William Shakespeare autobiography. Shakespeare short biography. Literary criticism of the works of the Shakespeare Corpus

Often called the national poet of England. The extant works, including some written jointly with other authors, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, 4 poems and 3 epitaphs. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into all major languages ​​and are performed more often than the works of other playwrights.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: daughter Suzanne and twins Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare's career began between 1585 and 1592, when he moved to London. He soon became a successful actor, playwright, and co-owner of a theater company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men.

Around 1613, at the age of 48, he returned to Stratford, where he died three years later. Little historical evidence of Shakespeare's life has been preserved, and theories about his life are created on the basis of official documents and testimonies of his contemporaries, so questions regarding his appearance and religious views are still discussed in the scientific community, and there is also a point of view that the works attributed to him were created by whom something else; it is popular in culture, although rejected by the vast majority of Shakespeare scholars.

Most of Shakespeare's works were written between 1589 and 1613. His early plays are mainly comedies and chronicles, in which Shakespeare excelled considerably. Then came a period of tragedy in his work, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth, which are considered among the best in the English language. At the end of his career, Shakespeare wrote several tragicomedies and also collaborated with other writers.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were published during his lifetime. In 1623, two of Shakespeare's friends, John Heming and Henry Condell, published the First Folio, a collection of all but two of Shakespeare's plays currently included in the canon. Later, various researchers attributed several more plays (or their fragments) to Shakespeare with varying degrees of evidence.

Already during his lifetime, Shakespeare received praise for his works, but he truly became popular only in the 19th century. In particular, the Romanticists and Victorians worshiped Shakespeare so much that they called it “bardolatry,” which translated into English means “bardo-worship.” Shakespeare's works remain popular today and are constantly being studied and reinterpreted to suit political and cultural conditions.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon (Warwickshire) in 1564, baptized on April 26, the exact date of birth is unknown. Tradition places his birth on April 23: this date coincides with the precisely known day of his death. In addition, April 23 marks the day of St. George, the patron saint of England, and legend could specially coincide with this day the birth of the greatest national poet. From English, the surname “Shakespeare” is translated as “shaking with a spear.”

His father, John Shakespeare (1530-1601), was a wealthy artisan (glover) who was often elected to various significant public positions.

In 1565, John Shakespeare was an alderman, and in 1568 he was a bailiff (head of the city council). He did not attend church services, for which he paid large fines (it is possible that he was a secret Catholic).

Shakespeare's mother, born Mary Arden (1537-1608), belonged to one of the oldest Saxon families. The couple had 8 children in total, William was born third.

It is believed that Shakespeare studied at the Stratford “grammar school” (English grammar school), where he was supposed to gain good knowledge of Latin: the Stratford teacher of Latin language and literature wrote poetry in Latin. Some scholars claim that Shakespeare attended King Edward VI's school in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he studied the works of poets such as Ovid and Plautus, but the school's journals have not survived and nothing can be said for sure.

In 1582, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a local landowner, who was 8 years his senior. At the time of their marriage, Anne was pregnant.

In 1583, the couple had a daughter, Susan (baptized on May 23), and in 1585, twins: a son, Hamnet, who died at age 11 in August 1596, and a daughter, Judith (baptized on February 2).

There are only assumptions about the further (over seven years) events in Shakespeare's life. The first mention of a London theatrical career dates back to 1592, and the period between 1585 and 1592 is what scholars call Shakespeare's "lost years."

Attempts by biographers to learn about Shakespeare's actions during this period have resulted in many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's first biographer, believed that he left Stratford to avoid prosecution for poaching the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy.

It is also assumed that Shakespeare took revenge on Lucy by writing several obscene ballads about him.

According to another 18th-century version, Shakespeare began his theatrical career by looking after the horses of London theater patrons. John Aubrey wrote that Shakespeare was a schoolmaster. Some 20th-century scholars believed that Shakespeare was the teacher of Alexander Naughton from Lancashire, since this Catholic landowner had a certain “William Shakeshaft”. There is little basis for this theory, other than rumors that spread after Shakespeare's death, and, furthermore, "Shakeshaft" is a fairly common surname in Lancashire.

It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing theatrical works and also moved to London, but the first sources that have reached us that speak about this date back to 1592. This year, the diary of entrepreneur Philip Henslowe mentions Shakespeare's historical chronicle Henry VI, which was shown at Henslowe's Rose Theater.

