Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 16

Important Points to Remember:

• A violent revenge play written about 1591 in collaboration with George Peele, one of the University Wits  (title to be pronounced as /ˌtaɪtəs ænˈdrɒnɪkəs/)
• Ravenscroft has criticised the play,: "'tis the most incorrect and indigested piece in all his works. It seems rather a heap of rubbish than a structure"
• Dr.  Johnson has also condemned the play that "the barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience."
• T. S.  Eliot finds fault with Peele rather than Shakespeare whom he defends : "one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written, a play in which it is incredible that Shakespeare had any hand at all, a play in which the best passages would be too highly honoured by the signature of Peele."
• In Mike Gene Wallace's words : This is a great play. We're talking fourteen dead bodies, kung-fu, sword-fu, spear-fu, dagger-fu, arrow-fu, pie-fu, animal screams on the soundtrack, heads roll, hands roll, tongues roll, nine and a half quarts of blood, and a record-breaking 94 on the vomit meter."

Critical Summary of the Play :

Tit for tat is the spirit of this drama. Titus Andronicus, a Roman general has lost his 21 sons out of 25 in the war and the play begins with his revenge on Tamora, queen of the Goths for this. She is made a captive and  her elder son is sacrificed in the ritual inspite of her plea. Her revenge on Titus for this and his counter revenge on her cover the remaining part of the play. 

Saturnicus the new emperor marries Tamora who plans for the downfall of Titus with the aid of her paramour Aaron the Moore.

 Persuaded by Aaron,  the two sons of Tamora - Chiron and Demetrius kill Bassianus,  brother of Saturnicus and also brutally  rape Lavinia,  Titus ' daughter.  Her tongue and hands are also cut off to silence her.  Lucius,  son of Titus is falsely accused of the murder of Bassianus and is banished from Rome.  

Then the revenge of raged  Titus begins.  He pretends to be mad and kills both Chiron and Demetrius and makes pie out of them that is served to Tamora.  Titus asks the emperor whether a father should kill his molested daughter.  The emperor says "yes", Titus kills his own daughter and also stabs  Tamora who is unknowingly tasting the feast of pie made up of by the blood of her killed sons. Enraged Saturnicus kills Titus but he himself is killed in turn by Lucius who has just now invaded Rome gathering a large army. Aaron refuses to repent till the end and therefore he is also buried chest-deep alive.  Thus the whole play is filled with violence,  death,  murder,  rape and bloodshed. 

Who are in the play?  Sinners.  What do they do?  Sins.  Who would watch this play?  Absolutely sinners.  

Ten Years War fought by Titus reveals his bravery.  His refusal of throne throws light on his magnanimity.  His pretension of madness  unfolds his cleverness but killing of his own pathetic daughter and making pie out of Tamora 's sons discloses his brutality.

Tamora arouses pity in our heart at her plea to Titus not to sacrifice her son but soon her Lady Macbeth 's heart earns disgust when she, being a woman, wants Lavinia to be raped by her own sons. No moral, no message, no admirable story prevails where the great dramatist Shakespeare writes the play with the piercing pen filled with blood. 

Watch the trailer if you dare to:

Henry VI Part 1, 2 and 3 by Shakespeare UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 15

Background of the Play Henry VI:

• The first three plays of the historical tetralogy, the fourth play being Richard III
• Written in between 1590 and 1592
• Sources of the play: chronicles of Edward Hall and Holinshed
• Part I, by Shakespeare in collaboration with the university wits-Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe
• Henry VI trilogy -not written by Shakespeare in chronological order (Henry VI Part 1,  Part 3 and then only Part 2 and the concluding play Richard III)
• Henry VI Part 2 as a play with the largest cast of all - with more than 50 characters 
• Henry VI Part 3 as a play with the longest soliloquy and more number of battle scenes (6 battles)
• The Chief events in Part I: funeral of Henry V, coronation of Henry VI, the ongoing war of England against France to retain its English territories in France,  the beginning of war of Roses between English lords under the Head of Duke of Somerset wearing red rose  and Richard, wearing white rose,   the valour and death of Joan of Arc of France, peace treaty between England and France and the proposed marriage between Henry VI and Margret, daughter of Reignier the Duke of Anjou (France).
• Chief Events in Part 2: marriage of Henry VI with Margaret - the death of Duke of Gloucester and the banishment of his wife for using necromancy - the love affair of Margaret with Suffolk and his death -the death of Somerset and Lord  Clifford - the rise and victory of the Duke of York (Richard) against Henry VI at war. 
• Chief events in Henry VI Part 3: The frequent Civil war between the Yarkists and the Lancastrians (king's side) - death of Richard the Duke of York,  the final victory of yarkists, the death of Henry, Warwick and Prince Edward - the banishment of Margaret.

