Quick, fun William Shakespeare facts
As William Shakespeare is the most famous poet and playwright in the English language, we thought we’d share five curious facts about him. We’ve tried to steer clear of the very obvious, partly because we’ve already written about Shakespeare several times before (see, for one example, this post), but all of these facts have a Shakespeare link and are … well, facts rather than misconceptions, myths, or hearsay. We hope you enjoy them.
1. He appears to have invented the girls’ names Jessica, Olivia, Imogen, and Miranda. Jessica is Shylock’s daughter in The Merchant of Venice, and the name was quite probably Shakespeare’s coinage (the idea being to create a Jewish-sounding name). Olivia appears in Twelfth Night, and Miranda is Prospero’s daughter in The Tempest. (The name Amanda was probably formed off the back of Miranda, so Shakespeare indirectly gave us that name, too.) Imogen, in fact, was probably the result of a misprint: Shakespeare’s late play Cymbeline features a female character of that name, but this is believed to have been the result of printers mistaking the double ‘n’ for an ‘m’, so Innogen (an existing name which means ‘girl’ or ‘maiden’) became ‘Imogen’. Interestingly, and less famously, there is a character named Innogen in another Shakespeare play, Much Ado about Nothing. She isn’t much known about because she only appears in an early version of the play (and then as a ghost). Innogen is the wife of Leonato, and she appears to him as a ghost in two early scenes, but never again. However, she doesn’t appear in most editions that you’ll encounter, as she tends to get excised from the action. More about Innogen’s ghost can be found here at this blog.
2. His plays were influenced by essays. Although Shakespeare’s work may have inspired more essays by schoolchildren, undergraduates, and academics than any other writer, what’s less well known is that the essay form appears to have influenced Shakespeare. As we’ve discussed in a previous post, the essay was a new genre in the late sixteenth century, and it appears to have had a hand in the development of the soliloquy in Shakespeare’s plays. Indeed, James Shapiro and others have suggested that without Montaigne’s essays we may not have had ‘To be, or not to be’.
3. 24 of the 27 moons of the planet Uranus are named after characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Among these are Puck, Bianca, Juliet, Mab, Cupid, Stephano, Oberon, Titania, Cressida, Ophelia, and – er, Margaret. Many of these names are famous Shakespeare characters (Ophelia is from Hamlet, of course), but it’s worth drawing attention to Cupid (from Timon of Athens) and Margaret (the gentlewoman from Much Ado about Nothing). Two of the other three moons are named after characters from Alexander Pope’s 1712 poem The Rape of the Lock (Belinda and Umbriel), while the remaining moon, Ariel, occupies a mysterious dual position: it is unclear as to whether this moon is named after Shakespeare’s Ariel or Pope’s, since the name appears in the work of both poets.
4. In a study of the lines of poetry with the most hits on Google, Shakespeare didn’t even make the top ten. According to Mark Forsyth at his excellent blog The Inky Fool, a statistical analysis of Google hits revealed that the most cited lines of poetry are from numerous poets, but none of them is from the Bard. The top ten features Tennyson’s ”Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all’ (at number 10), Wordsworth’s ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ (number 4), and – at number 1 – our old friend Alexander Pope, whose ‘To err is human; to forgive, divine’ came out as the most-cited line of poetry, with nearly 15 million results. However, Shakespeare does feature eleven times in the top 50, which is pretty impressive – just nowhere in the top ten.
5. We owe the phrase ‘steal my thunder’ to Macbeth, in a weird way. In 1704, a minor playwright named John Dennis came up with a pioneering new sound-effect for his play, Liberty Asserted, performed at the Drury Lane Theatre that year. His groundbreaking theatrical special effects involved a backstage helper rattling sheets of metal to generate the sound of thunder. Dennis’s special effects were a big success, but unfortunately his play wasn’t. Indeed, it was cancelled after only a few performances. The theatre did what many have done in this situation, and turned to Macbeth as a play they could stage at short notice. They adopted Dennis’s sheet-metal effects for the stormy scenes in the play. Needless to say, Dennis wasn’t impressed. Seated in the audience, he exclaimed, ‘That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my play!’ This got changed over time to ‘steal my thunder’, and a phrase – referring to the act of stealing someone else’s glory – was born.
If you’re after more interesting Shakespeare stuff, then check out our previous post on ten underrated Shakespeare plays. And you might also like our pick of the best books about Shakespeare, from biographies and general introductions to works of literary criticism. More facts about Renaissance writers can be had in our pick of the best John Donne facts and our curious biography of Sir Philip Sidney.
Image: Portrait of William Shakespeare, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Very interesting! I am no fan of Shakespeare (please do not strike me down!) but these fascinating tidbits have endeared me somewhat to The Bard. A little, anyway.
