Biography and Theatre

Shakespeare



Shakespeare\'s plays form one of literature\'s greatest legacies. His plays are divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. Shakespeare plays have spawned thousands of performances, adaptations and films. From famous tragedies like “Macbeth” and “King Lear” to tragic love stories such as “Romeo and Juliet” to epic historic plays like “Antony and Cleopatra”, they enlighten, sadden, teach and most important of all, entertain any reader, spectator or learner.



His Biography:



Ironically enough, the very existence of the great Shakespeare is not a concrete fact, but an issue about which there is much argument. But there are documents to prove the existence of a person called Shakespeare, all of a legal or financial nature, not related in any way to his profession as an author of great works of art.



William was born in 1564. This is known from the earliest record of his life; his baptism which happened on Wednesday, April the 26th, 1564. From this record, it is assumed he was born in 1564. Similarly by knowing the baptism date, it is guessed that he was born three days earlier on St. George’s day, though there is no conclusive proof of this.



There is great conjecture about Shakespeare\'s childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare\'s knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory.



As a son of a Stratford official, Shakespeare would have been granted a waiver of tuition. As the records do not exist, we do not know how long William attended, but certainly the literary quality of his works suggest a solid education. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has stirred some of the...