Summary of Henry VI Part 1:
The play begins with the funeral of Henry V. After his death,  the Duke of Gloucester takes charge of the country,  Duke of Bedford rushes to war in France to retain English territories and Duke of Exeter arranges for the coronation of Henry VI. The petty quarrel between Duke of Somerset and Richard the 3rd Duke of York leads to War of Roses,  the former wearing Red rose with the support of some lords and the latter with the support of other lords wearing white rose. After becoming king,  Henry goes to war taking place in France and while returning to England he leaves Cavalry to the command of Duke of Somerset and Infantry to Richard whose conflict and misunderstanding leads to further defeats of England and the death of  powerful Talbot and his valiant son from English side.

Another reason for the set back by England is the powerful woman Joan of Arc whose visions, irresistible attacks, persuasion of Duke of Burgandy to fight for France brings significant victory to France but she is however captured by Richard and is burnt alive at the stake. Pope Eugenius IV and Roman Emperor Segismund force Henry VI to peace treaty with France.  The Play comes to an end with the Earl of Suffolk's persuasion of Henry VI to marry Margret,  daughter of Reignier the Duke of Anjou (France) against the warnings of Duke of Gloucester.

Summary of Henry VI Part 2:
The Play opens with Henry's marriage with Margaret who is but in secret love affair with the Earl of Suffolk who had persuaded Henry for the marriage.  The Wife of Gloucester longs for the throne and while trying necromancy, she is arrested and banished.  Gloucester is also accused of treason but before trial,  he is killed by murderers. Though Suffolk is banished for this, death of Gloucester is a great loss to the King.  Suffolk is killed by pirates and his head is sent to Margaret that leaves her in great agony.

Meanwhile the Duke of York is appointed by the King as a commander of Army to control the revolt in Ireland. On his return,  he claims to the throne. On the one side,  the 3rd Duke of York (Richard) is supported by his sons Edward and Young Richard and by other lords Salisbury and Warwick Amber . On the other side,  Duke of Somerset and Clifford take the sides of Henry.  In the war at St. Albans, however,  Henry loses the ground - Somerset and Lord Clifford are killed. Persuaded by Margaret,  Henry flees to London.  Young Clifford who vows to avenge his father's death joins with Margaret.   The curtain falls with the search of Duke of York and his supporters for the absconding Henry, Margaret and Young Clifford.

Summary of Henry VI Part 3 (1591):
The play begins where Henry VI part 2 ended. The entire play consists of nothing but frequent civil wars between the House of York and the Lancastrians (king's party). 

The first battle by Margaret:
After their victory against Henry VI, the yorkists seize the throne and their group consists of Richard,  the 3rd Duke of York (fathet), his eldest son Edward the Duke of York,  next sons George,  Young Richard and youngest son Rutland, the powerful Earl of Warwick  along with some of King's supporters. But soon Henry's party intervenes and makes an agreement with Richard,  the 3rd Duke of York that Henry is permitted to be king till death and after that the yorkists and their descendants will rule the country.  This will disinherit the descendants of Henry VI and so the supporters of King join with Margaret and Cliffort who attack the castle of the Duke of York and kills him by disgracing his honour in three ways : keeping him on the mole's hill, giving him the kerchief attained with the blood of his twelve years old son Rutland recently killed by Clifford to avenge his father's death,  and decorating him with paper crown. 

The Second and Third Battle:
The Second Battle of Albans does not take place on the stage but is reported by Warwick that his army too was defeated by Margaret. The third battle is the Battle of Towton in which the sons of dead Richard - Edward,  young Richard and George, and the powerful Earl of Warwick join together, fight against Henry and become victorious.  Clifford is killed and the eldest son of dead Richard (Edward ) becomes the King.  The other two sons George and young Richard become the Earl of Clarence and the Earl of Gloucester respectively.  Warwick at his best tries for the marriage of Lady Bona, sister-in-law of French king Louis XI with Edward but he becomes a laughing stock before Edward who has become a prey to the beauty of Lady Grey and has made her Queen Elizabeth.  Warwick abandons Edward and swears allegiance to Lancastrians (king's party).

The Fourth Battle :
Warwick becomes so loyal to King Henry by giving his daughter Anne in marriage to Edward, the Prince of Wales (Henry's son). George and Earl of Montage also join with Warwick who, collecting French troops fight against Edward the Duke of York and defeat him and take him as a prisoner.  His pregnant wife Queen Elizabeth escapes to a sanctuary.  Henry makes Warwick and George as his Lords Protectors.

