The Historical Accuracy of Shakespeare

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The Historical Accuracy of Shakespeare
The works of the famous Shakespeare are referenced often in modern novels, newspapers, and in Television but a good question anyone should ask is are his works historically accurate to the time. As many know William Shakespeare was a writer of the 16th century, creating many famous works such as Romeo and Julie and A Mid-Summers Night Dream. The writer made many writings throughout his time, however his attention to the detail was sadly not as amazing as the number of stories he made, as the things we can learn from his writings were only accurate enough barely get a poor idea of the history of the time, with very few accuracies and too many to count inaccuracies.
Often in Shakespeare’s works references of God’s of the time are seen, sometimes they were portrayed correctly, and sometimes they were written to help the plot. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Diana was referenced as Romeo says “Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon” (II.ii.4). Due to her different associations Diana was not quite directly represented in the plays as “Diana’s nature was varied by her many associations. As goddess of forest and hunting, she was considered pure and virginal…. As goddess of the moon, she had a changeable unpredictable nature.”(Knowles para. 4). Using the Roman god as a joke, Shakespeare says to kill a woman’s virginity in a form. Yet when he references her, he does not reference the forms of her in a fashion that coincides, so rather than saying, arise fair sun and kill the envious forest, he incorrectly fashions the statement. However, when Shakespeare is referencing the god Queen Mab, who at the time was the Queen of fairies, contradictory to Mercutio’s speech to Romeo of her being the bringer...

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...n.d. Web. 30 April 2014. .
Papp, Joseph, and Elizabeth Kirkland. " Family Life in Shakespeare's Time." EXPLORING Shakespeare. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Rosenthal, Margaret. "Women of 16th Century Venice." USC Dornsife College News RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014. < http://dornsife.usc.edu/veronica-franco/women-of-16th-century-venice/>.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.” Mab (English Folklore).” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012. Web, 4 May 2014. < http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/353527/Mab>.

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