For a romantic comedy, the ending to Shakespeare in Love is pretty tragic. But before we get to the tragic denouement, first the dramatic climax. Throughout the film, Viola has masqueraded as a man to play Romeo. But she's been exposed and expelled from the stage. However, just as the curtain is rising, the man playing Juliet can no longer play her.
Is Shakespeare in love based on a true story?
The story of Shakespeare in Love may be fictional, but in addition to William Shakespeare, his rival Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) and, as previously mentioned, Queen Elizabeth I, many of the other characters featured in the film did exist during the Bard's time.
What is the plot of Shakespeare in love?
Tony Award nominee Robert O'Hara (Slave Play, The Public's Barbecue) brings his sharp wit and story ... love, where all are welcomed and embraced. Laurie Woolery directs this magical adaptation of a beloved classic. Join for Free Shakespeare in the Park's ...
What does Shakespeare say about love in Twelfth Night?
Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play's main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain.
What is the message of Shakespeare in love?
best. The main theme portrayed in "Shakespeare in Love" is a love that is never meant to be. "Shakespeare in Love" parallels the play Shakespeare is currently working on, Romeo and Juliet, in which love is not meant to be due to the many obstacles in the way. Shakespeare's life in the film is very comparable to Romeo's life in Romeo and Juliet.
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Where was the final scene of Shakespeare in Love?
The final scenes for the 1998 movie Shakespeare in Love, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, were filmed at the beach. It has also featured in TV programmes The Avengers and Kingdom, and in the video for All Saints' hit Pure Shores.
Who dies in Shakespeare in Love?
Will's company manages to hold on to it, but as they celebrate, Viola/Kent discovers Will has an estranged wife and two children. She runs out, leaving the group to mourn over the sudden news that Marlowe was just stabbed to death across town.
What happens at the end of Shakespeare?
Put simply, Shakespeare's tragedies always end in the death of the central character and usually a number of other characters too – whereas, in the comedies, there are no deaths and things end happily.
What play is Shakespeare writing at the end of Shakespeare in Love?
Romeo and JulietIt stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench. The film depicts a fictional love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) while Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet.
What happened to Viola at the end of Shakespeare in Love?
We get tears and a journey when Viola must leave with Lord Wessex, her husband, to America. Before she leaves, she inspires Will to write Twelfth Night in which he imagines her ship wrecks, killing everyone (especially Wessex who he probably fantasizes being eaten by sharks as well), but Viola survives.
What light is light if Sylvia?
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen? What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by? She dreams on him that has forgot her love, You dote on her that cares not for your love.
Is there any truth to Shakespeare in Love?
The dates in the movie aren't historically accurate While it's true Shakespeare was in London in 1593, Romeo and Juliet would not be published until 1597, probably first written and performed in 1595 or 1596, according to Hooks.
What happens in Shakespeare in Love?
Dressing as a man, and going by the name of "Thomas Kent", she auditions and is ideal for a part in his next play. Shakespeare soon sees through her disguise and they begin a love affair, one they know cannot end happily for them as he is already married and she has been promised to the dour Lord Wessex (Colin Firth).
What killed Romeo and Juliet?
Analysis. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet occur in a sequence of compounding stages: first, Juliet drinks a potion that makes her appear dead. Thinking her dead, Romeo then drinks a poison that actually kills him. Seeing him dead, Juliet stabs herself through the heart with a dagger.
Who scripted the film Shakespeare in Love?
Writer Marc NormanWriter Marc Norman, inspired by a suggestion from one of his sons, began writing a script for Shakespeare in Love in the late 1980s and sold it to Universal Pictures. The studio then brought in playwright Tom Stoppard to add to the script.
What did Shakespeare in Love beat for best picture?
Saving Private RyanShakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan was the turning point that implemented this sea change. When the Weinstein-produced comedy first screened for Academy voters in December 1998, the movie was met by a reportedly cool reception, signaling the film would have a small impact on the year's Oscar race.
Is Shakespeare in Love a tragedy?
William Shakespeare penned tragedies and comedies, and although this film is centered around one of his greatest tragedies—Romeo and Juliet—it isn't a tragedy itself. At it's heart it's a romantic comedy, more concerned with jokes, humorous nods to Shakespearean trivia, and the romance between its two leads.