The Fifth and Sixth Battle:
The escape of Edward from the prison with the help of Richard,  Hastling and Stanley leads to the fifth battle of the Play - the battle of Barnet in which Warwick is betrayed by George who takes the side of his brother Edward. Eventually Warwick's army is defeated and Warwick and Montage are killed. Once again the Yorkists become victorious.   King Henry is sent to the Tower of London as a prisoner.  However there takes place the Sixth battle - the battle of Tewkesbury in which the lancastrians troops headed by Earl of Oxford and Somerset joining with Margaret 's and French forces fight against the Yorkists. But the Yorkists win the battle. The result is so disastrous -Margret is banished; Her son Prince Edward is stabbed to death; Henry in the Tower of London  is stabbed to death by Richard; Life sentence is for Oxford and Death sentence is for Somerset.

Edward is reunited with his wife Queen Elizabeth and his new born son. The long Civil war comes to an end and the moment brings great celebrations for the Yorkists who but scarcely know the villainous mind of Richard longing for the throne.

The Iliad by Homer

Important  points to remember:

•  Also known as song of Ilium (Troy) 
• the greatest epic poem by Homer
• written in Greek in 15693 lines, 
• in 24 books in Dactylic hexameter (heroic hexameter) 
• written in 8^th century BC 
• dealing with few weeks battles and events in the last year of 10 years of Trojan war 
• Odyssey, as the sequel of Iliad

Major Characters into three categories:

•     the Greek:

1.       Agamemnon, leader of the Greek army

2.       Achilles, the Greek warrior, hero of Iliad and son of Thetis

3.       Odysseus, King of Ithaca

4.       Menelaus, king of Sparta,  brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen whom Paris of Troy has stolen away

•          the Trojans:

1.       Priam, king of Troy

2.       Paris, prince of Troy whose love for Helen is the main cause of Trojan war

3.       Hector, brother of Paris and prince of Troy

4.       Pandarus, famous archer of Troy

5.       Aeneas, son of Aphrodite (Venus) and one of the important Trojan heroes

•          Gods and Goddesses:

1.       Zeus, king of the gods of Mount Olympus – god of sky and thunder, supporting the Trojans

2.       Hera, queen of the gods – goddess of marriage, family and childbirth, supporting the Greek

3.       Athena, goddess of wisdom, supporter of the Greek

4.       Apollo, god of music, dance, poetry and archery, supporter of Trojans

Short Summary:

The epic begins  in the middle. Agamemnon and Achilles share the two most beautiful captives Chryseis and Briseis respectively. But Chryseus, father of Chryseis is the priest of Apollo. So, threatened by a plague for 9 days on the Greek army, finally Agamemnon returns Chryseis to her father but takes over Briseis in compensation for this. Achilles, gravely insulted by this, asks his mother goddess Thetis to request Zeus to teach a lesson to the Greek so that they will realize his importance in the Trojan war. How much the Greek suffers in the war without Achilles is described from 2^nd book to 17^th book.  And only in the 18^th book, Achilles comes back to the battlefield at the death of his friend Patroclus.

 War is going on for more than 9 years and this is the 10^th year.  At one stage, both sides agree to end up the war with a duel between Paris and Menelaus because the former has taken away the wife of the latter who wants justice through the war. When Paris is about to be killed, Aphrodite, goddess of love rescues him and takes him away from the war without the knowledge of others. The Trojan war almost ends here at the victory of Menelaus but Pandraus from the Trojans side shoots an arrow at the Menelaus and restarts the war. Diomedes the Greek warrior not only  kills Pandraus but also wounds Aeneas and even the gods Aphrodite and Ares. Another Greek warrior Odysseus also kills a number of Trojans. But with the arrival of Hector, prince of Troy (book 7),  the Greek army is driven back to their camp.

The intervention of Gods from both sides is too much in the Trojan War. Some support the Greek and some others, the Trojans and the gods and goddess themselves fight in the war but suddenly disappear from the war and reappear again after sometime.  For example, Zeus, king of gods supports the Trojans whereas Hera, his wife, queen of gods supports the Greek.   Sometimes the Greek drive the Trojans upto the Troy wall and other times the Trojans drive the Greek up to their fortification and ships. This goes on happening book after the other with the astonishing fight of great warriors on both sides.

