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For all his fame and celebration, William Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure with regards to personal history. There are just two primary sources for information on the Bard: his works, and various legal and church documents which have survived fr Elizabethan times. Naturally, there are many gaps in this body of information, which tells us little about Shakespeare the man. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564.
Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. Young William was born of John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, d Mary Arden, a landed heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children the Shakespeare household three of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, and later as an alert and high bailiff of Stratford, during Williams early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the 1570 s. There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education.
It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival Eton. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has stirred some of the debate concerning the authorship of his works. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26 and pregnant.
Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Have and Judith, born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity. Hamlet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596. For seven years, William Shakespeare effectively disappears from all records, turning up in London circa 1592.
This has sparked as much controversy about Shakespeare life as any period. Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and ay have had to flee Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose lands he allegedly hunted. There is also rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this is circumstantial at best. It is estimate that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. Evidently, Shakespeare garnered envy early on for his talent, as related by the critical attack of Robert Greene, a London playwright, in 1592: . an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tigers heart wrapped in a players hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac total, is in his own conceit the only ake-scene in a country.
Greene's bombast notwithstanding, Shakespeare must have shown considerable promise. By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlains Men (called the Kings Men after the ascension of James I in 1603), but was a managing partner in he operation as well. With Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the day, the Lord Chamberlains Men became a favorite London troupe, patronized by royalty and made popular by the theatre-going public. When the pl ue forced theatre closings in the mid- 1590 s, Shakespeare and his company made plans for the Globe Theatre in the Bankside district, which was across the river from London proper.
Shakespeare's success is apparent when studied against other playwrights of this age. His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in octavo editions, or penny-copies to the more literate of his audiences. t is noted that never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. While Shakespeare could not be accounted wealthy, by London standards, his success allowed him o purchase New House and retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611. William Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, bequeathing his properties to his daughter Susanna (married in 1607 to Dr.
John Hall). To his surviving daughter Judith, he left 300, and to his wife Anne left my second best bed. William Shakespeare all ly died on his his birthday, April 23, 1616. This is probably more of a romantic myth than reality, but Shakespeare was interred at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25. In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare from the Lord Chamberlains Men, Jo Heminges and Henry Connell, printed the First Folio edition of the Collected Works, of which half the plays contained therein were previously unpublished. The First Folio also contained Shakespeare's sonnets.
William Shakespeare's legacy is a body of work that will never again be equaled in Western civilization. His words have endured for 400 years, and still reach across the centuries as powerfully as ever. Even in death, he leaves a final piece of verse: Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.
Bibliography 1 A Brief Biography of William Shakespeare: web 2 Hunter, Josephson. (1959). Shakespeare Facts. N. Y. : McGraw-Hill Book Company 3 Thorstens Shakespeare Page: web
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Research essay sample on Lord Chamberlains Men William Shakespeare