In the same year, a pamphlet by playwright and prose writer Robert Greene was published posthumously, where the latter angrily attacked Shakespeare, without naming his last name, but ironically playing with it - “shake-scene,” paraphrasing a line from the third part of “Henry VI” “ Oh, the heart of a tiger in this woman’s skin!” like “the heart of a tiger in the skin of a performer.”

Scholars disagree as to the exact meaning of these words, but it is generally accepted that Greene accused Shakespeare of trying to catch up with highly educated writers ("university minds") such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash, and Greene himself.

Biographers believe that Shakespeare's career could have begun at any time from the mid-1580s.

Since 1594, Shakespeare's plays have only been performed by a company "The Lord Chamberlain's Men". This troupe also included Shakespeare, who at the end of the same 1594 became its co-owner. The troupe soon became one of the leading theater groups in London. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the troupe received a royal patent from the new ruler, James I, and became known as the King's Men.

In 1599, a partnership of group members built a new theater on the south bank of the Thames, called "Globe".

In 1608 they also purchased the Blackfriars closed theatre. Records of Shakespeare's real estate purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man. In 1597 he bought the second largest house in Stratford, New Place.

In 1598, his name began to appear on the title pages of publications. But even after Shakespeare became famous as a playwright, he continued to play in theaters. In the 1616 edition of Ben Jonson's works, Shakespeare's name is included in the list of actors who performed the plays Every One Has His Folly (1598) and The Fall of Sejanus (1603). However, his name was absent from the cast lists of Jonson's 1605 play Volpone, which some scholars perceive as a sign of the end of Shakespeare's London career.

However, the First Folio of 1623 names Shakespeare as "the chief actor in all these plays", and some of them were first performed after Volpone, although it is not known for certain what roles Shakespeare played in them.

In 1610, John Davis wrote that "good Will" played "royal" roles.

In 1709, in his work, Rowe recorded the already established opinion that Shakespeare was playing the shadow of Hamlet's father. It was also later claimed that he played the roles of Adam in As You Like It and the Chorus in Henry V, although scholars doubt the veracity of this information.

During his acting and dramatic career, Shakespeare lived in London, but also spent some of his time in Stratford.

In 1596, the year after purchasing New Place, he was residing in the parish of St Helena, Bishopgate, on the north side of the Thames. After the Globe Theater was built in 1599, Shakespeare moved to the other side of the river - to Southwark, where the theater was located.

In 1604 he moved across the river again, this time to the area north of St Paul's Cathedral, where there were a large number of good houses. He rented rooms from a Huguenot Frenchman named Christopher Mountjoy, a manufacturer of women's wigs and hats.

There is a traditional belief that Shakespeare moved to Stratford a few years before his death. The first Shakespeare biographer to convey this opinion was Roe. One reason for this may be that London's public theaters were repeatedly closed due to outbreaks of plague, and actors did not have enough work. Complete retirement was rare in those days, and Shakespeare continued to visit London.

In 1612, Shakespeare testified in the case of Bellot v. Mountjoy, a trial over the wedding dowry of Mountjoy's daughter Mary.

In March 1613 he bought a house in the former parish of Blackfriar. In November 1614 he spent several weeks with his brother-in-law, John Hall.

After 1606-1607, Shakespeare wrote only a few plays, and after 1613 he stopped writing them altogether. He wrote his last three plays with another playwright, possibly John Fletcher, who succeeded Shakespeare as chief playwright of the King's Men.

All of Shakespeare's surviving signatures on documents (1612-1613) are distinguished by very poor handwriting, on the basis of which some researchers believe that he was seriously ill at that time.

Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. It is traditionally believed that he died on his birthday, but there is no certainty that Shakespeare was born on April 23. Shakespeare was survived by his widow, Anne (d. 1623), and two daughters. Susan Shakespeare had been married to John Hall since 1607, and Judith Shakespeare married winemaker Thomas Quiney two months after Shakespeare's death.

In his will, Shakespeare left most of his real estate to his eldest daughter, Susan. After her, it was to be inherited by her direct descendants. Judith had three children, all of whom died without marrying. Susan had one daughter, Elizabeth, who married twice but died childless in 1670. She was the last direct descendant of Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's will, his wife is mentioned only briefly, but she was already supposed to receive a third of her husband's entire estate. However, it indicated that he was leaving her “my second best bed,” and this fact led to many different assumptions. Some scholars consider this an insult to Anne, while others argue that the second best bed is the marital bed, and therefore there is nothing offensive about it.

