Sarel bok biography of william shakespeare
Shakespeare wrote comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew. Some of his comedies might be better described as tragicomedies. Although graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness. Additional Shakespeare comedies include:.
Shakespeare is known to have created plays with other writers, such as John Fletcher. They also collaborated on Cardenioa play which was not preserved. When including these works, Shakespeare has 41 plays to his name. Around the turn of the 17 th century, Shakespeare became a more extensive property owner in Stratford. When his father, John, died inhe inherited the family home.
Then, inhe purchased about acres for pounds. InShakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for pounds, which doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds a year. This made him an entrepreneur as well as an artist, and scholars believe these investments gave him uninterrupted time to write his plays. He likely spent the last three years of his life in Stratford.
Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52 nd birthday, April 23,but some scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Holy Trinity Church on April 25, In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna, who by then was married. However, there is very little evidence the two had a difficult marriage.
He is credited with inventing or introducing more than 1, words to the English language, often as a result of combining words, changing usages, or blending in foreign root words. It was published with the title Mr. In addition to its literary importance, the First Folio contains an original portrait of Shakespeare on the title page. The other is a memorial bust at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
Today, there are surviving copies of the First Folio that date back tobut experts estimate roughly First Folios were printed. Scholars and literary critics began to float names like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere, and Francis Bacon —men of more known backgrounds, literary accreditation, or inspiration—as the true authors of the plays.
Official records from the Holy Trinity Church and the Stratford government record the existence of Shakespeare, but none of these attest to him being an actor or playwright. The most serious and intense skepticism began in the 19 th century when adoration for Shakespeare was at its highest. Relatively prosperous, it is likely the family paid for Williams education, although there is no evidence he attended university.
In William, aged only 18, married an older woman named Anne Hathaway.
Sarel bok biography of william shakespeare
They had three children, Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Their only son Hamnet died aged just After his marriage, information about the life of Shakespeare is sketchy, but it seems he spent most of his time in London — writing and acting in his plays. Due to some well-timed investments, Shakespeare was able to secure a firm financial background, leaving time for writing and acting.
The best of these investments was buying some real estate near Stratford inwhich soon doubled in value. It is thought that during the s he wrote the majority of his sonnets. This was a time of prolific writing and his plays developed a good deal of interest and controversy. His early plays were mainly comedies e. Henry V. By the early Seventeenth Century, Shakespeare had begun to write plays in the genre of tragedy.
Bate, Jonathan. New York: Random House, Bevington, David. Shakespeare and Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, A useful resource for those interested in the history of Shakespearean biography, which outlines the issues that have been the focus of several biographies of Shakespeare, including politics, religion, and familial relationships.
Duncan-Jones, Katherine. Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life. London: Arden, Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: Norton, Potter, Lois. Chichester, UK: Wiley, William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April see When was Shakespeare bornwhich is also believed to be the date he died in Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period.
John Shakespeare married Mary Ardenand together they had eight children. John and Mary lost two daughters as infants, so William became their eldest child. John Shakespeare worked as a glove-maker, but he also became an important figure in the town of Stratford by fulfilling civic positions. His elevated status meant that he was even more likely to have sent his children, including William, to the local grammar school.
William Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathawaywho was twenty-six. It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony.