William Shakespeare and Nice (Puffy AmiYumi album): Difference between pages

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{{Album infobox | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->

[[Image:Shakespeare.jpg|frame|right|William Shakespeare ([[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]]), in the famous [[Chandos portrait]], artist and authenticity unconfirmed.]]

| Name = Nice

'''William Shakespeare''' ([[baptism|baptised]] [[April 26]], [[1564]] &ndash; [[April 23]], [[1616]]) was an [[English (people)|English]] [[poet]] and [[playwright]] who has a reputation as one of the greatest of all [[writer]]s in the [[English language]] and in [[Western world|Western]] literature, as well as one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists.

| Type = [[Album (music) | Album]]

| Artist = [[Puffy Amiyumi | Puffy]]

| Cover = Puffy_AmiYumi_-_Nice.jpg

| Background = orange

| Released = [[January 22]], [[2003]] (Japanese release)

[[August 12]], [[2003]] (US release)

| Recorded = The Steakhouse Studio, Cello Studio, Sony Music Studios, [[Tokyo]]; Sunset Sound, Sub Jersey Studios, Vibratorium, Mansfield Lodge, Andy's house, John's house

| Genre = [[J-Pop]]

| Length = 48:35 (US)

| Label = [[Bar None Records|Bar None]]

| Producer = [[Andy Sturmer]]

| Reviews = <nowiki></nowiki>

*[http://Allmusic.com AMG] 4 1/2 stars out of 5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0amsa9qgw238 link]

|

| Last album = ''[[An Illustrated History]]''<br />([[2002]])

| This album = ''Nice''<br />([[2003]])

| Next album = ''[[Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (album)]]''<br />([2004]])

}}

'''''Nice.''''' is the third [[North American]] [[Album (music)|album]] by [[J-Pop]] group [[Puffy AmiYumi]], released in [[2003]]. (See [[2003 in music]]). The US release featured a few track changes: "Atarashii Hibi" and "Tomodachi" were replaced with "Urei", "Teen Titans Theme" and "Planet Tokyo", an English rewrite of "Akai Buranko" (Red Swing).

Shakespeare's literary achievement is not confined to his mastery of the poetic and dramatic form; his ability to capture and convey the most profound aspects of [[human nature]] is considered by many scholars to be unequalled, due to his understanding of the range and depth of human emotions. A colossal figure in world literature, Shakespeare's legacy and influence continues to be felt in all parts of the globe. He has been translated into every major living [[language]], and his plays are continually performed all around the world. Shakespeare is among the very few playwrights who have excelled in both [[tragedy]] and [[comedy]].

The cover is an homage to [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]]'s "[[bed-in]]" peace protests held in [[1969]].

Shakespeare wrote his works between [[1588]] and [[1616]], although the exact dates and [[Chronology of Shakespeare plays|chronology of the plays]] attributed to him are often uncertain. His prolific output is especially impressive in light of the fact that he lived only 52 years.

==Track listing==

Shakespeare's influence on the English-speaking world shows in the widespread use of [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shakespeare quotations from Shakespearean plays], the [[List of titles of works based on Shakespearean phrases|titles of works based on Shakespearean phrases]], and the many [[list of adaptations of Shakespearean plays|adaptations]] of his works.

#"Planet Tokyo" (Sturmer) - 3:49

#"Tokyo Nights" (Pierre Taki, Sturmer, John Fields) - 3:53

#"Angel of Love" (Suzuki Shoko, Sturmer) - 3:12

#"Sayonara" (YO-KING, Sturmer) - 3:16

#"Invisible Tomorrow" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:54

#"Thank You" (Yumi, Sturmer) - 3:55

#"Long Beach Nightmare" (Ami, Sturmer) - 3:15

#"Your Love Is a Drug" (Sturmer) - 3:33

#"K2G (Kimi Ni Go!)" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 4:37

#"Shiawase (Happiness)" (Okuda Tamio) - 4:20

#"Urei" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:54

#"Teen Titans Theme" ([[media:TEEN_TITANS_GO!!!!.ogg|listen]]) (Sturmer) - 3:08

#"Red Swing" (Puffy AmiYumi, Sturmer) - 3:51

==BiographyPersonnel==

'''Puffy AmiYumi'''

*''[[Ami Onuki]]'' - [[vocals]], harmony, [[guitar]]s

*''[[Yumi Yoshimura]]'' - vocals, harmony

'''Additional personnel'''

Many scholars believe that enough historical evidence exists to map out Shakespeare's life in some detail.

*''[[Andy Sturmer]]'' - [[drums]], guitar, drum programming, [[ARP Instruments, Inc.|ARP synthesizer]], [[Moog synthesizer]], guitars, [[pipe organ]], [[mellotron]], [[percussion instrument|percussion]], [[vibraphone]], [[keyboard instrument|keyboards]], [[trumpet]], [[marimba]], [[bass guitar|bass]], [[Prophet synthesizer]], [[Fender Rhodes]], [[kazoo|vocal kazoo]], claps, [[piano]], [[acoustic guitar]], [[ARP|ARP string ensemble]], harmony, [[VOX Continental organ]], [[BVO]]

*''John Fields'' - guitars, bass, piano, [[vocoder]], [[Hammond organ|Hammond organ B3]], [[Roland space echo]], [[chamberlin]], [[Farfisa organ]], strange echoes,

*''Wookie Von Crozier'' - crazy drum fill

*''Chris James'' - drums, Wurlizer, synthesized blips and bleeps, [[toy piano]], chamberlin