How much did Shakespeare in Love make in 1999?
The U.S. box office reached over $100 million; including the box office from the rest of the world, the film took in over $289 million. The Sunday Telegraph claimed that the film prompted the revival of the title of Earl of Wessex.
Who gave Shakespeare the plot for his next play?
Marlowe gives Shakespeare a plot for his next play, "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter" ("Romeo is Italian...always in and out of love...until he meets...Ethel. The daughter of his enemy! His best friend is killed in a duel by Ethel's brother or something.
Why is Viola summoned to court?
Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Wessex. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her female cousin, and persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlain's Men.
What does Kent do to gain Shakespeare's interest?
Kent gains Shakespeare's interest with a speech from Two Gentlemen of Verona, but runs away when Shakespeare questions her. He pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with her nurse, asking Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose.
Where was Shakespeare in Love filmed?
Main article: Shakespeare in Love (play) In November 2011, Variety reported that Disney Theatrical Productions intended to produce a stage version of the film in London with Sonia Friedman Productions. The production was officially announced in November 2013.
Who played Burbage in the Massacre at Paris?
A reference is also made to Marlowe's final, unfinished play The Massacre at Paris in a scene wherein Marlowe ( Rupert Everett) seeks payment for the final act of the play from Richard Burbage ( Martin Clunes ).
Who wrote Shakespeare in Love?
The original idea for Shakespeare in Love was suggested to screenwriter Marc Norman in the late 1980s by his son Zachary. Norman wrote a draft screenplay which he presented to director Edward Zwick, which attracted Julia Roberts, who agreed to play Viola. However, Zwick disliked Norman's screenplay and hired the playwright Tom Stoppard to improve it (Stoppard's first major success had been with the Shakespeare-themed play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ).
Who wrote the script for Shakespeare in Love?
Viola and Wessex depart for Wessex’s plantation in America, and Shakespeare begins writing a new play, Twelfth Night. Writer Marc Norman, inspired by a suggestion from one of his sons, began writing a script for Shakespeare in Love in the late 1980s and sold it to Universal Pictures.
Who is the girl in Shakespeare in Love?
The film Shakespeare in Love (1998) plays amusedly with this idea in its purely fictional presentation of Shakespeare’s torchy affair with a young woman named Viola De Lesseps, who was eager to become a player in a professional acting company and who inspired Shakespeare in his writing…
Who plays Romeo in Shakespeare's play?
The next day in the theatre, John Webster (Joe Roberts), who sought the part of Ethel, is dismissed, and the self-important actor Ned Alleyn ( Ben Affleck) is persuaded to play the part of Mercutio. After rehearsal, Shakespeare discovers that Kent, the actor playing Romeo, is in fact Viola, and he and Viola begin a love affair as he continues ...
Who is the master of the Revels in Viola and Shakespeare?
Writing, rehearsals, and the love affair between Viola and Shakespeare continue, but Webster spies on them and alerts Tilney, the Master of the Revels (Simon Callow), that one of the actors is a woman (which is forbidden), and Master Tilney closes the Rose Theatre.
Why did Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman write Shakespeare in Love?
One of the reasons co-screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard were able to take so many liberties with the script was that not much is known about Shakespeare's life between the years 1585 and 1592. (The aforementioned educational video featuring the Shakespeare in Love cast alludes to this fact as well; other than a few dates pertaining to his marriage, christening, and death, there wasn't a lot of concrete evidence available regarding the playwright's life.)
Where does Shakespeare in Love take place?
Instead, Paltrow's character honors her duty by marrying the loathsome Lord Wessex and agreeing to accompany him to his tobacco plantation in Virginia. There's one tiny snag with that plan: Shakespeare in Love takes place in 1593, and the first American colony wouldn't be established for another 14 years.
How many Oscars did Shakespeare in Love win?
While Saving Private Ryan garnered a win for Best Director for Spielberg, and finished out the evening with five awards total, Shakespeare in Love remained on top with seven Oscars. These included Gwyneth Paltrow's Best Actress win for her portrayal of Viola de Lesseps, Judi Dench's Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I, ...
