Colton Keith

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Recommended: comparing and contrasting characters in shakespeare

The Bard and His Bygone Days
Shakespeare is credited for being one of the single most inspirational and influential English writers to ever lift a pen. However, when reading his works one must wonder, how historically accurate was The Bard when he was spinning his tales? Surprisingly, this small town, son of a glove maker was dead on with his history. Romeo and Juliet was almost cut out of fifteenth century Verona and A Midsummer Nights Dream is almost a mirror image of Ancient Rome. Shakespeare knew every nook and cranny of the times that his plays where set in, from the myths and legends that were widely used, to the functioning of family structures, all the way down to how women where treated during their times. If it so happened in the time that his play was set, he found a way to express it in his works.
One of the most apparent examples of how Shakespeare integrated folklore into his plays is the mentioning of Queen Mab in Romeo and Juliet and Titania in A Midsummers Night Dream. One of the best known monologues in Romeo and Juliet is when Mercutio is jesting to Romeo and starts off with “O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.”(Shakespeare, William.). In this rendition of Queen Mab, Mercutio is speaking of The Queen of Fairies, who brings people their deepest dreams. According to The Encyclopedia Britannica, Queen Mab is a mischievous but peaceful figure and is wife to King Oberon, The King of Fairies and was eventually replaced by Titania. She then reappears in A Midsummer Nights Dream as Queen Titania, this time in a more prominent role, with her husband, Oberon trying to make a fool of her. She still holds her title of Queen in this tail, and the fact that Shakespeare included both versions of The Queen of Fairie...

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...pirational and influential storyteller, not only wrote with the elegance and grace as the best writer of all time, but also with the eagle eye and accuracy of a historian.

Works Cited
Papp, Joseph, and Elizabeth Kirkland. Family life in Shakespeare’s Time, Exploring Shakespeare. 2003, Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
ReferenceDetailsPage/> .
Rosenthal, Margaret. Women of 16th Century Venice. USC Dornsife College News RSS. n.p., 2013. Web. 1 May 2014. century-venice/> Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. New York: Avenel Books, 1975. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Avenel Books, 1975. Print
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Mab (English Folklore). Britannica, 2012. Web. 29 Apr.
2014. .

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