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William Shakespeare has gone down in history as the greatest English poet and playwright of all time. However, in fact relatively little is known about the man.
We do know that he was the eldest son, and third child of eight, of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. And we know that he was baptised on 26th April 1564, although his actual birth date is uncertain.
Very few facts are then known about William's childhood, although it is believed that he attended the local Grammar school in Stratford.
At the age of 18 Shakespeare married local girl Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than him. And as their first child, (Susannah) was born just 6 months later you can put two and two together!
Twins (Hamnet and Judith) followed soon after, in 1567. However at around the time of the twins' birth Shakespeare was caught poaching at Charlecote estate.
As a result he fled to London, possibly with a drama company that had visited Stratford that year.
The theatre was flourishing in London at this time, and Shakespeare was soon engrossed in drama, working for the Lord Chamberlain's Company at the Globe theatre.
Within a few years he had written his first poem "Venus and Adonis", and one of his first plays, "The Comedy of Errors", was published soon after.
Over the next couple of decades he wrote nearly 40 plays and numerous poems, and became one of the most successful playwrights in London, courting favour from both Queen Elizabeth I and her successor James I.
In 1610 Shakespeare retired back to Stratford-upon-Avon, purchasing New Place as his retirement home. And in 1616 he died, being buried in the chancel of Stratford's Holy Trinity Church.
These relatively few details of Shakespeare's life are due to the fact that, although he wrote so many plays and poems, he left few letters or other personal writings.
The fact that so little is known about Shakespeare's life has led to some questions that raise doubts about the authenticity of his work -
Questions such as...
How did a tradesman's son know so much about royal protocol?
How did he know so much about classical literature if he didn't attend university?
Why was no obituary printed when he was such a well known writer?
These unanswered questions have resulted in great debate over the years, with several theories being put forward as to the "real" author of the work.
Suggestions range from a contemporary author writing under a pseudonym, to the Earl of Oxford who may have wished to remain anonymous.
Nevertheless, despite the theorising, it is almost certain that Shakespeare was indeed the real author of the plays and poems. |
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