Thanks!
I am a fan of Shakespeare, though not of Romeo and Juliet which causes me to rant like a lunatic and is one of the reasons I have an Elementary Education degree as opposed to a degree which would allow high school Literature to be taught. I very much enjoyed this list of interesting facts and have an idea for the final moon.
Perhaps Ariel is neither Pope’s nor Shakespeare’s. Perhaps the moon is named after the Little Mermaid, in her original form she is suitably depressed to be included with the others.
:D
http://www.alaynabellesmom.wordpress.com
Thank you! Perhaps you’re right about Ariel… :)
Reblogged this on Steven T Cutcher.
Very interesting about Shakespeare. But I find myself drawn to the comment: “That is MY thunder” I love it! And I want to take it out of context, it’s a great line.
Thanks!
A post I will be returning to regularly.
Thank you – praise indeed!
Great post. All new to me. Thank you for both the education and the humour.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Reblogged this on Rosie Writes….
Your information concerning the number of Uranus’s moons is dated. Two additional moons were discovered in 1997 and were named Caliban and Sycorax, both named from “Shakespeare’s” plays. Additional moons may have been discovered in the 16-17 years since then, but I haven’t done the research.
Ron
I have read somewhere (can’t find the reference) that “To be, or not to be” may have been Shakespeare having a bit of fun at the expense of Christopher Marlow’s “Doctor Faustus”. Faustus is a Doctor of Divinity at Wittenberg, where Hamlet is a student! Faustus and Hamlet are both into studying the nature of existence.
I found the article (for what it’s worth!). Hope you don’t mind me giving it:
http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/sutherland_08_11.html
Thanks Bruce, much appreciated!
Reblogged this on Charlotte Gerber.
Always learn some new tidbits from your blog. Keep the fascinating facts coming!
Thanks, Erich! Glad to be of service :)
The fact about the moons of Uranus proves the pull of a long-dead man’s creativity.
Indeed, Deidre! Couldn’t agree more…
Reblogged this on sigurlaugs.
Always appreciate learning new factoids about Billy Bard. We had a blowout birthday bash with a showing of Gnomeo and Juliet. My AP students can appreciate all the hidden gems in this fun little animated romp.
Sounds like a splendid way to toast the Bard! :)
What fun! :) I’m sharing this on my Facebook author page. https://www.facebook.com/SapphosTorque
Thank you!
Yes, of course! :)
Great post! I’ll be reblogging it :)
Thank you!
Reblogged this on 2ndrate cyclist.
Very interesting and informative post! I can never get tired of learning new facts about Shakespeare, and these were fascinating indeed! I’m in still in shock at #4, not even in the top 10?! :o
I shall come to this great blog often.
Thank you!
Reblogged this on Norah's Knowledge Bank 2014.
In 70’s I had an annotated book with meanings mostly bawdy. I had studiously copied it from Eric Partridge’s book. My father finding it frowned and said,’Why don’t you read the play instead? Mercutio’s speech in Romeo & Juliet Act.II sc.I, ”to raise a spirit in his mistress’ (Rosalie) circle”. Denoting sexual circle-pudend.
I read it, I mean the play even now and enjoy it all the more.
Well said, Benny – there’s always a new angle (and a new pun) to discover in Shakespeare!
If one were to approach like Bowdler to sanitize Shakespeare there will be nothing left to read. During the Elizabethan period the theatre goers expected the rough stuff. It was well provided by the way players made a point to pronounce the lines for all its worth. When Hamlet asks Ophelia,”Do you think I mean country matters?”(Ac.III sc.2 line 120 the actor would say it as ‘coun-try’ implying c-t. The lines before also lead to its intent. But then as elemental as Shakespeare coarseness is a part and never seen as out of context.
Loving these facts! Especially the last one; I always think it’s interesting to find out the origins of expressions. :-)
Reblogged this on Mistrz i Małgorzata and commented:
Yesterday………..
Reblogged this on Jelly-Side Up and commented:
Today was Shakespeare’s 450th birthday–and perhaps no wordsmith has achieved immortality as well as he.
The real reason I wanted to repost this blog entry is I found it fascinating and timely, a great tribute to a great author. A coincidental big stretch is that this would also satisfy my next “A-to-Z,” since the blog’s name starts with an “I”…and NaPoWriMo because Shakespeare was one of the best poets of all time, and he is quoted herein…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this trivia as much as I did. What is YOUR favorite work by Shakespeare? It’s hard to pick, but for me, I’d have to say it’s the tragicomedy “A Winter’s Tale” (a different story than the similarly titled movie that just came out with Russell Crowe, which I still need to go see).
Long live Edward de Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford!
An interesting blog – you may be interested in my Shakespeare poem on my blog. ;-)