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BBC - History - William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

 

William Shakespeare ©

 

Shakespeare's reputation as dramatist, poet and actor is unique. He is considered by many to be the greatest playwright of all time and his plays have merited translation and performances in cultures far removed from medieval England. Sadly his life-story remains ill-documented and what we do know of him is ironically undramatic. A fascination with the Bard and a great deal of mythmaking inspired by him has created an even greater sense of mystery about his personality.

 

We do know that Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England, and that he was probably educated in the town's free grammar school. Ben Jonson, contemporary dramatist, dismissed Shakespeare's style and learning as, 'small Latin and less Greek'.

His early acting career probably began with performances before a network of recusant gentry in the Warwickshire area where he served as a resident player under the pseudonym Shakeshaft. Then in 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, but is believed to have left her behind to pursue his career in London. By 1588 he is thought to have started writing plays.

Much of his poetry is dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, and it has been argued that he is the male subject of the love sonnets.

From 1594 Shakespeare spent his acting career with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The group acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and Blackfriars.

The first collected edition of Shakespeare's works was published posthumously in 1623 and is known as the First Folio. The plays fall into the categories of history, tragedy, comedy and tragicomedy. Shakespeare openly drew on contemporary historical sources so that his work- especially the history plays - represent a type of celebratory Tudor propaganda. The plays also offer complex portrayals of a world in transformation, for example with the discovery of the New World which is represented in the final play The Tempest.

Shakespeare's legacy is difficult to quantify. Of the man himself nothing remains but an unnamed headstone engraved with the cryptic epitaph, possibly conceived by the Bard himself:

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

[Borges]

They never give up.

[nickcarraway]

People mistake being a great writer with having "special knowledge."

[camle]

i reckon that there HAD to be soem coverup back then. we all know that shakespear couldn't possibly be shakespear! why what would the conspiracy theorists do?

musta been someone else.

[T.Smith]

"Every step of Neville's life coincides with the themes and chronology of Shakespeare's plays.

"I did not go out to find another candidate - he found me."

Actually, if you read Hamlet while listening to "Hotel California" it matches up eerily well. Coincidence? I don't think so. Don Henley is the real Shakespeare.

[nickcarraway]

Shakespeare Ping

Let me know, if you want to be put on the list.

[twigs]

This is usually an argument from the elitists. They somehow just can't believe that someone of Shakespeare's talents came from his lower class. Actually, his father was a politician and had good contacts. He had a decent education. Back then, if you got into school, you got a better education that one might expect. But he did not go to university and that rankles academics who know that they've never had a sliver of S's talent and can't figure it out why since they have so much more education.

[ElkGroveDan]

Actually the man claiming to be Neville wasn't really Neville. Neville was tied up in the highest tower in the land and held there by Sir Francis Bacon who assumed the identity of Sir Henry Neville.

Bacon would visit Neville in the tower every third Tuesday and together they conspired to write the works of Shakespeare.

[Physicist]

Bibliopath ping.

[Petronski]

I have a theory about the identity of the real Shakespeare:








Shakespeare.

[BlessedByLiberty]

Sorry they're all wrong, I was Shakespeare in one of my first incarnations. :)

[stop_fascism]

Ridiculous. Everyone knows that the Earl of Oxford was Shakespeare.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I've been doing some reading on my own re this subject at this site. Check here also. I don't know yet if I subscribe to the 'Bacon was Shakespeare' theory, but it makes for very interesting reading.

[SunkenCiv]

Turns out that Sir Henry Neville's was just a case of life imitating art.

So, once we get the last name, we'll know who really wrote the plays. :')

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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