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William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 - April 23, 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely known as the greatest writer in the English language. He is widely known as “Bard of Avon” and “England’s Poet.” His works are written in every major living language (William Shakespeare). His works “include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems” (William Shakespeare Biography). Shakespeare’s plays were typically in four categories: comedies, tragedies, histories, and romances (Shakespeare’s Works). All were fiction or historical fiction.
Though his works were geared toward and are mostly enjoyed by adults, they are read by people of all ages, including children.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. He was John and Mary Shakespeare’s 3rd child and their oldest living one. Their first two children, both female, died during their infant years. He grew up as the oldest child in the family, having 5 younger siblings. He had 3 brothers, Edmund, Gilbert and Richard, and two sisters: Joan and Anne, who died at 7 years old (Mcarafano).
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His father, John, was a leatherworker. He married a woman named Mary Arden, a prominent member of an aristocratic family. John became a well-known figure in local offices, becoming an alderman, or a member of a municipal council. After that, he became the town bailiff, which is the police officer you see in the courtroom. Being the child of an important citizen of Stratford, Shakespeare attended the Stratford grammar school, likely until the age of 15. At the grammar schools in this period, a core part of the curriculum was Latin classics.
It also included memorization, acting in plays, and writing. This is what likely sparked Shakespeare’s love for writing and theatre (Mcarafano).
At the age of 18, he married a 26-year-old woman named Anne Hathaway, who grew up outside of Stratford in the town of Shottery. When they married, she was already expecting their first child, a daughter which they named Susanna, baptized May 26, 1583. After their first child, they later had twins named Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died at the age of 11 of the Black Plague (William Shakespeare Biography).Sadly, Shakespeare’s bloodline is dead. His daughter Susanna “married a well-to-do Stratford doctor, John Hall. Their daughter Elizabeth, Shakespeare's first grandchild, was born in 1608. In 1616, Shakespeare's daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney, a Stratford vintner” (Mcarafano). After Judith married Thomas, the family subsequently went extinct, killing the bloodline and leaving no descendants of William Shakespeare (Mcarafano).
After the baptizing of his twins in 1583, no records of him exist until he established his reputation in London where his career started by 1592. Due to no information about him between 1583 and 1592 existing, this period of time is referred to by many as “The Lost Years” (William Shakespeare Biography). Because of the lack of records on him, it is not known for certain how Shakespeare made a living before he got into the theatre business (Mcarafano).
During his time in London, for over 2 decades, Shakespeare was involved in the London theater as a playwright, actor, and business partner. Of what business, you ask? Shakespeare became one of the founding members of an acting company, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. When he was in the company he wrote some of his most famous tragedies, including his iconic tragedy “Macbeth.” In 1603, the group’s name was changed to The King’s Men. He also was a member of the association that owned the Blackfriars Theatre and the Globe (William Shakespeare Biography). Although I couldn’t find anything on what he liked most about his job, I think that he had a deep passion for writing and theatre and loved doing it and being a part of it. The sources never mentioned any awards, so he most likely doesn’t have any, or at least didn’t get any while he was alive.
Like most people, William Shakespeare had hobbies too. When he was a child, he likely played soccer. It is believed that he also liked hunting and fishing. He enjoyed board games such as chess or backgammon and he most likely enjoyed drinking. Also, evidence shows that he watched wrestling, as he mentioned it in one of his plays, “As You Like It” (Manzano).In 1597, Shakespeare bought a home on a property called New Place, in his hometown Stratford (William Shakespeare Biography). He ended his career in London and retired to his home, New Place, around a decade before his death. It was likely that he retired due to the Black Plague, in which theatres had closed for months at a time because of the sweeping epidemic. Because of this, he would have had almost no work (William Shakespeare).
After 1610, Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are credited to him after 1613. For his last 3 plays, he collaborated, probably with John Fletcher, who was his successor as house playwright for their acting company, the King’s Men. He died on April 23, 1616, of causes not known for sure by historians (William Shakespeare). He left most of his property to his daughter Susanna. She was instructed to later pass it on to her firstborn son. Judith and her husband Thomas had 3 children, and all of them died before marrying. Susanna’s daughter Elizabeth married two times but never had children, and her death marked the end of the Shakespeare lineage (William Shakespeare). He was buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. On his headstone there is an epitaph carved, saying that anyone that moves his remains are cursed (William Shakespeare).
There are some pretty interesting facts and speculations about Shakespeare. One speculation is about his sexuality. Readers have pointed out that his love sonnets are autobiographical, and that they point to love for a young man. A fun fact about him is that no physical description of him exists, so there is no proof that he actually looked the way we think he looks. Another interesting (if not disturbing) fact about him is that he wrote a poem called “The Rape of Lucrece” in which Lucrece is raped by a man named Tarquin.
Works Cited:
Summary: Biography Of The Greatest Writer In The English Language. (2024, Feb 18). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/summary-biography-of-the-greatest-writer-in-the-english-language-essay
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