William Shakespeare: A Playwright for Royalty and Common-folk

Shakespeare worked for the English Monarchy for most of his professional career as actor and playwright. He worked for Elizabeth I as part of Lord Chamberlain's Men from the early 1590s until her death in 1603. The company was kept on by King James I, only changing their name from Lord Chamberlain's Men's to The King's Men in honor of the new king.

Shakespeare's Tradegies and Histories can be seen as cautionary tales that would be as educational as they were entertaining to those in Power. His Tragedies and Histories are always about the perils and power struggles faced by Kings, Queens, and other people in positions of power. Not only did Kings and Queens have to worry about enemies from without, they also were constantly mindful of enemies from within.

There are the stories and plays of power hungry Macbeth and Richard III. The Throne of Denmark is brought down not just by a revenge-minded Prince Hamlet, but also by an invading force by Fortinbras of Norway, Denmark's neighbor to the North. Hamlet through the course of seeking revenge for his father's murder, he ends up murdering Polonius, whose son Laertes is then spurred by his emotions to seek revenge against Hamlet. The sideplot of Fortinbras, prince of Norway, marshalling a great army to conquer a piece of land in Poland makes Hamlet to consider the meaning of his own life.

King Lear and his daughters are brought to ruin by the power-hungry Edmound, son of the Earl of Gloucester. The choice by King Lear at the beginning of the play to split his kingdom into three to be governed by his three children is a choice that will have serious consequences for both Lear, his three daughters, and the future of his family's reign.

In Henry V, Shakespeare not only recounts the Battle of Agincourt that pitted the Henry V against the French, but also gives advice within the play as to the need to be mindful of the Scottish and Irish.

Julius Ceaser, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, are all cautionary tales from the history of Rome.

Othello, a General in the Venetian Army, is ordered to the island of Cyprus to keep it from being captured by the Ottoman Empire. Othello is driven mad with jealousy by deceptions played upon him by the jealous Iago. Iago is felt spurred after Cassio is chosen for promotionby Othello instead of him in the Venetian army. Iago conspires to bring down Othello because of a general hatred, and also conspires to win the position that Cassio currently holds.

Romeo and Juliet shows the dangers and tragedy of war between two opposing Households in Verona, Italy, both Houses losing their children and heirs to the violence that had existed between the two families for generations.

While Royalty were not Shakespeare's only audience, his plays are as much cautionary tales and the tales of imperfect humanity as they are portraits of men and women who could be seen by the audience as role models. Shakespeare's plays are people with Kings, Queens, Dukes, Ceasars, Generals, as well as their heirs, servants, and commonfolk. Shakespeare's times, like the times before him, were ones of wars and power struggles between nations as well as between contenders to the Thrones within the many Kingdoms of Europe.