Research Shakespeare's life, ensuring you include information about his origins, family, relationships, the world he lived in and questions surrounding his work.
(the most accurate portrait of Shakespeare though it was probably biased in terms of flattery)
- Where was he born? - Stratford Upon Avon, Henley Street
- Where was he from? - He grew up in Stratford until he was old enough to marry and it was here that he spent the first five years of his family life with his wife Anne Hathaway.
- What was it like? - As written in the previous blog life was pretty simple.
- What was Stratford Upon Avon like? - Seeing as stratford upon avon was a town/market town there was more of a sense of community. It was based in a farming area of the midlands.
- How big was the town? - compared to a modern town it was a generally small town but it was considered as a central hub and quite busy, even after the population reduction due to the page.
- How many inhabitants? - About 1000 people lived there.
- What surrounded it? - farmland, forests etc
- Who was his family? (mum, dad, 2 older sisters that didn't survive infancy, three younger brothers and two younger sisters one of which who didn't survive infancy)
- What were his relationships? (women, men, people he worked with, his kids)
Birth - April 23, 1564 (or within a few days previously) as this is when he was baptised
Siblings - He grew up as the oldest of his surviving siblings (Gilbert, Richard, Edmund and Joan)
Parents- His father (John Shakespeare) was a leatherworker (specialising in soft white gloves) a prosperous businessman. His mother was Mary Arden of the well respected Arden family. His father became the bailiff of Stratford (essentially the town mayor) but then left the public eye.
When he was still a baby the bubonic plague killed about 200 of Stratford's population
Schooling
He was attended a grammar school at the age of seven and most likely put in a class of boys all different ages to learn to read, speak and write in Latin. They also learnt to memorise and perform historic stories which was probably Williams first experience of the theatrical arts. The school days would last from sunrise to sun set which was around 7 to 5. Shakespeare himself often mentions/references fastidious school masters and is said to have not enjoyed school very much though there isn't much evidence of this being true. Similar to most other boys, it is likely that he left school aged fifteen and never attended university.
When his father left his position of bailiff William worked in his fathers glove maker shop.
He lived in a big house but didn't have any food on the table.
Married Life
In late 1583 (aged 18) Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a local farmers daughter. Most men in this era were married at the age of 20 but shakespeare most likely married early as Anne Hathaway was 3 months or so pregnant with their first child, Susanna. He had two more children (Hamnet and Judith) twins who were most likely met with controversy and speculation from a world very much behind on medical knowledge. Shakespeare spent a lot of his time in London which was 100 miles away.
Later life
From about 1590 to 1613 Shakespeare practically lived in London and was supposedly a well known actor. He was also a playwright which is assuredly what cemented his name in history and made him a household name even 400 years after his death. He wrote about 40 plays including Henry VI which was performed at the Rose Theatre in 1592 which was excavated and is currently/open to the public for historical reference. Shakespeare was actually a poet and in 1609 he published a book of 154 sonnets (a classically Italian poem form also known as "little poem") a lot of these poems were also romantic and more to it directed towards a male opening speculation to homosexuality/bisexuality.
Like his father Shakespeare was also a businessman (part owner of a theatre company and The Globe Theatre.) Making money solely from acting, writing and running a theatre company.
After 1613 Shakespeare spent more time back in Stratford-Upon-Avon. He died at the age of 52 (not seen as too old for the time and life expectancy) on the 23rd of April 1616. He is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-Upon-Avon where it is said that his head was taken by grave robbers, most likely for medical research purposes as he was famed for having a great mind.
My personal ideas surrounding his work
Shakespeare stole/adapted a number of his story/play ideas. He took his stories from classical art either directly (e.g. Othello) he also wrote a lot of his tragedies in accordance to greek tragedy conventions (Aristotle's theories), his narratives are also often very similar to figures/stories in latin art, Italian folk tales etc. It wasn't looked down upon at all to take said ideas and adapt them and in a sense it isn't or shouldn't today. In context of modern day art and pop culture i would compare what Shakespeare did with older outlines and structures to what artists like Kanye West does with sampling, taking art and creating something original and new from it.
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