"William Drummond recorded Jonson's often contentious comments about his contemporaries: Jonson criticised Shakespeare as lacking ""arte"" and for mistakenly giving Bohemia a coast in ""The Winter's Tale"". In 1641, four years after Jonson's death, private notes written during his later life were published. In a comment intended for posterity (""Timber or Discoveries""), he criticises Shakespeare's casual approach to playwriting, but praises Shakespeare as a person: ""I loved the man, and do honour his memory (on this side Idolatry) as much as any. He was (indeed) honest, and of an open, and free nature; had an excellent fancy; brave notions, and"
"of Sicily"" may refer to Greek Sicily not to the Kingdom of Sicily of later medieval times. The pastoral genre is not known for precise verisimilitude, and, like the assortment of mixed references to ancient religion and contemporary religious figures and customs, this possible inaccuracy may have been included to underscore the play's fantastical and chimeric quality. As Andrew Gurr puts it, Bohemia may have been given a seacoast ""to flout geographical realism, and to underline the unreality of place in the play"". Another theory explaining the existence of the seacoast in Bohemia offered by C. H. Herford is suggested"
"of his wife and son: ""Prithee, bring me / To the dead bodies of my queen and son: / One grave shall be for both: upon them shall / The causes of their death appear, unto / Our shame perpetual"" (3.2) Paulina seems convinced of Hermione's death, and Leontes' order to visit both bodies and see them interred is never called into question by later events in the play. Shakespeare's fellow playwright Ben Jonson ridiculed the presence in the play of a seacoast and a desert in Bohemia, since the Kingdom of Bohemia (which roughly corresponds to the modern-day Czech"
"out that ""Bohemia"" was also a rare name for Apulia in southern Italy. More influential was Thomas Hanmer's 1744 argument that Bohemia is a printed error for Bithynia, an ancient nation in Asia Minor; this theory was adopted in Charles Kean's influential 19th-century production of the play, which featured a resplendent Bithynian court. At the time of the medieval Kingdom of Sicily, however, Bithynia was long extinct and its territories were controlled by the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, the play alludes to Hellenistic antiquity (e.g. the Oracle of Delphos, the names of the kings), so that the ""Kingdom"
"Buckingham (c. 1683; published 1714) was unperformed in his era. The play is set in a fictionalised version of the Kingdom of Sicily, ruled by an otherwise-unnamed king. This king's father and predecessor, the ruler of Southern Italy (the Kingdom of Naples), had conquered the island of Sicily and displaced the native royal house; but the heir of that house, and rightful king of Sicily, is Philaster, who lives as a nobleman in the royal court. The king fears him, but cannot kill him, because of the passionate loyalty of the people. The king has a plan, however: with no"
"when he returned in 1576 from his continental tour that may have included Sicily. Greene's story contains darker elements that Shakespeare lightened for his comic purposes. In Greene's tale, Pandosto, King of Bohemia, accuses his wife Bellaria of adultery committed with his childhood friend, the King of Sicilia. His pursuit of this unfounded charge leads him to send his infant daughter out to sea to die and causes the death of his son and his wife. His daughter drifts to Sicilia and is saved and raised by a shepherd. Dorastus, the Prince of Sicilia, falls in love with Fawnia, unaware"
"Cymbeline Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain, is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain (""c."" AD 10–14) and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobeline. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify ""Cymbeline"" as a romance or even a comedy. Like ""Othello"" and ""The Winter's Tale"", it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611. Cymbeline, the Roman Empire's vassal"
"Esmoreit Esmoreit is a Middle Dutch drama. It is one of the four abele spelen that are contained in the ""Hulthemse handschrift"" and consists of 1018 lines in rhyme. The other abele spelen are: Gloriant, Lanseloet van Denemerken and Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer The play is named after the masculine leading character Esmoreit, crown-prince of the Kingdom of Sicily. It deals with the love between two people of different social class and is followed by the ""sotternie"", the farce, Lippijn. One of its sources is the 14th-century ""chanson de geste"" ""Baudouin de Sebourc"". Esmoreit is the crown-prince of Sicily."
