 
William Shakespeare wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. Most of them are famous. But how is a person supposed to be able to remember all those plots, in order to conduct an intelligent conversation that doesn't involve the Edmonton Oilers or next week's weather? We're here to help! Here you can find short (too short?) summaries of some of Shakespeare's most well-known plays, for those of us to whom they are not well-known because we spent too much time in English class surreptitiosly using our cell phones. Not surreptitiously enough, of course, since your teacher knew exactly why you spent the period staring at your crotch. And for persons of a certain age, substitute 'crafting notes to the cute guy/girl across the aisle' for 'using cell phones'. Hamlet The King of Denmark's ghost tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet pretends to be crazy, contemplates life and death while talking to a skull, and plans revenge. His uncle plans to kill Hamlet. The play ends when the King, Queen, Hamlet's opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed. Macbeth Three witches tell Macbeth that he will be King. Encouraged by his wife, Macbeth kills the king, becomes the new king, and kills more people. His wife feels guilty, says 'Out, vile spot' while sleepwalking, and goes crazy. Civil war erupts, resulting in more death. Romeo and Juliet Two feuding families start killing each other. A lovesick Romeo Montague falls in love with Juliet Capulet, who is 13, after seeing her once and exchanging overly flowery poetry with her while she's on a balcony. They plan to get married, but Romeo gets banished. Juliet fakes her own death. Romeo thinks she really did it, and kills himself in her tomb. Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo's corpse, and kills herself for real. The feud ends. Valuable Tip: The very best movie version of R & J is the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey. Highly recommended. The music is good too! Twelfth Night Viola, separated from her twin brother Sebastian, dresses as a boy and works for a Duke, whom she falls in love with. But the Duke is in love with Olivia, and sends Viola to court her for him. But Olivia falls for Viola (dressed as a boy) instead. Sebastian arrives, everyone is confused, and he marries Olivia. Viola reveals she's a girl and marries Orsino. Only the readers remain confused. This plot was reused in quite a few eighties and nineties high school sitcoms, but Lucy did it first. Julius Caesar Jealous conspirators including Cassius convince Brutus to join their assassination plot against his friend Caesar. They kill him on the Ides of March, as Julius says 'Et tu, Brute?'. Mark Antony fights them. Brutus and Cassius lose and kill themselves, leaving Antony to rule Rome. You may have noticed a common theme in Shakespeare's plays. People die a lot. A Midsummer Night's Dream Two couples run away to the forest where Puck the fairy makes both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. They run through the forest some more. A guy named Bottom gets his head changed to that of a donkey's while Puck plays a trick on the fairy queen. Puck reverses the magic, and the two couples marry. Antony and Cleopatra Mark Antony is in love with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. As one of the three rulers, Antony is summoned back to Rome, where Octavius a co-ruler gets mad at him. But he goes back to Egypt. He and Cleopatra fight Octavius, but lose and commit suicide. A Whole Bunch of Plays About English Kings Named Henry Henry IV (parts 1 and 2), V, VI (parts 1, 2, and 3!), and VIII (🍗) Too many plots for even an English teacher to keep track of. Listen to Herman's Hermits sing "I'm Henry the Eighth I Am" instead. King Lear King Lear divides his kingdom among the two oldest daughters he likes because they suck up to him, and banishes the third one, the one who loves him. Isn't that always the way? His eldest daughters both then reject him, so Lear goes crazy (they called it 'mad' in those days) and wanders around. His banished daughter returns with an army, but they lose the battle and everybody dies. Taming of the Shrew Lucentio loves Bianca but can't have her until her shrewish older sister Katherina gets married. Petruccio marries Katherina, and devises devious ways to make her an obedient wife, most of which we probably wouldn't recommend today. Lucentio marries Bianca. Katherina gets tamed. Two Gentlemen of Verona Two friends, Proteus and Valentine, visit Milan, and both fall in love with Silvia. Silvia loves Valentine, but Proteus chases after her despite the fact he has a girlfriend back home. Proteus and Valentine work things out, Proteus goes back to his girlfriend, and both couples marry. Merry Wives of Windsor Falstaff, a rather large and buffoonish (🍺) character who appears in a number of Shakespeare's plays, (see the multiple Henries above) seduces the wives of two wealthy merchants, hoping to get rich. They find out he sent them identical letters, and get revenge by playing tricks on him. If you're a true Shakespeare fan, you, of course, won't have needed these summaries. But you might want to check out our page about all the common phrases and expressions that were first made famous by Shakespeare. And to thine own self be true. Additional Note: It has been pointed out to me, rather unkindly, I thought, that I tend to start a lot of sentences with the word 'But'. In a way that is incorrect. Astute readers or English teachers (not necessarily mutually exclusive groups) may know that a sentence starting with 'but' will in fact be correct if that portion of the sentence forms a subjunctive clause. As in "But for the size of his nose, Ken might have been considered handsome". (I paid attention in English class. Mostly because my teacher was hot). In checking over this page, I discovered that I started exactly four sentences with 'but', and not a subjunctive clause to be found. I am suitably embarrassed. A little. I'm going to leave them here to annoy my daughter Emily who is an English teacher. |