne.

Let's talk about the book!

The book contains 5 love stories: The taming of the Shrew, The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfht Night; or, What you will, The tragedy of Othello: Moor of Venice and Antony and Cleopatra.

Let's see them in detail

The taming of the Shrew

This story is about a rich man from Padua, Baptista who had two daughters: Katharina and Bianca. Bianca had two suitors, Hortensio and Gremio. But the father of the two girls had decided that Bianca couldn't marry before Katharina. But Katharina wasn't an easy woman: she was always rude and aggressive towards everyone. By chance, a friend of Hortensio's, Petruchio, had arrived in Padua looking for a rich wife.

Hortensio and Petruchio then show up at Baptista's house. So Petruchio asks for Katharina's hand and has his first meeting with her. At first she was rude as always but Petruchio behaves sweetly towards her and Katharina agrees to marry him. From the day of the wedding, Petruchio begans to have the same rude behavior as Katharina to make her understand her mistake.

At the end of the story the shrew was tamed and Katharina became an obedient wife.

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

This story is about two families who were bitter enemies of each other: the Montagues and the Capulets. The protagonist is Romeo, the Montagues' only son. At the beginning of the story he's in love with Rosaline, Lord Capulet's niece and therefore their story is impossible. Romeo and his two friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, went to a masquerade ball at the Capulet house.

There Romeo sees the Capulets' youngest daughter: Juliet, who at that moment was dancing with her suitor, Count Paris. Then Romeo talks to Juliet, they fall in love and kiss. That evening Romeo went under Juliet's balcony and they decided to get married.

But that evening at the ball Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, recognizes Romeo and wants to challenge him to a duel. The next day Juliet and Romeo are married by Friar Laurence. Tybalt seeks out Romeo and challenges him but instead fights with Mercutio and kills him. To avenge him, Romeo kills Tybalt and for this he is exiled from Verona.

Juliet finds out and asks Friar Laurence for help and he finds a ploy to make her stay with Romeo instead of marrying her to Count Paris. Juliet fakes her death and everyone is very sad in Verona. Romeo finds out and goes to see her. he commits suicide with poison in front of her and stands next to her. Juliet, who was only asleep and not dead, wakes up and sees Romeo dead next to her, so she stabs herself. After this event the two families made peace but for Romeo and Juliet it was too late.

Juliet finds out and asks Friar Laurence for help and he finds a ploy to make her stay with Romeo instead of marrying her to Count Paris. Juliet fakes her death and everyone was very sad in Verona. Romeo finds out and goes to see her. he commits suicide with poison in front of her and stands next to her. Juliet, who was only asleep and not dead, wakes up and sees Romeo dead next to her, so she stabs herself. After this event the two families made peace but for Romeo and Juliet it was too late.

Twelfth Night; or , What You Will

This story is about a brother, Sebastian, and a sister, Viola, who manage to survive a shipwreck. Viola wakes up on the coast of Illyria and in order to survive she disguises herself as a man and goes to work as a servant of the owner of the island, Duke Orsino. Orsino is madly in love with Countess Olivia, a woman who has lost both her father and her brother and lives with her mother Maria without having contact with the outside world.

Viola, who now called herself Cesario, and the duke establish a strong friendship but Viola soon falls in love with him. The duke sends Cesario to Olivia every day to bring her love messages, but Olivia is unable to love Orsino and soon falls in love with Cesario. Meanwhile, Sebastian is saved by the sailor Antonio and together they decide to go and ask for help from Duke Orsino, a friend of Sebastian's father.

But Antonio is arrested as soon as he arrives in Illyra because the guards think he is a pirate. Sebastian, who has all of Antonio's money with him, wanders around the city and soon runs into Maria who takes him to Olivia thinking he was Cesario.

Olivia asks Sebastian to marry her, believing he was Cesario, and he accepts. Meanwhile Antonio is brought before the Duke and Viola. Sebastian enters the room together with Olivia and everyone thinks there are 2 Sebastians in the room, but one of them is Viola who decides to unmask her identity by seeing her brother. the duke understands that viola had always been in love with him, he too falls in love and decides to ask her in marriage.

The tragedy of Othello: Moor of Venice

Othello is a brave Arab general in the service of the Republic of Venice who secretly marries Desdemona, daughter of the senator Brabantio. Upon hearing the news of his daughter's marriage, the father reports Othello to the Council of the Republic. Othello and Desdemona declare that their love is sincere and the rulers authorize the union between the two.

Othello receives the appointment of commander of the Venetian forces in Cyprus, as well as governor of the island itself and leaves to fight against the Turks in Cyprus. Othello promotes Cassio as his lieutenant and Iago, envious, devises a diabolical plan. Iago gets Cassio drunk, putting him in a bad light in Othello's eyes, then insinuates in Othello the doubt that Cassio and Desdemona are lovers.

Othello, overwhelmed by jealousy, goes mad and strangles his wife. Emilia, Iago's wife, senses her husband's sins and tells the truth to the Moor. Emilia is thus killed by Iago.

Othello, full of remorse, takes his own life on the body of his wife Desdemona, Cassio takes Othello's place in the service of the Republic of Venice while Iago will remain the only one alive to pay for the crimes he caused.

Antony and Cleopatra

While he is in Alexandria in Egypt at the court of Cleopatra with whom he is in love, Antony learns that his wife Fulvia (who fought against Octavian) is dead, and decides to return to Rome to help Octavian counteract the power of Pompey. To make up for Fulvia's opposition and to strengthen their friendship, Antony marries Ottavia, Octavian's sister.

When Cleopatra heard the news, she was furious. But the alliance does not last long: Antony turns against Octavian and sends his wife back to Rome, while Cleopatra places her fleet at her love's disposal so she can do battle in Actium. To block the campaign, Antony tries diplomacy, but Octavian is adamant. For his part, Octavian deals diplomatically with Cleopatra, who proves too helpful to the Roman ambassador.

All this makes Antonio jealous. It's war: on land Antony has the upper hand, on sea Octavian. Antony is defeated: he wants to take his own life, especially since Mardian, the queen's eunuch, announces Cleopatra's death to him (it was only a ploy to calm Antony's anger and jealousy).

Antonio asks Eros, his attendant, to kill him, but he prefers to kill himself rather than do so. Antonio kills himself in turn with the same sword: he will die in the arms of his love. Finally, Cleopatra, to avoid being humiliated and mocked and being a trophy of Octavian, allows herself to be bitten by an asp and dies together with her maids. Solemn funerals are celebrated.

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