Shakespeare in Love that the claim was "unwarranted". The film is "not constrained by worries about literary or historical accuracy" and includes anachronisms such as a reference to Virginia tobacco plantations, at a time before the Colony of Virginia existed. A leading character is a member of the House of Wessex, which died out in 1066. Queen Elizabeth I never entered a public theatre, as she does in the film. Between "Romeo and Juliet" and "Twelfth Night", Shakespeare wrote ten other plays over a period of six years. The biggest historical liberty concerns the central theme of Shakespeare struggling to create the story
Thomas of Woodstock (play) is alive again at the beginning of "Richard II" until his execution is ordered by Bolingbroke in Act III. There is no instance of a character dying twice in the validated works of Shakespeare. There are, however, inconsistencies in Shakespeare, such as the claim at the end of "Henry IV, Part 2" that Falstaff will be seen again in "Henry V", a promise which is not kept. Furthermore, the character of Falstaff is arguably a different one in the history plays than the character encountered in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", not to mention the apparent setting of that play