We have heard or used some quotes from William Shakespeare or Shakspere spelled differently. He is one of great England’s playwriters , dramatists and poets of all time. Many people all over the world use his work for reference. It is interesting how his work and life were full of mystery. He was born on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He got married to Anne Hathaway when he was 18 years. There were later blessed with three children. He started her career around 1585 and 1592 in London as a writer, actor, and part-owner of Lord Chamberlains Men which was a playing company that later turned to be King’s men. To date, people discuss his religious beliefs, his sexuality, how he looked physically and if some of his work was written with the help of other people.
His father was John Shakespeare. His real date of birth is not well known but it’s celebrated on Saint George’s Day on 23rd April. He had eight siblings, third born and the eldest son in his family. There are no records that indicate where he schooled but biographers speculate he attended King’s New School which is in Stratford. The school was started in 1953 and it was free. Also, it was not far from his home and it was a good school during the era of Elizabethan which specialized with grammar with some Latin text lessons which featured Latin famous Authors. Around 1585 and 1592 is Shakespear lost years where he went into silence. Biographers have been trying to account for these lost years but only managed to come up with apocryphal stories. His first biographer Nicholas Rowe claims he ran away to avoid being persecuted for poaching deers others claim he might be employed by a catholic landowner and was busy. Unfortunately, there is no supporting evidence to those speculations.
Many of his theatre performances were performed in the London stage around 1592 and he was very famous. It is even claimed Robert Green a play writer attacked him for rising to fast and trying to compete with educated writers. Lord Chamberlain men were the only men who performed his plays in theatres and later the changed the name to King Men after King James 1 awarded them a Royal patent. In 1599 the company partnered and built Globe theatre at River Thames on the southern bank and also they were able to acquire Blackfriars indoor theatre. This made this actor wealthy which made him buy a house in New Palace, Stratford and invest in share markets.
Some of his work started Being published in 1594 and his work and by 1598 his work was a boom and he was appearing in many title pages. After his success most of the time he continued acting on his own. Around 1605 he was not active and some scholars argue his work was now ending but in 1623 a Folio list him as “the Principal Actors in all these Plays” but it not clear the roles he played but there are claims he played a ghost role.
It has not been easy to come up with the right chronology of his work but he wrote about 37 plays with different themes tragicomedies, tragedies, comedies, and histories. Examples are the romantic Merchant of Venice, the whimsical A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the charming As You Like It and Twelfth Night and the wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing among others.
It was not clear how he died. Some people say he died on his 52nd birthday and some say he was killed in a church but some say he died of illness. He was a respected artist who played an important role in theatres in the late 16th century although his work was not recognized until the 19th century. Today his work is studied all over the world and it has played an important role in literature.