William Shakespeare Biography
Life and Works –
William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April, which was also the date of his death. He was baptized in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on 26th April, 1564. He was the eldest son of John Shakespeare, who was a glover and dealer in other commodities and became bailiff and justice of the peace in 1568. But later his fortune declined and so William Shakespeare was removed from school and he was asked to buy and sell the goods his father bought and sold. At the age of eighteen, he was forced into a hasty marriage with Anne Hathaway in 1582. They had three children, a daughter, Susanna, and the twins, Hamnet and Judith.
The growing necessities and the poverty of the family forced him to try his fortune in the great city of London. He left his wife and children and came to the great city to spend some six years of hardwork and obscurity. The story goes that he used to tend visitor’s horses outside the playhouse. However, his abilities could not remain hidden for long, and he became a member of one of the best acting companies. The plays were performed in the first known theatre in England which was known as The Theatre and was situated in Shoreditch.
Before he came in contact with the Globe Theatre, he had acted and written plays for a theatre in Newington Butts (1594), the Curtain and The Theatre in Southwork. It was, however, the famous Globe Theatre which became the scene of his greatest successes and achievements. In 1594 he acted with two leading actors of the time, William Kemp and Richard Burbage, before Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace. Towards the end of the sixteenth century with the prosperity of his company, he became rich and made every efforts to raise the family name and fortune. He purchased the greatest house in Startford, called New Palace.
Shakespeare continued to produce successful and even greater plays after Queen Elizabeth’s death (1603). Under the reign of James I he and his company became inevitable and no great court festivity was complete without them. Moreover, there was a constantly growing demand for the great writer’s plays. At the age of fifty-two, Shakespeare was overtaken by ill-health. He spent his last days in Startford where Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton used to come to cheer him. But he was not to live for long and died of fever on Tuesday, April 23, 1616 and was buried inside Stratford Church.
Shakespeare wrote different kinds of plays — Comedies, Tragedies, History plays, Roman plays, Dark Comedies etc., and their total number is 37. Among his great comedies are Twelfth Ngiht, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, etc. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth are his immortal tragedies. Drawing chiefly on the chronicles of Hall and Holinshed, he wrote some history plays, of which Richard II and Henry IV Part I, II are notable. Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra are his Roman plays. His dark comedies are All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure and Troilus and Cressida.
In spite of all his plays, he is a poet first and dramatist afterwards. Even in his plays we find the echo of a poetic heart singing constantly and sweet. His poems Venus and Adonis, ‘The Rape of Lucrece’, ‘Lover’s Complaint’, ‘The passionate Pilgrim’ and the sonnets bear testimony to the face that he is not merely the greatest dramatist but also the greatest poet of all times.
His sonnets are an expression of intense feeling for a certain W.H. (whose identity is disputed) and a dark lady of easy morals. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to Mr. W.H. and the last 28 to the Dark Lady. They deal mainly with love, friendship and time’s devastating power.
Successful Playwright –
By 1592 he was a successful author of Plays. During 1592-1611 he wrote 37 plays. Shakespeare became a well-known Playwright. He became shareholder in two of the leading theatres of the time “Black Friars and Globe” He wrote 154 Sonnets and two long Poems Venus and Adonis’ and ‘The Rape of Lucrece!
Important links
Ralph Waldo Emerson – Poems, Quotes & Books- Biography
What is poetry? What are its main characteristics?
What is a lyric and what are its main forms?
