William shakespeare family biography videos

William Shakespeare lived from to around and is the greatest English writer ever. Not only is his body of work more or less intact after all these centuries, he is also survived by a wealth of vocabulary, words and sayings that he coined in those works.

William shakespeare family biography videos

Here are his top ten plays:

Richard III

‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,’ this saying is perhaps the most famous from this play about the ugly monarch, apart from perhaps the line about ‘the winter of our discontent’!

The ugliness of Richard’s exterior is echoed by his inner ugliness, which sees him planning to use and kill his brother, his wife (her murder was planned the moment she accepted him!). Perhaps the worst act of Richard’s is that of killing his twin nephews, young boys that he had imprisoned for some time in the tower.

His slow climb, over the bodies of friends, enemies and family members alike soon peaks and his brief popularity over, Richard is killed in a battle, during which time his supporters ebb away