This guy. Yeah, you've probably heard of him. He's pretty cool. There's a lot of controversy over whether or not he was, um, himself, or a group of writers working under the same name.

Either way, we think he's the tops. He pretty much put English drama on the map and is probably the most famous author ever—though J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer might give him a run for his money. Anyway, his works ran the gamut from poetry (mostly sonnets) to plays (he started his career as an actor before writing his own works).

Tragedy? Comedy? A little of both? You name it, he wrote it.

He didn't give a hoot about Aristotle's unities, but he was all for mixing it up. His art melded many different, and often even opposing, ideas from philosophy, mythology, history, and religion. Sometimes he wrote plays that could be thought of as pairs or opposites; for instance, there's some funny stuff going on with the way Romeo and Juliet—definitely a tragedy—interfaces with A Midsummer Night's Dream.

King Lear 

Speaking of losing faith in the powers that be, King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most serious plays. It starts with a father questioning his three daughters about the degree to which they love him. And it ends with him questioning the universe about the place of people in the world and the purpose of life. Heavy stuff.

Macbeth

Macbeth is a triple threat; it mixes allusion, prophecy, and fate to portray our world as a somewhat-avoidable knot of predestined action. See what we meant about Shakespeare grappling with the issues of his day? Things were pretty complicated during the Renaissance, with all those religions and life philosophies competing for primacy.

Understandably, people had a lot of feelings about the big life questions—is there a destiny waiting out there for us all? do we have any free will?—and Shakes was right there with them.

Romeo and Juliet

Okay, you knew we had to mention this one, right? Feuding families, lovers, potions, poisons, street-fighting, Franciscan friars, and crazy parties… oh my. There's been modern adaptation after modern adaptation made of this classic, but you're probably most familiar with this little gem.

The Taming of the Shrew 

This play starts as a sibling drama and ends with an ironic statement about married life. At least we like to think of it as ironic… otherwise the play is seriously problematic.

Hamlet 

This is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. He has a lot of those, we know. But from ghosts to madness to overbearing parents to revenge, this play has got something for everyone. Especially scholars of Shakespeare.

Academics have had a field day speculating about Hamlet's daddy issues, his madness, and his conflict over action vs. inaction. We'd like to point out, though, that Ophelia's got some of the same troubles. If not worse.

While Hamlet is trying to please what may or may not be the ghost of his dead pops, Ophelia is trying to make everyone happy: her father, her brother, and her boyfriend (Hamlet). Hamlet may be crazy. Or he may be faking it.

But Ophelia totally loses it—no argument about it. And, spoiler alert: she loses her life, too.

Chew on This

Craving a little more Shakespeare? Care for something with a little irony? Well, look no further than Sonnet 130.

Or, maybe you're tired of irony (because you live in San Francisco—haha, we're hilarious). Maybe you just want a little earnest investigation into the nature of love. Why not check out Sonnet 116? It's lovely.