Biography
Whatever the answer, by Shakespeare had begun working as an actor, penned several plays and spent enough time in London to write about its geography, culture and diverse personalities with great authority. Even his earliest works evince knowledge of European affairs and foreign countries, familiarity with the royal court and general erudition that might seem unattainable to a young man raised in the provinces by parents who were probably illiterate.
For this reason, some theorists have suggested that one or several authors wishing to conceal their true identity used the person of William Shakespeare as a front. Most scholars and literary historians dismiss this hypothesis, although many suspect Shakespeare sometimes collaborated with other playwrights. Shakespeare was likely affiliated with several different theater companies when these early works debuted on the London stage.
His works weave together and reinvent theatrical conventions dating back to ancient Greece, featuring assorted casts of characters with complex psyches and profoundly human interpersonal conflicts. It has been suggested that he intended them for his intimate circle only, not the general public. Shakespeare was the company's regular dramatist, producing on average two plays a year, for almost twenty years.
Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all. They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays.
These writings were brought together in what is known as the First Folio 'Folio' refers to the size of the paper used. It contained 36 of his plays, but none of his poetry. His plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film. His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which include all of his plays, sonnets, and other poems.
William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most important literary figures of the English language.
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Hamnet died in at age 11, but by that time, Shakespeare had moved to London, returning to Stratford only intermittently over the next several decades. Shakespeare retired from his writing career around and returned permanently to his family in Stratford where he died in late April at age 52 of unknown causes. Between the late s and , Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays.
Some scholars believe he might have made contributions to plays by other people or that some original Shakespearean works were subsequently lost. Despite their place in the literary canon, there has been much debate over whether Shakespeare was actually the author of his plays.
Biography of william shakespeare pdf: William Shakespeare, often hailed as the greatest dramatist of all time, was an influential English poet, playwright, and actor from the Renaissance era. Born around April 23, , in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he became a prominent member of the King's Men theatrical company by the mids.
His works drew deeply on historic events and were frequently set in foreign lands few of his audience had ever visited. He likely started on his first plays around Shakespeare also wrote poetry, including at least sonnets. The sonnets were first published in likely without his permission. Each sonnet is 14 lines long, divided into three stanzas of four lines each known as a quatrain followed by a two-line couplet.
Like his plays, the sonnets were written in iambic pentameter rhyming scheme with 10 syllables in each line.
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While some scholars believe these sonnets depict a romantic intimacy between the two men, others believe that the relationship was platonic. Based on his physical descriptions, some scholars believe the Dark Lady might have been a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I , a female poet, or even a London prostitute.
In any case, these sonnets alternate between desire, obsession, jealousy, and anguish. Scholars broadly categorize the sonnets in groups based on two unknown subjects that Shakespeare addresses: the Fair Youth sonnets the first and the Dark Lady sonnets the last The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.
Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing.
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Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature. They were printed in in quarto, an eight-page pamphlet-like book. By the end of , Shakespeare had likely written 16 of his 37 plays and amassed some wealth. At this time, civil records show Shakespeare purchased one of the largest houses in Stratford, called New Place, for his family.
However, Shakespeare expert and professor Sir Stanley Wells posits that the playwright might have spent more time at home in Stratford than previously believed, only commuting to London when he needed to for work.
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Although the theater culture in 16 th century England was not greatly admired by people of high rank, some of the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. By , Shakespeare and several fellow actors built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the Globe Theater. Julius Caesar is thought to be the first production at the new open-air theater.
Owning the playhouse proved to be a financial boon for Shakespeare and the other investors. The company quickly rebuilt it, and it reopened the next year. In , Puritans outlawed all theaters, including the Globe, which was demolished two years later. Centuries passed until American actor Sam Wanamaker began working to resurrect the theater once more.
The third Globe Theater opened in , and today, more than 1. Some plays blur these lines, and over time, our interpretation of them has changed, too. However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and creating a freer flow of words. With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to compose his plays.
At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose. Download our complete William Shakespeare Study Guide for free to explore the key themes and characters from three of his most important plays. Download Free Study Guide. Character in Othello , King Lear , and Macbeth present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal.
Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamlet , which explores betrayal, retribution, incest, and moral failure.