Summary:
Essay deals with the life history of William Shakespeare.
BIRTH AND PARENTAGE
SHAKESPEARE IS BY FAR THE GREATEST NAME IN ENGLISH LITERATURE.YETHIS BIOGRAPHY IS, ' 'BUILT UPON DOUBTS AND THRIVES UPON PERPLEXITIES". ONLY THE BAREST OUTLINES ARE KNOWN FOR CERTAIN.WE ONLY KNOW THAT THE WORLD'S GREATEST DRAMATIST WAS BORN IN APRIL 1564,AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON, IN THE COUNTY OF WARWICK.HIS MOTHER, MARY ARDEN, CAME OF A NOBLE FAMILY, AND HIS FATHER JOHN SHAKESPEARE WAS A PROSPEROUS FARMER, WOOL AND TIMBER MERCHANT, AND BUTCHER OF THE VILLAGE.HE ALSO TOOK KEEN INTERSET IN MUNCIPAL AFFAIRS AND ROSE TO THE POSITION OF JUSTICE OF THE PEACE AND HIGH BAILIFF OF THE TOWN.HE WAS OFTEN INVOLVED IN LITIGATION, AND OUR DRAMATIST,AS THE ELDEST SON,MUST HAVE FREQUENTLY ASSISTED HIM,AND IN THIS WAY ACQUIRED THAT LEGAL KNOWLEDGE WHICH HAS SURPRISED HIS READERS.
EDUCATION
ABOUT THE AGE OF NINE HE WAS ADMITTED TO THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF VILLAGE.TRADITION HAS IT THAT HE WAS NOT A GOOD STUDENT AND IT WAS ONLY RELUCTANTLY THAT HE CRAWLED, LIKE A SNAIL, TO SCHOOL WHERE HE LEARNED, ' 'SMALL LATIN AND LESS GREEK". HE OFTEN PLAYED TRAUNT, LOOK PART IN THE VILLAGE GAMES WHICH RECEIVE HONOURABLE MENTION IN HIS PLAYS.THE LANDSCAPE ROUND ABOUT HIS NATIVE VILLAGE IS BEAUTIFUL AND IT MUST HAVE MADE A DEEP IMPRESSION UPON THE BOY, FOR THE MEMORY COLOURS MANY OF HIS BEST NATURE PIECES SCATTERED ALL UP AND DOWN HIS WORKS.HIS, ' ' ASTONISHING STORE OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE,"HAS BEEN PRAISED BY ALL HIS CRITICS.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
WHEN WILLIAM WAS ONLY TWELVE YEARS OF AGE, HIS FATERS'S FORTUNES BEGAN TO DECLINE, AND THE BOY HAD TO BE WITHDRAWN FROM SCHOOL AT HIS EARLY AGE. HE NOW HELPED HIS FATER IN HIS BUSINESS, AND HE MAY ALSO WORKED FOR SOMETIME AS A SCHOOL MASTER IN THE VILLAGE SCHOOL.THE FAMILY, A LARGE ONE, WAS PASSING THROUGH A CRISES.THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY WITHDREW HIMSELF FROM THE AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN, LOST HIS POSITION S THE LEADING CITIZEN AND BECAME AN INSOLVENT DEBTOR.WILLIAM MUST HAVE DONE HIS BEST TO PULL HIS FAMILY THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES.
MARRIAGE: LEAVES HIS VILLAGE
WHEN HE WAS HARDLY NINETEEN YEARS OF AGE, HE CONTRACTED AN IMPRUDENT MARRIAGE WITH ANNE HATHWAY, SOME EIGHT YEARS HIS SENIOR.ON THE BASIS OF SOME PASSAGES IN HIS DRAMA, CRITICS HAVE TRIED TO SHOW THAT THE MARRIAGE WAS AN UNHAPPY ONE, BUT NOTHING CAN BE CONCLUDED FOR CERTAIN.ONLY SIX MONTHS LATER WAS BORN HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER, SUSANNA, AND IN 1585 THE MARRIAGE WAS BLESSED WITH TWINS, HAMLET AND JUDITH.ABOUT THIS VERY TIME, SHAKESPEARE LEFT STRATFORD FOR LONDON TO SEEK HIS FORTUNES THERE.THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF HIS DEPARTURE WAS THE TROUBLE HE HAD WITH THE POLICE AS A RESULT OF HIS PARTICIPATION IN A POACHING AFFRAY.FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES,DISSATIFICATION WITH HIS DOMESTIC LIFE,THE LURE OF THE CITY ANDAN INNATE DRAMATIC TENDENCY,MIGHT HAVE BEN SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTORY CAUSES.THERE ARE RECORDS TO SHOW THAT A COMPANY OF WANDERING PLAYERS,SUCH AS WERE ALREADY BECOMING POPULAR,VISITED STRATFORD AT THIS TIME,AND IT WAS A MEMBER OF THIS COMPANY THAT SHAKESPEARE LEFT HIS NATIVE VILLAGE.
