Characters often make little gestures – small movements that convey meaning without words.
All of Shakespeare’s plays have a theme – a central idea or topic that runs through the story.
The fi nal scene, when the story comes to an end and the audience sees the outcome of everything that has happened, is called the dénouement – a French word that means ‘the unravelling of a knot’.
Some of the most famous props in Shakespeare’s plays are a dagger, a basket, a vial of poison, a ring, a crown, a casket (jewellery box) and a skull.
The plays that end happily with love and marriage are called comedies. Shakespeare wrote most of these in the 1590s.
The plays that end in calamity and death are called tragedies. Shakespeare wrote most of these in the early 1600s.
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Go to your Writing Skills Book to test your Shakespeare vocabulary knowledge.
Shakespeare’s Expressions
Shakespeare had a way with words. We still use expressions that were invented by him. The expression ‘Knock, knock, who’s there?’ was fi rst heard in the Globe Theatre in 1606 at a terrifying moment after a murder in Macbeth. The phrase ‘Love is blind’ was fi rst spoken in The Merchant of Venice.
