Without Shakespeare, literature would be like an aquarium without fish. Despite all the devotion and kindness, a glance at it reveals that it is lifeless and dead. William Shakespeare, the world’s finest playwright and English language writer, has been named England’s national poet and dubbed the ‘Bard of Avon.’ His output, which included 38 plays and 154 sonnets, was much better received after his death. Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into every major language in the world and have received more performances than any other playwright. Surprisingly, a prolific writer’s power profile was repeatedly scrutinized after his death. Because there is little knowledge about Shakespeare’s birth, life, and death, as well as his schooling and’supposed’ literary connection, critics have debated whether or not he is the’real’ author behind the works, with the majority believing that the work was created by someone else. This creative talent has written plays in a variety of genres, including comedy, romance, tragedy, and history, during the course of his career. Shakespeare’s renown soared in the nineteenth century once he became a well-known poet and playwright. While the Romantics regarded him as a genius, the Victorians held him in high regard. Shakespeare’s works are still studied and performed in numerous cultures in the twenty-first century. Without a question, he is the world’s most prolific and beloved contributor to literature!
Childhood and Adolescence
John Shakespeare and Mary Arden had a son named William Shakespeare. Though his exact date of birth is unknown, April 23, 1564 is commemorated as his birthday. He was baptized on April 26, 1564, according to church documents. He was the eldest son and third child of the marriage, who had eight children.
Shakespeare’s youth and schooling are largely unknown. He may have learned to read and write at the King’s New School in Stratford, according to legend. Because all grammar schools followed the same curricula at the time, it is assumed that he had an intense grammar education centered on Latin classical writers.
Beginnings in the Theatre
Prior to the records stating the start of Shakespeare’s theatrical career, there is a seven-year gap from 1585 to 1592 about which little or no information is available. While some suspect that he was involved in the poaching game, others believe he was hired as an assistant schoolmaster.
Though the exact year Shakespeare began writing is unknown, records of performances reveal that his plays were first performed on the London stage in 1592.
Shakespeare, by then a well-known figure, drew the attention of both critics and fans. Shakespeare’s attempt to match university-educated writers irritated one of Shakespeare’s early detractors, Robert Greene.
Almost all of Shakespeare’s plays have been performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men since 1594. The ensemble quickly rose to prominence and became a leading theatrical company in London, to the point where they purchased their own theatre, the Globe, in 1599.
Meanwhile, Shakespeare’s fame as a playwright and actor rose by leaps and bounds, to the point that his name had become a powerful selling factor in and of itself. Shakespeare’s financial security was further bolstered by the company’s success.
After Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1603, James I granted the corporation a royal patent and renamed it King’s Men. Following that, the group became extremely successful, with several of Shakespeare’s plays being reprinted and sold as popular literature.
Shakespeare acted in a number of plays, including ‘Every Man in His Humour,’ ‘Sejanus His Fall,’ ‘The First Folio,’ ‘As You Like It,’ ‘Hamlet,’ and ‘Henry VI,’ among others.
Shakespeare’s career graph exhibited a strong upward trend toward the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. He wrote 37 plays, 15 of which were published. As a result of the successful production, he was able to purchase New House, a large estate in Stratford.
Shakespeare began leasing real properties and became a business as a result. Shakespeare was able to devote more time to creating his plays because to these investments and their guaranteed financial returns.
A Poetic Stint
Shakespeare experimented with poetry after the theater were closed due to disease in 1593 and 1594. During this time, he wrote two poems, ‘Venus and Adonis’ and ‘The Rape of Lucrece,’ both dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton.
While ‘Venus and Adonis’ represented Venus’ sexual advances and Adnois’ eventual rejection, ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ depicted Lucrece’s emotional suffering after she was raped by Tarquin. Both poems became extremely famous and were frequently reprinted.
Following it, Shakespeare wrote ‘A Lover’s Complaint’ and ‘The Phoenix and the Turtle.’ While the former tells the story of a woman who is in misery because of her suitor’s attempts at seduction, the later mourns the loss of the phoenix and his beloved.
Shakespeare’s work, ‘Sonnets,’ was published in 1609. It was his final published work in the art of poetry. There are around 154 sonnets in it. Though the exact date of composition is unknown, it is thought that Shakespeare penned these sonnets throughout his lifetime, but only for private use.
The sonnets have a peculiar and unconventional style that celebrates the emotions of love, passion, and sex. It also goes into great detail and provides information about conception, death, and the passage of time.
His Work & Personality
When it came to the style that Shakespeare used in his work, he was a trailblazer. He added metaphors and rhetorical words to the standard and convention style in his own unique approach. The additions, on the other hand, rarely corresponded to the plot or characters of the novel.
A metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, appears in the majority of his plays. Furthermore, all of the plays contain passages that stray from this and employ poetry or simple prose.
Shakespeare’s early works, such as ‘Richard II,’ ‘Henry V,’ and ‘Henry VI,’ all borrowed their themes from history around the 1590s. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was the sole piece that was exempt at this time.
Later on, as Shakespeare attempted to touch on numerous genres with his considerable work, versatility crept in. ‘Merchant of Venice’ showed the romance quotient, while ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was his perspective on humorous romance.
‘Much Ado About Nothing’ demonstrated the value of wit and wordplay, but ‘As You Like It’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ were pure comedy. ‘Titus Andronicus,’ ‘The Comedy of Errors,’ ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’ and ‘The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ are some of the other works from this period.
Shakespeare experimented with tragedy in his later years. Shakespeare offered an intense depiction of human behavior and activities in his character-representation. Several human emotions, including as betrayal, retribution, incest, and moral failure, were characterized classically in works such as “Hamlet,” “King Lear,” “Othello,” and “Macbeth.” The majority of these works had tragic ends, hence they were classified as dark tragedies.
Shakespeare combined tragedy and humor in his final works to create tragicomedies, which told a sad plot but had a joyful ending by the end of the play. Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline,’ ‘The Winter’s Tale,’ and ‘The Tempest’ are classic instances of such plays.
After 1610, the number of plays written by Shakespeare plummeted to the point that there are no plays credited to him after 1613. It’s thought that his last three completed plays were created in collaboration with John Fletcher, who took over as playwright for King’s Men after Shakespeare.
Personal History and Legacy
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway early in life, as was the custom in the early decades. At the time of their marriage, he was 18 and she was 26.
Susanna, a girl born six months after their marriage, and Hamnet and Judith, twins born two years later, were the couple’s three children.
Shakespeare is claimed to have died on April 23, 1616, on the date of his birth (which is still a matter of debate). He was buried in the Holy Trinity Church’s chancel on April 5, 1616, according to Church records. His wife and two daughters survived him.
‘Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear, To dig the dust imprisoned here,’ reads the epitaph carved into the stone slab that covers his grave. Blessed is the guy who preserves these stones, and cursed is the man who disturbs my bones.’
A funeral monument was erected after his death to commemorate his labor on the North Wall. There was a half-effigy of him writing on it. He is also commemorated by funeral monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey.
Furthermore, various sculptures and monuments dedicated to Shakespeare’s memory have been erected around the world as a testament to the celebrated work of this prolific poet and playwright.
Shakespeare’s sexuality is a hot topic of dispute. He may have been bisexual, according to rumors.
He is known as England’s national poet and the ‘Bard of Avon.’
William Shakespeare Net Worth
William is one of the wealthiest playwrights and one of the most well-known playwrights. William Shakespeare’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.