Shakespeare research

Out of all of Shakespeare's plays his shortest play is "The Comedy of Errors". It is the story of two identical twins who were seperated at birth and end up getting mixed up with their families. This play is also one of the earliest that Shakespeare wrote. It is believed to have been written between 1592 and 1594. The play is 1,787 lines long and has 14,369 words.

The ideas in the play are believed to have come from two different Roman comedis from Plautus. The idea of mistaken identities between identical twins comes from Menaechmi. The idea of twin slaves with the same name comes from Amphitruo.

Shakespeare's longest play is "Hamlet" which is a tragedy based on the life of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. It was written between 1599 and 1601. There are three different versions of the play that have been recovered they are called the First Quarto, the Second Quarto and the First Folio. Each of these has missing parts from the others.

These are the two extremes in length for Shakespeare's plays. "Hamlet" as his longest is also thought by some to be his best play.

Cites:

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Comedy of Errors.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 6 May 2010.

Wikipedia contributors. "Hamlet." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 May. 2010. Web. 24 May. 2010.

Wikipedia contributors. "The Comedy of Errors." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 May. 2010. Web. 24 May. 2010.