*''Printz Board'' - [[flugelhorn]]

*''Bleu'' - [[12 string guitar]]

*''Dean Parks'' - [[banjo]], acoustic guitar

*''Elizabeth Lea'' - [[trombone]]

*''The Horndogs'' - horns

*''James Childs'' - guitars

*''Phillip Broussard, Jr.'' - horny chorus

*''Toishi Toshikazu'' - horny chorus

===Early life=Production==

*Producer: Andy Sturmer

*Instrument recording: John Fields

*Vocal recording: Thom Russo, John Fields

*Mixing: Thom Russo, John Fields

*Mastering: Kotetsu Tohru

*Mastering assistants: Phillip Broussard, Jr., Ohno, Shiota Osamu, Hatagoshi Hideyasu

*Musical instruments technician: Oba Toshimasa

*A&R: June Shinozaki

*Interpreter: Takamizawa Mai

*Art direction: Central 67

*Design: Central 67

*Photography: Uchida Shoji

*Hair and make-up: Shuma Tesuro

*Styling: Miyajima Takahiro

William Shakespeare was born in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in [[Warwickshire]], [[England]], in April [[1564]], the son of [[John Shakespeare]], a successful tradesman, and of [[Mary Arden]], a daughter of the [[Landed gentry|gentry]]. They lived on Henley Street. His baptismal record dates to [[April 26]] of that year. Because baptisms were performed within a few days of birth, tradition has settled on [[April 23]] as his birthday. It provides a convenient symmetry: he died on that day in [[1616]], and perhaps appropriately for a playwright commonly considered to be [[England]]'s greatest, it is also the [[Feast Day]] of [[Saint George]], the [[patron saint]] of England.

[[Category:Puffy AmiYumi albums]] [[Category:2003 albums]]

[[image:Shakespearebirthplace.JPG|left|thumb|230px|The house in Stratford known as 'Shakespeare's Birthplace' (although this status is uncertain). It is claimed that the poet was born in the room with the checked windows.]]

Shakespeare's father, prosperous at the time of William's birth, was prosecuted for participating in the black market in [[wool]], and later lost his position as an [[alderman]]. Some evidence pointed to possible [[Roman Catholic]] sympathies on both sides of the family.

As the son of a prominent town official, William Shakespeare probably attended King Edward VI Grammar school in central Stratford, which may have provided an intensive education in Latin grammar and literature. The quality of Elizabethian-era grammar schools was uneven. It is presumed that the young Shakespeare attended this school, since he was entitled to, although this cannot be confirmed because the school's records have not survived. There is no evidence that his formal education extended beyond grammar school.

Shakespeare married [[Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife)|Anne Hathaway]], eight years his senior, on [[November 28]], [[1582]] at [[Temple Grafton]], near Stratford. Two neighbours of Anne, [[Fulk Sandalls]] and [[John Richardson (witness)|John Richardson]], posted bond that there were no impediments to the marriage. There appears to have been some haste in arranging the ceremony: Anne was three months pregnant. After his marriage, William Shakespeare left few traces in the historical record until he appeared on the [[London]] literary scene.

The late [[1580s]] are known as Shakespeare's 'Lost Years' because no evidence has survived to show exactly where he was or why he left Stratford for London. One legend, long since thoroughly discredited, is that he was caught poaching deer on the park of Sir [[Thomas Lucy]], the local Justice of the Peace, and had to flee. Another theory is that Shakespeare could have joined the [[Lord Chamberlain's Men]] when they travelled through Stratford while on tour. The seventeenth-century biographer [[John Aubrey]] recorded the testimony of the son of one of Shakespeare's fellow players that Shakespeare had spent some time as "a schoolmaster in the country". <!---Some info on the 'Lancaster theory' would be good here.--->

On [[May 26]], [[1583]] Shakespeare's first child, Susanna, was baptised at Stratford. A son, Hamnet, and a daughter, Judith, were baptised soon after on [[February 2]], [[1585]].

===London and theatrical career===

By [[1592]] Shakespeare was a playwright in London and had enough of a reputation for [[Robert Greene]] to denounce him as "an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his ''Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde'', supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and beeing an absolute Johannes [[factotum]], is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." (The italicised line parodies the phrase, "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" which Shakespeare wrote in ''[[Henry VI, part 3]]''.)

In [[1596]] Hamnet died; he was buried on [[August 11]], [[1596]]. Some suspect that his death was part of the inspiration behind ''[[Hamlet|The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark]]'' (''c''.[[1601]]), a reworking of an older, lost play (possibly Danish play [[Amleth]] or [[Thomas Kyd]]).

By [[1598]] Shakespeare had moved to the parish of St. Helen's, [[Bishopsgate]], and appeared at the top of a list of actors in ''[[Every man in his Humour]]'' written by [[Ben Jonson]].

[[Image:Shakspeare signature.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Shakespeare's signature, from his will]]

Shakespeare became an actor, writer and finally part-owner of a [[playing company]], known as [[The Lord Chamberlain's Men]] &mdash; the company took its name, like others of the period, from its aristocratic sponsor, the [[Lord Chamberlain]]. The group became popular enough that after the death of [[Elizabeth I]] and the coronation of [[James I of England|James I]] ([[1603]]), the new monarch adopted the company and it became known as the [[King's Men]].