Paris is advised to return Helen to end up the war but he declares an offer to give everything looted from the Greek except Helen but the Greek refuses to accept this offer and so again the war continues.  Similarly Agamemnon comes forward to offer a lot of gifts to Achilles to make him return to the war but Achilles rejects it. (book 9).  The war continues. Agamemnon, Diamedes and Odysseus  are greatly wounded. (book 11). The Greek wall is attacked by the Trojans and Hector breaks in the gate.(book 12). With the help of Hera who makes Zeus to fall asleep and prevents him from helping the Trojans, the Greek takes back the upper hand in the war and drives the Trojans again to the plain. (book 14)But Zeus awakes and again the Greek loses their ground. The Trojans forces them to return to their ships and set fire to the ships of the Greek. At this time enters Patroclus, friend of Achilles who has been sent by Achilles to fight against the Trojans with his armor.

Patroclus drives the Trojans back to the wall of Troy and even kills Sarpedon, son of Zeus. This infuriates the Trojans. Hector kills Patroclus and takes away his armour however the body of Patroclus is recovered by Achilles by returning to the battlefield in rage. (book 18) A new set of armour and a magnificent shield are made by Thetis for his son Achilles. Now even Agamemnon is ready to return Briseis  but Achilles is indifferent to all worldly gifts. With his great spear, shield, new armour  and the immortal horse Xanthos, he rushes towards the Trojans in his chariot and starts slaughtering all on the Trojans on the way. He goes on cutting the heads and fills the river Skamandros with their heads.  Hector is warned by his parents  but he ignores it and encounters Achilles face to face only to be chased by him around the city of Troy. Finally after a brief duel, he stabs him at the neck and drags his dead body behind his chariot. (book 22) Hector’s father Priam begs him for his son’s body and Achilles moved by his tears returns the body that is buried in Troy and the Trojans mourn for the death of Hector.(book 24). Though the death of Achilles is also predicted by his immortal horse, and Hector before his death, Achilles does not die in this epic.

Themes in Iliad:

•      Fate determines everything
•     The intervention of immortal gods into the life of mortals
•     The battle for woman
•     The battle for body and armour
•     The illegal love and cowardice of Paris
•     The Wrath and Return of Achilles
•     The Fall of Troy

Symbolism in Beowulf

Facts about Beowulf:

• Old English Epic poem with 3,182 lines 
• by anonymous poet 
• Story set in 6^th c. 
• Story in nutshell: Beowulf, the hero of Geats, North Germanic Tribes helps Hrothgar, king of Danes by killing the monster Grendel first, then killing Grendel’s mother and finally after 50 years killing the dragon but dying wounded by the dragon in the final battle. People respect his valour erecting tower in his memory.

Symbolism in Beowulf

Grendel is not wrong because its rage is because of the noise in the Heorot, the feast hall by Hrothgar.

Grendel’s mother is also not wrong because she comes to avenge her son’s death.

The dragon is also not wrong because a slave has stolen a cup from the dragon’s cave and this has made it boil with rage and fire everything on the way.

Thus in all cases animals are not wrong. It is only human beings who are wrong.

The brave always encounter the enemies alone and Beowulf is no exemption. In the first battle, he refuses to use any weapon. In the second, he takes a special sword got from a warrior but it is of no use. He jumps into the lake and reaches the liar and face Grendel’s mother alone. In the third battle too, he asks his men to wait in the mountain and he rushes to attack the dragon alone, that is , he is with the same spirit that  he had 50 years before.

Another greatness of the poem is that the poet doesn’t want any recognition, any fame and name and leaves his poem anonymously. There is not even a title for this poem. Only the hero’s name later adds title to it.

Besides, the words in Beowulf themselves carry symbolic meaning:

battle-blame = sword

life-lord = God

ring-giver = king

whale-road = sea or ocean

Shepherd of sins = Grendel

flame-snake = dragon

watch the trailer of Beowulf here:

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 14

A) Background of the Play :

• A comedy written in 1592 
•  probably Shakespeare's second play 
• the hero Petruchio reappears in Fletcher's "The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed", a comedy written in 1609-1611  in which he is tamed by his second wife Maria after Kate's death 
• "Kiss Me, Kate", the popular musical play first produced in 1948, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter has derived its title from this Shakespeare's play in which Petruchio repeats three times requesting 'kiss me, Kate' 
• source of the play: "Supposes", a comedy in prose by George Gascoigne in 1566 adopted from Ariosto's "I suppositi" 
•  an American-Italian Comedy film produced in 1967  staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is also based on this Shakespeare's play and has the same title

B) Summary of the Play :
The whole five acts play of Taming of the Shrew is quite unusually performed within another story in the form of Induction I and II.  Induction here is thus a framing story in which a local lord wants to play a prank on a poor drunken tinker - he orders his servants to take the tinker Christopher Sly to his bed,  dress him like a lord,  provide him with good wine and food . He also orders a troupe of players to perform a play and entertain the tinker and the lord's page boy Bartholomew has to join in the jest dressed in the attire of the tinker's wife to convince him that the happenings around him are real and he has just recovered from his long insanity. The play performed to entertain the tinker is the Taming of the Shrew.

