Shakespeare : William Shakespeare’s Life
William Shakespeare, the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, was born on 23rd April 1564 in a village in Warwickshire by the name of Stratford-on-Avon.
It is ironical that very little is known about the life of one of the greatest writers of all times. Whatever one knows is from the records of birth and death and from comments made by his contemporaries or from the records of the theatre of the time.
William Shakespeare, the third child of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, was born on 23rd April 1564 in a village in Warwickshire by the name of Stratford-on-Avon.
His father was the son of a farmer, who became a trader of corn, wheat etc. and prospered. Soon, he rose to the position of a chief bailiff (Mayor) but by the time William reached the age of fourteen years, his father’s business had begun to decline so, he was forced to leave school. I
t seems that at that time, he was studying in a Grammar school where he learnt a little Greek and Latin. It is truly amazing that this writer of great plays and one, who made so many references to Greek mythology and classics, had not even finished school.
Very little is known about his early days but the records show that in 1582, he got married to Anne Hathaway, who was older than him by eight years. He had two children and he left for London perhaps in the company of some actors in 1587.
What sort of jobs he did in London is not very certain but he joined a company of actors and learnt a lot about the craft of play writing. He found a way into the scholarly and gentle society of London and was known as ‘the gentle Shakespeare’.
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By 1611, he had written quite a few comedies like Comedy of Errors, Love’s Labour Lost and Two Gentlemen of Verona. At this stage, he also experimented with historical plays like Henry V1, Richard 111 and Richard 11 and fantasies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet.
He first gained popularity in London by his poems especially Venus and Adonis. He invested the money, he had earned, wisely and soon became part owner of the well known Globe theatre and Blackfriars theatre. His plays were performed in these theatres and he soon became very popular as a playwright.
On arrival in London, he had been an actor so, he could write as a performing artist and understood the theatre and the theatre goers well.
William Shakespeare
The second phase of his writing was of mature comedies like The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Twelfth Night and his greatest tragedies like Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and Hamlet. He was often invited to perform his plays before the Royalty and prospered.
In 1597, he bought a big house in Stratford and began to visit his home town frequently. By 1611, he left London to settle down in Stratford. In the prime of life, he chose to lead a retired life in the village away from the hustle of London and on April 23rd he died at the age of 52.
He never bothered to collect his works and publish them which was done later by his admirers.