In 1604, Shakespeare acted as a matchmaker for his landlord's daughter. Legal documents from 1612, when the case was brought to trial, show that in 1604, Shakespeare was a tenant of Christopher Mountjoy, a [[Huguenot]] tire-maker (a maker of ornamental headdresses) in the northwest of London. Mountjoy's apprentice Stephen Belott wanted to marry Mountjoy's daughter. Shakespeare was enlisted as a go-between, to help negotiate the details of the dowry. On Shakespeare's assurances, the couple married. Eight years later, Belott sued his father-in-law for delivering only part of the dowry. Shakespeare was called to testify, but remembered little of the circumstances.

[[Image:New Place Stratford.jpg|thumb|left|240px|New Place, Stratford-on-Avon, built on the site of Shakespeare's home]]

Various documents recording legal affairs and commercial transactions show that Shakespeare grew rich enough during his stay in London years to buy a property in [[Blackfriars, London]] and own the second-largest house in Stratford, [[New Place]].

===Later years===

Shakespeare retired in about [[1611]]. His retirement was not entirely without controversy. He was drawn into a legal quarrel regarding the enclosure of common lands. (Enclosure enabled land to be converted to pasture for sheep, but removed it as a resource for the poor.) Shakespeare had a financial interest in the land, and to the chagrin of some, he took a neutral position, making sure only that his own income from the land was protected.

In the last few weeks of Shakespeare's life, the man who was to marry his younger daughter Judith &mdash; a tavern-keeper named Thomas Quiney &mdash; was charged in the local church court with "[[fornication]]." A woman named Margaret Wheeler had given birth to a child and claimed it was Quiney's; she and the child both died soon after. Quiney was thereafter disgraced, and Shakespeare revised his will to ensure that Judith's interest in his estate was protected from possible malfeasance on Quiney's part.

Shakespeare died on [[April 23]], [[1616]], on what is reputed to have been his 51st birthday. He remained married to Anne until his death and was survived by his two daughters, Susannah Hall, and Judith. Susannah married [[John Hall (physician)]]. Neither Susannah's nor Judith's children had any offspring and as such there are no direct descendants of the poet and playwright alive today.

Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of [[Holy Trinity Church]], [[Stratford-upon-Avon]]. He was granted the honour of burial in the chancel not on account of his fame as a playwright, but for purchasing a share of the [[tithe]] of the church for £440 (a considerable sum of money at the time). A bust of him placed by his family on the wall nearest his grave shows him posed as writing. Each year on his claimed birthday, a new quill pen is placed in the writing hand of the bust.

It was common in his time for graves in the chancel of the church to later be emptied with the contents removed to a nearby charnel house as more room was needed. Possibly fearing that his body would be removed, he was considered to have written an [[epitaph]] on his tombstone:

:Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,</br>

:To dig the dust enclosed here.</br>

:Blest be the man that spares these stones,</br>

:But cursed be he that moves my bones.

Popular legend claims that unpublished works by Shakespeare may lie inside his tomb, but no one has ever verified these claims, perhaps for fear of the curse included in the quoted epitaph.

==Works==

===Canonical works===

====The plays and their categories====

Shakespeare's plays first appeared in print as a series of [[Folios and Quartos (Shakespeare)|folios and quartos]], and scholars, actors and directors continue to study and perform them extensively. They form an established part of the [[Western canon]] of [[literature]].

The plays are traditionally divided into tragedies, comedies and histories, following the logic of the original publications; however, modern criticism has labelled some of them "[[problem plays]]" as they elude easy categorization, or perhaps purposefully break generic conventions. In addition, Shakespeare's later comedies are commonly known as "[[Shakespeare's Late Romances|romances]]".

The following list gives the plays in the order and categorization of the 1623 [[First Folio]] (the first collected edition of the plays). A single asterisk indicates a play commonly classified as a 'romance' today; two asterisks indicates those generally accepted as 'problem plays' - though other comedies still occasion critical dispute. To see the plays in the order in which they were written, see [[Chronology of Shakespeare plays]].

*[[Shakespearean comedies|Comedies]]

** ''[[The Tempest (play)|The Tempest]]'' *

** ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]''

** ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]''

** ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' **

** ''[[The Comedy of Errors]]''

** ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''

** ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]''

** ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''

** ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' **

** ''[[As You Like It]]''

** ''[[Taming of the Shrew]]''

** ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]''

** ''[[Twelfth Night (play)|Twelfth Night or What You Will]]''

** ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'' *

** ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]]'' * (not included in the First Folio)

** ''[[The Two Noble Kinsmen]]'' * (not included in the First Folio)

*[[Shakespearean histories|Histories]]

** ''[[King John]]''

** ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]''

** ''[[Henry IV, part 1]]''

** ''[[Henry IV, part 2]]''

** ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''

** ''[[Henry VI, part 1]]''

** ''[[Henry VI, part 2]]''

** ''[[Henry VI, part 3]]''

** ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]''

** ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]''

*[[Shakespearean tragedy|Tragedies]]

** ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' **

** ''[[Coriolanus (play)|Coriolanus]]''

** ''[[Titus Andronicus]]''

** ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''

** ''[[Timon of Athens]]''

** ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]''

** ''[[Macbeth]]''

** ''[[Hamlet]]''

** ''[[King Lear]]''

** ''[[Othello]]''

** ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''

** ''[[Cymbeline]]'' * (normally classed as a comedy today)

====Dramatic collaborations====

Like most playwrights of his period, Shakespeare did not always write alone and a number of his plays were collaborative, although the exact number is open to debate. Some of the following attributions, such as for ''The Two Noble Kinsmen'', have well-attested contemporary documentation; others, such as for ''Titus Andronicus'', remain more controversial, and are dependant on linguistic analysis by modern scholars.

