1. We know very little about his life;

2. he was both a dramatist and an actor (he was in the cast of EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR, in 1598);

3. while writing his first plays, he may have “improved” the work of other writers [today, this is called “plagiarism”]; HENRY THE SIXTH is an example of this;

4. ROMEO AND JULIET, the first of his great tragedies, is based on an Italian romance by Matteo Bandello;

5. AS YOU LIKE IT, a comedy, is a dramatic adaptation of Thomas Lodge´s ROSALYNDE;

6. the plot of JULIUS CAESAR is based on Plutarch´s LIVES.

– while his plays are more widely known, he also wrote lots of poems (sonnets), most of them about love

– many of his plays became successful movies (remember Romeo and Juliet with Claire Danes?) or were the materials from which movies were made (10 things I hate about you is based on his Taming of the Shrew, as is the Musical Kiss me Kate)

– he often used other peoples stories as a base for his plays, also included popular myths and historical figures. But nobody quite knew how to make things exciting and fun at the same time like he did.

(Jenny W, don’t be such a b_i_t_c_h.)