Essay by Michelle Glück William Shakespeare 26.10.

2018

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was baptized on 26th April 1564 and died on 23rd April 1616. People
think he was born on 23rd April 1564, but the only date that has been released is the date of
his baptism, the date of his birth remains unknown. He was an English poet and playwright,
widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England’s
national poet and his extant works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long
narrative poems. His plays have been translated in many languages and are performed more
often than other plays from other playwright.

Shakespeare was, presumably, born on 23rd April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. Also no

attendance records for the period survive; most biographers agree that he was probably
educated at the King’s New School in Stratford, which is a free school that has been
chartered in 1553. At the age of 18, he married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway (*1556 -
†06.08.1623). They had three children: Susanna, who was the oldest daughter (*26.05.1583
- †11.07.1649) and the twins Judith (*02.02.1585 - †09.02.1662) and Hamnet (*02.02.1585 -
†11.08.1596). Hamnet Shakespeare died at the age of 11; the reason for his death is
unknown. Susanna and Judith got married and had children their own. Even though, William
and Anne had three children, their marriage was not full of love and harmony, which is
demonstrated by William giving the most important and prettiest things of his heritage to his
oldest daughter instead of leaving it behind for his wife, who was only receiving the second
best things (for example: the second best bed). Furthermore, it is assumed because William
went to London without his wife and children.

At the age of 26, William Shakespeare moved to London and started selling, producing and
performing his plays. He was noticed by many journalists because of his different and unique
style of writing, but there also were a lot of discussion and suspiciousness about his plays.
His work was often parodied and discussed in the media. Between 1590 and 1592, he began
a successful career as an actor, writer and part-owner of a playing company called ‘’Lord
Stranger’s Men’’, who were later on called ‘’Lord Chamberlain’s Men’’ and finally ‘’King’s
Men’’.

Since his plays were a huge success, he gained enough money to buy a state house in his
hometown Stratford-upon-Avon around 1613 at the age of 49, where he died three years
later on 23rd April 1616. A few records of his private life survived though and there have
been speculations about his physical appearance, religious beliefs and whether the works
attributed to him were written by others.
Most of his work was produced between 1589 and 1613, where his early written plays were
based on history and his later written plays were mainly tragedies, including Hamlet,
Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, which are considered as some of the finest works in the
English language. Shakespeare was a respected playwright and poet in his days, but until the
19th century, his reputation did not rise. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed
Shakespeare’s genius and in the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and
rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. The most famous play to
read, reinterpret, perform and analyze is Romeo and Juliet, which is one of the most known
plays written by William Shakespeare and is still something which is been read in higher
grades of schools today. It is an unusual story for the time it was written in, because it was
not allowed to marry the one you love. Therefore, it is a tragedy which was written in a
different style than other ones and also has an unusual story for the time it has been written
in.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, written by William Shakespeare, and set in Verona,
Italy, where there is an ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families,
which are both alike in dignity.
The play opens with a fight between servants from both houses in a street. Romeo, a
young man from the Montague house, laments his unhappy love for a woman named
Rosaline, who has vowed to remain chaste for the rest of her life. Romeo and his
friends decided to go to a party at the Capulet’s mansion, even though they are not
allowed to, because they are from the other house. They managed to get in anyway
and Romeo hoped to see Rosaline, but instead he meets Juliet for the first time and
falls in love with her. However, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt recognizes Romeo, though he
wears a costume, and wants to kill him on spot, but Juliet’s father intervenes.
Undeterred, Romeo quietly approaches Juliet and confesses his love for her and after
exchanging loving words, they kiss.
Afterwards, Juliet’s Nurse tells Romeo that Juliet is a Capulet, which upsets him.
Meanwhile, Juliet finds out that Romeo is a Montague and is similarly distraught.
Later that night, Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s garden and hears Juliet speaking her
thoughts about Romeo and her love for him out loud. Upon hearing her confession,
Romeo appears and tells Juliet that he loves her, but she warns him to be true in his
love and he swears by his own self that he will be. Before they part, they agree that
Juliet will send her Nurse to meet Romeo the next day, at which point he will set a
place for them to be married. The nurse carries out her duty and Romeo and Juliet
are getting married in secret.
Mercutio, a friend of Romeo, and Romeo’s cousin Benvolio are waiting on the street
later that day when Tybalt arrives to challenge Romeo to a duel. Romeo passively
resists fighting when Tybalt challenges him, at which point Mercutio jumps in and
draws his sword on Tybalt. Romeo tries to block them, but Tybalt cuts Mercutio and
runs away, only to return after he hears that Mercutio has died. Angry over his
 friend’s death, Romeo kills Tybalt, decides to flee and was banished from Verona
forever.
The nurse tells Juliet the sad news about what has happened to Tybalt and Romeo.
Therefore, she sends her nurse to find Romeo and give him her ring. That night,
Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s room and they consummate their marriage. The next
morning, Romeo is forced to leave when Juliet’s mother arrives.
Juliet’s father, meanwhile, decides that Juliet has to marry a young man named Paris,
who has been asking for her hand. As soon as Juliet’s parents tell her of their plan,
she refuses and insists that the nurse and her mother leave her side.
Juliet and Friar Laurence, who has arranged the marriage of Romeo and her, concoct
a plan to reunite her with Romeo. The Friar gives Juliet a potion that makes her seem
dead for at least two days, during which Romeo will come to meet her. Friar
Laurence promises to send Romeo the plan, but the man, who should have brought
him the message, has not been able to. Juliet drinks the potion that night and the
next morning, the day of Juliet and Paris’ wedding, her nurse finds her ‘’dead’’ in her
bed.
As soon as Romeo got the message that her Juliet is dead, he is heart-broken and
hurries back to Verona, but first he buys poison from an Apothecary and writes a
suicide note detailing the tragic course of events. When Friar Laurence noticed that
his letter never made it to Romeo, he rushes to the place Juliet was brought and
hopes to arrive before Romeo does.
Romeo arrives at the place where Juliet has brought and finds it guarded by Paris,
who challenges Romeo to a duel, where Romeo kills him quickly. Romeo then sees
Juliet’s ‘’dead’’ body and drinks the poison. He gives her a last kiss and dies.
Friar Laurence arrives just as Juliet wakes up, he tries to convince her, but upon
Romeo’s dead body, she takes her own life as well.
The two families, the Capulet and the Montague, arrive at the place and Friar
Laurence explains the whole story with Romeo’s letter as a confirmation. Both
families agree to settle their feud and form an alliance despite the tragic
circumstances.

Since his plays were based on history too, he wrote plays like Henry VI, which has different
parts and Richard III. It shows the War of Roses from the funeral of Henry V in 1422 to the
death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth field in 1485. Shakespeare, throughout the
plays, jumbles and compresses the chronology of events, making the conflict appear to be a
long, unending series of terrible battles. This way of drama ignores the long periods of
relative peace that marked most of Edward IV’s reign and drastically overstates the suffering
and disruption caused by the conflict. Furthermore, it heavily overemphasizes the benefits
bought by the Tudor victory and the military campaigns of the Wars of the Roses appear to
be extremely bloody and virtually continuous across a thirty-year period. Shakespeare
exaggerates a lot of things in about different persons from the war in his plays.

All in all, William Shakespeare is the most famous and respected playwright of all time.