* ''[[Cardenio]]'', a lost play; contemporary reports say that Shakespeare collaborated on it with [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]].

* ''[[Henry VI, part 1]]'', possibly the work of a team of playwrights, whose identities we can only guess at. Some scholars argue that Shakespeare wrote less than 20% of the text.

* ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]'', generally considered a collaboration between Shakespeare and [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]].

* ''[[Macbeth]]'': [[Thomas Middleton]] may have revised this tragedy in 1615 to incorporate extra musical sequences.

* ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' may have undergone a light revision by [[Thomas Middleton]] at some point after its original composition.

* ''[[Pericles Prince of Tyre]]'' may include the work of [[George Wilkins]], either as collaborator, reviser, or revisee.

* ''[[Timon of Athens]]'' may result from collaboration between Shakespeare and [[Thomas Middleton]]; this might explain its incoherent plot and unusually cynical tone.

* ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'' may be a collaboration with, or revision of, [[George Peele]].

* ''[[The Two Noble Kinsmen]]'', published in quarto in 1654 and attributed to [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]] and William Shakespeare; each playwright appears to have written about half of the text.

====Lost plays====

* ''[[Love's Labour's Won]]'' A late sixteenth-century writer, [[Francis Meres]], and a scrap of paper (apparently from a bookseller), both list this title among Shakespeare's recent works, but no play of this title has survived. It may have become lost, or it may represent an alternate title of one of the plays listed above, such as ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' or ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]''.

* ''[[Cardenio]]'', a late play by Shakespeare and [[John Fletcher (playwright)|Fletcher]], referred to in several documents, has not survived. It re-worked a tale in [[Cervantes]]' ''[[Don Quixote]]''. In 1727, [[Lewis Theobald]] produced a play he called ''[[Double Falshood]]'', which he claimed to have adapted from three manuscripts of a lost play by Shakespeare that he did not name. ''Double Falshood''[sic] does re-work the Cardenio story, and modern scholarship generally agrees that ''Double Falshood'' represents all we have of the lost play.

====Poems====

Shakespeare's other literary works include:

* ''[[Shakespeare's Sonnets]]''.

* Longer poems:

** ''[[Venus and Adonis]]''

** ''[[The Rape of Lucrece]]''

** ''[[The Passionate Pilgrim]]''

** ''[[The Phoenix and the Turtle]]''

** ''[[A Lover's Complaint]]''

===Apocrypha===

====Plays possibly by Shakespeare====

'''Note:''' For a comprehensive account of plays possibly by Shakespeare, see the separate entry on the [[Shakespeare Apocrypha]].

*''[[Edward III (play)|Edward III]]'' Some scholars have recently chosen to attribute this play to Shakespeare, based on the style of its verse. Others refuse to accept it, citing, among other reasons, the mediocre quality of the characters. If Shakespeare had involvement, he probably worked as a collaborator.

*''[[Sir Thomas More (play)|Sir Thomas More]]'', a collaborative work by several playwrights, possibly including Shakespeare. That Shakespeare had any part in this play remains uncertain.

====Other works possibly by Shakespeare====

*''[[A Funeral Elegy by W.S.]]'' (?). For a period many believed, on the basis of stylistic evidence researched by [[Donald Foster]], that Shakespeare wrote a Funeral Elegy for [[William Peter]]. However most scholars, including Foster, now conclude that this evidence was flawed and that Shakespeare did not write the Elegy, which is more likely from the pen of [[John Ford (dramatist)|John Ford]].

*[[King James Version of the Bible|The King James Version of the Bible]] Some people claim that Shakespeare assisted in the translation of the King James Bible, rewording or rewriting certain sections to make them more poetic; they argue that the poetic sensibility of certain sections of the King James Bible is very similar to the style of Shakespeare, and cite Psalm 46, where the word "shake" appears 46 words from the beginning, and "spear" 46 words from the end. This is a controversial notion and is not accepted by mainstream scholarship, though [[Neil Gaiman]] managed to work it into his ''[[The Sandman (DC Comics Modern Age)|Sandman]]'' [[graphic novel]] ''[[The Sandman: The Wake|The Wake]].''

==Shakespeare and the textual problem==

Unlike his contemporary [[Ben Jonson]], Shakespeare did not have direct involvement in [[publishing]] his plays. The problem of identifying what Shakespeare actually wrote became a major concern for most modern editions. Textual corruptions stemming from printers' errors, misreadings by compositors or simply wrongly scanned lines from the source material litter the [[Bookbinding|Quarto]]s and the [[First Folio]]. Additionally, in an age before standardised spelling, Shakespeare often wrote a word several times in a different spelling, and this may have contributed to some of the transcribers' confusion. Modern editors have the task of reconstructing Shakespeare's original words and expurgating errors as far as possible.

In some cases the textual solution presents few difficulties. In the case of ''Macbeth'' for example, scholars believe that someone (probably [[Thomas Middleton]]) adapted and shortened the original to produce the extant text published in the [[First Folio]], but that remains our only authorised text. In others the text may have become manifestly corrupt or unreliable (''[[Pericles Prince of Tyre|Pericles]]'' or ''[[Timon of Athens]]'') but no competing version exists. The modern editor can only regularise and correct erroneous readings that have survived into the printed versions.

