In my English class, we did a biography unit on authors, and, as an introduction, we had to research William Shakespeare (if you don’t know who that is, just wait, you will). We were to accumulate our information into an obituary for him. The following is mine:
William Shakespeare, a man of many words and unparalleled imagination, a man who wrote over three dozen plays and inspired millions, has tragically died on this April 23, 1616, in his hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon.
On April 23, 1564, the 6th year of Queen Elizabeth I’s rule, Mary and John Shakespeare gave birth to a son. When young William was but 5, his father, who was both a glove maker and a produce trader, was elected as the mayor of their little town, Stratford, which lay upon the Avon River.
Whilst we don’t know all that much about Shakespeare’s school years, since no surviving records of his report cards and the like have been discovered, we can discern a few facts from his work. Studies show that his school experiences may have influenced The Merry Wives of Windsor, and thanks to the era, we know that he studied Latin, since much of the schoolwork of the day was actually in Latin.
At age 12, his father’s financial situation went downhill, never to recover. It is also agreed that he may have discontinued his education when he was roughly 13 to help his father in the shop, quite possibly because of their sinking financial position. For William himself, however, probably the most interesting parts of his teen years were his marriage at 18 and the birth of his first child, Suzanna, at 19. Shakespeare went on to have 2 more kids, twins, just two years after Suzanna’s birth.
We aren’t entirely certain what he did in these first years of his adulthood, but within a decade he had started writing. The young poet made a name for himself in the capital, and when King James I inherited the crown in 1603, he officially made Shakespeare one of the “King’s Men,” a great honor.
Over the course of his career, he wrote many plays, including:
- Romeo and Juliet (produced 1591-96?)
- King John (produced 1594-96?)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (produced 1596?)
- The Merchant of Venice (produced 1596-97?)
- The Merry Wives of Windsor (produced 1598-99?)
- Much Ado About Nothing (produced 1598-99?)
- Henry V (produced 1598-99)
- Julius Caesar (produced 1599)
- Hamlet (produced 1599-1601?)
- Twelfth Night; or, What You Will (produced 1601-02?)
- Othello (produced 1602-03?)
- Macbeth (produced 1602-06)
- King Lear (produced 1605)
- Coriolanus (produced 1607-10?)
- The Tempest (produced 1610-11?)
- The Winter’s Tale (produced 1611?)
Especially in the last few years of his career, his plotlines darkened and clear connections could be made between his personal life and his characters. This was particularly noticeable in Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest.
Shakespeare’s work was popular during his life, and even more so after his death. He continues to be an inspiration to generations, a god of the literary world, immortally ingrained in our minds and lives.
