The name Shakespeare is extremely widespread, and is spelt in an astonishing variety of ways including Shakspere, Shakespere, Shakkespere, Shaxpere, Shakstaff, Sakspere,Shagspere, Shakeshafte and even Chacsper as can be seen via details of possible ancestors.

The name of John Shakespeare, one of Shakespeare’s ancestors occurs 166 times in the Council Book of the Stratford corporation, and appears to take 16 different forms. Shakespeare himself, in credited examples of his signature, always wrote hakspere.However, in many formal documents and the printed signatures to the dedications of his poems and plays that bear his name it generally appears as Shakespeare. Interestingly, another derivation of the name “Shake-speare” appears on the First Folio.

In Shakespeare’s era a hyphen in a name was apparently used in pseudonyms or nomme de plumes by authors who wanted to keep their true identity a mystery. The name originally held a martial significance in relation to the wielding of a spear and was extremely common throughout England and possible ancestors. However, in the sixteenth century the surname is found far more frequently in Warwickshire than elsewhere. Warwickshire archives contain notices of Shakespeare families and possible ancestors in no less than twenty-four towns and villages.

Shakespeare’s plays form one of literature’s greatest legacies. Divided into comedies, histories and tragedies, shakespeare plays have spawned thousands of performances, adaptations and films. From famous tragedies like Macbeth and King Lear to tragic love stories such as Romeo and Juliet to epic historic plays like Antony and Cleopatra, enlighten, sadden, teach and most important of all, entertain.

Comedy of William Shakespeare:

All’s Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline
Love’s Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter’s Tale

History of William Shakespeare:

Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III

Tragedy of William Shakespeare:

Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus

Poetry of William Shakespeare:

The Sonnets
A Lover’s Complaint
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
Funeral Elegy by W.S.

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