The textual problem can, however, become rather complicated. Modern scholarship now believes Shakespeare to have modified his plays through the years, sometimes leading to two existing versions of one play. To provide a modern text in such cases, editors must face the choice between the original first version and the later, revised, usually more theatrical version. In the past editors have resolved this problem by conflating the texts to provide what they believe to be a superior ''Ur-text'', but critics now argue that to provide a conflated text would run contrary to Shakespeare's intentions. In ''[[King Lear]]'' for example, two independent versions, each with their own textual integrity, exist in the Quarto and the Folio versions. Shakespeare's changes here extend from the merely local to the structural. Hence the ''Oxford Shakespeare'', published in 1986, provides two different versions of the play, each with respectable authority. The problem exists with at least four other Shakespearean plays (''[[Henry IV, part 1]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'', and ''[[Othello]]'').

==Reputation==

''Main articles:'' [[Shakespeare's reputation]], [[Timeline of Shakespeare criticism]]

<!--This is a SUMMARY. Please add new information to [[Shakespeare's reputation]], rather than here!-->

Shakespeare's reputation has grown considerably since his own time, as illustrated in a [[timeline of Shakespeare criticism]] from the 17th to 20th century.

During his lifetime and shortly after his death, Shakespeare was well-regarded, but not considered the supreme poet of his age. He was included in some contemporary lists of leading poets, but he lacked the stature of [[Edmund Spenser]] or [[Philip Sidney]]. It is more difficult to assess his contemporary reputation as a playwright: Plays were considered ephemeral and somewhat disreputable entertainments rather than serious literature. The fact that his plays were collected in an expensively produced folio in [[1623]] (the only precedent being [[Ben Jonson]]'s ''Workes'' of [[1616]]) and the fact that that folio went into another edition within nine years, indicate that he was held in unusually high regard for a playwright. [[Image:john_dryden.JPG|frame|right|[[John Dryden]] wrote about "the incomparable Shakespeare" in [[1668]].]]

After the [[Interregnum (England)|Interregnum]] stage ban of [[1642]]&#8212;[[1660]], the new [[English Restoration|Restoration]] theatre companies had the previous generation of playwrights as the mainstay of their repertory, most of all the phenomenally popular [[Beaumont and Fletcher|Beaumont and Fletcher team]], but also Ben Jonson and Shakespeare. Old plays were often adapted for the [[Restoration comedy|Restoration stage]], and where Shakespeare is concerned, this undertaking has seemed shockingly respectless to posterity. A notorious example is [[Nahum Tate]]'s bowdlerized happy ending of ''[[King Lear]]'' of [[1681]], which held the stage until [[1838]]. From the early [[18th century]], Shakespeare took over the lead on the English stage from Beaumont and Fletcher, never to relinquish it again.

In [[literary criticism]], by contrast, Shakespeare held a unique position from the start. The unbending French [[neo-classicism|neo-classical "rules"]] and the [[Classical unities|three unities of time, place, and action]] were never strictly followed in England, and practically all critics gave the more "correct" Ben Jonson second place to "the incomparable Shakespeare" (John Dryden, 1668), the follower of nature, the untaught [[genius]], the great realist of human character. The long-lived myth that the [[Romanticism|Romantics]] were the first generation to truly appreciate Shakespeare and to prefer him to Ben Jonson is contradicted by accolades from Restoration and 18th-century writers such as John Dryden, [[Joseph Addison]], [[Alexander Pope]], and [[Samuel Johnson]]. The 18th century is also largely responsible for setting the text of Shakespeare's plays. [[Nicholas Rowe]] created the first truly scholarly text for the plays in [[1709]], and [[Edmund Malone|Edmund Malone's]] ''Variorum Edition'' (published posthumously in [[1821]]) is still the basis of modern editions of the plays.

At the beginning of the [[19th century]], Romantic critics such as [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] raised admiration for Shakespeare to adulation or [[bardolatry]], in line with the Romantic reverence for the poet as prophet and genius.

In the [[twenty-first century]], Shakespeare is often simultaneously considered both the greatest and one of the more difficult authors by the general public. Most inhabitants of the [[English-speaking world]] encounter Shakespeare at school at a young age, and there is a common association of his work with boredom and incomprehension. At the same time, Shakespeare's plays remain more frequently staged than the works of any other playwright. The negative reputation held by many makes him the target of frequent [[parody]] and [[satire]], for example by the comic strip ''Foxtrot'' and [[The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)]].

==Identity and authorship==

''Main article:'' [[Shakespearean authorship]]

As noted above, there is considerable historical evidence of the existence of ''a'' William Shakespeare who lived in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. The vast majority of academics identify this Shakespeare as ''the'' Shakespeare. Over the years however, such figures as [[Walt Whitman]], [[Mark Twain]] ([http://mark-twain.classic-literature.co.uk/is-shakespeare-dead/ "Is Shakespeare Dead?"]), [[Henry James]], and [[Sigmund Freud]] have expressed disbelief that the man from Stratford-upon-Avon, christened William Shaksper or Shakspere, actually produced the works attributed to him. This scepticism is variously grounded: such as the lack of a single book to be found in his otherwise detailed will, the circumscribed social, education and travel opportunities available to the young author that could have served to prepare him, the differences in spellings of his name, the language of the works itself. Mainstream scholars consider all these supposed mysteries to be explicable. It is notable that doubts about Shakespeare's authorship of the plays emerged only in the nineteenth century, and were based in part on exaggerated beliefs in his lack of education then current. Prior to this, from the poet's time onward, opinion was unanimous that the author of "Shakespeare" was Shakespeare.