Three days later, Shakespeare's body was buried in Stratford's Holy Trinity Church.

The epitaph is written on his tombstone:

“Good friend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased hear.
Bleste be ye man yt spares the stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones".

"Friend, for God's sake, don't swarm
The remains taken by this earth;
He who is untouched is blessed for centuries,
And cursed is the one who touched my ashes".

Some time before 1623, a painted bust of Shakespeare was erected in the church, showing him in the act of writing. Epitaphs in English and Latin compare Shakespeare to the wise King of Pylos, Nestor, Socrates and Virgil.

There are many statues of Shakespeare around the world, including funerary monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.

To mark the quadcentenary of the playwright's death, the Royal Mint issued three two-pound coins (dated 2016), symbolizing the three groups of his works: comedies, chronicles and tragedies.

Shakespeare's literary heritage is divided into two unequal parts: poetic (poems and sonnets) and dramatic. wrote that “it would be too bold and strange to give Shakespeare a decisive advantage over all the poets of mankind, as a poet himself, but as a playwright he is now left without a rival whose name could be put next to his name.”

William Shakespeare. The Greatest Show on Earth

Works of William Shakespeare

Comedies of William Shakespeare

All is well that ends well
How do you like it
Comedy of Errors
Love's Labour's Lost
Measure for measure
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A dream in a summer night
Much ado about nothing
Pericles
The Taming of the Shrew
Storm
twelfth Night
Two Veronese
Two noble relatives
Winter's Tale

Chronicles of William Shakespeare

King John
Richard II
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Richard III
Henry VIII

Tragedies of William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet
Coriolanus
Titus Andronicus
Timon of Athens
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
Hamlet
Troilus and Cressida
King Lear
Othello
Antony and Cleopatra
Cymbeline

Sonnets of William Shakespeare

Venus and Adonis
Dishonored Lucretia
Passionate Pilgrim
Phoenix and dove
Lover's complaint

Lost works of William Shakespeare

Love's Efforts Rewarded
History of Cardenio

Apocrypha of William Shakespeare

Judgment of Paris
Arden Feversham
George Green
Locrin
Edward III
Musedore
Sir John Oldcastle
Thomas, Lord Cromwell
Cheerful Edmont devil
London Prodigal Son
Puritan
Yorkshire tragedy
Beautiful Emma
Birth of Merlin
Sir Thomas More
The Tragedy of the Second Maid
Passionate Pilgrim

English poet and playwright, one of the best playwrights in the world.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. 1564 year, baptized on April 26, exact date of birth unknown. The writer's father was a wealthy artisan and was often elected to important positions. Shakespeare's mother came from the old Arden family. Presumably, the boy attended Stratford Grammar School, where he studied Latin and literature.

Upon reaching the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, who was several years older than him. They had three children. When William was about 23 years old, he moved to London where he took a job. At first he did any small jobs, and then got a job in the theater. It is not known for certain when his career began, but biographers place this stage in the mid-1580s. In 1592, Shakespeare was already a famous playwright, as well as a member of the Burbage London acting troupe, which received royal status under James I. The first mention of the historical chronicle of the writer “Henry VI”, which was staged on the stage of the Rose Theater, owned by Philip Henslowe, dates back to this time.

In 1599 his company built a new theater on the south bank of the Thames called the Globe. A few years later they acquired another indoor theater, Blackfires. Thanks to his rapid theatrical career, Shakespeare soon became a very rich man. There is information that already in 1597 he acquired one of the largest houses in his native Stratford. Since 1598, his name was replete with leaflets of publications. Combining acting and dramaturgical activities, Shakespeare spent most of his time in London, but went home during breaks. There is evidence that he preferred to play “royal roles” in his theater. For example, he played Hamlet's father, the Chorus in Henry V, etc.

At the beginning of the 17th century, many theaters in London were closed due to outbreaks of plague. The actors, remaining unemployed, went home. So, shortly before his death, Shakespeare returned to Stratford-upon-Avon. During the years 1606-1607 he wrote several more plays, and in 1613 he stopped writing altogether. It is believed that the last three plays were written jointly with another playwright, John Fletcher.

