Life William Shakespeare

1 life

1.1 life
1.2 london , theatrical career
1.3 later years , death

life

early life

william shakespeare son of john shakespeare, alderman , successful glover snitterfield, , mary arden, daughter of affluent landowning farmer. born in stratford-upon-avon , baptised there on 26 april 1564. actual date of birth remains unknown, traditionally observed on 23 april, saint george s day. date, can traced 18th-century scholar s mistake, has proved appealing biographers because shakespeare died on 23 april 1616. third child of 8 , eldest surviving son.

john shakespeare s house, believed shakespeare s birthplace, in stratford-upon-avon

although no attendance records period survive, biographers agree shakespeare educated @ king s new school in stratford, free school chartered in 1553, quarter-mile (400 m) home. grammar schools varied in quality during elizabethan era, grammar school curricula largely similar: basic latin text standardised royal decree, , school have provided intensive education in grammar based upon latin classical authors.

at age of 18, shakespeare married 26-year-old anne hathaway. consistory court of diocese of worcester issued marriage licence on 27 november 1582. next day, 2 of hathaway s neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing no lawful claims impeded marriage. ceremony may have been arranged in haste since worcester chancellor allowed marriage banns read once instead of usual 3 times, , 6 months after marriage anne gave birth daughter, susanna, baptised 26 may 1583. twins, son hamnet , daughter judith, followed 2 years later , baptised 2 february 1585. hamnet died of unknown causes @ age of 11 , buried 11 august 1596.

shakespeare s coat of arms, appears on rough draft of application grant coat-of-arms john shakespeare. features spear pun on family name.

after birth of twins, shakespeare left few historical traces until mentioned part of london theatre scene in 1592. exception appearance of name in complaints bill of law case before queen s bench court @ westminster dated michaelmas term 1588 , 9 october 1589. scholars refer years between 1585 , 1592 shakespeare s lost years . biographers attempting account period have reported many apocryphal stories. nicholas rowe, shakespeare s first biographer, recounted stratford legend shakespeare fled town london escape prosecution deer poaching in estate of local squire thomas lucy. shakespeare supposed have taken revenge on lucy writing scurrilous ballad him. 18th-century story has shakespeare starting theatrical career minding horses of theatre patrons in london. john aubrey reported shakespeare had been country schoolmaster. 20th-century scholars have suggested shakespeare may have been employed schoolmaster alexander hoghton of lancashire, catholic landowner named william shakeshafte in will. little evidence substantiates such stories other hearsay collected after death, , shakeshafte common name in lancashire area.

london , theatrical career

it not known definitively when shakespeare began writing, contemporary allusions , records of performances show several of plays on london stage 1592. then, sufficiently known in london attacked in print playwright robert greene in groats-worth of wit:

... there upstart crow, beautified our feathers, tiger s heart wrapped in player s hide, supposes able bombast out blank verse best of you: , being absolute johannes factotum, in own conceit shake-scene in country.

scholars differ on exact meaning of greene s words, agree greene accusing shakespeare of reaching above rank in trying match such university-educated writers christopher marlowe, thomas nashe, , greene himself (the so-called university wits ). italicised phrase parodying line oh, tiger s heart wrapped in woman s hide shakespeare s henry vi, part 3, along pun shake-scene , identify shakespeare greene s target. used here, johannes factotum ( jack of trades ) refers second-rate tinkerer work of others, rather more common universal genius .

greene s attack earliest surviving mention of shakespeare s work in theatre. biographers suggest career may have begun time mid-1580s before greene s remarks. after 1594, shakespeare s plays performed lord chamberlain s men, company owned group of players, including shakespeare, became leading playing company in london. after death of queen elizabeth in 1603, company awarded royal patent new king james i, , changed name king s men.

