CAN BE UTILIZED BY ANY AGE GROUPS BUT ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS OF SCHOOLS
AND COLLEGES
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare was an
English poet, playwright, and actor. He was born on 26 April 1564 in
Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was a successful local businessman and his
mother was the daughter of a landowner. Shakespeare is widely regarded as the
greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
He is often called England's national poet and nicknamed the
Bard of Avon. He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative
poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain.
His plays have been translated into every major living language and are
performed more often than those of any other playwright.
BIRTH
AND CHILDHOOD
Since
William Shakespeare lived almost 500 years ago, and many records from that time
are lost or never existed in the first place, we don't know everything about
his life. William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the
date that is traditionally given for his birth as we don't know his exact birth
date, which must have been a few days earlier. He was John and Mary
Shakespeare's oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did
not live beyond infancy. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William
had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger
sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
Their
father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white
leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married
Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. John rose through local offices in
Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town
bailiff—much like a mayor. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare
stepped back from public life; we don't know why.
Shakespeare,
as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended
Stratford's grammar school. Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of
an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and
acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age
15.
A horn book, similar to one that Shakespeare might
have learned to read from.
MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN
A few years after he left school, in late 1582, William Shakespeare
married Anne Hathaway. She was already expecting their first-born child,
Susanna, which was a fairly common situation at the time. When they married,
Anne was 26 and William was 18. Anne grew up just outside Stratford in the
village of Shottery. After marrying, she spent the rest of her life in
Stratford.
In
early 1585, the couple had twins, Judith and Hamnet, completing the family. In
the years ahead, Anne and the children lived in Stratford while Shakespeare
worked in London, although we don't know when he moved there. Some later
observers have suggested that this separation, and the couple's relatively few
children, were signs of a strained marriage, but we do not know that, either.
Someone pursuing a theater career had no choice but to work in London, and many
branches of the Shakespeares had small families.
Shakespeare's
only son, Hamnet, died in 1596 at the age of 11. His older daughter Susanna
later married a well-to-do Stratford doctor, John Hall. Their daughter
Elizabeth, Shakespeare's first grandchild, was born in 1608. In 1616, just
months before his death, Shakespeare's daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney, a
Stratford vintner. The family subsequently died out, leaving no direct descendants
of Shakespeare.
ADDITIONAL
LONDON THEATER
For several years after Judith
and Hamnet's arrival in 1585, nothing is known for certain of Shakespeare's
activities: how he earned a living, when he moved from Stratford, or how he got
his start in the theater.
Following this gap in the record, the
first definite mention of Shakespeare is in 1592 as an established London actor
and playwright, mocked by a contemporary as a "Shake-scene." The same
writer alludes to one of Shakespeare's earliest history plays, Henry VI, Part
3, which must already have been performed. The next
year, in 1593, Shakespeare published a long poem, Venus and Adonis. The first
quarto editions of his early plays appeared in 1594. For more than two decades,
Shakespeare had multiple roles in the London theater as an actor, playwright,
and, in time, a business partner in a major acting company, the Lord
Chamberlain's Men (renamed the King's Men in 1603). Over the years, he became
steadily more famous in the London theater world; his name, which was not
even listed on the first quartos of his plays, became a regular feature—clearly
a selling point—on later title pages.
FINAL YEARS
Shakespeare prospered financially
from his partnership in the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), as
well as from his writing and acting. He invested much of his wealth in
real-estate purchases in Stratford and bought the second-largest house in town,
New Place, in 1597.
Among the last plays that Shakespeare
worked on was The Two Noble
Kinsmen, which he wrote with a frequent
collaborator, John Fletcher, most likely in 1613. He died on April 23, 1616—the
traditional date of his birthday, though his precise birthdate is unknown. We
also do not know the cause of his death. His brother-in-law had died a week
earlier, which could imply infectious disease, but Shakespeare's health may
have had a longer decline.
The memorial bust of Shakespeare at
Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is considered one of two authentic likenesses,
because it was approved by people who knew him. (The bust in the Folger's
Paster Reading Room, shown at left, is a copy of this statue.) The other such
likeness is the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the 1623 First Folio edition
of Shakespeare's plays, produced seven years after his death by his friends and
colleagues from the King's Men.
RETIREMENT AND DEATH
Around 1613, at the age of 49, he retired to Stratford , where he died
three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive. He died
on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52. He died within a month of signing his will,
a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect
health". In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate
to his elder daughter Susanna.
HIS IMPORTANT WORKS
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His
early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded
as some of the best work produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly
tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King
Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the
English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as
romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Shakespeare's plays remain highly popular today and are constantly
studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political
contexts throughout the world.
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