HIS EARLY CAREER
WE NEXT HEAR OF HIM ONLY ABOUT THE YEAR 1591,AND FIND THAT THE ONLY PLAYWRIGHTS OF LONDON ARE ALREADY BEGINNING TO FIND HIM A FORMIDABLE RIVAL.WHAT DID SHAKESPEARE DO WITH HIMSELF DURING THIS TIME, AND HOW DID HE ACQUIRE MASTERY OVER HIS CRAFT? IT IS SAID THAT AT FIRST HE GOT ONLY MEAN EMPLOYMENT AND WORKED AS A HOLDER OF HORSES AT THE DOORS OF SOME LONDON THEATRES.HE PASSED HIS DRAMATIC APPRENTICSHIP, ' 'WORKING AT THE ODD JOBS GIVEN TO HIM BY THE THEATRICAL COMPANIES, DINING AT THE ORDINARY OF TAVERN, GAZING ON COURTLY PROCESSIONS AND SPECTACLES, SEEING NEW TYPES OF CHARACTERS AND HEARING NEW STORIES DAY BY DAY". THEN HE TRIED HIS HAND ST ACTING AND WAS SOON A SUCCESSFUL ACTOR.THE COARSE AND WORHTLESS PLAYS OF THE TIME DISGUSTED HIM, AND HE BEGAN HIS DRAMATIC CAREER BY RE-CASTING EXISTING PLAYS AND CHANGING THEM BEYOND RECOGNITION.HE WAS AN INTELLIGENT AND OBSERVANT MAN, THE THEATRE-MANAGERS WERE SOON IMPRESSED BY HIM, AND HIS RISE WAS RAPID.
SUCCESS
THE SUCCESSOF HIS ' 'VENUS AND ADONIS", 1593, WHICH HE DEDICATED TO EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, BROUGHT HIM INTO THE NOTICE OF THE ROYALITY, AND THENCEFORTH, HE CONSTANTLY ENJOYED COURT FAVOURS AND SOON REACHED THE TOP OF THE LADDER OF FAME.HE HAD MUCH PRACTICAL ABILITY AND MANAGED HIS BUSINESS WELL.IN 1597,WE HEAR OF HIS PURCHASING A BIG HOUSE, NEW PALACE, AT STRATFORD AND THEREAFTER, THOUGH HE CONTINUED TO WORK IN LONDON, HE, HAVING GREAT LOVE FOR HIS NATIVE VILLAGE, VISITED IT REGULARLY, ATLEAST ONCE EVERY YEAR.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH
ABOUT THE YEAR 1612,HE RETIRED FROM BUSINESS AND SETTLED ENTIRELY AT STRATFORD.HE HAD WORKED HARD PRODUCING, ON THE AVERAGE, TWO PLAYS A YEAR, AND NOW HIS HEALTH WAS FAILING HIM.WHATEVER MAY BE THE EXACT CAUSE OF HIS DEATH, OVERWORIK, OR, AS SOME SAY, A DRINKING BOUT, CERTAIN IT IS THAT HE DIED ON 23RD APRIL, 1616, AND WAS BURIED IN THE STRATFORD CHURCH.HIS HOUSE, NEWPALACE, HAS BEEN PRESERVED AS A NATIONAL MUSEUM, AND STRATFORD-ON-AVON REMAINS UP TO DATE, THE MOST IMPORTANT PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE FOR ALL LOVERS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.
This is the complete article, containing 830 words
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