Introduction -
William Shakespeare is recognized as one of the best publishers of English literature and perhaps the most famous author in the entire history of mankind.
Shakespeare's fame is thought to have surpassed that of any other writer. Acting like Romeo and Juliet these are part of the popular imagination of Western civilization and continue to be represented around the world.
Shakespeare settled in London in the late sixteenth century. There he began his adventures in the world of theater, as an actor and writer for a local organization known as Lord Chamberlain's Main, later to be known as The King's Men.
Little is known about his life, as no reliable biographical records have been kept. However, it is known that he had a wife named Anne Hathaway with whom he gave birth to three children named Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.
His wife was also a resident of Stratford, where Shakespeare retired to a family property called New Place three years before his death. Due to the lack of information about his life, there was a lot of speculation about his behavior, his appearance or his taste.
The Biography of William Shakespeare
It is considered that the success of his work lies in the fact that he represented the feelings and behavior of men through attractive and sympathetic characters towards people who do not feel completely alien to their own reality.
Shakespeare was probably believed to have been self-educated in addition to attending Stratford School. However, it is possible that his love of reading led him to learn texts that were not common in his country at this time, but were considered rare.
This is one of the elements that enriched his material because he was influenced by different writers from French and Italian to Spanish. That is why some of his works are set in remote scenes, which was foreign to one of the Englishmen of that time.
Topics Covered : -
- The Biography of William Shakespeare
- William Shakespeare birthday
- William Shakespeare wife
- William Shakespeare sonnet
- William Shakespeare poems
- William Shakespeare born
- William Shakespeare age
Birth and family -
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon around 154. His parents were John Shakespeare and Mary Arden.
The father was a bourgeois man of the area, who, in addition to taking part in various commercial activities, was also a councilor, a position then equivalent to that of mayor. His mother was the daughter of a landowner. He had eight siblings of which he was the third.
Although the exact date of his birth is not known, there is a baptismal record dated April 26, 1564, beside the Holy Trinity.
Some have claimed that he was born three days earlier, on April 23, St. George's Day, but this may be incorrect because this day coincides with the date of his death.
William Shakespeare school
It is widely believed that William Shakespeare attended Stratford School, King's New School. This school was founded around 1553. Attendance for children in the area was free, as the municipality pays and it was about 400 meters away from their home.
Shakespeare Marriage and family
At the age of 18, William married Shakespeare to Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than him. The date recorded in the Religion Act was November 28, 1582 p Shakespeare's wife was born in Stratford and she belonged to a family who lived on a farm in the area.
On May 26 of the following year, the couple's first daughter, Susanna, was baptized. Two years later, on February 2, Hamnett and Judith were baptized. The only son Shakespeare did not reach youth after he died at the age of 11 years.
Since it is not known exactly what Shakespeare did before he made his mark on the London scene, there was much speculation about his early years. Some said he was a teacher, others a soldier or a cattle thief. The period between 1585 and 1592 was called the "Lost Years" because it is difficult to establish with certainty what happened then in William Shakespeare's life.
It is not known why Shakespeare decided to leave Stratford and later become one of the leading explorers of the theater in the capital at that time.
A time of prosperity -
It is argued that Shakespeare prospered economically from a very young age and that during his lifetime he gave his family the status he deserved and tried to climb the social ladder of England at that time.
In 1596 John Shakespeare, his father, received a coat of arms with a few sketches preserved. Its details indicate that it is a gold background with bands, sabers, first stilly silver spears. A falcon with winged wings extending over the crest.
It is believed that William Shakespeare was the one who received the family crest and paid the necessary amount to maintain it at a later time. Also, the following year he bought a property in Stratford called New Place.
Shakespeare Theater -
Although it is not known exactly where Shakespeare's theatrical career began, it is believed that he was already one of the main members and partners of Lord Chamberlain's Maine Theater Company from 1594, who took the name of James Maine after their accession to the British throne in 1603. .
One of the best interpreters of this organization was Richard Barbage. They performed in one of the best theaters in the city: The Globe. And finally they had Shakespeare as a playwright. Since then, Shakespeare has devoted himself entirely to the practice of theater as the company has grown day by day and has become both financially and professionally profitable. It is known that for 20 consecutive years the playwright turned body and soul into writing with unprecedented success.
