Investigating
0909_032_062_bz5:0909_Inglese
D2
This document tells
you about
Shakespeare’s life.
Louis Coblitz,
William Shakespeare,
1847, oil on canvas
(Versailles, Musée National
du Château
et des Trianons).
60
21-01-2011
7:45
Pagina 60
BIOGRAPHY
William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
Although it is known that William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon,
Warwickshire, in the heart of rural England, only his baptism date is recorded: April
26th 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glove maker and prosperous
businessman. Shakespeare was presumably educated at the local grammar school
where he would have studied classics and Latin.
The next recorded event in Shakespeare’s life is his marriage, in November
1582, at the age of 18, to the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway who gave birth to a
daughter six months later. Twins, a boy and a girl, were born in 1585. The following
seven years of Shakespeare’s life remain a mystery and why and when he moved to
London is a subject of much speculation. However, there is evidence that by 1592
he was already working as an actor and writer in the city. He was attacked in a
pamphlet written by a university-educated dramatist, Robert Greene, who
called him an “upstart crow” who “supposes he is as well able to bombast out
a blank verse as the best of you.”
Theatre in England had gone through a radical change in this period moving
away from the travelling players who performed religious plays or light
entertainments in inn courtyards or on makeshift stages, to established
companies with respectable patrons and the construction of London’s first public
playhouses. From 1594 Shakespeare was known to have been a leading actor and
playwright for a company called ‘The Lord Chamberlain’s Men’ and when the Globe Theatre
was erected in 1598 as its base, he became a shareholder making considerable profits
from their successes. He wrote exclusively for this troupe which became the most
prestigious and popular in the city, often performing at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I,
whose approval and support were essential. Shakespeare’s success as a dramatist owed
much to his ability to provide for the diversity of his audiences which included all classes
of society. He also understood the rules of Elizabethan theatre which was subject to
censorship, the scrutiny of the Court and constant opposition from city authorities and
Puritans. Within these limitations Shakespeare managed to both entertain and comment on
society, indirectly, through his vast range of characters. The fact that he wrote comedies,
historical plays and tragedies, all with equal success, made him widely accessible.
In 1603, with the accession to the throne of James I, all major acting companies came
under royal patronage and The Lord Chamberlain’s Men became The King’s Men and were
obliged to perform more frequently at Court. Shakespeare invested in another theatre, the
Blackfriars, and continued to write successfully until about 1612 when he left London
and returned to his family in Stratford, where he had bought a large house and land. He
died on 23rd April, 1616, possibly his 52nd birthday, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church.
During his lifetime about half of Shakespeare’s plays appeared in print but not necessarily
with his permission. It was not to his advantage to have his plays published as it may have
resulted in rival companies putting on the plays or in less people attending the theatre to
see them. However, in 1623, two of Shakespeare’s colleagues from The King’s Men
were responsible for the publication of the First Folio, which was the collection of 36 of
Shakespeare’s plays. The exact dates that the plays were written is uncertain but researchers
have established a probable chronological order. His works include the comedies: The Comedy
of Errors (1592?), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595?), Much Ado About Nothing (1598?),
As You Like It (1599?), Twelfth Night (1599?), Measure for Measure (1604?), The Tempest
(1611?); the histories: Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3 (1591-95?), Richard III (late 1580s - early
1590s), Henry IV parts 1 and 2 (1597?), Henry V (1598?); and the tragedies: Romeo and
Juliet (1595?), Julius Caesar (1599?), Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1600, 1601?),
Othello (1604?), King Lear (1605?) and Macbeth (1606?).
Shakespeare also wrote 154 sonnets and some narrative poems including Venus
and Adonis (1592), and The Rape of Lucrece (1594).
Section 1 From the Beginnings to the 1700s
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