Establishing Himself
By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by William Shakespeare
were published. Civil records show that at this time he purchased the
second largest house in Stratford, called New House, for his family. It
was a four-day ride by horse from Stratford to London, so it is believed
that Shakespeare spent most of his time in the city writing and acting
and came home once a year during the 40-day Lenten period, when the
theaters were closed.
By 1599, William Shakespeare and his business partners built their
own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the
Globe. In 1605, Shakespeare purchased leases of real estate near
Stratford for 440 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 the time to write his plays uninterrupted.
Writing Style
William Shakespeare's early plays were written in the
conventional style of the day, with elaborate metaphors and rhetorical
phrases that didn't always align naturally with the story's plot or
characters. 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.
Early Works: Histories and Comedies
With the exception of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare's first plays were mostly histories written in the early 1590s. Richard II, Henry VI (parts 1, 2 and 3) and Henry V
dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers, and have
been interpreted by drama historians as Shakespeare's way of justifying
the origins of the Tudor Dynasty.
Shakespeare also wrote several comedies during his early period: the witty romance A Midsummer Night's Dream, the romantic Merchant of Venice, the wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing, the charming As You Like It and Twelfth Night. Other plays, possibly written before 1600, include Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Later Works: Tragedies and Tragicomedies
It was in William Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that he wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth.
In these, Shakespeare's characters 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. These moral failures often drive the twists
and turns of Shakespeare's plots, destroying the hero and those he
loves.
In William Shakespeare's final period, he wrote several tragicomedies. Among these are Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Though graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness.
Death
Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his
birthday, April 23, 1616, though many scholars believe this is a myth.
Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 5, 1616.
In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest
daughter, Susanna. Though entitled to a third of his estate, little
seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he bequeathed his
"second-best bed." This has drawn speculation that she had fallen out of
favor, or that the couple was not close. However, there is very little
evidence the two had a difficult marriage. Other scholars note that the term "second-best bed" often refers to the
bed belonging to the household's master and mistres—the marital bed—and
the "first-best bed" was reserved for guests.
William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in
Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly 1594 onward he was an
important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical
players. Written records give little indication of the way in which
Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry. All that can be
deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays
that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict.
Mysterious Origins
Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare
have been performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and
metropolises for more than 400 years. And yet, the personal history of
William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery. There are two primary sources
that provide historians with a basic outline of his life. One source is
his work—the plays, poems and sonnets—and the other is official
documentation such as church and court records. However, these only
provide brief sketches of specific events in his life and provide little
on the person who experienced those events.
Early Life
Though no birth records exist, church records indicate that a
William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in
Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was
born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars
acknowledge as William Shakespeare's birthday.
Located 103 miles west of London, during Shakespeare's time
Stratford-upon-Avon was a market town bisected with a country road and
the River Avon. William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a
leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local landed heiress. William had
two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers,
Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before William's birth, his father became a
successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and
bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John's
fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s.
Scant records exist of William's childhood, and virtually none
regarding his education. Scholars have surmised that he most likely
attended the King's New School, in Stratford, which taught reading,
writing and the classics. Being a public official's child, William would
have undoubtedly qualified for free tuition. But this uncertainty
regarding his education has led some to raise questions about the
authorship of his work and even about whether or not William Shakespeare
ever existed.
Married Life
William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway
on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in Canterbury Province. Hathaway
was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford. William was
18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a
daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later,
on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet later
died of unknown causes at age 11.
After the birth of the twins, there are seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no records exist.
Scholars call this period the "lost years," and there is wide
speculation on what he was doing during this period. One theory is that
he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from the local
landlord, Sir Thomas Lucy. Another possibility is that he might have
been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire. It is generally
believed he arrived in London in the mid- to late 1580s and may have
found work as a horse attendant at some of London's finer theaters,
a scenario updated centuries later by the countless aspiring actors and playwrights in Hollywood and Broadway.
Theatrical Beginnings
By 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a
living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several
plays produced. The September 20, 1592 edition of the Stationers' Register
(a guild publication) includes an article by London playwright Robert
Greene that takes a few jabs at William Shakespeare: "...There is an
upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart
wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out
a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes
factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country,"
Greene wrote of Shakespeare.
Scholars differ on the interpretation of this criticism, but most
agree that it was Greene's way of saying Shakespeare was reaching above
his rank, trying to match better known and educated playwrights like Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe or Greene himself.
By the early 1590s, documents show William Shakespeare was a
managing partner in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in
London. After the crowning of King James I, in 1603, the company changed
its name to the King's Men. From all accounts, the King's Men company
was very popular, and records show that Shakespeare had works published
and sold as popular literature. The theater culture in 16th century
England was not highly admired by people of high rank. However, many of
the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of
the actors. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the
attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he
dedicated his first- and second-published poems: "Venus and Adonis"
(1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).