In total, Shakespeare wrote more than 10 tragedies, 17 comedies, 10 historical chronicles, more than 150 sonnets and many romantic poems.

Popular works of Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet.

We know little about Shakespeare's life. Shakespeare did not write memoirs or keep a diary. The manuscripts of his plays have been lost. Those few pieces of paper on which a few lines written by Shakespeare himself have been preserved, or simply bear his signature, are considered the rarest historical values.

Many generations of scientists, including Russian and Soviet, tirelessly and persistently, piece by piece, collected data about Shakespeare’s life, compared them, compared them, made guesses and tested them.

It was necessary to put in an infinite amount of work so that we could now read about Shakespeare what every educated person should know about him.

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in the small English city of Stratford, located on the Avon River. His father was a craftsman and merchant. When Shakespeare was just over twenty years old, he went to London. Finding himself in a big city without funds, without friends and acquaintances, Shakespeare, according to legend, at first earned his living by guarding horses near the theater, on which noble gentlemen came. Later - this is known for certain - Shakespeare began to serve in the theater itself: he made sure that the actors went on stage on time, rewrote roles, replaced the prompter - in a word, he became well acquainted with the behind-the-scenes life of the theater.

Then Shakespeare began to be assigned small roles in the theater. He did not become a great actor, but he spoke so aptly in his plays about the art of acting, and most importantly, he constructed his plays so skillfully that this testified to an amazing knowledge of the stage.

Shakespeare wrote more than just plays. His poems - sonnets - captivated his contemporaries and continue to captivate his descendants with the power of feelings, depth of thought, and grace of form. Shakespeare's sonnets were wonderfully translated into Russian by Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak.

But Shakespeare's main business, the passion of his whole life, was the creation of plays.

The jubilant joy of life, the glorification of a healthy, strong, courageous, brightly feeling, boldly thinking person - this is the main thing in Shakespeare’s first plays - comedies: “The Taming of the Shrew”, “The Comedy of Errors”, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “ Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night (1593–1600). They express an important idea for the Renaissance: a person should be judged not by his dress, not by rank, not by class and wealth, but by his intelligence, courage, nobility.

In the play “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Shakespeare glorifies constancy in friendship, fidelity in love, courage, and the willingness to defend one’s happiness in struggle. Shakespeare transfers the action of many of his plays, especially his early ones, to Italy, which was the birthplace of humanism, and willingly borrows plots from the works of Italian writers of the Renaissance.

It is difficult to find in world drama a play as fabulously cheerful and magical as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Shakespeare's poetic imagination gave birth to the images of the Mustard Seed, the Cobweb, and the Moth, close to the heroes of folk tales. Their participation in the fate of the lovers leads to a happy ending.

But in that cruel era, the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance were not destined to win. Shakespeare feels this with bitterness. In the following plays he depicts the clash of Renaissance ideals with reality, and the colors of these plays become darker. In Shakespeare's works, the theme of the death of heroes especially dear to him, who embody bright humanistic ideas, begins to be heard.

Young Romeo and Juliet - the heroes of Shakespeare's first great tragedy (1597) - passionately love each other. But their love encounters an insurmountable obstacle - an ancient family feud. In an unequal duel with age-old prejudices, Romeo and Juliet die. However, their love, which did not want to put up with the prejudices of antiquity, contains a high moral victory.

The theater where Shakespeare worked and where his plays were performed looked like a round open-air pen. For hours, soldiers, fishermen, artisans, merchants, and schoolchildren stood in a cramped enclosure, staring at the stage, listening in tense silence to the speeches of the heroes.

What made ordinary Londoners flock to this theater, for example, to attend a performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar?

They saw on the stage the power-hungry ruler who conquered Rome, his former friends - the Republicans who plotted against him, the development and failure of this conspiracy. Londoners recently experienced the struggle between two queens - Elizabeth and Mary Stuart (for Mary, this struggle ended on the chopping block). They felt the smoke of new unrest and conspiracies in the air. They felt in the play the hot breath of the passions of their time. And maybe some of them vaguely guessed that it was not the dictator Caesar, glorified and exalted by history, but Brutus, defeated, dying, but not agreeing to put up with slavery, the real hero of this tragedy!

