FREE ESSAY ON WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare was a family man; he was a poet and a lasting
literary figure. He is considered to be the most fascinating Elizabethan dramatist due to
his writings and versatile life. Shakespeare's career has endured for centuries. He is
one of the most studied authors of all time (Zender 22). Shakespeare did not attend a
university, yet he created 144 poems and many plays, which are considered to be literary
works of art. His writings in comedies and tragedies show his talent is unbounded.
William Shakespear's popularity must have extended beyond his own expectations as it
touches people even today (Zender 23). William Shakespeare was born in the year of 1564
and died in 1616. His education consisted mostly of Latin studies- learning to read,
write, and speak the language fairly well and studying some of the classical historians
and poets. A bond, dated November 28, 1582, was executed by two men of Stratford as a
security to the bishop for the issue of a license for marriage between Williams
Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway of Stratford. One year later, a daughter named Susanna was
born on May 26, 1583. On February 2,1585 twins were born Hamlet and Judith. Shakespeare's
only son-died eleven years later (Groiler 1991). How Shakespeare spent the next eight
years or so science 1585, until his name begins to appear in London Theater records, is
not known. There are stories of stealing deer and getting into trouble with a local
magistrate, of earning a living as a school master in the country, of going to London and
gaining entry into the world of theater by minding horses of theater- goers. In the light
of evidence, exploits of Shakespeare's life cannot be proved or dismissed. Shakespeare
has often been viewed from the internal evidence of his writings. However, this method is
unsatisfactory. One cannot conclude, for example from allusions to the law that
Shakespeare was a lawyer, although he clearly was a writer who without difficulty could
get whatever legal knowledge needed for the composition of his works. It is not clear how
his career in the theater began; but from about 1594 onward, he was an important member
of Lord Chamberlain's company of players, called the King's Men after the accession of
King James I in 1603. The company had the best actor, Richard Burbage; they had the best
theater, the Globe; and the best dramatist, Shakespeare. It is no wonder that the company
prospered.Shakespeare became a full-time professional man of this own theatre, sharing in
a cooperative enterprise and intimately concerned with the financial success of the plays
he wrote (Groiler 1991). Shakespeare's will, made on March 25, 1616, is a long and
detailed document. It included quite extensive properties to the male heirs of his elder
daughter, Susanna. As an afterthought, Shakespeare bequeathed his second best bed to his
wife, but no one can be certain what this notorious legacy means. The signature to the
will was apparently in shaky hands. Perhaps Shakespeare was already ill. He died on April
23, 1616. No name was inscribed on his gravestone. Within a few years a monument was
erected. Its epitaph, written in Latin and inscribed immediately below the bust,
attributes to Shakespeare the worldly wisdom of Nestor, the genius of Socrates, and the
poetic art of Virgil (Groiler 1991). Shakespeare lived in a time when ideas and social
structures established in the Middle Ages still influenced man's thoughts and behavior.
Queen Elizabeth was a firm believer in divine power of the crown. She thought herself
God's deputy on earth, lords and commoners had their dueplace in society under her, with
responsibilities up through her to God and down to those of more humble rank. The order
of things did not go unquestioned. Atheism was still considered a challenge to beliefs
and way of life of a majority of Elizabethans, but the Christian faith was no longer the
single religion, with expansion of the Anglican Church and the growing power of the
Puritans. Commoners were becoming more literate and could read the scriptures for
themselves. In philosophical inquiry, the question how became the impulse for advance,
rather than traditional why of Aristotle (Davidow 42). Beginning in the summer of 1592,
the theaters were closed almost continuously for two years. This was the result of the
bubonic plague. At this point, Shakespeare turned his attention to writing narrative
poetry. Fellow Elizabethans considered this style of writing to be serious literature in
contrast with the popular drama entertainment of the day (Davidow 43). Shakespeare's
manuscript of Venus and Adonis was printed and published by a Stratford friend, Richard
Field, in 1593. Shakespeare dedicated this poem to a young nobleman, Henry Wriothesley,
The Earl ofSouthampton. As was customary of the time period, Shakespeare would have been
rewarded with a gift. However, there is no record to reflect the value of the poem for
that time period (Davidow 45). Venus and Adonis met with instantaneous success. Davidow
states, "In fact this poem's immense popularity led Shakespeare to write The Rape of
Lucrece in the following year." This poem was also printed by his friendField in 1594,
but was also published by another gentleman by the name of John Harrison. Again the poem
was dedicated to his friend The Earl of Southhampton (Davidow 60). About this time
Shakespeare wrote a series of 154 poems; all but three were 14-line sonnets. The
formulation of these sonnets was spread over a number of years. Some sonnets are thought
to go as far back as 1588, the same time the Spanish Armada attempted the invasion of
England. According to Davidow, "The entire collection of sonnets were not published until
1609; probably without Shakespeare's knowledge" (Davidow 65). Consequently, the last
group of English history plays Shakespeare chose to write about was Julius Caesar, who
held particular fascination for the Elizabethans. Julius Caesar was a solider, scholar,
and politician. Caesar's greatest friend had killed him and Caesar was seen as the first
Roman to perceive and, in part, to achieve the benefits of monarchial state. Caesar
appears in three scenes and then is murdered before the play is half finished. A variety
of characters respond to and reflect upon the central fact of the great man. This is the
dramatic strategy of an ironist, a writer such as Shakespeare, who wishes to question
human behavior and to observe interactions and consequences. In Northrop a point of fact
is made; Caesar influences the whole play, for he appears after his death as a blood
stained corpse and as a ghost before battle (Northrop 28). Both Brutes and Cassias dying
are conscious of Caesar; both men even speak to Caesar as if he were present. In other
ways Julius Caesar is shaped differently from the histories and tragedies that precede,
as if in manner as in subject matter Shakespeare was making decisive changes (Northrop
33). The scene moves only from Rome to the battlefield, and with this new setting,
language becomes more restrained, firmer and sharper. Extensive descriptive images are
few, and single words such as Roman, humor, love, friend, and proper names arerepeated as
if to enforce contrasts and ironies (Northrop 33). This sharp verbal edge linked with
commanding performances holds attention. For example, exciting debates, conspiracies and
crises, which include mob violence and as well as personal antagonisms lead to battle and
many times death holds the reader's attention (Northrop 34). In contrast to Shakespeare's
tragedies are his comedic writings. Comedies written between 1596 and 1602 have much in
common. With the exception of The Merry Wives of Windsor all comedies are set in some
imaginary country. A lioness, snakes, magic caskets, fairy spells, identical twins,
concealment of sex, and the sudden conversion of a tyrannous duke or the defeat (off
stage) of a treacherous brother can all change the course of the plot and bring the
characters to a conclusion in which almost all are very happy and justice is found.
