WEEK 2 - SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE AND BIOGRAPHY

Where was he born? 

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564. This was a very small country town in Warwickshire which wasn't much bigger than a village or a market. The population of England in 1564 was less than five million people. Stratford upon Avon had about 1,500 people living there. The town consisted of half - timbered buildings and was surrounded by countryside and woodlands. I get the impression that this was a very ordinary and quiet town. In 1553 King Edward VI re-founded the grammar school this was introduced to Stratford upon Avon so that young people could study there. This benefitted William Shakespeare greatly and made it an excellent place for him to live. Shakespeare was lucky as he could afford an education. However, he didn't like school very much and even mocked it in his plays. I find this interesting as this was such as valuable part of his life as the school taught him to read and write. 

Who was in his family?

Shakespeare had a large family as shown above. However, this wasn't uncommon in Elizabethan times. In proportion to the sizes of most families in that era, Shakespeare’s family was not large by those standards. Shakespeare's brothers and sisters consisted of:

Joan, born 1558, died before 1569.
Margaret, born 1562, died 1563 (aged 5 months).
(William, born 1564, died 1616.)
Gilbert, born 1566, haberdasher, died 1612. (A haberdasher sells hats, clothes, thread, ribbons etc.)
Joan*, born 1569, married William Hart, died 1646.
Anne, born 1571, died 1579.
Richard, born 1574, occupation unknown, died 1613.
Edmund,* born 1580, "player," died 1607.



William Shakespeare's father was called John Shakespeare. It is strange that there isn't very much known information or personal details about William, however there is quite a lot of known information about his father. John Shakespeare was a glove-maker and owned a few public offices. over a twenty year period. From about 1577, when William was 13, John Shakespeare suffered financial loss and ceased to play a part in local government. His situation improved from 1596 until his death in 1601.

William's mother was called Mary Shakespeare.  Mary was the daughter of a landowner in a lesser branch of an aristocratic family. Mary's maiden name was Arden. Shakespeare used this name as the setting of Shakespeare's As You Like It. This is interesting as it shows Shakespeare's strong relationships with his family and how this affected his work.



Unfortunately, William lost his two older sisters to the bubonic plague. This was very common in this period and 20% of the population of Stratford died from the plague. 

This could explain why a lot of his work focuses on sibling relations such as reunion in Twelfth Night or the loss of siblings in King Lear. Also, growing up with a socially mobile mother may hhave had an influence on his views about the roles of females in society; this was because he writes complex, three dimensional, diverse women throughout most of his plays. 

Relationships in his life

Many people contemplate the question of whether or not Shakespeare was homosexual. There are very few details of Shakespeare's sexuality that are publicly known. Many people have suggested that Shakespeare's sonnets are actually about someone he knew personally. There is some evidence that they are about his love for a young man. However, different interpretations suggest the same passages are a form of expressing an intense friendship rather than romantic love. It is known that he married a woman named Anne Hathaway in 1582 at the age of 18 after he impregnated her. This was an unusually early age to marry in this era. He also wrote sonnets about her which suggest that he was heterosexual.

Work

William Shakespeare was born in 1565 and died in 1616. His exact date of birth is unknown which adds to the mystery behind the famous playwright. He is the world's most famous playwright and is renowned for his sonnets, poems and creating new words and linguistics. He wrote 38 full length plays, 154 Sonnets and two long narrative poems. However, there are various rumours that not all of his work was written by him. His work is very mysterious and secretive as few records were kept in those days; some say some success could be attributed to his contemporaries, other writers, aliens or even time travel. Despite all the controversy, his influence has affected western literature for hundreds of years and will continue to do so for many more years.