—as it, act ii, scene 7, 139–42

in 1599, partnership of members of company built own theatre on south bank of river thames, named globe. in 1608, partnership took on blackfriars indoor theatre. extant records of shakespeare s property purchases , investments indicate association company made him wealthy man, , in 1597, bought second-largest house in stratford, new place, , in 1605, invested in share of parish tithes in stratford.

some of shakespeare s plays published in quarto editions, beginning in 1594, , 1598, name had become selling point , began appear on title pages. shakespeare continued act in own , other plays after success playwright. 1616 edition of ben jonson s works names him on cast lists every man in humour (1598) , sejanus fall (1603). absence of name 1605 cast list jonson s volpone taken scholars sign acting career nearing end. first folio of 1623, however, lists shakespeare 1 of principal actors in these plays , of first staged after volpone, although cannot know roles played. in 1610, john davies of hereford wrote played kingly roles. in 1709, rowe passed down tradition shakespeare played ghost of hamlet s father. later traditions maintain played adam in it, , chorus in henry v, though scholars doubt sources of information.

throughout career, shakespeare divided time between london , stratford. in 1596, year before bought new place family home in stratford, shakespeare living in parish of st. helen s, bishopsgate, north of river thames. moved across river southwark 1599, same year company constructed globe theatre there. 1604, had moved north of river again, area north of st paul s cathedral many fine houses. there, rented rooms french huguenot named christopher mountjoy, maker of ladies wigs , other headgear.

later years , death

shakespeare s funerary monument in stratford-upon-avon

rowe first biographer record tradition, repeated johnson, shakespeare retired stratford years before death . still working actor in london in 1608; in answer sharers petition in 1635, cuthbert burbage stated after purchasing lease of blackfriars theatre in 1608 henry evans, king s men placed men players there, heminges, condell, shakespeare, etc. . however, perhaps relevant bubonic plague raged in london throughout 1609. london public playhouses repeatedly closed during extended outbreaks of plague (a total of on 60 months closure between may 1603 , february 1610), meant there no acting work. retirement work uncommon @ time. shakespeare continued visit london during years 1611–1614. in 1612, called witness in bellott v. mountjoy, court case concerning marriage settlement of mountjoy s daughter, mary. in march 1613, bought gatehouse in former blackfriars priory; , november 1614, in london several weeks son-in-law, john hall. after 1610, shakespeare wrote fewer plays, , none attributed him after 1613. last 3 plays collaborations, john fletcher, succeeded him house playwright of king s men.

shakespeare died on 23 april 1616, @ age of 52. died within month of signing will, document begins describing himself being in perfect health . no extant contemporary source explains how or why died. half century later, john ward, vicar of stratford, wrote in notebook: shakespeare, drayton, , ben jonson had merry meeting and, seems, drank hard, shakespeare died of fever there contracted , not impossible scenario since shakespeare knew jonson , drayton. of tributes fellow authors, 1 refers relatively sudden death: wondered, shakespeare, thou went st soon/from world s stage grave s tiring room.

holy trinity church, stratford-upon-avon, shakespeare baptised , buried

he survived wife , 2 daughters. susanna had married physician, john hall, in 1607, , judith had married thomas quiney, vintner, 2 months before shakespeare s death. shakespeare signed last , testament on 25 march 1616; following day, new son-in-law, thomas quiney found guilty of fathering illegitimate son margaret wheeler, had died during childbirth. thomas ordered church court public penance, have caused shame , embarrassment shakespeare family.

shakespeare bequeathed bulk of large estate elder daughter susanna under stipulations pass down intact first son of body . quineys had 3 children, of whom died without marrying. halls had 1 child, elizabeth, married twice died without children in 1670, ending shakespeare s direct line. shakespeare s scarcely mentions wife, anne, entitled one-third of estate automatically. did make point, however, of leaving second best bed , bequest has led speculation. scholars see bequest insult anne, whereas others believe second-best bed have been matrimonial bed , therefore rich in significance.

shakespeare s grave, next of anne shakespeare, wife, , thomas nash, husband of granddaughter

shakespeare buried in chancel of holy trinity church 2 days after death. epitaph carved stone slab covering grave includes curse against moving bones, avoided during restoration of church in 2008:

(modern spelling: friend, jesus sake forbear, / dig dust enclosed here. / blessed man spares these stones, / , cursed moves bones.)

sometime before 1623, funerary monument erected in memory on north wall, half-effigy of him in act of writing. plaque compares him nestor, socrates, , virgil. in 1623, in conjunction publication of first folio, droeshout engraving published.

shakespeare has been commemorated in many statues , memorials around world, including funeral monuments in southwark cathedral , poets corner in westminster abbey.

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