ShakespeareThe facts are very few. Shakespeare was probably born on the 23rdof April, 1564, in Stratford-on Avon. His father was a respectable shopkeeper, anddealt in wool, skins, leather, gloves. His mother, Mary Arden, was a farmer sdaughter. William was the eldest of eight children. We know that whenShakespeare was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years older thanhimself, that in 1583
Susanna, their first child, was born, and that twinsHamnet and Judith followed in 1585. At the age of 22 Shakespeare left Stratfordalone, for London. He is reputed to have been all manner of things, from sailorand soldier to lawyer s clerk and householder outside an early London playhouseWe know that in 1593 and 1594 he wrote two early poems,
Venus andAdonis and Lucrece .Later, he became a member of the company known as Cham berlain s Men which played at the Theatre and hewrote for the company. Hewas already reaching the height of his fame when the Globe Theatre was built in1593. He often acted at court, and retired, about 1611, to Stratford.Theday of his death was the 23rd of April,
1616, fifty-two years exactly after thesupposed day of his birth. That is all we know about William Shakespeare.Therehas been a good deal of debate about the extent of Shakespeare s learning. Itis true that he never went to univer sity or travelled abroad. Some romanticshave made him out to be an unlettered man of the people. They declared that anil literate could never have written such poetry therefore some one else musthave
done it instead. Such reactions are unnec essary. Shakespearelearned grammar, logic, and Latin at the grammar school, and he had enougheducation to develop his literary skill.We do not know whether Shakespeare wentto London with the intention of becoming an actor. He may have done so.There would have been plenty of opportunity for him to be attracted to thestage in his youth, quite apart from any natural inclina tions towards poetry.
Theatre was very popular at that time. Classicalplays were acted at schools, with educational purposes in view travellingcompanies of professional actors often visited Stratford and performed there. We cannot prove anythingfor certain, but it is highly possible that William Shakespeare joined one ofthese companies when they passed through Stratford.The London to which young Shakespeare came was a splen didplace where painters, musicians,
poets shone. Theatre was the most excitingentertainment. If genius could he accounted for. It might perhaps he said thatShakespeare s acquaintance with the art of the actor helped him in anunderstanding of the art of the playwright. But this explanation is not enough.To it must be added an observing mind, a profound sympathetic under standing oflife, an acquaintance with all classes of men and women, and above all anability to see human
natureShakespeare wrote 37 plays, among them comedies The Taming of the Shrew , Much Ado About Nothing , Twelfth Night , As You Like It , etc tragedies Hamlet , King Lear . Macbeth , Romeo andJuliet , Othello and others , historical plays Henrythe Sixth , Richard the Third , Henry the Fourth ,etc , and sonnets.
Shakespeare sgenius did not lie in his ability to originate plots for almost all of hisstories were borrowed from chroni cle, biography, prose tale, or earlier play ,but rather in his capacity for revealing life in its lull richness and movementShakespeare s plays and sonnets are masterpieces. Shake speare expressed inthem the variety of human nature. All human life is there in his plays, itsgreatness and its imperfections alike
Shakespeare possesses some special meritfor every generation, and almost every person in turn. Whether he is writing ofhistory, or love, or tragedy, or comedy, things have meaning and value. It washis genius that gave the world poetry of a deathless beauty.