To Be or Not To Be

... and everything else you should know from Shakespeare

Liz Evers

• Publisher: Michael O'Mara
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781843174622
• eBook ISBN: 9781843178118
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Crítica literaria de Shakespeare

The entertaining and accessible guide to the life and work of Shakespeare, celebrating over 400 years of his legacy. Known the world over and translated into innumerable languages, Shakespeare's plays are as eloquent and as relevant today as they were more than 400 years ago. His works have been a permanent feature on school curricula for years, but with thirty-eight plays, over 150 sonnets and numerous other poems, there's such a wealth of material it's no wonder we sometimes forget the finer details. To Be or Not To Be is a fresh, new look at the Bard's work, showing how and why it remains such an integral part of popular culture and the English language. This is the ultimate guide to Shakespeare, covering everything from his characters, the essential plots and the famous lines to illuminating information on history's most influential and renowned playwright.

‘Knock, knock – who’s there?’

A glossary of major characters

With thirty-eight plays, each crammed with characters, a complete list would be a book in its own right. For that reason I have listed only the most central characters of each play below in alphabetical order.

Aaron – an evil Moor and the lover and partner in crime of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in Titus Andronicus. He incites most of the other evil characters to do violence against the Andronicus family.

Don Adriano de Armado – a comic character in Love’s Labour’s Lost. His name is thought to be a jibing play on ‘Armada’, as in the Spanish Armada.

The Duke of Albany – the relatively honourable husband of the wicked Princess Goneril in King Lear.

Alcibiades – the only true friend of the tragic Timon of Athens, he is a soldier who becomes a rebel when one of his officers is wrongly sentenced to death.

Alonso – the King of Naples and ally to Prospero’s usurping brother Antonio in The Tempest. His son Ferdinand married Prospero’s daughter Miranda.

Angelo – a saintly character who deputizes for the Duke of Vienna in Measure for Measure. He is quickly corrupted by power and his desire for the chaste Isabella.

Anne Bullen – better known to history as Anne Boleyn, she is a lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon and later becomes King Henry’s second wife in Henry VIII.

Anne Page – the daughter of Master and Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor. She is in love with Fenton, but her father wishes her to marry Slender and her mother wishes her to marry Caius.

Antigonus – is a servant of the jealous King Leontes in The Winter’s Tale. He takes the infant princess, Perdita, to Bohemia and he famously ‘Exits, pursued by a bear’ and is killed.

Antipholus of Ephesus – the long-lost twin brother of Antipholus of Syracuse – with whom he is often confused in The Comedy of Errors.

Antipholus of Syracuse – in the reverse situation to the Antipholus above.

Antonio – the title character, although not the central one, of The Merchant of Venice. He is the best friend of Bassanio, to whom he lends borrowed money to get married. When he cannot repay his debt, the Jewish moneylender Shylock demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh.

Antonio – the usurping brother of Prospero in The Tempest.

Arcite – along with Palamon, the title character of The Two Noble Kinsmen. Their friendship is tested in a quarrel for the love of Emilia.

Ariel – a spirit controlled, but eventually freed, by Prospero the magician in The Tempest.

Queen Katherine of Aragon – the first wife of King Henry in Henry VIII. She falls from grace, is divorced by the king and dies. She is succeeded by Anne Bullen.

Aufidius – leader of the Volscians and arch-enemy of the titular hero in Coriolanus.

Banquo – an army captain in Macbeth who meets the three witches and hears their prophecies about Macbeth’s rise to power and that of his own sons. He is...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• ‘What a piece of work is a man’
• ‘Words, words, words’
• ‘All the world’s a stage’
• ‘Within this wooden O’
• ‘It was Greek to me’
• ‘The play’s the thing’
• ‘Love is blind’
• ‘A kingdom for a stage’
• ‘Knock, knock – who’s there?’
• ‘Our revels are now ended’
• ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’
• Bibliography