How many times did Queen Elizabeth appear in Shakespeare in Love?
Queen Elizabeth I appears a total of three times in Shakespeare in Love, but that didn't stop a powerhouse like Dame Judi Dench from stealing each of her scenes from the rest of her fellow actors. Still, when she won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role (see video above), Dench immediately acknowledged the awkwardness of being honored for an eight-minute performance. More than a decade after Dame Judi's win, the argument continues to be made that the Shakespeare in Love Oscar was a consolation prize for Dench not being given the Best Actress trophy the previous year for her portrayal of another English monarch, Queen Victoria, in Mrs. Brown.
Why was Edward asked to be named Earl of Wessex?
However, according to a 2010 article in The Telegraph, Edward asked to be styled the Earl of Wessex instead, after seeing Shakespeare in Love and noticing Colin Firth's fictional character was named "Lord Wessex.".
Who played Judi Dench's courtiers in Shakespeare in Love?
Guess it's hard to find good help in any time period, be it the 1500s or the 1800s: Bridget McConnell and Georgie Glen played Judi Dench's courtiers in both Shakespeare in Love and Mrs. Brown. While serving Dench's Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, they were given the anonymous "ladies in waiting" billing.
When did Prince Edward get married?
When Prince Edward got married in 1999, his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was going to make him the Duke of Cambridge (the title eventually bestowed upon Prince William when he married Kate Middleton in 2011).
The Show Must Go On
For a romantic comedy, the ending to Shakespeare in Love is pretty tragic. But before we get to the tragic denouement, first the dramatic climax.
That Ship Has Sailed
Which brings us to the tragedy. As the Queen says, this is how it ends: "As stories must when love is denied: with tears, and a journey."
How many Oscars did Shakespeare win in Love?
A box-office hit and audience-pleaser when first released, Shakespeare in Love would go on to win seven Oscars – Best Picture, Writing/Screenplay, Costume, Music, Art Direction, Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow and Supporting Actress for Judi Dench, onscreen for a mere eight minutes as the above-mentioned Queen Elizabeth.
What is the charm of Shakespeare in Love?
While many scholars have taken the film to task for playing fast and loose with characterizations, dates and plausibility, the overall charm of the story (in particular the use of Shakespeare’s written structure and nodding winks to historical fact and fiction pertaining to his life and work) has helped Shakespeare in Love remain beloved across decades and audiences.
What is the film "Romeo and Juliet" about?
The film is so skillfully structured that it plays on a lot of the aspects in Romeo and Juliet specifically, and also the larger body of Shakespeare’s work.”. This also includes the exploration of fluid sexuality, and the playing with gender roles and the misrecognition of such, according to Hooks.
When was Romeo and Juliet written?
While it’s true Shakespeare was in London in 1593, Romeo and Juliet would not be published until 1597, probably first written and performed in 1595 or 1596, according to Hooks.
Who was the poet in Romeo and Ethel?
Marlowe was a famed playwright and poet of the Elizabethan era, but rather than competitors, the film depicts Marlowe and Shakespeare as respectful contemporaries, so much so that they meet in local tavern and Marlowe helps Shakespeare begin his new play, titled early in the film as Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter. The scene is a sly reference to the oft-repeated notion that Shakespeare didn’t actually write his own plays.
Who played the young Shakespeare in the movie?
Among those helping, or hindering, the young Shakespeare in his onscreen quest for a hit new play include famous actors-of-the-age Richard Burbage (Martin Clunes) and Ned Alleyn ( Ben Affleck ), theater entrepreneur Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush) and a teenage version of playwright John Webster (Joe Roberts).
Who played Richard Burbage in Shakespeare in Love?
But how well does it really represent the life of the famous bard? Martin Clunes as Richard Burbage and Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare in "Shakespeare in Love".
Where was Shakespeare in love?
Shakespeare In Love location: Viola's formal garden: Broughton Castle, Banbury, Oxfordshire. Viola’s bedroom is a studio set, but for the exterior, a false wooden balcony was built onto Broughton Castle, overlooking the formal gardens. The castle was also seen in The Madness of King George, the 2011 film of Jane Eyre, Joseph Andrews, ...