The shrew mentioned in the title is Katherine and the hero who tames this shrew is Petruchio. The play is set in Padua where Baptista has two daughters -the elder daughter wild Catherine and the younger daughter mild Bianca. He wants a tutor for Bianca and a suitor for Catherine first.  Now even the already available hopeless suitors for the younger daughter  Hortentio and Gremio have to first find someone to marry Katherine. Petruchio who comes to Padua looking for a wealthy bride doesn't care about Katherine's nature and weds her at once and takes to his country house where he has planned to tame the shrew.

On the other side,  Lucentio who comes to Padua for further study is carried away by the beauty and submissive nature of Bianca. He pretends to be a tutor of classical language, wins the heart of Bianca and weds her eloping with her to the local church. Baptisto later forgives the couples since it's Lucentio's sincere love for Bianca that made him do so.  Hortentio who also tried to win Bianca in vain pretending to be a music teacher, now changes his mind and marries a wealthy widow.

How Petruchio trains his wild wife to bend to his will and succeeds in his attempt is the remaining part of the play.  Petruchio pretends to care for his wife more but at the same time makes her want of food,  sleep, fine clothes and all comforts. For instance,  he rages at the servants for the meals not being hot enough for his wife  and pushes the whole meals off the table wantonly to make the hungry Katherine still more hungry. The play ends with Katherine's stunning change into submissive nature and Petruchio's success in the competition for three Wives - Bianca, Katherine and the Widow (Hortentio's wife) to find out who among them is so submissive to their husbands.  Katherine, to everyone's surprise, gives a speech on the duties of a good wife to her husband.

C) Critical Appreciation of the Play:
Christopher Sly controlled by the local lord is a play thing to the lord just as the uncontrollable Katherine is a toy in the hands of Petruchio. "Shakespeare has no heros, only heroines. " said Ruskin. It's true with Shakespeare's most of the plays,  especially with Portio in The Merchant of Venice. But here in this play Shakespeare has given much weightage to the hero Petruchio and even Hortentio later proposes to come to this country 'taming school ' to learn the art of controlling one's wife.  The element of disguise is popular device to Shakespeare to produce dramatic irony but here the disguises are too much and the audience is likely to get lost - Lucentio in the disguise of a tutor called Camio, Hortentio disguised as a music teacher,  Lucentio's servant Tranio disguised as Lucentio, second servant as a servant to the disguised Tranio... What happened to Christopher Sly, the watcher of this entire play is completely ignored. However this second play from young Shakespeare is surprisingly rich in plot and characterisation. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona by Shakespeare UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 13

a) Background of the Play : a comedy written in 1590 - the main source : the story of Felix and Felismena in the Diana of Jorge de Montemayor - thought to be Shakespeare's first play - themes: love versus friendship,  fidelity in love and friendship, the foolish behaviors of lovers.

b) Summary of the Play :
Valentine and Proteus are the two gentlemen of Verona, though the latter is a gentleman only in the beginning and end of the play and rest of the time,  the villain.  The play begins with the farewell scene in which Proteus sends his close friend Valentine off to Milan. Proteus doesn't want to go because his ladylove Julia is in Verona. Valentine condemns love before leaving but he falls in love with Silvia, Duke's daughter in Milan. After sometime,  Antonio, Proteus' father too sends him to Milan to seek his fortunes there. Proteus is a prisoner of his own whims and fancies.   He falls in love with Silvia at first sight and totally forgets Julia. He is unfaithful to his friend as well.  He goes to the extent of betraying his friend by revealing his plot of eloping with Silvia to the Duke. The Duke who is moneyminded wants his daughter's marriage with the rich but foolish lord Thurio and so he banishes Valentine who,  winning the favors of outlaws in the forest becomes their gang leader.

Julia who deeply loves Proteus comes to Milan in the disguise of a page named Sebastian and gets vexed to see Proteus courting Silvia. She is much downhearted when she is sent by Proteus to gift Silvia the ring that she had presented him at his departure. But Silvia who condemns Proteus for his betrayal of his friends and his infidelity to Julia escapes from the court to the woods seeking Valentine. Eglamour is her chaperone but he is a coward.  He flees while she is captured by the outlaws who bring her to their leader Valentine. But Proteus saves her from outlaws and, being unable to win her favor,  tries to rape her.  While Valentine angrily  jumps out from the bushes, Proteus seeks forgiveness for all his wrongs and Valentine immediately forgives him and he is even ready to gift Silvia to him. Now Julia(Sebastian) reveals her identity and Proteus is ashamed of all his whims.  He,with changed mind, is now ready to marry Julia. Thurio the weakminded gets back in his pursuit being threatened by Valentine and the Duke is also awakened from madness after money.  The play ends with ringing of marriage bells for both the couples.

