Born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the Bard authored timeless classics like Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, King Lear, and Hamlet to name a few. Here's why he still matters in world history!
His use of language, wordplay still gives us goose bumps... Sample these phrases that the bard coined
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” ― As You Like It
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” ― Twelfth Night
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.” – King Henry VI
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” ― Hamlet
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” – The Tempest
“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” – Measure for Measure
“We know what we are now, but not what we may become.” – Hamlet
He continues to be a successful playwright. These are Shakespeare's top 10 best selling works
1. Macbeth
2. The Tempest
3. Hamlet
4. Twelfth Night
5. Julius Caesar
6. King Lear
7. Much Ado About Nothing
8. Measure For Measure
9. A Midsummer Night's Dream
10. Antony And Cleopatra from Amazon Kindle.
Bollywood loves him: Here the best adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays into movies.
Othello – Omkara
Undoubtedly, one of the best Indian adaptations of a Shakespearean play was Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Omkara’. Showcased in a number of international film festivals and winning a number of awards at these events – ‘Omkara’ was one of the best movies of 2006. And more importantly, it became a part of the director’s adapted movies – ‘The Blue Umbrella’ and ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands’ (Saat Khoon Maaf) by Ruskin Bond being some others.
Macbeth – Maqbool
And a previous Shakespearean adaptation by the same director three years before ‘Omkara’ was ‘Maqbool’ – taken from the play ‘Macbeth’. Although the movie did not do well commercially, it won Bhardwaj international acclaim and went on to make ‘Omkara’ after it.
Romeo And Juliet – Ram Leela
Apart from the dazzling looks of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Bansali's picturesque screenplay and the turbulent plot set in Gujarat, another talking point of the movie was that it was based loosely on the bard’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
The Taming Of The Shrew – 10 Things I Hate About You
'10 Things I Hate about You’ marked the breakout success of Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger when it released in 1999 – and the movie was a modernization of Shakespeare’s play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. The name of the movie, as everyone who has watched the movie knows, is a description of Stiles’ bittersweet romance with Ledger.
Twelfth Night – She’s The Man
Cross-dressing was a big part of Shakespearean plays – both as an actual phenomenon (girls were not allowed to act in plays then) and as part of the plays too – helping build up a comedy of errors. And ‘She’s The Man’ has exactly the kind of cross-dressing as in the original play ‘Twelfth Night’.
Hamlet – The Lion King
One of the most brilliant adaptations of a Shakespearean play was marked by the making of the animated film ‘The Lion King’. This movie derives a lot from ‘Hamlet’ – from Simba’s spiritual and physical journey to restoring peace in a troubled kingdom to Nala murdering herself by walking into the lake. This is one movie you can watch over and over again, and marvel at how a political and spiritual drama has been transformed into the animal world.