Caricature/Cartoon – William Shakespeare – The Great English Playwright and his Missing Computer

William Shakespeare, the national poet of England, wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and many poems. And he wrote all these without the help of computers!

Now if that isn’t a commendable performance, I don’t know what is. But Shakespeare shifted his office to heaven in 1616, and now when he writes, he often wishes that he had a computer!

The caricature, cartoon, or portrait of william shakespeare, the bard of Avon, wondering how easy it would have been, if he had a computer.

Shakespeare's Secret Wish!

Shakespeare’s Shortest Biography on the Web:

The “Bard of Avon” was born some time before April 26, 1564. He married young (at least by the standards of today) at 18. His wife was Anne Hathaway, who was about 8 years his senior but outlived the great writer. Shakespeare was most productive between the age of 25 and 50. He died when he was 52. At the beginning of his career, he was drawn towards writing comedies but towards the end he became disposed to writing tragedies. Two of his colleagues were responsible for his plays surviving him. They published the First Folio, a collection of most of his dramatic works.

As it happens, most geniuses are recognized only after they’ve settled in heaven. This was also true for Shakespeare. Fortunately, unlike Van Gogh (the artist,) his work earned him not just his bread and butter, but also some respect, even when he was alive. However, he wasn’t considered one of the greats until the eighteenth century. (To be considered a “Great” you need to check out. It ensures that you aren’t a threat to anyone else anymore!)

Note this (taken from Wikipedia…)
Robert Greene (you know him?!) attacked Shakespeare’s work in print, by calling him “an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers…”
What?! Yes, he was talking about the “Greatest English Writer!”

Shakespeare’s Plays:

I haven’t read a lot of plays written by Shakespeare, and whatever I ever read didn’t make a lot of sense to me (with the exception of The Merchant of Venice, which ends with a simple to understand and logical solution to a grave problem)…yet…here are the ones that I’ve read.

Comedies:

Tragedies:

Honestly, I don’t remember anything at all from those wonderful stories that I hardly understood:-( I had been happier had Shakespeare not been part of my syllabus in school – I’d have definitely scored much better in English! But you can’t do much about the Greats – you’ve got to read them. Period.)

Here are some other popular Plays that he wrote:

More Comedies:

More Tragedies:

An Important Note:

I had a crazy urge today. I wanted to draw in color! As you can surmise…I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, or I wouldn’t even consider something as crazy as using colors – but I didn’t just consider it, I caved in! So, now I have a caricature of Romeo and Juliet in COLOR! If you’d like to see it – come back! To find your way back to this blog, either subscribe to it (top of the right sidebar) or bookmark it! (It’s cool tattooed fun – promise!)

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

11 comments on “Caricature/Cartoon – William Shakespeare – The Great English Playwright and his Missing Computer

  1. Pingback: Will the exclamation mark free Jeb! of the Bush Legacy’s shackles? (Cartoon) | Giggle, Wiggle, and Poll-dance with the Presidential Candidates of 2016 Elections.

  2. Pingback: Caricature/Cartoon – Sir Isaac Newton Doesn’t find his Inspiration in Heaven! « Shafali's Caricatures

  3. Pingback: Cartoon-Caricature of the Modern Romeo and Juliet – and my Meeting with Juliet! « Shafali's Caricatures

  4. Dear Mr. Mills,

    First of all, my apologies for my extremely selfish behavior. When you made your post, I rushed over to your blog to read it, and I laughed until my teeth fell off…but then I left without leaving a message:(

    I have watched just one play based on Shakespeare’s writings – Macbeth. I am really happy to know that I am not the only one who had difficulties following his works:)

    Thanks for inspiring me to do this caricature.

    Warm Regards,
    Shafali

    Like

  5. A wonderful drawing Shafali. I’ve read a bunch of his plays but always struggled with them. I had much better success when watching them performed and am fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a number at the Stratford Festival in Ontario.

    Very nicely done! Looking forward to Romeo and Juliet.

    Like

  6. Honestly, how all those writers and poets survived without a computer- beats me! 🙂
    That is such a lovely caricature Shafali!
    I was that wired kid in junior high; our English teacher had assigned us to write a paper on Hamlet and I actually memorized more than half of the play by heart! I don’t know how I did that, but I remember falling in love with Shakespeare during that time…:)

    Like

    • I am completely with you there, Lua. I couldn’t write a two-line joke without computers! I am sure if I were born in the days of Shakespeare, I would’ve slept hungry every other day.

      Thanks for letting me into your love-secrets…I shall share mine soon:) I actually share a lot of traits with the historical guy I am in love with…but I keep it all under wraps…because apparently I don’t believe in reincarnations!

      (PS: Did you see my huge head ballooning out of proportion here:))

      And yes, I am so happy that you liked the caricature…It was made for Viv, Mr. Mills, and Lua:) Remember my asking you for your historical favs!

      Regards,
      Shafali

      Like

  7. I’ve probably read the whole lot…but can’t remember that much of it; my first year of my degree was almost solely dominated by Shakespeare.
    Like many, I have my favourites; I adore Macbeth and loathe Romeo and Juliet with a passion.
    It’s a lovely picture of him; there was a recent Dr Who episode that involved Shakespeare that put a different slant to him too.
    If I am lucky enough to get an upper intermediate or even advanced class I do a little Shakespeare with them, either lines from plays or a sonnet or two.
    I have always wanted to play Lady macbeth but I suspect it’s never going to happen.

    Like

    • Hi Viv,

      I bow to your patience, your knowledge of and your love for medieval English, and of course your courage. You’ve read the whole lot! Wow! I wish I had a teacher like you… I might’ve passed English with dignity. We had an on-paper teacher who we didn’t see the whole year (literally…not figuratively.)

      So I did what any sane student would do – I bought the books exactly 3 days before my exams. I was confident of the literary genius in me, I guess…and then I ended up with a very artistic 47 out of 100!

      I was the only person who was surprised…and for a long time I kept wondering whether I really got 74…and that I had a typo on my marksheet!

      Glad you visited and commented:)

      Regards,
      Shafali

      Like

Leave your footprints behind :)