C) Critical views of the play :
In his play, Shakespeare has to satisfy  the working class audience that is why the protagonists depend on their servants for wisdom and counselling, just as Antonio and Julia do here on Panthino and Lucetta respectively. The play present situations which are touchstones for true love.  In Act IV, Proteus gives Julia (a page in the disguise of Sebastian) to deliver a ring to his new lover Silvia - the ring that was gifted as a token of love by her at his departure  to Milan. This utter infidelity of Proteus is contrasted with fidelity and love  of Proteus' servant Launce to his master and to his dog Crab. Launce is ready to sacrifice his dog at the cost of his faithfulness to his master who has ordered him to gift that to Silvia.  He even accepts beating by the Duke's men for the urination of his dog on the floor that he claims as if he did it. Shakespeare shows that humans like Proteus don't have the love that even servants like Launce had it for the dog. However, the play is immature especially at the ending that is ubrupt. Sudden change of Proteus into a  new leaf, Valentine being ready to offer even his own Silvia to his friend Proteus and withdrawal of Duke's intention of marriage between Thurio and Silvia are all unconvincing and remain the serious flaws of the play. Speed, the clownish servant of Valentine disappears from the play at a great speed.  Other interesting characters of the play like Luceta, Antonio and Panthino all stay away from the plot very soon. Neither Valentine who hates love nor Proteus who is sick in love is stable in their attitude and nature just as everyone in real life is.

Quotes from the play:
 1. "They do not love that do not show their love." 
(Julia, Act 1 Scene 2)

2. "I'll be as patient as a gentle stream,
And make a pastime of each weary step,
Till the last step have brought me to my love,
And there I'll rest, as after much turmoil,
A blessed soul doth in Elysium."     
(Julia, Act 2 Scene 7)

3. "Love is like a child
That longs for every thing that he can come by."
(Duke, Act 3 Scene 1)

4. "That man that hath a tongue, I say is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman."
(Valentine, Act 3 Scene 1)

5. "And why not death, rather than living torment?
To die is to be banished from myself;
And Silvia is myself: banished from her,
Is self from self. A deadly banishment:
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?"
(Valentine, Act 3 Scene 1)

6. "She dreams on him that has forgot her love,
You dote on her that cares not for your love.
'Tis pity love should be so contrary:
And thinking on it makes me cry 'Alas'."
(Julia, Act 4 Scene 4)

7. "O heaven, were man
But constant, he were perfect."
(Proteus, Act 5 Scene 4)

Interesting Facts on Shakespeare and his Plays UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 12