Goddard states, "Lovers are young and witty and almost always rich" (Northrop 105). The
action concerns wooing and its conclusion is marriage, beyond which the audience is
scarcely concerned. In some ways these are intellectual plays with each comedy having a
multiple plot and moves from one set of characters to another set. Shakespeare invites
his audience to seekconnections and explanations. Despite very different classes of
people in different parts of the narrative, the plays are unified by Shakespear's
idealistic vision and by his implicit judgment of human relationships. Shakespeare's
characters are brought together with certain exceptions near the end of his writings.
Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement of these comedies is the rapid changes in
moods of his characters, from funny, then to dangerous, then sad and then a return to
humor. Recurrent moments of lifelike feelings are expressed both eloquently in words and
in actions that the audience shares. The idea that Shakespeare's plays and poems were not
actually written by William Shakespeare of Stratford has been the subject of many books
and scholars, and this theory is widely regarded as at least an interesting possibility.
Davidow said, "The source of all doubts about the authorship of the plays rests in the
disparity between the greatest Shakespeare's literary achievement and his comparatively
humble origin, the supposed inadequacy of his education, and the obscurity of his life"
(Davidow 57). In Shakespeare's writings, readers have claimed to discover a familiarity
with language and literature, with such subjects as law, history,politics, and geography,
include the manners and speech of courts. Opponents to the one-man theory of
Shakespeare's writings is regarded as inconceivable in a common player, the son of a
provincial tradesman. The range of knowledge expected at that time period should have
been created by a man with an extensive education, one familiar with royalty and nobles,
as largely figure in Shakespeare's works. Contemporary records have been regarded as
incompatible with Shakespeare's prominence and suggestive of a mystery (Zender 72), in
that none of Shakespeare's manuscripts has been evidential; they were destroyed to
conceal the identity of the author. The first suggestion, that the author of
Shakespeare's plays might be Francis Bacon, Viscount of St. Albans, seems to have been
made in the middle of the 19th Century, inquiry at first centering on textual comparison
between Bacon's known writings and plays. Zender states, "In the later 19th Century a
search was made for ciphered messages embedded into the dramatic texts (Zender 74).
Professional cryptographers of the 20th Century, however, have examined all the Baconian
ciphers, have rejected them as invalid, and interest in the Shakespeare--Bacon
controversy has diminished (Zender 76).Shakespeare's popularity can be vividly noticed by
his marked career as one of The King's Men, and his gigantic success with dramas,
comedies, and poetry. Let us not forget Shakespeare's accomplished relationships as a
husband, father, and friend. Shakespeare's writings were meant for all to enjoy. However,
if one lived during Shakespeare's time and in that social structure, one might ask
oneself about socially superior, inferior, or equal, since every aspect of one's behavior
would be dependent upon social status.Nevertheless, there are all kinds of nuances in
Shakespeare's plays, tuning in on social distinctions that would take special effort to
notice (Zender 23). A safe assumption is that William Shakespeare was the most
fascinating of Elizabethan authors whose works have graced and mesmerized stage and
cinema throughout the centuries. Like most of Shakespeare's contemporaries, he borrowed
much from novels, older plays, history, mythology, and sources familiar surrounding this
worldly writer. Shakespeare's plays have been divided into three groups. His comedies
represent a wide range of types, and time periods vary throughout individual plays. It
was in tragedy that Shakespeare displayed his greatest genius, ROMEO and JULIET, HAMLET,
MACBETH, OTHELLLO, and KINGLEAR must be ranked among the greatest tragedies ever written.
For Shakespeare's works have been read and played out for Kings and commoners alike. Yes,
William Shakespeare was one of the most fascinating writers ever to be read throughout
time (Davidow 26).WORKS CITEDDavidow, S Leonard. The Comedies of Shakespeare. III:
Chicago, 1955.Davidow, S Leonard. The Histories of Shakespeare. III: Chicago,
1955.Davidow, S Leonard. The Tragedies of Shakespeare. III: Chicago, 1955.Goddard, C
Harold. The Meaning of Shakespeare. III: Chicago, 1951.Groiler INC. Encyclopedia America.
1991 Ed.Northrop, Frye. Shakespeare. Ontario: Markham, 1986.Zender, Thomas. Williams
Shakespeare; the Facts. NY: New York 1966.