In 1582 Shakespeare was married to Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a peasant family of Shottery, who was eight years older than her boy husband. About the year 1587 Shakespeare left his family and went to London and joined himself to Burbage’s company of players. Of his life in London from 1587 to 1611, the period of his greatest literary activity, The first authentic reference to him is in 1592, when Greene’s[149] bitter attack appeared, showing that Shakespeare had in five years assumed an important position among playwrights. Then appeared the apology of the publishers of Greene’s pamphlet, with their tribute to the poet’s sterling character.
Ben Jonson says of him: “I loved the man and do honor his memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed honest, and of an open and free nature.”
Shakespeare soon became an actor, and counted among the “stars.” He worked with other men, and he revised old plays before writing his own, and so gained a practical knowledge of his art. Shakespeare’s poems, rather than his dramatic work, mark the beginning of his success. “Venus and Adonis” became immensely popular in London, and its dedication to the Earl of Southampton brought, according to tradition, a substantial money gift, which may have laid the foundation for Shakespeare’s business success. and soon became part owner of the Globe and Blackfriars theaters, in which his plays were presented by his own companies. About the year 1611, he left London and retired permanently to Stratford.
In 1609, however, Five different accounts of this fascinating shipwreck were published, and the Bermudas became known as the “Ile of Divels.” Shakespeare took this story–which caused as much popular interest as that later shipwreck which gave us Robinson Crusoe–and wove it into The Tempest. In the same year (1611) he probably sold his interest in the Globe and Blackfriars theaters, and his dramatic work was ended.
He was given a tomb in the chancel of the parish church, and in the sad irony of fate, the broad stone that covered his tomb–now an object of veneration to the thousands that yearly visit the little church–was inscribed as follows:
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbeare
To dig the dust enclosed heare;
Bleste be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.,
Works of Shakespeare. The first printed collection of his plays, now called the First Folio (1623), was made by two actors, Heming and Condell, who asserted that they had access to the papers of the poet and had made a perfect edition, “in order to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive.” This contains thirty-six of the thirty-seven plays generally attributed to Shakespeare, Pericles being omitted.
Four PeriodsThese are: (1) a period of early experimentation. It is marked by youthfulness and exuberance of imagination, by extravagance of language, and by the frequent use of rimed couplets with his blank verse. The period dates from his arrival in London to 1595. Typical works of this first period are his early poems, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Richard III. (2) A period of rapid growth and development, from 1595 to 1600. Such plays as The Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and Henry IV, all written in this period, show more careful and artistic work, better plots, and a marked increase in knowledge of human nature. (3) A period of gloom and depression, from 1600 to 1607, which marks the full maturity of his powers. What caused this evident sadness is unknown; but it is generally attributed to some personal experience, coupled with the political misfortunes of his friends, Essex and Southampton. The Sonnets with their note of personal disappointment, Twelfth Night, which is Shakespeare’s “farewell to mirth,” and his great tragedies, Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and Julius Cæsar, belong to this period. (4) A period of restored serenity, of calm after storm, which marked the last years of the poet’s literary work. The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest are the best of his later plays;
First Period, Early Experiment. Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece, 1594; Titus Andronicus, Henry VI (three parts), 1590-1591; Love’s Labour’s Lost, 1590;Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1591-1592; Richard-III, 1593; Richard II, King John, 1594-1595.
Second Period, Development. Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1595; Merchant of Venice, Henry IV (first part), 1596; Henry IV (second part),Merry Wives of Windsor, 1597; Much Ado About Nothing, 1598; As You Like It, Henry V, 1599.
Third Period, Maturity and Gloom. Sonnets (1600-?), Twelfth Night, 1600; Taming of the Shrew, Julius Cæsar, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, 1601-1602;All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, 1603; Othello, 1604; King Lear, 1605; Macbeth, 1606; Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, 1607.
Fourth Period, Late Experiment. Coriolanus, Pericles, 1608; Cymbeline, 1609; Winter’s Tale, 1610-1611; The Tempest, 1611; Henry VIII (unfinished).
Classification according to Source. In history, legend, and story, Shakespeare found the material for nearly all his dramas; and so they are often divided into three classes, called historical plays, like Richard III and Henry V; legendary or partly historical plays, like Macbeth, King Lear, and Julius Cæsar; and fictional plays, like Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare invented few, if any, of the plots or stories upon which his dramas are founded, but borrowed them freely, after the custom of his age, wherever he found them. For his legendary and historical material he depended, largely onHolinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and on North’s translation of Plutarch’s famous Lives.
A full half of his plays are fictional, and in these he used the most popular romances of the day, seeming to depend most on the Italian story-tellers. Only two or three of his plots, as in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Merry Wives of Windsor, are said to be original, and even these are doubtful. Occasionally Shakespeare made over an older play, as in Henry VI, Comedy of Errors, and Hamlet; and in one instance at least he seized upon an incident of shipwreck in which London was greatly interested, and made out of it the original and fascinating play of The Tempest, in much the same spirit which leads our modern playwrights when they dramatize a popular novel or a war story to catch the public fancy.