"that she is a Princess, and they run away to marry. They land in Bohemia, where Pandosto unwittingly falls in love with his daughter Fawnia. At the end of the story, after Fawnia's identity is revealed, Pandosto commits suicide out of grief for the troubles he caused his family. Shakespeare reversed the two kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia and added side characters like Paulina and Antigonus. Also he introduced Autolycus and the Clown. He also removed the suicide and added a resurrection scene, bringing the queen back to life using either magic or a death trick, depending on perception. Shakespeare"
"at Florence, Italy. The second manuscript is the ""Codex Palantinus 287"", thought to be from the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It is kept in the Vatican Library. The meter is principally iambic trimeter, which it has in common with tragedy and comedy. Regarding the date of composition, it is thought that this play was written earlier than Euripides' ""Alcestis"", and after Aristophanes' play ""Acharnians"", which parodies the ""Cyclops"". The play is set in Sicily at Mount Aetna. It begins with an opening monologue by Silenus, who tells the tale of how he and his satyrs, who are his off-spring and"
"some of Sappho's poems are addressed to a male, but he is never named. Lyly does disengage the skeins of the story: his Sapho is based (loosely) on the courtesan and has nothing to do with the poet. Yet Lyly takes the bare bones on the old tale and adapts it into something quite different: his Sapho is a powerful queen of Sicily — who is not implausible as a representation of another powerful queen of another island. The play is set in Syracuse and the surrounding countryside. Venus, on her way to Syracuse to humble the pride of Queen"
"to the Adriatic, and, if one takes ""Bohemia"" to mean all of the territories ruled by Ottokar II, it is possible to argue that one could sail from a kingdom of Sicily to the ""seacoast of Bohemia"". Jonathan Bate offers the simple explanation that the court of King James was politically allied with that of Rudolf II, and the characters and dramatic roles of the rulers of Sicily and Bohemia were reversed for reasons of political sensitivity, and in particular to allow it to be performed at the wedding of the Princess Elizabeth. In 1891, Edmund O. von Lippmann pointed"
"capture by satyrs, with the well known episode of Polyphemus, the cannibal cyclops found in the ""Odyssey"". The island of Sicily is the setting and is mentioned often. At the time this play was performed, Sicily was considered home to a sophisticated Hellenistic culture, but it also was seen as a place that contained Greek and non-Greek. In this play it is portrayed as a barbaric place that is hostile to both man's laws and religion. ""Cyclops"" is a comical burlesque-like play on a story that occurs in book nine of Homer's ""Odyssey"". In several elements it is faithful to"
"for the public to read this, a view that Haining endorses readily. The play is notable for its contrasting sensationalist and comic scenes, and it is contained in Klinger's Apocrypha. Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts (or Sherlock Holmes) (1899) The original Sherlock Holmes play written by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette had a successful run of over 30 years. It has many original parts which are not found in the short stories but borrows many events from the canonical adventures, namely ""A Scandal in Bohemia"" and ""The Adventure of the Final Problem"". Also, it had elements from"
"of Bohemia and Sicilia. Hermione, the queen of Sicilia, entertains Polixenes, king of Bohemia. This arouses jealousy in Leontes, the king of Sicilia. Leontes decides to poison Polixenes and orders a courtier to carry out the task. The courtier slips the poison into the cup, but he changes his mind and confesses to the murderous plot. Polixenes and the courtier depart safely, but this enrages the Leontes, who has his wife imprisoned. In prison, Hermoine gives birth to a daughter and sends it to her husband, Hoping to quell his anger. This further upsets Leontes and he orders the child"
"Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with ""Hamlet"", is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. ""Romeo and Juliet"" belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as ""The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet"" by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and"
"Republic) had neither a coast (being landlocked) nor a desert. Shakespeare followed his source (Robert Greene's ""Pandosto"") in giving Bohemia a coast, though he reversed the location of characters and events: ""The part of Pandosto of Bohemia is taken by Leontes of Sicily, that of Egistus of Sicily by Polixenes of Bohemia"". In support of Greene and Shakespeare, it has been pointed out that in the 13th century, for a period of less than about 10 years, under Ottokar II of Bohemia, the territories ruled by the king of Bohemia, although never incorporated into the kingdom of Bohemia, did stretch"
"with the execution of Christians by damnatio ad bestias. Julius Caesar (play) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar) is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include ""Coriolanus"" and ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Although the play is named ""Julius Caesar"", Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character; and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the conflicting"
"Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare (1970) by Isaac Asimov is a two-volume guide to the works of the celebrated English writer William Shakespeare. The numerous maps were drafted by the artist Rafael Palacios. The work gives a short guide to every Shakespeare play, as well as two epic poems. Asimov organizes the plays not in the usual way — as tragedies, comedies, and histories — but regionally, as follows: The last two categories are treated broadly; 'Italian' applies to neighbouring countries, and both ""Hamlet"" and ""Macbeth"" are listed with 'The English Plays'. Asimov gives a detailed justification"
"Shakespeare Festival, the play also marked that 500 years had passed since the Venetian Ghetto was instituted. The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice (Antonio) must default on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and the famous"
"Roman plays ""Coriolanus"", ""Julius Caesar"", and ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Another tragedy ""King Lear"", is based on British legend, as is the romanc ""Cymbeline, King of Britain"", which is set in Ancient Britain. Other playwrights contemporary to Shakespeare, such as Christopher Marlowe, also dramatized historical topics. Marlowe wrote ""Edward the Second"" which deals with the deposition of King Edward II by his barons and the Queen, who resent the undue influence the king's favourites have in court and state affairs, and ""The Massacre at Paris"", which dramatizes the events of the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in France in 1572. Marlowe's ""Tamburlaine"
"William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (bapt. 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the ""Bard of Avon"". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire."
