5 reasons you're already a Shakespeare expert

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Shakespeare might seem really tough, but his influences are actually everywhere! You're probably already an expert, and here's how...

You know The Lion King

The plot of The Lion King is based on Shakespeare's play Hamlet, where Prince Hamlet's father has been killed by his evil uncle, who then takes the kingdom. Yikes! Swap out the Sahara for Denmark and you're basically there... you know, except for the whole lions thing.

If you want to take a look behind the scenes of a muscial performance like Lion King, check out when Shini went to London's theatre district in the West End for Disney's Hercules!

You can tell a joke

'Knock knock, who's there?' comes from Macbeth, when the porter of the castle is joking about having so many knocks on the door. It's a funny scene, but sadly it doesn't end in 'Nana who? Nana your business!'

The way you have probably been told you off

Every time you reach for that extra biscuit and a grown up says 'you're eating me out of house and home!' they're quoting our old friend Shakespeare! Maybe if you point that out to them, they'll let you off.

You know what colours mean

You know that certain colours represent certain emotions, but why? Because Shakespeare says so, apparently. In Othello, Iago refers to jealousy as 'the green-eyed monster' and since then, we associate jealousy with the colour green. So now you know!

You can speak English

If you're reading this, you can probably speak English, which means you likely use hundreds of Shakespeare's words every day! If you've ever eyeballed an alligator stealing your luggage, you'll certainly have used at least three. If you want to test your knowledge of his words, have a go at the Shakespeare or Fakespeare quiz!

Can you think of any other ways you'd come across Shakespeare in your every day life? Comment below and let us know!

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