After the production of Julius Caesar, from 1601 to 1608, Shakespeare created his greatest tragedies: Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello.

Danish Prince Hamlet grieves bitterly for his dead father. But suddenly he learns with horror that his father did not die, but was killed. The murderer - the brother of the murdered man, Hamlet's uncle - not only inherited the throne of the late king, but also married his widow - Hamlet's mother. Hamlet first exposes the hypocrisy of the crowned criminal, and then takes revenge on him for the death of his father. But these are only the external events of the play.

It is not easy to briefly retell, much less interpret, this tragedy of Shakespeare. If you collect together all the articles and books in different languages ​​of the world dedicated to this play, you can make up a large library from them.

Some saw in Hamlet primarily indecision, weakness, and hesitation. This is how the expression arose Hamletism. It was used when they wanted to talk about the painful duality of a person who realized his duty, but could not decide to act. Other writers, philosophers, and actors did not agree to consider Hamlet a weak person.

One of the most profound interpretations of the image of Hamlet belongs to the great Russian critic V. G. Belinsky. Belinsky wrote about Hamlet: “This is a soul born for good and for the first time seeing evil in all its vileness.” Hamlet's loneliness is the loneliness of a man who was ahead of his time, is in tragic discord with him and therefore dies.

The noble Moor Othello, the hero of another Shakespeare tragedy, also dies. Othello executes himself for revealing his soul to Iago, who slandered his wife Desdemona. But the death of Othello is the victory of his faith in man. Othello dies with the knowledge that Desdemona is innocent. His faith in her and his faith in people triumphs. The sinister figure of the murderous king, who seized power into his own hands at the cost of a bloody crime, is depicted by Shakespeare in the tragedy “Macbeth”. In “King Lear” he depicts how despotism and unlimited autocracy distort the human soul. Only after experiencing the horror of dependence on tyrants does King Lear become a real man before his death.

Shakespeare's life was not rich in significant events. Military and political storms swept over Europe. England fought wars and won naval battles. Conspiracies were formed and collapsed. And Shakespeare did not take part in any of these events. He wrote plays. English ships plied distant seas and discovered unknown lands. But Shakespeare moved only from one bank of the Thames to the other, and sometimes made a trip to his native Stratford, so that, upon returning to London, he would take up his pen again.

But there was no such feeling, such fate, such shocks that Shakespeare would not have experienced when creating his plays filled with the breath of modernity and immortal thoughts!

The heroes dearest to Shakespeare in these plays perish when faced with an evil that is insurmountable for them, but it is not their enemies who win, it is faith in man, in his mind and soul, faith in the right and duty to rebel against everything that brings grief to people, enslaves them, distorts them. their life and feelings.

The characters of people and the circumstances in which they act are depicted by Shakespeare in all the complexity and depth of feelings, in movement, in development, in change. They are the creations of a great and keen-sighted artist, who knew how complex and diverse life is and depicted it truthfully.

In the last years of Shakespeare's work (1608–1612), his plays took on a different character. They are somewhat removed from real life. Fantastic motifs begin to sound in them.

But even in these plays: “Pericles”, “Cymbeline”, “The Winter’s Tale”, “The Tempest” - Shakespeare condemns despotism and autocracy, stands up for the ideals dear to him, glorifies the power of love, faith in the best motives of man, affirms the natural equality of all of people. The exclamation of the hero of one of these plays: “How wonderful humanity is!” - can serve as the banner of the Renaissance, which gave the world Shakespeare.

In 1612, Shakespeare wrote his last play, The Tempest. He soon left the theater, and in 1616, on the day he turned 52, he died. Shakespeare was buried in the church of his native Stratford. Admirers of his talent still come here from all over the world to venerate the grave of the great playwright, visit the house where he lived, and watch his plays at the Stratford Memorial Theater.

After Shakespeare's death, there were people who began to argue that Shakespeare was not Shakespeare, that the humble actor could not have written those plays that were known both during his life and after his death as Shakespeare's works. These people wanted to prove at all costs that the son of a simple Englishman, a native of the people, could not be a brilliant playwright.

How many noble nobles did they name as the authors of Shakespeare’s plays! What kind of “evidence” was not resorted to in this endeavor!

