William Shakespeare Essay

William Shakespeare was born in Startford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom on April 23, 1564. He was the third child of eight. Shakespeare was the oldest surviving son, because in the time when he was born there was an outbreak of the Bubonic plague going around, also known as the Black Death. The Black Death was the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history. The pandemic resulted in the death of up to 200 million people. Shakespeare’s father John was a successful businessman, and his mother Mary was the daughter of a landowner.

William Shakespeare, often called England’s national poet was a very talented man known for his various works of literature. His many works are about, love, death, jealousy, revenge and murder. Many people believe that Shakespeare was the best British writer of all time. Some of his most famous works are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth. Shakespeare’s works include poems, sonnets and plays, his works are then broken down into comedies, histories and tragedies.

Shakespeare started writing his poems in 1592 and his plays in 1590. Shakespeare’s first work were two long poems “Venus and Adonis” 1593 and “The Rape of Lucrece” 1594. Shakespeare was accepted by multiple races because of his plays, he did not ignore the issues between the races, instead he made light of them by including them in his plays such as “Othello and The Merchant of Venice”. Shakespeare addressed the struggles between different religions and colors. Shakespeare related to his audience trough emotional aspects and racial aspects.

Very little is known about Shakespeare’s life during two major spans of time, referred to as the “lost years”. The only way historians found about his early life were based on church records, court records and marriage certificates. The first lost year is the period between William Shakespeare leaving grammar school and marrying. Shakespeare was 18 when he married 26-year-old women. Her name was Anne Hathway. Together they had 3 children, the first child was a girl named Susanna. Two years later they had twins, a son named Hamnet, and a daughter named Judith. Shakespear’s only son Hamnet died at the age of 11 of unknown causes, living Shakespeare broken. The second lost years cover the seven years of Shakespeare\’s life in which he must have been perfecting his poems and plays. At some point in this period, Shakespeare moved from Startford-upon-Avon to London. Shakespeare became famous when he went to London and began performing in his plays as well as selling and producing. King James regularly invited Shakespeare to court for a private performance, as the king enjoyed the writer’s performance and his unique style of writing.

William Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday 23 April 1616, 400 years ago. The cause of Shakespear’s death is unknown, but there is a theory that Shakespeare died after getting a fever following a drinking binge with fellow playwrights Michael Drayton and Ben Jonson. Shakespeare left the world centuries ago, but his writings continue to live throughout the world. Shakespeare has greatly impacted the world of literature and his name will forever be remembered.