It is believed that the influence of foreign work on William Shakespeare's works gave it a touch that set it apart from other works of the London period. That’s why he re-attracted the public to the work presented with his organization.
According to writers Nicholas Rowe and Samuel Johnson, William Shakespeare decided to retire to Stratford shortly before his death. He left the English capital in 1613, probably three years before his death.
In 1608 he was still working in London as an actor, but the following year the city was devastated by the Bubonic plague. Theaters had to be closed for a long time because the plague affected the art scene.
Although he changed his address, Shakespeare did not completely withdraw from his plays. He was constantly visiting the capital from 1611 to 1614.
It is believed that he collaborated in his last years with the playwright John Fletcher of the King Men's Company, who took over after the death of William Shakespeare. However, no work was blamed after 1613.
In his final years, between 1610 and 1613, Shakespeare was not as productive as in the previous decade, and a few works were published.
William Shakespeare is thought to have spent his last years at his Stratford Estate New Place. This writer's home was one of the largest in the whole region.
William Shakespeare Death -
William Shakespeare died on 16 April 2316 at the age of 52 years. The exact cause of William death is not known because it was not recorded in any document at the time.
Shakespeare was buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity
Myths and truths about Shakespeare
There were many myths that were created around the lack of reliable data about William Shakespeare's image and his life and work. That falsified story was filled with stories that in some cases were not proven with reality that evidence was found.
A few records of his life around the nineteenth century show that Shakespeare was not the true author of his work, but it was possible that Edward de Veri, Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe could have made it.
However, these theories are not supported in any document and are generally considered mere speculation.
Much has also been said about his personal religion. Although he came from a Catholic family on behalf of his mother, believing in this religion was forbidden in England during Shakespeare's lifetime.
The author, however, observes all the rites of the Church of England, where he was baptized, where he was married, and where he was buried.
His sexuality has also been widely disputed, marrying author Anne Hathaway at a very young age, but during her career in London she has been away from family for some time without occasionally meeting.
Some suggest that the author was gay from his sonnets, while others say he wrote differently, but he had several boyfriends. However, there is no evidence of any theory that has been put forward.
William Shakespeare Style -
Early in his career, William Shakespeare, like many playwrights of the time, began to draw inspiration from conventional structures at the London Theater. It was based on the ability of his actors to read deep speeches in public.
The playwright, however, soon discovered that he could mix different styles for specific tasks such as Romeo and Juliet. Then, he began to apply the technique of white verse without regular meters and rhymes. Later, he even dared to play with that structure.
He chose to include many plots in his essays to show that all aspects of the same story had a point of view. Another strength of Shakespearean work is the creation of characters with which they showed different motivations to people.
In addition, Shakespeare's characters have created an interesting link with the audience that may feel familiar to them due to their complexity and were not as general archeology as they were in most of the compositions and classics of the time.
A biography of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was originally a playwright. The speeches he addressed to the genres in the theater were mostly jokes, tragedies and stories. As time went on, his penmanship increased and he entered other genres like poetry.
Most of his work was compiled into a work entitled The First Folio, published by his friends and colleagues at the theater company Shakespeare: worked for John Haminages and Henry Condell. It was a posthumous work published in 1623.
Although most of his fame came from his work as a playwright, some sources claim that Shakespeare held his lyric contribution to the theater with more respect than his composition. The most important of these works was his sonnet.
William Shakespeare plays
In his first works, as Titus Andronicus, the playwright took many elements from a play known as Thomas Kidd. The Spanish tragedy was very successful in the 1580s.
In this way, at least in part, William Shakespeare's work became the main theme of revenge, which will be repeated in the future, as happened in Hamlet. The main character of the revenge drama structure must take revenge for some of the crimes committed against one of his relatives.
Romantic comedy also played an important role in the early days of Shakespeare's career. An example of this is the Knights of Verona. After this play, it would be a structure from which the playwright took full advantage of the good reception of that style in the public.
His theater also introduced multiple spotlight elements into the plot, allowing viewers to learn about different perspectives that do not have a specific and one-sided view of the events of each character in the scene.