It took a lot of time and work to refute all this and prove that Shakespeare’s origins and his closeness to the people did not hinder, but helped him create something of which all humanity is proud.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: daughter Suzanne and twins Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare's career began between 1585 and 1592, when he moved to London. He soon became a successful actor, playwright, and co-owner of a theater company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. Around 1613, aged 49, he returned to Stratford, where he died three years later. Little historical evidence of Shakespeare's life has been preserved, and theories about his life are created on the basis of official documents and testimonies of his contemporaries, so questions regarding his appearance and religious views are still discussed in the scientific community, and there is also a point of view that the works attributed to him were created by whom something else; it is popular in culture, although rejected by the vast majority of Shakespeare scholars.

Most of Shakespeare's works were written between 1589 and 1613. His early plays are mainly comedies and chronicles, in which Shakespeare excelled considerably. Then a period of tragedies began in his work, including works "Hamlet", "King Lear", "Othello" And "Macbeth", which are considered among the best in the English language. At the end of his career, Shakespeare wrote several tragicomedies and also collaborated with other writers.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were published during his lifetime. In 1623, two of Shakespeare's friends, John Heming and Henry Condell, published the First Folio, a collection of all but two of Shakespeare's plays currently included in the canon. Later, various researchers attributed several more plays (or their fragments) to Shakespeare with varying degrees of evidence.

Already during his lifetime, Shakespeare received praise for his works, but he truly became popular only in the 19th century. In particular, the Romantics and Victorians worshiped Shakespeare so much that Bernard Shaw called it "bardolatry." Shakespeare's works remain popular today and are constantly being studied and reinterpreted to suit political and cultural conditions.

Biography

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon (Warwickshire) in 1564, baptized on April 26, the exact date of birth is unknown. Tradition places his birth on April 23: this date coincides with the precisely known day of his death. In addition, April 23 marks the day of St. George, the patron saint of England, and legend could specially coincide with this day the birth of the greatest national poet. From English, the surname “Shakespeare” is translated as “shaking with a spear.”

His father, John Shakespeare (1530-1601), was a wealthy artisan (glover) who was often elected to various significant public positions. In 1565, John Shakespeare was an alderman, and in 1568 he was a bailiff (head of the city council). He did not attend church services, for which he paid large fines (it is possible that he was a secret Catholic).

Shakespeare's mother, born Mary Arden (1537-1608), belonged to one of the oldest Saxon families. The couple had 8 children in total, William was born third.

It is believed that Shakespeare studied at the Stratford Grammar School. grammar school), where he was supposed to gain good knowledge of Latin: the Stratford teacher of Latin language and literature wrote poetry in Latin. Some scholars claim that Shakespeare attended the school of King Edward VI. in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he studied the work of such poets as Ovid and Plautus, but the school magazines have not survived, and now nothing can be said for sure.

In 1582, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a local landowner, who was 8 years his senior. At the time of their marriage, Anne was pregnant. In 1583, the couple had a daughter, Susan (baptized on May 23), and in 1585, twins: a son, Hamnet, who died at age 11 in August 1596, and a daughter, Judith (baptized on February 2).

There are only assumptions about the further (over seven years) events in Shakespeare's life. The first mention of a London theatrical career dates back to 1592, and the period between 1585 and 1592 is what scholars call Shakespeare's "lost years." Attempts by biographers to learn about Shakespeare's actions during this period have resulted in many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe, Shakespeare's first biographer, believed that he left Stratford to avoid prosecution for poaching the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy. It is also assumed that Shakespeare took revenge on Lucy by writing several obscene ballads about him. According to another 18th-century version, Shakespeare began his theatrical career by looking after the horses of London theater patrons. John Aubrey wrote that Shakespeare was a schoolmaster. Some 20th-century scholars believed that Shakespeare was the teacher of Alexander Naughton from Lancashire, since this Catholic landowner had a certain “William Shakeshaft”. There is little basis for this theory, other than rumors that spread after Shakespeare's death, and, furthermore, "Shakeshaft" is a fairly common surname in Lancashire.

It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing theatrical works and also moved to London, but the first sources that have reached us that speak about this date back to 1592. This year, the diary of entrepreneur Philip Henslowe mentions Shakespeare's historical chronicle Henry VI, which was shown at Henslowe's Rose Theater. In the same year, a pamphlet by playwright and prose writer Robert Greene was published posthumously, where the latter angrily attacked Shakespeare, without naming his last name, but ironically playing with it - “shake-scene,” paraphrasing a line from the third part of “Henry VI” “ Oh, the heart of a tiger in this woman’s skin!” like “the heart of a tiger in the skin of a performer.” Scholars disagree as to the exact meaning of these words, but it is generally accepted that Greene accused Shakespeare of trying to catch up with highly educated writers ("university minds") such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nash, and Greene himself.

