YE OLD BLOG
Hamletting you know about the Elizabethan Era
AMIE YANG
The Life, Love, and Death of Shakespeare
Early life
Shakespeare was born approximately on April 23, 1564. He was the son of a glove maker and was the eldest child, with three younger brothers and two younger sisters. Shakespeare attended Stratford’s grammar school, which taught him how to read and act Latin plays. He attended school until age fifteen.
Marrige and family
After William Shakespeare left school, he married Anne Hathaway at age eighteen in 1582. She was expecting their first born child, Susanna, at the time. Three years later, the couple bore twins Judith and Hamnet, which was the last of their children. When Shakespeare took a theatre career in London, Anne stayed in Stratford with their children.
The Lost Years
Shortly following the birth of his twins, Shakespeare disappeared from all historical records for seven years. During these years, we do not know much about Shakespeare because the information was often contradictory and incomplete. Historians speculate that the mysterious writer either worked as a schoolteacher, studied law, traveled Europe, or joined an acting troupe passing through Stratford.
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."
-William Shakespeare
Acting career
William Shakespeare resurfaced in 1592 when a fellow playwrite deemed the author as an "upstart crow," proof that Shakespeare had established a nam for himself in London. Two years later, he became a leading shareholder and partner of Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most popular acting companies in London. He often entertained the queen's court, and sometimes Queen Elizabeth herself.
Between 1593 and 1594, Shakespeare published many of his sonnets and poems during this time. Some of the first include "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece".
Life as a playwright
At the end of 1594, Shakespeare began writing plays, most of which were histories like Richard II, Henry VI, and Henry V. It is said that that was Shakespeare's way of justifying the Tudor Dynasty. Later on, the playwright also wrote many comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night. After 1600, Shakespeare changed his writing styles, and mainly wrote tragedies like the famous Hamlet. Others include King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Part of the reason why Shakespeare is still relevant today is that he explored the ideas of humanity through his work; many of his plays touched on the ideas of love, friendship, betrayal, and politics that are timeless through history.
Shakespeare's last works were still tragedies, but more lighthearted. Some include Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.
Death
With his health declining in 1616, Shakespeare revised his will. He left the majority of his estate to his two daughters, and small gifts to his other relatives and the people of Stratford. Interestingly, he only left his wife, Anne, his second best bed. William Shakespeare died one month later, and was buried in his birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. Even in death, the legacy of Shakespeare lives on. He is deemed one of the greatest playwrights of his era, and for the centuries to come.