Essay on William Shakespeares Life

Essay by Anonymous UserA-, March 1997

download word file, 4 pages 4.1

Downloaded 113 times

William Shakespeare was a supreme English poet and playwright,

universally recognized as the greatest of all the dramatists.

A complete, authoritative account of Shakespeare's life is lacking;

much supposition surrounds relatively few facts. His day of birth is

traditionally held on April 23, and he was baptized on April 24, 1564. He

was the third of eight children, and was the eldest son of John

Shakespeare. He was probably educated in a local grammar school. As the

eldest son, Shakespeare would of taken over his father's business, but

according to one account, he became a butcher because of reverses in his

father's financial situation. According to another account, he became a

school master. That Shakespeare was allowed considerable leisure time in

his youth is suggested by the fact that his plays show more knowledge of

hunting and hawking than do those of other dramatists. In 1582, he married

Anne Hathaway.

He is supposed to have left Stratford after he was caught

poaching in a deer park.

Shakespeare apparently arrived in London about 1588 and by 1592 had

attained success as a playwright. The publication of Venus and Adonis, The

Rape of Lucrece and of his Sonnets established his reputation as a poet in

the Renaissance manner. Shakespeare's modern reputation is based mainly on

the 38 plays he wrote, modified, or collaborated on.

Shakespeare's professional life in London was marked by a number of

financially advantageous arrangements that permitted him to share in the

profits of his acting company, the Chamberlain's Men, and its two theaters,

the Globe and the Blackfriars. His plays were given special presentation

at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. After about 1608,

Shakespeare's dramatic production lessened and he spent more time in

Stratford. There he established a family in and imposing house,