1. Shakespeare was born on the same date on which he died after 52 years. (DOB as generally celebrated on:23rd April 1564, DOD: 23rd April 1616). He was baptised in the same Holy Trinity Church where he was buried at the end. 
2. He married Anne Hathaway who was senior to him by eight years. (Shakespeare's marriage took place at his eighteenth age in 1582)
3. What happened in Shakespeare's life till the age of 28? It is a mystery: His writings suggest,  he should have studied in a local grammar school but the records to prove this are lost. Secondly, based on John Aubrey's words -"he had been in his younger years a school master in the country " scholars take him a school master but the biographer John Aubrey who was born 10 years after Shakespeare's death is not a contemporary of Shakespeare. Thirdly it is believed that at the age of 23, Shakespeare became an actor by filling a vacancy in Queen's Men since one of the actors in the troupe was killed just before they reached his village but there is no authentic printed record is available to prove this.  
4. Shakespeare must have an affair with Anne Hathaway even before marriage because his marriage is permitted through a bond in November, 1582 but his eldest daughter Susanna is babtised in May,  1583(within 7 months?!).  In February 1585, Anne gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith of whom the former died at the age of 13.
5. The first authentic printed record (a pamphlet) about Shakespeare is "Greene's Groat's Worth of Wit" published in 1592 in which Greene, one of the University wits who could not endure the sudden popularity of Shakespeare calls him "an upstart crow"
6.  Shakespeare's popularity can be explored in connection with the theatres where he performed his plays. Actually in 1572, The Mayor and Corporation of London banned performance of plays due to plague and he formally expelled all playwrights from London in 1575. So outside London,  in 1576 the Theatre was constructed and Lord Chamberlaine's Men, for whom Shakespeare was an actor and playwright, performed their plays in the Theatre till the disputes of the landlords of the theatre peaked in 1597. In 1598 at night,  the Theatre was dismantled and its timbers were used for construction of a new theatre The Globe that was built by Lord Chamberlaine's Men, Shakespeare's playing company in 1599. Shakespeare actively  worked for Lord Chamberlain's Men who later became the popular London company but the Globe got destroyed by fire in 1614 just two years before Shakespeare's death. Meanwhile Lord Chamberlaine's Men got promoted as King's Men soon after James I became the King of England in 1603. King's Men took over the Blackfriars Theater in 1608 and it became their Winter Playhouse till all theatres were closed in1642. 
7. The Oxford Companion to English Literature says,  Shakespeare started to write for the stage  in late 1580s (at the age of 16?!). Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in total and many of his plays remained unpublished till the First Folio( entitled "Mr Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, Published According to True Original Copies") appeared in 1623 that listed for the first time 36 plays of Shakespeare dividing them into three categories as mentioned in the title. The Folio without which we would not have known the great genius, was prepared by Shakespeare's colleagues John  Heminges and Henry Condell, and was published by Edward Blount and William and Isaac Jaggard, and was dedicated to William Herbert,  3rd Earl of Pembroke and his brother  Philip Herbert. However Troilus and Cressida, which is one of the 36 plays in the Folio was not mentioned in the content page due to conflicts over rights of the play and was later inserted. The other two plays which are now accepted as Shakespeare's but omitted in the Folio are "Pericles, the Prince of Tyre" and "The Two Noble Kinsmen".
8. How did Shakespeare write his plays? The rough working scripts or notes by Shakespeare were called Foul Papers which were later arranged and developed into Fair copies known as manuscripts either by Shakespeare himself or by a scribe. These manuscripts, when heavily annotated with detailed stage directions and data for stage performance, became the Prompt Book  or Transcript to be handled by Prompter known as stage manager.  Prompter is so called because his duty is to prompt the actors when they forget the lines or forget to move to a supposed place on the stage. 
9. Three plays of Shakespeare are known as problem plays: All's Well That Ends Well,  Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida. The critic F.S. Boas who coined the phrase 'problem play '  is the first one to use it to refer to the aforementioned plays though the plays of Henric Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw are now generally called as problem plays.  Problem plays generally deal with contemporary social problem and here in Shakespeare's plays they are concerned with the conflict between established social order and the nature of human tendency. 
10. What happened to Shakespeare's play "Love's Labour's Won"? The contemporary writer of Shakespeare Francis Meres critically talks about this play of Shakespeare in his Commonplace Book published in 1598 and a bookseller's list of that period also mentions this play.  But it is lost.  Similarly another play of Shakespeare written in collaboration with John Fletcher "Cordenio" is found in the Stationers' Register entry of 1653 but it also doesn't survive. Not only these plays but also his death is surrounded by mystery: in 1610, Shakespeare almost retired to his native place Stratford where he had already purchased the largest house known as New Place for €60, with occasional visits to London till 1614 but completely staying at home place during last two years.  One major reason is that theatres were frequently closed (in total 60 months) in between 1603 and 1610 due to bubonic plague and several playwrights including Shakespeare had no work at all. Why should he die at the age of 52, in 1616? Is it his drunkenness as told by the vicar of Holy Tritinity Church in 1661 in his diary : "Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting and, it seems, drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted"? Or Did he die being ashamed of the disgrace that fell on his family when his son-in-law Thomas Quiney (married to Judith) was sentenced to public penance in the church for having illegitimate son born to Margaret Wheel? Or Was he forced by his elder daughter  Susana to write a will one month before his death according to which major portion of his estate goes to her and Shakespeare's wife Anne's name is completely left out? During his Age,  it was a general tradition that people used to write their will in deathbed one month before their death but Shakespeare begins his will by saying that he is in "perfect health". Even the inscription on his epitaph sounds strange and mysterious: 

 "Blessed be the man that spares these stones, / And cursed be he that moves my bones."

Complete List of Shakespeare's 37 Plays: (in chronological order) 

1. Two Gentlemen of Verona
2. The Taming of the Shrew 
3. Henry VI Part 1
4. Henry VI Part 3
5. Titus Andronicus
6. Henry VI Part 2
7. Richard III
8. The Comedy of Errors 
9. Love's Labour's Lost 
10. A Midsummer Night's Dream
11. Romeo and Juliet 
12. Richard II
13. King John
14. The Merchant of Venice 
15. Henry IV Part 1
16. The Merry Wives of Windsor 
17. Henry IV Part 2
18. Much Ado About Nothing 
19. Henry V
20. Julius Caesar 
21. As You Like It
22. Hamlet 
23. Twelfth Night 
24. Troilus and Cressida
25. Measure for Measure 
26. Othello
27. All's Well That Ends Well 
28. Timon of Athens 
29. King Lear 
30. Macbeth 
31. Antony and Cleopatra 
32. Pericles,  Prince of Tyre
33. Coriolanus
34. Winter's Tale 
35. Cymbeline 
36. The Tempest 
37. Henry VIII