Who played Viola in Romeo and Ethel?
Multi-Oscar winner, including Best Picture, as a hunky, young playwright William Shakespeare ( Joseph Fiennes) struggles to write Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter and aristocrat Viola de Lesseps ( Gwyneth Paltrow) defies the convention of the times by wanting to act. The ‘Rose Theatre’ is not, as many people seem to assume, ...
Overview
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 romantic period comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench.
The film depicts a fictional love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph …
Plot
In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Suffering from writer's block with a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter, Shakespeare attempts to seduce Rosaline, mistress of Richard Burbage, owner of the rival Curtain Theatre, and to convince Burbage to buy the play from Henslowe. Shakespeare receives advice from rival playwright Christopher Marlowe, …
Cast
• Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare
• Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps
• Geoffrey Rush as Philip Henslowe
• Colin Firth as Lord Wessex
Production
The original idea for Shakespeare in Love was suggested to screenwriter Marc Norman in the late 1980s by his son Zachary. Norman wrote a draft screenplay which he presented to director Edward Zwick, which attracted Julia Roberts, who agreed to play Viola. However, Zwick disliked Norman's screenplay and hired the playwright Tom Stoppard to improve it (Stoppard's first major success had been with the Shakespeare-themed play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead).
References to Elizabethan literature
Much of the action of the film echoes that of Romeo and Juliet. Will and Viola play out the famous balcony and bedroom scenes; like Juliet, Viola has a witty nurse, and is separated from Will by a gulf of duty (although not the family enmity of the play: the "two households" of Romeo and Juliet are supposedly inspired by the two rival playhouses). In addition, the two lovers are equally "star-crossed" – they are not ultimately destined to be together (since Viola is of rich and socially amb…
Plot precedents and similarities
After the film's release, certain publications, including Private Eye, noted strong similarities between the film and the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon, which also features Shakespeare falling in love and finding inspiration for his later plays. In a foreword to a subsequent edition of No Bed for Bacon (which traded on the association by declaring itself "A Story of Shakespeare and Lady Viola in Love") Ned Sherrin, Private Eye insider and former writi…
Historical inaccuracies
The film is "not constrained by worries about literary or historical accuracy" and includes anachronisms such as a reference to Virginia tobacco plantations, at a time before the Colony of Virginia existed. A leading character is an Earl of Wessex, a title which in Shakespeare's time had not existed for over 500 years. Queen Elizabeth I never entered a public theatre, as she does in the film. Between Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, Shakespeare wrote ten other plays over a per…
Reception
Janet Maslin made the film an "NYT Critics' Pick", calling it "pure enchantment". According to Maslin, "Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great, fully realized starring performance, makes a heroine so breathtaking that she seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light." Roger Ebert, who gave the film four stars out of four, wrote: "The contemporary feel of the humor (like Shakespeare's coffee mug, inscribed 'Souvenir of Stratford-Upon-Avon') makes the movie play lik…
It Caused A Major Oscar upset.
Many of The Film's Characters Are Real Historical Figures.
- The story of Shakespeare in Love may be fictional, but in addition to William Shakespeare, his rival Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) and, as previously mentioned, Queen Elizabeth I, many of the other characters featured in the film did exist during the Bard's time. Elizabethan-era actors Richard Burbage (Martin Clunes) and Ned Alleyn (Ben Affleck) were indeed the equivalent of mo…
Lord Wessex Took His New Wife to A Colony That Didn't exist.
- Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the film: Will and Viola don't end up together. Instead, Paltrow's character honors her duty by marrying the loathsome Lord Wessex and agreeing to accompany him to his tobacco plantation in Virginia. There's one tiny snag with that plan: Shakespeare in Love takes place in 1593, and the first American colonyw...
The Film Is Peppered with References to Multiple Shakespeare Works.
- Before Will even begins writing Romeo and Juliet, he overhears a minister ranting about "a plague on both your houses!" (which would eventually become one of Mercutio's most famous lines in the play). Other notable works by the Bard referenced in Shakespeare in Love include Hamlet (Will tosses a crumpled-up paper at a skull), Twelfth Night (Paltrow's character of Viola, with both her …