Many attribute this debate to the scarcity and ambiguity of many of the historical records of this period. Various fringe scholars have suggested writers such as Sir [[Francis Bacon]], [[Christopher Marlowe]] and even [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] as alternative authors or co-authors for some or all of "Shakespeare's" work. These claims necessarily rely on [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] to explain the lack of direct historical evidence for them, although advocates of alternative authors point to evidentiary gaps in the orthodox history.

[[Edward de Vere]], the 17th [[Earl of Oxford]], an English nobleman and intimate of Queen Elizabeth, became the most prominent alternative candidate for authorship of the Shakespeare canon, after having been identified in the 1920s. Oxford partisans note the similarities between the Earl's life, and events and sentiments depicted in the plays and sonnets. Oxford had the documented education, travel and life experience that one might associate with works as broad and detailed as Shakespeare's. He was also contemporaneously identified as a poet and writer of some talent by [[Francis Meres]] (although Meres also separately lauds Shakespeare, whom he specifically credits as author of the Shakespeare plays). The principal hurdle for Oxfordian theory is the evidence that many of the Shakespeare plays were written after their candidate's death, but well within the lifespan of William Shakespeare.

The gifted playwright and poet [[Christopher Marlowe]] is considered by some to be the most highly qualified to write the works of Shakespeare, even though he was apparently dead. According to history, Marlowe was killed in 1593 by a group of men including Ingram Frizer, a servant of Lord Walsingham, Marlowe's patron. However, a theory has developed that Marlowe, who was facing an impending death penalty for heresy, was saved by the faking of his death only 10 days later, and that he subsequently wrote the works of Shakespeare.

A related question in mainstream academia addresses whether Shakespeare himself wrote every word of his commonly-accepted plays, given that collaboration between dramatists routinely occurred in the Elizabethan theatre. Serious academic work continues to attempt to ascertain the authorship of plays and poems of the time, both those attributed to Shakespeare and others. See [[Shakespearean authorship#Academic authorship debates|academic Shakespearean authorship debates]].

==Shakespeare's sexuality==

The content of Shakespeare's sonnets has raised the question of whether he may have been [[bisexuality|bisexual]]. This question has caused controversy given Shakespeare's iconic status.

===Early controversy===

[[Shakespeare's Sonnets]] are the principal reason for suggesting that he may have been bisexual. The poems were initially published, perhaps without his approval in [[1609]]. One hundred twenty-six of them are love poems addressed to a young man (known as the "[[Fair Lord]]"), and twenty-six to a married woman (known as the "[[Dark Lady]]"). This edition does not seem to have sold well, and may have been suppressed or perhaps simply disliked by its readership.

The apparently homosexual content seems to have disturbed at least one seventeenth century reader. In [[1640]], [[John Benson]] published another edition in which he changed most of the pronouns from masculine to feminine so that readers would believe nearly all of the sonnets were addressed to the Dark Lady. Benson’s modified version was mass-produced and soon became the best-known text. It was not until [[1780]] that [[Edmund Malone]] re-published the sonnets in their original forms in his widely-distributed edition. {{ref|crompton}}

===Debate over the Sonnets===

There are numerous passages in the Sonnets that can be read as homosexual or bisexual. During Sonnet 13 Shakespeare calls the young man "dear my love" and in 15 announces that he is at "war with Time for love of you". In Sonnet 18 he says "shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate", followed by Sonnet 20 in which he says that the man is his "master-mistress". The questions raised by scholars for the past two hundred years are: are these passages really intended this way? And if so, are the Sonnets autobiographical or mere fiction? By [[1944]], the Variorum edition of his Sonnets contained an appendix with the conflicting views of nearly forty commentators.

The controversy was first articulated in 1780 when [[George Steevens]], upon reading Sonnet 20 where Shakespeare describes his young male friend as his "master-mistress" remarked, "it is impossible to read this fulsome panegyrick, addressed to a male object, without an equal mixture of disgust and indignation". {{ref|steevens}} Other English scholars, who were dismayed at the possibility that one of their national heroes may have been a "[[sodomy|sodomite]]", concurred with [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s comment, around [[1800]], that Shakespeare’s love was "pure" and in his sonnets there is "not even an allusion to that very worst of all possible vices" {{ref|coleridge}}.

Critics in Continental Europe added more to the debate. In [[1834]], a French reviewer in [[1834]] saying "He instead of she?... Can I be mistaken? Can these sonnets be addressed to a man? Shakespeare! Great Shakespeare? Did you feel yourself authorized by [[Virgil]]’s example?"

Those who reject the notion of Shakespeare's bisexuality usually explain these passages as referring to intense [[friendship]], not sexual love. Douglas Bush in the preface to his [[1961]] Pelican edition writes,

:"Since modern readers are unused to such ardor in masculine friendship and are likely to leap at the notion of homosexuality... we may remember that such an ideal, often exalted above the love of women could exist in real life, from [[Montaigne]] to [[Sir Thomas Browne]] and was conspicuous in [[Renaissance literature]]". {{ref|bush}}

Bush cites Montaigne as evidence of a platonic interpretation, but he said his male friendships were distinct from "that other, licentious Greek love". {{ref|montaigne}}.

