Shakespeare By The Numbers: 1,700 invented words, 33 deaths by stabbing, etc.

Shakespearebythenumbers

William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays (10 tragedies, 10 histories, 17 comedies) and 154 Sonnets — 884,647 words in all.
He is said to have invented 1,700 words in the English language, including

addiction
assassination
courtship
eyeball
luggage
impartial
swagger
tranquil

The Causes of Death in Shakespeare’s Tragedies:

64 violent deaths in Shakespeare:
33 stabbed
7 poisoned
5 beheaded
2 broken hearts
2 hangings
2 baked into a pie
1 drowned
1 smothered by a pillow
1 lack of sleep
1 drops dead
1 snake bite
1 torn apart by mob
1 Eating hot coals
1 “disappearing”
1 thrown into a fire
1 indigestion
1 buried to neck and starved
1 cut into pieces
1 throws himself away
1 eaten by bear

Number of movies inspired by Shakespeare plays:

Twelfth Night-1
King Lear -6
Romeo and Juliet – 6
Midsummer Night’s Dream – 5
Othello – 1
Macbeth – 4
Hamlet – 7
Taming of the Shrew – 3
The Tempest -3
Henry V – 2
Henry IV – 1
Richard III – 1
The Comedy of Errors – 1

The above information was collected by SuperScholar.org from the following sources:

But Shakespeare is best appreciated for his words, not the numbers. (Click to enlarge)

Author: New York Theater

Jonathan Mandell is a 3rd generation NYC journalist, who sees shows, reads plays, writes reviews and sometimes talks with people.

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