Shakespeare in Life
Wherever we go today, we just can't seem to get away from him. He is in movies, in the theater, even on TV. Whether modernized or set back in Elizabethan times, his influence is everywhere in the things we use for our entertainment. We think we know who he really was, what his life has all about. He almost seems immortal in our eyes. Who was William Shakespeare? Who was this man we still have placed on a pedestal almost four thousand years after he lived? Was he really the man that Hollywood glamorized? Shakespeare's life, work and controversies come together to form our beliefs of who this great writer really is. William Shakespeare is clouded with mystery. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in 1564. Although his exact birth date is not know, there is a record of his baptism on April 26, 1954 (Kay 13). His date of birth would have fallen shortly before that day. He was born to John Shakespeare and his wife, Mary Arden and was the oldest of three sons. He also had four sisters. Shakespeare was educated at the local grammar school. Other than that, there really is not much known about Shakespeare's youth. The next concrete piece of evidence about Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne
Kay, Dennis. William Shakespeare: His Life and Times. New York: Twayne Publishers,1995. before, his first poem Venus and Adonis was published in 1593 during the plague (Kay 144). It was dedicated to Sir Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton. It is a tale of love, lust and the classic romantic chase. Instead of the usual boy-chases-girl routine, the beautiful and desirous Venus pursues the young and disinterested Adonis. The more vigorously she chases, the harder he pulls away. His other poem was The Rape of Lucrece. Venus and Adonis was not the only work that Shakespeare dedicated to the Earl. His sonnets are like letters to the Earl (McMahon website). Sonnets are short, Shakespeare in Love shows him as a romantic struggling with writer's block until a beautiful girl of noble blood comes into his life. It shows him as being Romeo while Viola is his Juliet and all the while he is writing the play. It does show his flaws but only to add to the drama of the plot of this movie. When I graduated from high school, I received a book called Lessons on Living From Shakespeare edited by Michael Macrone. It is filled with lines from the plays and sonnets that are supposed to help people cope with everyday McMahon, Robert. "CobblerRob's Guide to Shakespeare's Sonnets." Website. man who forged some of Shakespeare's work. In 1795, an eighteen year old named
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Approximate Word count = 1775
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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