Alastair lynch biography of william shakespeare

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(Most scholars and literary historians dismiss this hypothesis, although many suspect Shakespeare sometimes collaborated with other playwrights.)

Shakespeare’s Plays and Poems

Shakespeare’s first plays, believed to have been written before or around 1592, encompass all three of the main dramatic genres in the bard’s oeuvre: tragedy (“Titus Andronicus”); comedy (“The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Taming of the Shrew”); and history (the “Henry VI” trilogy and “Richard III”).

Judith went on to marry Thomas Quinney in 1616 and had three sons: Shakespeare, Richard, and Thomas. After 1567 it is alleged that he was in financial difficulties. He attended until he was 14 or 15 and did not continue to university. The story reimagines how the death of Shakespeare’s young son may have shaped the playwright’s later work and emotional world.

Family Life

A year after Hamnet’s death, Shakespeare purchased one of the largest houses in Stratford, called New Place, for his family in May 1597.

He also continued to make the occasional long journey to London. However, records indicate John’s fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s. There are two primary sources that provide historians with an outline of his life. Shakespeare was likely affiliated with several different theater companies when these early works debuted on the London stage.

This latter theory is given weight as 14 plus of his plays include Italian settings, and a 16th Century guest book in Rome signed by pilgrims includes three cryptic signings that some attribute to Shakespeare.

alastair lynch biography of william shakespeare

There is no record of Shakespeare going to university. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing.

Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature. Children of public officials received free tuition. These included The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, The Tempest, and Cymbeline.

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. This is not a watertight argument though because Italian literature would have been widely read at the time. He likely spent the last three years of his life in Stratford.

When Did Shakespeare Die?

Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616, but some scholars believe this is a myth.

It is unknown whether he completed his studies or abandoned them as an adolescent to apprentice with his father.

At 18 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway (1556-1616), a woman eight years his senior, in a ceremony thought to have been hastily arranged due to her pregnancy. He is also responsible for many common phrases, such as “love is blind” and “wild goose chase.”

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For all his fame today, Shakespeare’s reputation as a dramatic genius wasn’t recognized until the 19th century.

This was called The King’s New School, and was just a five-minute walk from his home on Henley Street. They co-wrote The Two Noble Kinsmen around 1613–14, making it Shakespeare’s last known dramatic work.