Biographers believe that Shakespeare's career could have begun at any time from the mid-1580s. Since 1594, Shakespeare's plays have only been performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. This troupe also included Shakespeare, who at the end of the same 1594 became its co-owner. The troupe soon became one of the leading theater groups in London. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the troupe received a royal patent from the new ruler, James I, and became known as the King's Men.

In 1599, a partnership of group members built a new theater on the south bank of the Thames, called the Globe. In 1608 they also purchased the Blackfriars closed theatre. Records of Shakespeare's real estate purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man. In 1597 he bought the second largest house in Stratford, New Place.

Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in quarto in 1594. In 1598, his name began to appear on the title pages of publications. But even after Shakespeare became famous as a playwright, he continued to play in theaters. In the 1616 edition of Ben Jonson's works, Shakespeare's name is included in the list of actors who performed the plays. "Everyone has their own quirks"(1598) and "The Fall of Sejanus"(1603). However, his name was not on the list of actors for Johnson's play. "Volpone" 1605, which is perceived by some scholars as a sign of the end of Shakespeare's London career. However, in the First Folio of 1623 Shakespeare is called "the chief actor in all these plays", and some of them were first performed after "Volpone", although it is not known for certain what roles Shakespeare played in them. In 1610, John Davis wrote that "good Will" played "royal" roles. In 1709, in his work, Rowe recorded the already established opinion that Shakespeare was playing the shadow of Hamlet's father. It was also later claimed that he played the role of Adam in "As You Like It" and Chora's "Henry V", although scientists doubt the reliability of this information.

During his acting and dramatic career, Shakespeare lived in London, but also spent some of his time in Stratford. In 1596, the year after purchasing New Place, he was residing in the parish of St Helena, Bishopgate, on the north side of the Thames. After the Globe Theater was built in 1599, Shakespeare moved to the other side of the river - to Southwark, where the theater was located. In 1604 he moved across the river again, this time to the area north of St Paul's Cathedral, where there were a large number of good houses. He rented rooms from a Huguenot Frenchman named Christopher Mountjoy, a manufacturer of women's wigs and hats.

Last years and death

There is a traditional belief that Shakespeare moved to Stratford a few years before his death. The first Shakespeare biographer to convey this opinion was Roe. One reason for this may be that London's public theaters were repeatedly closed due to outbreaks of plague, and actors did not have enough work. Complete retirement was rare in those days, and Shakespeare continued to visit London. In 1612, Shakespeare acted as a witness in the case Bellot v Mountjoy, a lawsuit over the wedding dowry of Mountjoy's daughter Mary. In March 1613 he bought a house in the former parish of Blackfriar; in November 1614 he spent several weeks with his brother-in-law, John Hall.

After 1606-1607, Shakespeare wrote only a few plays, and after 1613 he stopped writing them altogether. He wrote his last three plays with another playwright, possibly John Fletcher, who succeeded Shakespeare as chief playwright of the King's Men.

All of Shakespeare's surviving signatures on documents (1612-1613) are distinguished by very poor handwriting, on the basis of which some researchers believe that he was seriously ill at that time.

Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. It is traditionally believed that he died on his birthday, but there is no certainty that Shakespeare was born on April 23. Shakespeare was survived by his widow, Anne (d. 1623), and two daughters. Susan Shakespeare had been married to John Hall since 1607, and Judith Shakespeare married winemaker Thomas Quiney two months after Shakespeare's death.

In his will, Shakespeare left most of his real estate to his eldest daughter, Susan. After her, it was to be inherited by her direct descendants. Judith had three children, all of whom died without marrying. Susan had one daughter, Elizabeth, who married twice but died childless in 1670. She was the last direct descendant of Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's will, his wife is mentioned only briefly, but she was already supposed to receive a third of her husband's entire estate. However, it indicated that he was leaving her “my second best bed,” and this fact led to many different assumptions. Some scholars consider this an insult to Anne, while others argue that the second best bed is the marital bed, and therefore there is nothing offensive about it.