Shakespeare experimented with another sub-genre which was very interesting at that time and it was a historical presentation. They are not framed in either of the two traditional themes of comedy or tragedy.
Poetry
Shakespeare took advantage of the time when the plague that was ravaging the city closed London theaters and published some erotic-themed poems.
One of them was called Venus and Adonis, but the young Adonis did not match the provocation of Venus. Another text title was Lucresia rape, in which an imitative wife was raped by a character named Tarquino.
Another lyric work by Shakespeare was called The Complaint of a Lover, which was later accompanied by sonnets from the same author, published in 1609. Also the Phoenix and Turtle written by him.
William Shakespeare autobiography
The exact date of the creation of Shakespeare's sonnets is not known. Works include 154 sonnets. It is known that the author showed these to his friends in person, but for several years he did not decide to publish them.
The themes addressed in the sonnets include love, emotion, death, and the nature of time. Many have tried to form an idea of Shakespeare's personal life from this play, although it is not known if its written content was based on it.
The sonnets show the narrator's love for a young man who is opposed to his passion for a woman with dark hair.
However, whether these two characters really existed or whether they were related to Shakespeare's feelings has never been verified with accurate sources.
Apocryphal works
William Shakespeare collaborated with some writers during his career as a playwright, one of whom was John Fletcher, who wrote two Knights, and probably the eighth Henry Y. Cardenio.
Also, it is believed that someone worked together with Shakespeare to create Edward III. It was common for writers at the time to conduct two-handed essays with other authors, so it is not surprising that a second author took part in several of them.
There are several works that blame Shakespeare, but there are doubts about his authorship:
- Locrine (1591–95).
- Sir John Oldcastle (1599–1600).
- Thomas Lord Cromwell (1599–1602).
- London Prodigal (1603–05).
- Puritan (1606).
- The Yorkshire Tragedy (1605–08).
- Birth of Marlin (1662).
- The tragedy of the second daughter.
- Fair M, daughter of Miller of Manchester (c.1590).
- Musidoras (1598).
- Mary Devil of Edmonton (1608).
Criticism of William Shakespeare work
The concept of William Shakespeare's writings changed with the passage of time, where critics came close to the texts of English writers. Each century had a relatively different approach to the work of the playwright.
brief biography of William Shakespeare
During his lifetime he was able to gain recognition in the drama scene of the time, Ben Johnson, a contemporary critic with Shakespeare, felt that none of his rivals wrote jokes in all history, and his tragedies were comparable to those of the Greeks.
At the same time, Johnson considered that there was no respect for his text when creating the setting after mixing characters and positions on a single stage. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, some people thought that Shakespeare was writing for an ignorant audience and that they did not have the minimum decorum, so they should rewrite to correct all the errors they presented.
In the next century English essays were edited to purify them from their indomitable language and verbs. Their plots that seemed too imaginary or impossible were criticized.
Success story of William Shakespeare
When the Romantic era arrived, Shakespeare's work began to be admired, many began to consider him intelligent, and since then he has become one of the most prominent playwrights in his country.
From the late nineteenth century, William Shakespeare was recognized as a writer who should be analyzed, interpreted and read by the Academy. Respect and curiosity about his work about his life has been growing ever since.
William Shakespeare Drama -
- Anthony and Cleopatra (Anthony and Cleopatra), between 1601 and 1608.
- Coriolanos (Coriolanus).
- The Lear King (King Lear), between 1603 and 1606.
- Hamlet was probably published in the early seventeenth century.
- Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar), 1599.
- Macbeth published between 1603 and 1606.
- Othello (Othello), about 1603.
- Romeo and Juliet (Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet), between 1595 and 1596.
- Titus Andronicus (Titus Andronicus), about 1593.
- Troilus and Cressida (Troilus and Cressida), 1602.
- Helm of Athens (Timon of Athens), about 1607.
William Shakespeare funny jokes
- A good end no bad weather (all good is his last good), between 1601 and 1608.
- Symboline (Symboline) Circa 1609.
- Your will (as you like it), between 1599 and 1600.
- Merchant of Venice (Merchant of Venice).
