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What ethnicity is William Shakespeare?
EnglishWilliam Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Was Shakespeare English or German?
The English of Shakespeare's time is often foreign to modern ears, but the German translations tend to be in more modern German than the Elizabethan English of the originals....A Brief Shakespeare (English-German) Glossary.the Bardder Bardefor all the world's a stagedie ganze Welt ist eine Bühne"5 more rows•Nov 4, 2019
Is Shakespeare Greek or Roman?
Each Shakespeare's work is also influenced by a representative of Latin or ancient Greek literature. Shakespeare's works relate to Roman history and are associated with the Latin poets, but also with the Greek historians and Socratic philosophers.
Was Shakespeare British or Scottish?
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in a timber-framed house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. His father was John Shakespeare, a glove maker and wool dealer, and his mother was Mary Arden, daughter of a farmer from Wilmcote....Shakespeare's Major Works.NameDate1613The Two Noble KinsmenNameDate39 more rows
How many languages did Shakespeare speak?
EnglishWilliam Shakespeare / LanguagesEnglish is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, originally spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. Wikipedia
Why is Shakespeare so popular in Germany?
German scholarship, translations and performances helped spread interest in Shakespeare across Europe. Friedrich Ludwig Schröder's 1776 production of Hamlet influenced further productions and translations of the play in Hungary and Poland.
Who was the ugliest god?
HephaestusHephaestus. Hephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. Sometimes it is said that Hera alone produced him and that he has no father. He is the only god to be physically ugly.
Why did Shakespeare use Greek names?
William Shakespeare frequently alluded or directly referred to ancient Greek and Roman mythology to make a comparison. Like many of his contemporary poets and playwrights, he usually used the Latinized Roman names for Greek deities, mortals, and other beings.
Is A Midsummer Night's Dream based on Greek mythology?
Because A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in Athens, Greece, Shakespeare includes many references to Greek and Roman mythology. The play follows the events surrounding the wedding of Theseus to Hippolyta. In the play, Shakespeare makes Theseus the Duke of Athens. However, that title did not exist in Ancient Greece.
Why did Shakespeare choose Scotland?
William Shakespeare's Macbeth features numerous settings in Scotland and is the only play of Shakespeare's set in Scotland. Shakespeare perhaps chose Scotland as a way to pay tribute to King James I of England, who was also King James VI of Scotland.
What was King James relationship to Shakespeare?
James proved to be a true enthusiast of the theater. Just a few months after assuming the throne, he officially adopted Shakespeare's company. With the sponsorship of the king, the Lord Chamberlain's Men became known as the King's Men. For his part, Shakespeare welcomed the new king with Macbeth, written around 1606.
What is the curse of Macbeth?
The ''Curse of Macbeth'' involves the belief that if an actor says the name ''Macbeth'' while in the theater, the production will be cursed. Because of this, actors will only reference the play as the ''Scottish Play'' or ''that play. '' The history of the curse began on the night of its first performance.
Where did Shakespeare live in 1597?
Shakespeare’s success in the London theatres made him considerably wealthy, and by 1597 he was able to purchase New Place, the largest house in the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon. Although his professional career was spent in London, he maintained close links with his native town.
Where did Shakespeare live when his father died?
Further property investments in Stratford followed, including the purchase of 107 acres of land in 1602. Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April 1616 at the age of 52.
How old was Shakespeare when he married Anne Hathaway?
His elevated status meant that he was even more likely to have sent his children, including William, to the local grammar school . William Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway , who was twenty-six.
What era was Shakespeare in?
Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote. Shakespeare’s poems also remain popular to this day.
How many children did Shakespeare have?
It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony. Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith .
How long did Shakespeare stay with the King's Men?
Shakespeare was the company's regular dramatist, producing on average two plays a year, for almost twenty years. He remained with the company for the rest of his career, during which time it evolved into The King’s Men under the patronage of King James I (from 1603).
How many plays did Shakespeare write?
Shakespeare's Works. Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all.
Who was Shakespeare's father?
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). He was engaged in various kinds of trade and appears to have suffered some fluctuations in prosperity.
Who is William Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare, Shakespeare also spelled Shakspere, byname Bard of Avon or Swan of Avon, (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon), English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
What caused Shakespeare to die?
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.".
What is Shakespeare's keenness of mind?
Other writers have had these qualities, but with Shakespeare the keenness of mind was applied not to abstruse or remote subjects but to human beings and their complete range of emotions and conflicts.
Why is Shakespeare important?
