William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet who died five hundred years ago, but he made more of an impact on English language and culture than just about anyone else who ever lived.
In fact, Shakespeare invented hundreds of words, including everyday words like “bubble”. Just as importantly, the ideas, expressions and stories from Shakespeare’s plays still influence many different parts of culture in English-speaking countries. Here are three of his most popular plays that you are likely to hear and see references to in English-language media, books, films, music and even casual conversation.
Romeo & Juliet
This is story of a teenage boy and girl who fall in love, but have to marry in secret because their families hate each other. They make a plan to run away together, but it all goes wrong, and both Romeo and Juliet end up broken hearted and commit suicide.
The play has inspired many different films and stories, including the musical West Side Story, which is about a boy and a girl from different warring gangs who fall in love. People often refer to two people as being like Romeo and Juliet, or being “star-crossed lovers” (an expression from the play) if there are big obstacles getting in the way of their relationship, or they are from very different backgrounds.
Most famous quote: “Romeo! Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
This means “Why are you Romeo?”. Juliet is basically saying, “I wish you were a different person that my family would like, rather than Romeo, who my family hate”.
Hamlet
Hamlet is about a young prince who is visited by the ghost of his father. The ghost tells him that his uncle, who has now married Hamlet’s mother (the queen), killed his father by putting poison in his ear. Hamlet then spends the rest of the play trying to work out whether or not this is true and whether he should kill his uncle in revenge.
Again, many other films, books etc. use the story of Hamlet for inspiration. A famous example is the Disney film The Lion King, where the lion cub Simba finds out that his uncle killed his father and is now the King of the lions.
Most famous quote: “To be or not to be, that is the question”.
Here, Hamlet is deciding whether or not it would be better to live or to die. He spends most of the play saying he doesn’t know what to do next. Many TV shows and comedy films refer to this but make it into a joke, usually by having characters say something similar to “to be or not to be”, followed by “that is the question”.
Macbeth
In Macbeth, the main character becomes obsessed with power after three witches tell him that he will become king in the future. His wife persuades him to kill the king so that he can take his place, but afterwards the guilt makes them both start to go crazy.
The characters of the three witches are particularly popular in English-language culture, especially in the UK. People will sometimes use it as an insult for three women, suggesting that they are ugly or scary!
Most famous quote: “Out, damn spot!”
At this point in the play, Lady Macbeth is starting to go mad. She is constantly washing her hands because she thinks she can see blood on them. When she says “out, damn spot!” this means, “get off my hand, little splash of blood!”
Do have a favourite film that is inspired by a Shakespeare play? Let us know in the comments section below.
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