- The dream of a corporation in the summer (A Midsummer Night's dream), about 1595.
- Comedy of Errors, between 1592 and 1594.
- The Taming of Shrew (The Taming of Shrew).
- Mary's wife in Windsor (Mary's wife in Windsor).
- Storm (Storm).
- The two aristocrats of Verona (the two gentlemen of Verona).
- Measure to measure (measure to measure).
- Unreasonable noise (unreasonable noise).
- King Knight (between the twelfth night), 1600 and 1601.
- The Story of Winter (The Story of Winter), between 1594 and 1611.
Historical drama
- King John (1595 - 1598).
- Richard II.
- Henry IV, Part 1 (1598).
- Henry IV, Part 2 (1600).
- Henry V. (1599).
- Henry VI, Episode 1 (1623).
- Henry VI, Part 2 (1623).
- Henry VI, Part 3 (1623).
- Richard III (c. 1593).
- Henry VIII (1635).
Other work
- Sonnets.
- Venus and Adonis
- Lucresia rape
The effect of William Shakespeare's composition
The impact of William Shakespeare's work on Western culture is not comparable. His works have been adapted many times, representing them at different times in a theological way and format.
Also, it has inspired artists to create various audiovisual and literary pieces around the world without mentioning its relevance to the table world.
William Shakespeare's On screen cinematography presentation -
- The Taming of Shrew (The Taming of Shrew, 1929).
- The dream of a corporation in the summer (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1935).
- Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, 1936).
- Your will (as you like it, 1936).
- Henry V (Chronicle History of the Fifth History in his Battle of Agincourt, France, 1945).
- Macbeth (1948).
- Hamlet (1948).
50's
- Othello (Tragedy Othello: Moore of Venice, 1952).
- Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar, 1953).
- Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, 1954).
- Richard III (Richard III, 1955).
- Othello (Othello, 1956).
- Forbidden Planet (Forbidden Planet, 1956).
- Throne of Blood (Kumonsu J, 1957).
60's
- Love without interruption (West Side Story, 1961).
- Hamlet (Gamlet, 1963).
- Hamlet (1964).
- Midnight Chimes (1965).
- The Taming of Shrew (The Taming of Shrew, 1967).
- Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, 1968).
- The Lar King (Carol Leer, 1969).
70's
- King Lear (King Lear, 1971).
- Macbeth (1971).
80's
- Storm (Tempest, 1982).
- Run (1985).
- King Lear (King Lear, 1987).
- Henry V (Henry V, 1989).
90's
- Romeo and Juliet (Romeo-Juliet, 1990).
- Hamlet (1990).
- Prospero's book (Prospero's book, 1991).
- My Private Idaho (My Own Personal Idaho, 1991).
- As you like / as you like (as you like it, 1992).
- Unreasonable noise (Unreasonable noise, 1993).
- The Lion King (Lion King, 1994).
- Othello (Othello, 1995).
- Richard III (Richard III, 1995).
- William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Romeo + Juliet, 1996).
- Hamlet (1996).
–In Search of Richard III (Looking for Richard, 1996).
- Shakespeare in love (Shakespeare in love, 1998).
- 10 Reasons to Hate You (10 Things You Hate, 1999).
- William Shakespeare's Dream of a Midsummer Night (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1999).
- Titus (1999).
References -
N.Wikipedia.org. (2019) William Shakespeare. [Online] Available at: n.wikipedia.arog [[March 15. 2019]]
Bay Spencer, T., Russell Brown, J. and Bevington, D. (2018). William Shakespeare | Information, life and drama. [Online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available: Britannica.com [15 March 2017]
Lee, S. (1908). A Life of William Shakespeare. London: Macmillan & Company.
Shakespeare, Wm. (2007) Complete work by William Shakespeare. Wire: Wordsworth Edition Limited.
Bentson, F. (2019). William Shakespeare | Core curriculum. [Online] College. Columbia.Edu. College available at Columbia.edu [15 March. 2019]
Rsc.org.uk (2019) Life and Time of William Shakespeare | Royal Shakespeare Company. [Online] Available at: RSCRUUK [Accessed March 15, 2017]
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