... the very idiom of language. To this day, expressions such as 'too much of a good thing' (As You Like It), 'in my mind's eye' (Hamlet), 'it was Greek to me' (Julius Caesar), 'break the ice' (The Taming of the Shrew) and 'bated breath' (The Merchant of Venice) are ... speech and writing. Shakespearean quotes such as "To be, or not to be: that is the question " (Hamlet - Act III, Scene I) and "This above all: to thine own self be true " (Hamlet - Act I, Scene III) have passed into standard usage. His plays were written keeping in mind the tastes ... a playwright. Not only did his writing h...

• Word Count: 1032
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Stratford for London before 1685, and no documents mentioning Shakespeare's acquaintances with the inner court circles frame one set of circumstantial facts. In contrast, Edward de Vere's death in 1604 would have bar him from being the author of several majestic tragedies believed written latter such as Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear; the fact that the quality of de Vere's published ... earlier poetry likely before 1585 is vastly inferior to that of Shakespeare; the specific knowledge the plays and poems infer certain prominent people in the Queen's court connect with associated ... wor...

• Word Count: 1431
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate