Who was William Shakespeare?
Despite the fact that William Shakespeare was one of the greatest playwrights of all time, we actually don’t know all that much about him!
Records show that he was born on April 23, 1564 at Stratford-upon-Avon, a small market town in England. We also know that he died on the same day, in the same town, 52 years later. Most of what lies between is hazy!
He wrote 37 plays that we know about, although there is some question about how involved he was in writing some of them, and his plays have been so heavily edited over the years that Shakespeare might not recognize them if he saw them today. There are even questions about whether he wrote any of the plays at all! Some theories suggest that Queen Elizabeth I actually wrote the plays, and used Shakespeare as a nom de plume (false name) because women were not allowed to write plays at that time. Other people think Christopher Marlowe, a rival playwright, was responsible, and there are countless more theories!
We do know that his parents were John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. His father was a respected and prosperous glove-maker, and was an important man who sat on the local council. John Shakespeare was once fined for illegally keeping a manure heap in front of his house! Despite being important, it is highly possible that his father couldn’t read or write. This wasn’t unusual for the time.
Some people think that Shakespeare fell quite ill when he was a child, and that he may have learned how to read and write during this time. Whether or not this was true, Shakespeare did in fact go to school, which was quite unusual for most Elizabethan children.
Shakespeare was not a serious student; while attending the King’s New School his teacher said he daydreamed too much. His studies included English and Latin. His school day would have begun at 6:00a.m. and would have continued until at least 5:00 in the afternoon. William preferred outdoor sports such as swimming, archery and deer-hunting. Rumours suggested that he was a bit wild, and might have even been arrested for poaching deer!
He must have loved going to watch plays when troupes of actors came from London to give performances. He completed his formal education and eventually became the
school master in a nearby town. Soon after, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway who was 26. They had three children.
Several years after his marriage, Shakespeare moved to London. We have no idea what he did in the meantime. Some people think that he travelled to Italy and continental Europe (because so many of his plays are set there), and others think that he lived secretly in London. This is just another of the mysteries surrounding Shakespeare.
He began his professional career in London in 1593 as an actor with the Lord Chamberlain’s Company. He could only earn about 6 to 8 pounds sterling (about $17.00) for selling a play, so the actor’s life would have been much more promising for him! As the company became more profitable, they built a new theatre, called the Globe and Shakespeare was allowed to buy a major share in its profit.
We do know that Shakespeare was very popular in his day, and that his plays helped make the company one of the best known in London. One of Shakespeare’s fans was Queen Elizabeth I. Her Majesty was a faithful supporter of the arts and asked Shakespeare to write several plays. She also donated money to make sure that the company was successful.
With extra money, Shakespeare could afford to write all the time. The company would try out his new works as soon as he completed them, and often performed many of them at the same time! The Globe Theatre became a popular place for the public to go regularly in order to see what new dramatic treats the company might show them.
During all this time, Shakespeare lived in London while his wife and children lived in Stratford-upon-Avon. He returned to Stratford-on-Avon in 1613, and died three years later. In his will, he left his second-best bed to his wife, and left no instruction for what should happen with his plays.
He is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon, and you can still visit his grave today! On his gravestone, the following words are engraved:
Good friend for Iess sake forbeared To dig the dust enclosed hear. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.