Jesselyn Wightman Lewis 6th February 1, 2015 Research Paper: Shakespeare “He was an age not a time.” William Shakespeare was one of the most famous and well known English writers of all time. Many events in his lifetime influenced the way he writes his stories. William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden, in April 1564, in Stratford-Upon-Avon. In Shakespeare’s family there were 7 children, which includes: Joan, Margaret, Gilbert, Joan II, Anne, Richard, and Edmund Shakespeare. There is not a lot documented about William Shakespeare’s childhood. Shakespeare didn’t go to college, because at the age of 18 he had got a girl pregnant, and was forced into marriage married her. Her name was Anne Hathaway who was 26 at …show more content…
His plays were mainly comedies, histories, and tragedies. Though comedy in its Elizabethan age, had a very different meaning from comedy in today’s use. A Shakespeare comedy is one that has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's other plays. Several of Shakespeare's comedies, such as tempest and much ado about nothing, have an unusual tone with a difficult mix of humor and tragedy. Some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays though are his tragedies and these plays were extremely popular with theater goers back in that day. It was normal for these plays to follow the rise and fall of a powerful character. All of Shakespeare’s tragic characters have a fatal flaw that propels them towards their bloody end. Some of the tragedies include: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Macbeth. Shakespeare made history plays for social and political commentary. So they are not really historically accurate in the same way we would expect a historical drama to be. Shakespeare wrote his plays in a wide range of historical sources and set most of his plays back in the Hundred Years War with France. Popular histories include: Henry V and Richard III. He also wrote sonnets and poems. Shakespeare also wrote sonnets and poems. It is said Shakespeare wrote a total of 154 sonnets. Shakespeare’s sonnets are very different from the plays, they contain dramatic elements …show more content…
It is said that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. Though many people believe this is a lie. Church records show he died on April 5, 1616. In his will, he left most of his stuff to his eldest daughter, Susanna. Though entitled to some of the estate, little seems to be left to his wife, Anne, he did leave his "second-best bed” and all the bed cloth. This is thought that she had fallen out of favor with him, or that the couple was not that close. Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in his hometown of Stratford, Warwickshire. His gravestone bears an epitaph which Shakespeare himself supposedly wrote. It warns: “Good friend for Jesus sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my