The general consensus is 37. Instead, it is a study of what biographers have said about Shakespeare, from the first formal biography in the early 18th century by Nicholas Rowe to Stephen Greenblatt, James Shapiro, Jonathan Bate, Germaine Greer, Katherine Duncan-Jones, Park Honan, Rene Weis, and others who have written recent biographical accounts of … Much of this stemmed from the sketchy details of Shakespeare's life and the dearth of contemporary primary sources. It is a 1955 production of Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation. The exact cause of Shakespeare's death is unknown, though many believe he died following a brief illness. They point out that other playwrights of the time also had sketchy histories and came from modest backgrounds. His father, John Shakespeare, was a burgess of the borough, who in 1565 was chosen an alderman and in 1568 bailiff (the position corresponding to mayor, before the grant of a further charter to Stratford in 1664). Scholars and literary critics began to float names like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere and Francis Bacon — men of more known backgrounds, literary accreditation, or inspiration — as the true authors of the plays. Shakespearean England was a treasure-trove of historical giants – Elizabeth I, Ben Jonson, the Earl of Essex, Edward Alleyn, John Lyly, William Kempe - to name a few. Assess the view that Shakespeare's plays are embedded in their time and so require historical analysis to unlock what they "mean". However, the vicar of the local church wrote in his journal some fifty years later that "Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard; for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted." Omissions? The original electronic source for this server was the Complete Moby(tm) Shakespeare. Birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Although the amount of factual knowledge available about Shakespeare is surprisingly large for one of his station in life, many find it a little disappointing, for it is mostly gleaned from documents of an official character. Supporters of Shakespeare's authorship argue that the lack of evidence about Shakespeare's life doesn't mean his life didn't exist. It was hard to choose, but here is a list of those five contemporaries of the Bard whose lives are most intriguing. They point to evidence that displays his name on the title pages of published poems and plays. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. There are two primary sources that provide historians with an outline of his life. We think that he still relevent in our days, because his plays evolves with time, more than that, he teaches us how was the life in his centuary, and how much all those themes evolved. We know very little about Shakespeare's life during two major spans of time, commonly referred to as the "lost years." The account cannot be verified but has led some scholars to speculate that Shakespeare may have died of typhus. William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Log in or register to post comments; Records show that Shakespeare had works published and sold as popular literature. Julius Caesar portrays upheaval in Roman politics that may have resonated with viewers at a time when England’s aging monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, had no legitimate heir, thus creating the potential for future power struggles. By the early 1590s, documents show Shakespeare was a managing partner in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in London with which he was connected for most of his career. Though graver in tone than the comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness. They contend that Stratford's New Grammar School curriculum of Latin and the classics could have provided a good foundation for literary writers. We strive for accuracy and fairness. DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE FACT CARD. William Shakespeare >The English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is >generally acknowledged to be the greatest of English writers and one of the >most extraordinary creators in human history. Shakespeare remains vital because his plays present people and situations that we recognize today. For the article summary, see, Explore five questions about Shakespeare's life. Other writers have applied their keenness of mind in this way, but Shakespeare is astonishingly clever with words and images, so that his mental energy, when applied to intelligible human situations, finds full and memorable expression, convincing and imaginatively stimulating. Other plays written before 1600 include Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labour’s Lost, King John, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V. It was in Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that he wrote the tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare was the third of the eight children born to John and Mary Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23rd 1564. On February 2, 1585, twins were baptized, Hamnet and Judith. Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King's New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics. Online Shakespeare translator tools provide translations, summaries, quotations, critical analysis, etc., especially translations of Shakespeare’s works on the internet. Shakespeare's early plays were written in the conventional style of the day, with elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases that didn't always align naturally with the story's plot or characters.