However, not all scholars are convinced by this argument. [[C.S. Lewis]] writes that the sonnets are "too lover-like for ordinary male friendship" and that he has "found no real parallel to such language between friends in the sixteenth-century literature" {{ref|lewis}}. Shakespeare says that his love for the youth gives him sleepless nights and causes sharp anguish and fearful jealousy. There is considerable ephasis on the young man's beauty. In Sonnet 20, Shakespeare theorizes that the youth was originally a woman whom Mother Nature had fallen in love with and &mdash; to resolve the dilemma of [[lesbianism]] &mdash; added a penis ("pricked thee out for women's pleasure") to, which Shakespeare describes as "to my purpose nothing". Later in the same sonnet he tells the adolescent to sleep with women but only to love him &mdash; "mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure." Some have interpreted this line to infer that he ruled out sexual relations while openly saying that he was sexually aroused by the youth.

===The plays===

Similar evidence &mdash; or at least fuel for controversy &mdash; exists within the plays. In ''[[The Merchant of Venice]],'' for example, the characters Bassanio and Antonio have a close friendship which some have interpreted as [[pederasty|paederastic]], that is, as a sexual/mentoring relationship between an adult male and a young man, in which the adult helps his lover transistion to adulthood, including finding a wife; Bassanio enlists Antonio's help in courting the female Portia. Likewise, several plays such as ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' contain [[comedy|comedic]] situations in which a woman poses as a man, a device exploiting the fact that in Shakespeare's day men or boys of the theatrical troupe played women's parts. As [[Isaac Asimov]] notes in his ''Guide to Shakespeare'', this permits situations in which men playing women posing as men allow other men playing men to practice the art of wooing upon them.

Shakespeare was able to joke about homosexuality. In ''[[Hamlet]]'', the title character indulges in a gloomy discourse on human shortcomings before his friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This speech, in Act II, scene II, begins with Hamlet saying, "I have of late &mdash; but wherefore I know not &mdash; lost all my mirth". After several lines of melancholy exposition, Hamlet says, "Man delights not me &mdash; no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so."

===Conclusion===

It must be kept in mind that if Shakespeare had openly engaged in sexual relations with other males, he risked prosecution under sodomy laws of the time that could have resulted in the death penalty. However, in Elizabethan times, as today, an interest in one gender did not preclude an interest in the other, and the question of whether an Elizabethan was "gay" in a modern sense is anachronistic, as the concept of homosexuality did not emerge until the [[nineteenth century]]. While sodomy was a crime in the period there was no word for an exclusively homosexual identity (see [[Homosexuality#History|History of homosexuality]]). One of Shakespeare’s greatest role-models, [[Christopher Marlowe]], has also been claimed to have been homosexual.

==Word coinage==

Shakespeare provided the first print citations for many of the words (ode, addiction, alligator) and phrases ("my [[mind's eye]]," "one fell swoop") that have become and remained household words in our time.

See: [http://www.rhymezone.com/r/gwic.cgi?Word=_&Path=shakespeare/coinages// Partial List of Shakespeare's Coinages]

[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0419_040419_shakespeare.html National Geographic Article About Shakespeare's Coinages]

==Specialist acting companies and theatres==

* [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]

* [[Globe Theatre]] in [[London]], [[United Kingdom|UK]]

* [[John Bell (actor)|John Bell]]'s [http://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/ Bell Shakespeare Company] in [[Australia]]

* [[Oregon Shakespeare Festival]] in [[Ashland, Oregon]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Utah Shakespearean Festival]] in [[Cedar City, Utah]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.coloradoshakes.org Colorado Shakespeare Festival] in [[Boulder, Colorado]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.shakespearedc.org/ The Shakespeare Theatre] in [[Washington, DC]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Shakespeare by the Sea]], various companies of this name in [[Canada]] and the [[USA|US]]

* [http://www.ascnj.org/ Actors Shakespeare Company] in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Austin Shakespeare Festival]] in [[Austin, Texas]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Alabama Shakespeare Festival]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Stratford Festival of Canada|Stratford Festival]] in [[Stratford, Ontario]], [[Canada]]

* [[Shakespeare Santa Cruz]] in [[Santa Cruz, California]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.theactorstheatre.org/ The Actors' Theatre] in [[Columbus, Ohio]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.shenandoahshakespeare.com/ Shenandoah Shakespeare], in [[Staunton, Virginia]], [[USA]] (which has built a reconstruction of the [[Blackfriars Theatre]])

* [[Chicago Shakespeare Theater]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]], [[United States|USA]]

* [[Shakespeare Tavern]] in [[Atlanta, GA]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.shakespeare-company.org/ Shakespeare and Company], in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.njshakespeare.org/ The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey], in [[Madison, New Jersey]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.shakespeare.org/ Shakespeare and Company], in [[Lenox, Massachusetts]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.ysp.org/| Young Shakespeare Players] Theatre, [[Madison, Wisconsin]], [[United States|USA]]

* [http://www.shakespeare4kidz.com/| Shakespeare 4 Kidz] [[England]]

==Shakespeare in the movies==

''Main article:'' [[Shakespeare movies]]

==See also==

* [[Elizabethan theatre]]

* Shakespeare's contemporaries, such as [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]], [[Edward de Vere]], [[Edmund Spenser]]

* His fellow dramatists: [[Christopher Marlowe]], [[Thomas Kyd]], [[John Fletcher (playwright)|John Fletcher]], [[John Webster]], [[Thomas Middleton]], [[Thomas Dekker]], [[Thomas Heywood]], [[John Marston]], etc.

* His godson, [[William Davenant]], and son-in-law [[John Hall (physician)|John Hall]].

