William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564 -
1616): BIOGRAPHY etc.
Details about William
Shakespeare's life are sketchy, mostly mere surmise based upon court or other
clerical records. His parents, John and Mary (Arden), were married about 1557; she was of
the landed gentry, he a yeoman-a glover and commodities merchant. By 1568, John
had risen through the ranks of town government and held the position of high
bailiff, similar to mayor. William, the eldest son, was born in 1564, probably
on April 23, several days before his baptism on April 26, 1564. That
Shakespeare also died on April 23, 52 years later, may have resulted in the
adoption of this birth date.
William no doubt attended
the local grammar school in Stratford
where his parents lived, and would have studied primarily Latin rhetoric, logic,
and literature. At age 18 (1582), William married Anne Hathaway, a local
farmer's daughter eight years his senior. Their first daughter (Susanna) was
born six months later (1583), and twins Judith and Hamnet were born in 1585.
Shakespeare's life can be
divided into three periods: the first 20 years in Stratford,
which include his schooling, early marriage, and fatherhood; the next 25 years
as an actor and playwright in London; and the
last five in retirement back in Stratford
where he enjoyed moderate wealth gained from his theatrical successes. The
years linking the first two periods are marked by a lack of information about
Shakespeare, and are often referred to as the "dark years"; the transition from
active work into retirement was gradual and cannot be precisely dated.
John Shakespeare had
suffered financial reverses from William's teen years until well into the
height of the playwright's popularity and success. In 1596, John Shakespeare
was granted a coat of arms, almost certainly purchased by William, who the next
year bought a sizable house in Stratford.
By the time of his death, William had substantial properties, both professional
and personal, which he bestowed on his theatrical associates and his family
(primarily his daughter Susanna, having rewritten his will one month before his
death to protect his assets from Judith's new husband, Thomas Quiney, who ran
afoul of church doctrine and public esteem before and after the marriage).
Shakespeare probably left
school at 15, which was the norm, and took some sort of job, especially since
this was the period of his father's financial difficulty. Numerous references
in his plays suggest that William may have in fact worked for his father,
thereby gaining specialized knowledge.
At some point during the
"dark years," Shakespeare began his career with a London theatrical company-perhaps in 1589-for
he was already an actor and playwright of some note in 1592. Shakespeare
apparently wrote and acted for Pembroke's Men, as well as numerous others, in
particular Strange's Men, which later became the Chamberlain's Men, with whom he remained for the rest of his
career.
When, in 1592, the Plague
closed the theaters for about two years, Shakespeare turned to writing
book-length narrative poetry. Most notable were "Venus and Adonis" and "The
Rape of Lucrece," both of which were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, whom
scholars accept as Shakespeare's friend and benefactor despite a lack of
documentation. During this same period, Shakespeare was writing his sonnets,
which are more likely signs of the time's fashion rather than actual love poems
detailing any particular relationship. He returned to play writing when
theaters reopened in 1594, and published no more poetry. His sonnets were
published without his consent in 1609, shortly before his retirement.
Amid all of his success,
Shakespeare suffered the loss of his only son, Hamnet, who died in 1596 at the
age of 11. But Shakespeare's career continued unabated, and in London in 1599, he became one of the partners
in the new Globe Theater, built by
the Chamberlain's Men. This group was a remarkable assemblage of "excellent
actors who were also business partners and close personal friends . . .
[including] Richard Burbage . . . [who] all worked together as equals . . . " .
A paint of the "Globe Theatre",
built in 1603
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When Queen Elizabeth died
in 1603 and was succeeded by her cousin King James of Scotland, the Chamberlain's Men was
renamed the King's Men, and Shakespeare's productivity and popularity continued
uninterrupted. He invested in London real estate and, one year away from
retirement, purchased a second theater, the Blackfriars Gatehouse, in
partnership with his fellow actors. His final play was Henry VIII, two
years before his death in 1616.
Incredibly, most of
Shakespeare's plays had never been published in anything except pamphlet form,
and were simply extant as acting scripts stored at the Globe. Only the efforts
of two of Shakespeare's company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, preserved his
36 plays (minus Pericles, the thirty-seventh) in the First Folio.