"Conan Doyle chose to place a fictional dynasty in a real country. The Kingdom of Bohemia was at the time of writing a possession of the House of Habsburg and the Austrian Emperors held the title ""King of Bohemia"". On the other hand, there had never been a ""Kingdom of Scandinavia"", though the surname of the King's fiancée was that of the actual ruling house of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. A Scandal in Bohemia ""A Scandal in Bohemia"" is the first short story, and the third overall work, featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It is the first"
"The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and motifs with which he would later deal in more detail; for example, it is the first of his plays in which a heroine dresses as a boy. The play deals with the themes of friendship and infidelity, the conflict between friendship and love, and the foolish behaviour"
"a port on the island of Sicily, which is next to the toe of Italy. Sicily was ruled by Aragon at the time the play was set. The action of the play takes place mainly at the home and on the grounds of Leonato's Estate. Benedick and Beatrice quickly became the main interest of the play, to the point where they are today considered the leading roles, even though their relationship is given equal or lesser weight in the script than Claudio and Hero's situation. Charles II even wrote 'Benedick and Beatrice' beside the title of the play in his"
"Julius Caesar (play) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar) is a history play and tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include ""Coriolanus"" and ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Although the play is named ""Julius Caesar"", Brutus speaks more than four times as many lines as the title character; and the central psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the conflicting demands of honour, patriotism, and friendship. ""Triumvirs after Caesar's"
"Hamlet The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brother's widow. ""Hamlet"" is Shakespeare's longest play, and is considered among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story capable of ""seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others""."
"The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a 16th-century play written by William Shakespeare in which a merchant in Venice (Antonio) must default on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and the famous ""Hath not a Jew eyes?"" speech on humanity. Also notable is Portia's speech about ""the quality of"
"classify as tragedy, comedy, romance, or a combination of all three. The first three of its five acts are filled with intense psychological drama; the last two are lighthearted and comedic, concluding with a happy ending. It tells a complicated story of jealousy, loss, love, joy, redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Shakespeare chose his title to signify to his audiences that the play was like a tale told in company gathered by a fireside on a winter's evening. A fictional invention—not true, but entertaining and morally instructive. Leontes, king of Sicilia, is possessed by a mad jealousy, believing that his pregnant"
"inappropriate as a description, as the scene changes are often very fluid, almost montage-like. The large number of scenes is necessary because the action frequently switches between Alexandria, Italy, Messina in Sicily, Syria, Athens, and other parts of Egypt and the Roman Republic. The play contains thirty-four speaking characters, fairly typical for a Shakespeare play on such an epic scale. Many critics have noted the strong influence of Virgil's first-century Roman epic poem, the ""Aeneid"", on Shakespeare's ""Antony and Cleopatra"". Such influence should be expected, given the prevalence of allusions to Virgil in the Renaissance culture in which Shakespeare was"
"""Bracebridge Hall"" (1822), on Davenport's drama. The play is set in the cities of northern Italy. Lorenzo is a kinsman of the Duke of Verona, where the play begins; his wife Abstemia is a sister of the Duke of Venice. Lorenzo has fallen victim to an irrational jealousy of his wife; he is convinced, beyond reason, that she is unfaithful to him. Lorenzo pressures his friend Philippo to make sexual advances to Abstemia, to test her chastity. Philippo reluctantly complies; Abstemia consistently rejects his advances. Trapped in an awkward position for a gentleman, Philippo informs Abstemia of the situation; thrown"
"the Romans. Two of William Shakespeare's plays are set in Verona: ""Romeo and Juliet"" and ""The Two Gentlemen of Verona."" It is unknown if Shakespeare ever visited Verona or Italy, but his plays have lured many visitors to Verona and surrounding cities. The city has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture. The precise details of Verona's early history remain a mystery. One theory is it was a city of the Euganei, who were obliged to give it up to the Cenomani (550 BC). With the conquest of the Valley of the"
"after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation ""Florizel and Perdita"" (first performed in 1753 and published in 1756). ""The Winter's Tale"" was revived again in the 19th century, when the fourth ""pastoral"" act was widely popular. In the second half of the 20th century, ""The Winter's Tale"" in its entirety, and drawn largely from the First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success. ""Sicilia"" ""Bohemia"" ""Other Characters"" Following a brief setup scene the play begins with the appearance of two childhood friends: Leontes, King of Sicilia, and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Polixenes is"