Shakespeare remains vital because his plays present people and situations that we recognize today. His characters have an emotional reality that transcends time, and his plays depict familiar experiences, ranging from family squabbles to falling in love to war. The fact that his plays are performed and adapted around the world underscores ...
What is the title page of the first folio of Shakespeare's plays?
Title page of the First Folio, the first published edition (1623) of the collected works of William Shakespeare; it was originally titled Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies. Photos.com/Thinkstock.
Where was Shakespeare baptized?
The parish register of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, shows that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564; his birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23. 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). He was engaged in various kinds of trade and appears to have suffered some fluctuations in prosperity. His wife, Mary Arden, of Wilmcote, Warwickshire, came from an ancient family and was the heiress to some land. (Given the somewhat rigid social distinctions of the 16th century, this marriage must have been a step up the social scale for John Shakespeare.)
When was Shakespeare born?
From this, it is believed he was born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as Shakespeare's birthday. Located about 100 miles northwest of London, during Shakespeare's time Stratford-upon-Avon was a bustling market town along the River Avon and bisected by a country road.
Who was William Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor of the Renaissance era. He was an important member of the King’s Men company of theatrical players from roughly 1594 onward.
How much did Shakespeare make in 1605?
In 1605, Shakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for 440 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 the time to write his plays uninterrupted.
What type of pattern did Shakespeare use?
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.
How many sisters did Shakespeare have?
Shakespeare had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before Shakespeare's birth, his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor.
What were the works of Shakespeare after 1600?
Works after 1600: Tragedies and Tragicomedies. It was in Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that he wrote the tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. In these, Shakespeare's characters present vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal.
How many years did Shakespeare live?
There are seven years of Shakespeare's life where no records exist after the birth of his twins in 1585. Scholars call this period the "lost years," and there is wide speculation on what he was doing during this period.
Overview
William Shakespeare (bapt. 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative …
Life
Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover (glove-maker) originally from Snitterfield in Warwickshire, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning family. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was baptised on 26 April 1564. His date of birth is unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April, Saint George's Day. This date, which can b…
Plays
Most playwrights of the period typically collaborated with others at some point, as critics agree Shakespeare did, mostly early and late in his career.
The first recorded works of Shakespeare are Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI, written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date precisely, however, and studies of the …
Poems
In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague, Shakespeare published two narrative poems on sexual themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. In Venus and Adonis, an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus; while in The Rape of Lucrece, the virtuous wife Lucrece is ra…
Style
Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional style of the day. He wrote them in a stylised language that does not always spring naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. The poetry depends on extended, sometimes elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is often rhetorical—written for actors to declaim rather than speak. The grand speeche…
Influence
Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre. Until Romeo and Juliet, for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events, but Shakespeare used them t…
Critical reputation
Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received a large amount of praise. In 1598, the cleric and author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English playwrights as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. The authors of the Parnassus plays at St John's College, Cambridge, numbered him with Chaucer, Gower, and Spenser. In the First Folio, Ben Jonson called Shakespe…
Works
Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed according to their folio classification as comedies, histories, and tragedies. Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre, are now accepted as part of the canon, with today's scholars agreeing that Shakespeare made major contributions to the writing of both. No Shakesp…
Overview
- William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born), which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.
Legacy
- Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre (sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early Modern Period). Shakespeares plays are perhaps his most enduring legacy, but they are not the only things he wrote. Shakespeares poems also remain popular to this day.
Writings
- Shakespeare's work includes 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all. They collected them for publication after Shakespeare died, preserving the plays. These writi…
Influence
- Shakespeares legacy is as rich and diverse as his work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations across multiple genres and cultures. His plays have had an enduring presence on stage and film. His writings have been compiled in various iterations of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which include all his plays, sonnets, and other poems. William Shakespear…
Ancestry
- Records survive relating to William Shakespeares family. Through these, we can gain an understanding of the context of Shakespeare's early life and the lives of his family members. John Shakespeare married Mary Arden, and together they had eight children. John and Mary lost two daughters as infants, so William became their eldest child. John Shakespeare worked as a glov…
Early life and family
- Shakespeare would have lived with his family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six. It was a rushed marriage because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony. Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the w…
Later life
- In 1597, William Shakespeare bought a home called New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. Recent archaeological evidence discovered on the site of Shakespeares New Place shows that Shakespeare was only ever an intermittent lodger in London. This suggests he divided his time between Stratford and London (a two or three-day commute). In his later years, he may have spe…