How Was The 1998 Movie Shakespeare In Love Based On William Shakespeare's Life?

The 1998 Movie Shakespeare in Love was purely fictional but some characters, at least a few of them, were inspired from actual human beings that lived in Shakespeare's time. The movie depicts Shakespeare played by Joseph Fiennes having difficulty with his actors and plays. Gwyneth Paltrow who plays Viola is an aspiring actress who wishes to act on stage but can't due to restrictions that exist during those times on women actors.

All the members of the cast have to necessarily be male. None the less in a very Shakespeare like manner she overcomes this difficulty by dressing up as a boy. She turns out to be a very gifted and talented actor and William Shakespeare soon realizes that she is in fact a woman and falls in love. The climax involves Viola's fiancé played by Colin Firth laying a trap in which the identity of Gwyneth as a woman is revealed in the presence of the Queen played by Judi Dench. Judi Dench however pardons the performers and claims she knows more about being a woman in a man's world.