What’s so Special about Shakespeare?

This introduction to the life and works of William Shakespeare includes comical stories and factual information about Shakespeare’s childhood, family, schooling, career, and successes as a playwright. Four plays are examined in more detail – A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest – to provide insights into his writing style and to demonstrate how different his plays are from each other. Useful to supplement a unit on Shakespeare, to help students gain an appreciation of his work, to explore history of the theatre and 16th century England, and to discover the impact Shakespeare has had on the English language, plays, and storytelling.