William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

 

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He

is one of the greatest writers in the English language and the world's

pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the 'Bard of Avon'.

 

Shakespeare's birthday is traditionally celebrated on 23 April, St George's Day, three days before he was baptised on 26 April 1564 at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is also believed to be the day he died. The son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford, where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman seven or eight years his senior. Together, they raised two daughters: Susanna, who was born in 1583, and Judith (whose twin brother died in boyhood), born in 1585.

 

 

Little is known about Shakespeare’s activities between 1585 and 1592. Robert Greene’s A Groats-worth of Wit alludes to him as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare may have taught at school during this period, but it seems more likely that shortly after 1585 he went to London to begin his apprenticeship as an actor. Then plague broke out, causing chaos, London theatres were often closed between June 1592 and April 1594. During this time, Shakespeare turned to poetry and may have been supported by his patron, Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton, a young courtier and favourite of Queen Elizabeth, to whom he dedicated two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594).

 

In 1594, Shakespeare became a founding member, actor, playwright and shareholder of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (under James VI/I, the company was renamed The King's Men). They would go on to form a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse 'the Globe', which became the most famous theatre of its time. With his share of the profits from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to purchase New Place, one of the largest properties in Stratford. In 1601, when his father died, he may also, as the eldest son, have inherited the two houses in Henley Street, Stratford.

 

While Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he and his contemporaries looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. Shakespeare’s sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601, though not published until 1609. That edition, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, consists of 154 sonnets, all written in the form of three quatrains (four-line verse) and a couplet (two-line verse) that is now recognised as Shakesperean. The sonnets fall into two groups: sonnets 1–126, addressed to a beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man, and sonnets 127–152, to a malignant but fascinating 'Dark Lady', who the poet loves in spite of himself. Nearly all of Shakespeare’s sonnets examine the inevitable decay of time, and the immortalisation of beauty and love in poetry.

 

In his poems and plays, Shakespeare is credited with inventing (first to record) around 1,700 new words, often combining orcontorting Latin, French, and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes such words as: arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy, stillborn, watchdog, and zany. He is also responsible for many common phrases, such as 'love is blind' and 'wild goose chase'.

 

Shakespeare wrote around 38 plays, including collaborations with other writers. These are usually divided into three genres: Comedies, Tragedies and Histories. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, his second tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to tragedy, writing the plays for which he is now best known: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,

Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In his final years, Shakespeare turned to comedy with The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest.

 

Only eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays were published separately in quarto editions during his lifetime; a complete collection of his works did not appear until the publication of the First Folio in 1623, several years after his death. Nonetheless, his contemporaries recognised Shakespeare's achievements. Francis Meres cited “honey-tongued” Shakespeare for his plays and poems in 1598, and the Chamberlain’s Men rose to become the leading dramatic company in London, installed as members of the royal household in 1603.

 

Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in Stratford- Upon-Avon. He drew up his will in January of 1616, which included his famous bequest to his wife of his 'second best bed'. He died on 23 April 1616, St Georges Day, the same day it is believed he was born, and was buried two days later at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-Upon-Avon.

 

Shakespeare remains the world’s best-selling playwright, with sales of his plays and poetry believed to have achieved in excess of four billion copies in the almost 400 years since his death. He is also the third most translated author in history. One of only five copies of his First Folio, dated 1623, was sold at Christie’s, New York City, USA, on 8 October 2001 for $6,166,000 (£4,156,947). It remains the highest price ever paid for a 17th-century book. He is also the most filmed author in history as of February 2016, with over 1,120 writing credits on film and television productions. These include 106 versions of Hamlet, 64 versions of Romeo and Juliet and 98 films of Macbeth (Guinness World Records).

 

 

"All the world is a stage, and all the men and

women merely players." William Shakespeare

 

 

 

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was baptised and is buried

William Shakespeare: The Chandos portrait,

early 17th century

Title page of the First Folio, 1623. Copper engraving

of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout.

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