Heminges and Condell published the plays, they said, "only to keep the memory
of so worthy a friend and fellow alive as was our Shakespeare". Theater scripts
were not regarded as literary works of art, but only the basis for the
performance. Plays were a popular form of entertainment for all layers of
society in Shakespeare's time, which perhaps explains why Hamlet feels
compelled to instruct the traveling Players on the fine points of acting, urging
them not "to split the ears of the groundlings," nor "speak no more than is set
down for them."
Present copies of
Shakespeare's plays have, in some cases, been reconstructed in part from
scripts written down by various members of an acting company who performed
particular roles. Shakespeare's plays, like those of many of the actors who
also were playwrights, belonged to the acting company. The performance, rather
than the script, was what concerned the author, for that was how his play would
become popular-and how the company, in which many actors were shareholders,
would make money.
William Shakespeare died on
April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later in the chancel of Holy Trinity
Church where he had been
baptized exactly 52 years earlier.
DATE'S
SUMMARY: (About his life)
- 1556 - Anne Hathaway is born.
- 1564
- William Shakespeare is born in April (probably the 23rd) in
Stratford-On-Avon (94
miles from London.)
- 1582
- Marries Anne Hathaway on November 27.
- 1583 - Susanna Shakespeare is
born.
- 1585
- The twins Judith and Hamnet Shakespeare are born.
- 1592
- After leaving Stratford for London, William was
recognized as a successful actor, as well as a leading poet. He was a member of
'The Chamberlain's Men'.
- 1596
- Hamnet dies at the age of eleven. Shakespeare becomes a
'gentleman' when the College
of Heralds grants
his father a coat of arms.
- 1597-
He bought a large house called 'The Great House of New Place'.
- 1599
- The 'Globe Theater' is built from the pieces of 'The Theater' in July.
- 1603
- 'The Lord Chamberlain's Men' became 'The King's Men' on May 19.
- 1613
- The 'Globe Theatre' burns during a performance of Henry VII when a canon
fired on the roof sets fire to the straw thatch. The theatre is rebuilt, but
Shakespeare retires.
- 1616
- April 23, in
Stratford,
on his 52nd birthday he died.
Timeline of Shakespeare's Plays
Short plot of Antony
and Cleopatra (tragedy, 1606)
The play tells of the
scandalous affair between the Roman general Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
Their blind passion which leads to their ultimate downfall and deaths. The plot
encompasses the strong themes of ambition, power, love, friendship, deception
and disaster.
Octavius
Caesar (later renamed to Augustus Caesar, son of the murdered Julius Caesar), Antony, and Lepidus form
the Roman triumvirate that rules the Western world. Lepidus leaves the
triumvirate, and Caesar and Antony
are left to rule the world. Antony, though
married to Fluvia, lives in Alexandria,
Egypt with his
mistress Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. Fueled by a disgust at his lifestyle in
Egypt and anger over the wars
caused by Antony's relatives, Caesar calls Antony home to Rome.
Antony agrees,
but only after Fluvia dies of an illness. Once in Rome,
Caesar and Antony try to make amends through the
marriage of Antony
to Caesar's sister Octavia.
Antony soon
deserts Octavia, however, and returns to live with Cleopatra. Caesar, enraged,
vows to attack and regain control of Egypt
from Antony and
Cleopatra. Caesar's army is more powerful and more skillful, and soon
approaches defeat of Antony.
Enobarbus, Antony's
best friend, deserts him and joins Caesar's army. However, Enobarbus becomes
overcome with regret and remorse for leaving Antony, and kills himself near Caesar's
headquarters. Antony,
facing defeat, asks Eros (another friend) to kill him. Eros cannot, and instead
kills himself. Antony
then kills himself by falling on his sword. Cleopatra, in grief over Antony's death and
determined never to fall under Caesar's command commits suicide by allowing
poisonous asps to bite her. Cleopatra's main attendant (Charmian) dies in the
same manner, while her second attendant (Iras) dies from stress and grief over
Cleopatra's death.
[ Medio appunti ]
