Mary kate schellhardt biography of william shakespeare

ChicagoIllinoisU. Filmography [ edit ]. Film [ edit ]. Television [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Year in Review. December 28, The New Yorker. His fortunes declined, however, in the late s. There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. Scholars surmise that Shakespeare attended the grammar school in Stratford.

While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, wrote that John Shakespeare had placed William "for some time in a free school. As the records do not exist, we do not know how long William may have attended the school, but the literary quality of his works suggests a solid educational foundation.

What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has contributed to the debate about the authorship of his works. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26—and pregnant. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, For the seven years following the birth of his twins, William Shakespeare disappears from all records, finally turning up again in London some time in This period, known as the " Lost Years ," has sparked as much controversy about Shakespeare's life as any period.

Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and may have had to flee Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose deer and rabbits he allegedly poached. There is also rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this is circumstantial at best. Owning the playhouse proved to be a financial boon for Shakespeare and the other investors.

The company quickly rebuilt it, and it reopened the next year. InPuritans outlawed all theaters, including the Globe, which was demolished two years later.

Mary kate schellhardt biography of william shakespeare

Centuries passed until American actor Sam Wanamaker began working to resurrect the theater once more. The third Globe Theater opened inand today, more than 1. Some plays blur these lines, and over time, our interpretation of them has changed, too. However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and creating a freer flow of words.

With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to compose his plays. At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose. Download our complete William Shakespeare Study Guide for free to explore the key themes and characters from three of his most important plays.

Download Free Study Guide. Character in OthelloKing Learand Macbeth present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamletwhich explores betrayal, retribution, incest, and moral failure. Shakespeare wrote comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew.

Some of his comedies might be better described as tragicomedies. Although graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness. Additional Shakespeare comedies include:. Shakespeare is known to have created plays with other writers, such as John Fletcher.

They also collaborated on Cardenioa play which was not preserved. When including these works, Shakespeare has 41 plays to his name. Around the turn of the 17 th century, Shakespeare became a more extensive property owner in Stratford. When his father, John, died inhe inherited the family home. Then, inhe purchased about acres for pounds. InShakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for pounds, which doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds a year.

This made him an entrepreneur as well as an artist, and scholars believe these investments gave him uninterrupted time to write his plays. William Shakespeare English poet and playwright — Shakespeare is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language. He wrote 38 plays and sonnets. His father William was a successful local businessman, and his mother Mary was the daughter of a landowner.

Relatively prosperous, it is likely the family paid for Williams education, although there is no evidence he attended university. In William, aged only 18, married an older woman named Anne Hathaway. They had three children, Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Their only son Hamnet died aged just After his marriage, information about the life of Shakespeare is sketchy, but it seems he spent most of his time in London — writing and acting in his plays.

Due to some well-timed investments, Shakespeare was able to secure a firm financial background, leaving time for writing and acting. The best of these investments was buying some real estate near Stratford inwhich soon doubled in value. It is thought that during the s he wrote the majority of his sonnets.