* The [[Folger Shakespeare Library]] in [[Washington, DC]] has the biggest Shakespeare collection

* [[2985 Shakespeare|Asteroid 2985 Shakespeare]], named after the dramatist

* [[List of archaic English words and their modern equivalents]]

* [[World Almanac's Ten Most Influential People of the Second Millennium]]

* [[David Bevington]]

* [[Hinman Collator]]

==Further reading==

*[[Mark Anderson]], ''Shakespeare by Another Name'' (2005). Biography of Edward de Vere.

*[[Anthony Burgess]], ''Nothing Like The Sun'' (1964). Fictionalised biography.

*[[Anthony Burgess]], ''[[(Anthony Burgess's) Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'' (1970). Biography.

*[[Stephen Greenblatt]], ''Will in the World'' (2004). Biography.

*[[Bertram Fields]], ''Players: The Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare'' (2005).

*[[John Pemble]], ''Shakespeare Goes to Paris: How the Bard Conquered France'' (2005).

*[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/ShakespeareBib.html Shakespeare on Film Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)]

==External links For downloading Shakespeare's works==

The most widely distributed online version of the text appears to be the early 90s "The Complete Moby™ Shakespeare", the base text for which is believed to have been the Stratford Town modern-spelling edition of 1911, edited by Arthur Bullen.

There appear to be the following versions in the public ___domain:

* Versions based Directly on Folio Editions. The [http://etext.virginia.edu/shakespeare/folio/ University of Virginia library] carries versions of The First Folio and Early Quartos editions.

* Versions Based on the 1866 Globe Edition of Clark and Wright.The version at the [http://etext.virginia.edu/shakespeare/works/ University of Virginia library], explicitly calls itself the 1866 edition and claims to have been copy checked against its base text.

* Versions based upon "The Complete Moby™ Shakespeare". There is no record of how errors in the 1911 base text have been corrected. Complete Moby versions of the plays in html format may be downloaded from MIT. The edition carried at Gutenberg is probably the Moby edition; unfortunately the Gutenberg files only give an indirect indication as to their origin.

* Versions Based on The 1914, W. J. Craig, Oxford Edition. This is carried by bartleby.com but is only given in a form suitable for reading online, a scene at a time.

* The wikisource edition. Probably derived from the Moby edition. This version can be expected to be edited to reflect modern understandings of the text.

==External links==

{{Wikisource author}}

{{wikiquote}}

{{wikibookspar|Study Guide|Shakespeare}}

* [http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org Open Source Shakespeare] has the 1866 Globe Edition of Shakespeare's complete works, along with a full concordance and an advanced search engine. No advertising. View the plays by scene, act, or the full text at once. Can view all lines of one character on a single page.

* [http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/homepage.html British Library; original 93 copies in quarto]

*[http://william-shakespeare.classic-literature.co.uk/ classic-literature.co.uk ] Online texts of an unnnamed version of Shakespeare's plays. Gives the text a page at a time.

* {{gutenberg author|id=William_Shakespeare|name=William Shakespeare}} in various languages (includes spurious works) Uses original spellings.

*[http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/search?author=Shakespeare%2C+William upenn.edu online books page for Shakespeare ] References to other sites such as Gutenberg, Bartleby and MIT that give a source text.

* [http://www.shakespeare-literature.com Shakespeare Literature], Chapter-indexed, searchable versions of Shakespeare's works.

*[http://www.touchstone.bham.ac.uk/index.html Touchstone - UK Shakespeare collections]

*[http://www.elook.org/literature/shakespeare/ elook.org Shakespeare ] Four works in online form and with a searchable database

*[http://shakespeare-1.com/doubtful/ Doubtful Works of William Shakespeare] Full text of plays which have been erroneously attributed to William Shakespeare

*[http://shakespeare.nowheres.com/ The original shakespeare.com] The Moby edition in a form suitable for reading online.

*[http://wiredforbooks.org/shakespeare/ William Shakespeare's plays and poems in audio and video]

* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/IllusShake The Illustrated Shakespeare] A University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center project that presents images and documents related to Shakespeare and his works.

* [http://shakespeareforums.com William Shakespeare Forums] Forums devoted to the poems and plays of William Shakespeare.

* [http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ Shakespeare Online] Shakespeare's works, information about them, and a biography.

==Notes==

{{fnb|1}} [[Elizabethan English]] did not use standardised spelling; although Shakespeare's last name most frequently appears as ''Shakespeare'', it also frequently appears as ''Shakespere'', and sometimes as ''Shakespear'', ''Shaksper'' and even ''Shaxberd'' [http://www.shakespeareauthorship.com/name1.html#2].

# {{note|crompton}} Crompton, Louis, Homosexuality and Civilization, pp. 379

# {{note|steevens}} Rollins 1:55

# {{note|coleridge}} Rollins 2:232-233

# {{note|bush}} Pequigney, pp.64

# {{note|lewis}} Lewis, p. 503

# {{note|montaigne}} Montaigne, p. 138

{{Shakespeare}}

[[Category:1564 births|Shakespeare, William]]

[[Category:1616 deaths|Shakespeare, William]]

[[Category:English poets|Shakespeare, William]]

[[Category:English Renaissance dramatists|Shakespeare]]

[[Category:English dramatists and playwrights|Shakespeare, William]]

[[Category:William Shakespeare| ]]

[[Category:Natives of Warwickshire|Shakespeare, William]]

[[Category:Mysterious people]]

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