Critics on Shakespeare :

1. "He was not of an age but for all time." (Ben Jonson in his preface to First Folio)
2. "Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame,
   What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
   Thou in our wonder and astonishment
   Hast built thy self a live-long Monument."  (Milton in his poem "On Shakespeare" in 1632)
3. "To begin then with Shakespeare; he was the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the Images of Nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learn'd; he needed not the spectacles of Books to read Nature; he look'd inwards, and found her there." (Dryden in his "Essay on Dramatic Poesy", 1668)
4. "That noble extravagance of fancy, which he had in so great perfection, thoroughly qualified him to touch... his reader's imagination, and made him capable of succeeding, where he had nothing to support him besides the strength of his own genius." (Joseph Addison in Spectator no.419)
5. "...every single character in Shakespeare is as much an Individual as those in Life itself; it is as impossible to find any two alike; and such as from their relation or affinity in any respect appear most to be Twins will upon comparison be found remarkably distinct...I will conclude by saying of Shakespeare, that with all his faults, in comparison of those that are more finished and regular, as upon an ancient majestick piece of Gothick architecture, compared with a neat modern building: the latter is more elegant and glaring, but the former is more strong and more solemn . . Nor does the whole fail to strike us with greater reverence, though many of the parts are childish, ill-placed, and unequal to its grandeur." (Alexander Pope in his Preface to Pope's Edition of Shakespeare's Works,  1725)
6. "Perhaps it would not be easy to find any author, except Homer, who invented so much as Shakespeare, who so much advanced the studies which he cultivated, or effused so much novelty upon his age or country. The form, the characters, the language, and the shows of the English drama are his." (Samuel Johnson in his "The Plays of William Shakespeare", 1765)
7. "Shakespeare stands out singularly, linking the old and new in a lush. Wish and duty trying to put itself in balance in his plays; both are faced with violence, but always so that the wish is at a disadvantage." and "There is no pleasure greater and purer than, with eyes closed, accompany a Shakespeare's play, not declaimed, but recited by a safe and natural voice"(J.W.Goethe in "Writings on Literature")
8. "One day, when there is no more British Empire or North-American Republic, there will be Shakespeare; when we stop speaking English, we will speak Shakespeare." (by the Brazilian novelist, poet and playwright Machado de Assis)
9. "O, mighty poet! Thy works are not as those of other men, simply and merely great works of art; but are also like the phenomena of nature, like the sun and the sea, the stars and the flowers,—like frost and snow, rain and dew, hail-storm and thunder, which are to be studied with entire submission of our own faculties, and in the perfect faith that in them there can be no too much or too little, nothing useless or inert—but that, the further we press in our discoveries, the more we shall see proofs of design and self-supporting arrangement where the careless eye had seen nothing but accident!" (Thomas De Quincey in his "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" 1823)
10. "Here, I say, is an English King, whom no time or chance, Parliament or combination of Parliaments, can dethrone! This King Shakespeare, does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying-signs; indestructible; really more valuable in that point of view than any other means or appliance whatsoever?" ( Thomas Carlyle in his "the Heroes, the Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History", 1841)
11. 'I will translate Shakespeare.' Shekespeare: the ocean." (Victor Hugo, 1859)
12. "...the unquestionable glory of a great genius which Shakespeare enjoys, and which compels writers of our time to imitate him and readers and spectators to discover in him non-existent merits,—thereby distorting their aesthetic and ethical understanding,—is a great evil, as is every untruth." (LeoTolstoy on Shakespeare, 1906)
13. "When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder/"that such trivial people should muse and thunder /in such lovely language. /How boring, how small Shakespeare's people are!/Yet the language so lovely! like the dyes from gas-tar." (D.H.Lawrence in his poem "When I read Shakespeare", 1928)
14. "There is a continual process of simplification in Shakespeare's plays. What is he up to? He is holding the mirror up to nature... I find Shakespeare particularly appealing in his attitude towards his work. There's something a little irritating in the determination of the very greatest artists, like Dante, Joyce, Milton, to create masterpieces and to think themselves important. To be able to devote one's life to art without forgetting that art is frivolous is a tremendous achievement of personal character. Shakespeare never takes himself too seriously." (W.H.Auden in his Lectures on Shakespeare, 1947)
15. Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them, there is no third." (T.S. Eliot, in his critical essay "Dante" published in 1932)