Classification according to Dramatic Type. Shakespeare’s dramas are usually divided into three classes, called tragedies, comedies, and historical plays. Strictly speaking the drama has but two divisions, tragedy and comedy, in which are included the many subordinate forms of tragi-comedy, melodrama, lyric drama (opera), farce, etc.
Comedies. Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Winter’s Tale, The Tempest, Twelfth Night.
Tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello.
Historical Plays. Julius Cæsar, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra.
Doubtful Plays. It is reasonably certain that some of the plays generally attributed to Shakespeare are partly the work of other dramatists. The first of these doubtful plays, often called the Pre-Shakespearian Group, are Titus Andronicus and the first part of Henry VI. Shakespeare probably worked with Marlowe in the two last parts of Henry VI and in Richard III. The three plays, Taming of the Shrew, Timon, and Pericles are only partly Shakespeare’s work, but the other authors are unknown. Henry VIII is the work of Fletcher and Shakespeare, opinion being divided as to whether Shakespeare helped Fletcher, or whether it was an unfinished work of Shakespeare which was put into Fletcher’s hands for completion. Two Noble Kinsmen is a play not ordinarily found in editions of Shakespeare, but it is often placed among his doubtful works. The greater part of the play is undoubtedly by Fletcher. Edward III is one of several crude plays published at first anonymously and later attributed to Shakespeare by publishers who desired to sell their wares. It contains a few passages that strongly suggest Shakespeare; but the external evidence is all against his authorship.
Shakespeare’s Poems. His two long poems, “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece,” contain much poetic fancy; but it must be said of both that the subjects are unpleasant, and that they are dragged out to unnecessary length in order to show the play of youthful imagination. They were extremely popular in Shakespeare’s day, but in comparison with his great dramatic works these poems are now of minor importance.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, one hundred and fifty-four in number, are the only direct expression of the poet’s own feelings that we possess; for his plays are the most impersonal in all literature. They were published together in 1609; but if they had any unity in Shakespeare’s mind, their plan and purpose are hard to discover. By some critics they are regarded as mere literary exercises; by others as the expression of some personal grief during the third period of the poet’s literary career. Still others, taking a hint from the sonnet beginning “Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,” divide them all into two classes, addressed to a man who was Shakespeare’s friend, and to a woman who disdained his love. The reader may well avoid such classifications and read a few sonnets, like the twenty-ninth, for instance, and let them speak their own message. A few are trivial and artificial enough, suggesting the elaborate exercises of a piano player; but the majority are remarkable for their subtle thought and exquisite expression. Here and there is one, like that beginning
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
which will haunt the reader long afterwards, like the remembrance of an old German melody.
Shakespeare’s Place and Influence. Shakespeare holds, by general acclamation, the foremost place in the world’s literature, and his overwhelming greatness renders it difficult to criticise or even to praise him. Two poets only, Homer and Dante, have been named with him; but each of these wrote within narrow limits, while Shakespeare’s genius included all the world of nature and of men. In a word, he is the universal poet. To study nature in his works is like exploring a new and beautiful country; to study man in his works is like going into a great city, viewing the motley crowd as one views a great masquerade in which past and present mingle freely and familiarly, as if the dead were all living again. And the marvelous thing, in this masquerade of all sorts and conditions of men, is that Shakespeare lifts the mask from every face, lets us see the man as he is in his own soul, and shows us in each one some germ of good, some “soul of goodness” even in things evil. For Shakespeare strikes no uncertain note, and raises no doubts to add to the burden of your own. Good always overcomes evil in the long run; and love, faith, work, and duty are the four elements that in all ages make the world right. To criticise or praise the genius that creates these men and women is to criticise or praise humanity itself.
Of his influence in literature it is equally difficult to speak. Goethe expresses the common literary judgment when he says, “I do not remember that any book or person or event in my life ever made so great an impression upon me as the plays of Shakespeare.” His influence upon our own language and thought is beyond calculation. Shakespeare and the King James Bible are the two great conservators of the English speech; and one who habitually reads them finds himself possessed of a style and vocabulary that are beyond criticism. Even those who read no Shakespeare are still unconsciously guided by him, for his thought and expression have so pervaded our life and literature that it is impossible, so long as one speaks the English language, to escape his influence.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, “This was a man!”
William Shakespeare
1) When was William Shakespeare born?
a) 23 April 1564
2) Where was William Shakespeare born?
d) Stratford-on-Avon
3) Whom did William Shakespeare marry?
a) Anne Hathaway
4) By how many years William Shakespeares wife was older to William Shakespeare?
b) Eight
5) How many plays did William Shakespeare write?
d) 37
6) How many Acts are in William Shakespeares plays?
c) Five
7) Who is the Shrew in the play The Taming of the Shrew?
c) Katherine
8) Which play has the characters Cordelia, Goneril and Regan?
b) King Lear
9) Which is the last play written by William Shakespeare?
d) The Tempest
12) A famous theatre in London is associated with William Shakespeare; it is…
ENGLISH KI PATHSHALA 