Three days later, Shakespeare's body was buried in Stratford's St. Trinity. The epitaph is written on his tombstone:

Good friend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
To digg the dvst encloased hear.
Bleste be ye man yt spares the stones,
And cvrst be he yt moves my bones.

Friend, for God's sake, don't swarm
The remains taken by this earth;
He who is untouched is blessed for centuries,
And cursed is the one who touched my ashes.
(Translation by A. Velichansky)

Some time before 1623, a painted bust of Shakespeare was erected in the church, showing him in the act of writing. Epitaphs in English and Latin compare Shakespeare to the wise King of Pylos, Nestor, Socrates and Virgil.

There are many statues of Shakespeare around the world, including funerary monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner.

Creation

Shakespeare's literary heritage is divided into two unequal parts: poetic (poems and sonnets) and dramatic. V. G. Belinsky wrote that “it would be too bold and strange to give Shakespeare a decisive advantage over all the poets of mankind, as a poet himself, but as a playwright he is now left without a rival whose name could be put next to his name.”

The question of periodization

Researchers of Shakespeare's work (Danish literary critic G. Brandes, publisher of the Russian complete works of Shakespeare S. A. Vengerov) at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, based on the chronology of the works, presented his spiritual evolution from a “cheerful mood”, faith in the triumph of justice , humanistic ideals at the beginning of the journey until disappointment and the destruction of all illusions at the end. However, in recent years, an opinion has emerged that inferring the identity of an author from his works is a mistake.

In 1930, Shakespeare scholar E. C. Chambers. proposed a chronology of Shakespeare's work according to genre characteristics; it was later corrected by J. McManway. Four periods were distinguished: first (1590-1594) - early: chronicles, Renaissance comedies, “tragedy of horror” (“Titus Andronicus”), two poems; the second (1594-1600) - Renaissance comedies, the first mature tragedy (Romeo and Juliet), chronicles with elements of tragedy, ancient tragedy (Julius Caesar), sonnets; third (1601-1608) - great tragedies, ancient tragedies, “dark comedies”; fourth (1609-1613) - drama-fairy tales with a tragic beginning and a happy ending. Some Shakespeare scholars, including A. A. Smirnov, combined the first and second periods into one early period.

Dramaturgy

Most playwrights of the period co-authored their works, and critics believe that Shakespeare also co-wrote some of his plays; This mainly applies to early and late works. For some works, such as "Titus Andronicus" and early history plays, it is not established that they were definitely co-written, whereas for "Two noble relatives" and the lost play "Cardenio" this is documented. Data obtained from the texts also suggests that some works were reworked by other writers in relation to the original text.

Some of Shakespeare's earliest works are "Richard III" and three parts "Henry VI", written in the early 1590s, a period when historical drama was in vogue. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date, but textual scholars suggest that "Titus Andronicus", "Comedy of Errors", "The Taming of the Shrew" And "Two Gentlemen of Verona" also refer to the beginning of Shakespeare's career. His first chronicles, most likely based on the 1587 edition "Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland" Raphael Holinshed, represented the destructive results of the rule of weak and corrupt rulers and, to some extent, served as justification for the emergence of the Tudor dynasty. Shakespeare's early plays were influenced by the work of other Elizabethan playwrights, especially Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe, the tradition of medieval drama, and the plays of Seneca. "Comedy of Errors" also built according to the classical model, no sources were found for "The Taming of the Shrew", although it is related to another play of a similar name played in London theaters in the 1590s and may have folk roots.

In the mid-1590s, Shakespeare made a transition from comedies that were mocking and farcical in style to romantic works. "A dream in a summer night" is a witty mixture of romance, fairytale magic and low-life life. In the next, also romantic, comedy by Shakespeare "The Merchant of Venice" contains a portrait of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock, which reflects the racial prejudices of the Elizabethan English. A witty play "Much ado about nothing", beautifully depicting life in the provinces "As You Like It" and enlivened by fun "Twelfth Night (play)" complement a number of Shakespeare's comedies. After the lyrical "Richard II", written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into his chronicles "Henry IV, Part 1" And 2 , And "Henry V". His characters become more complex and tender, he switches very deftly between comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, so that his mature works achieve narrative diversity. This period began and ended with tragedies: "Romeo and Juliet", the famous story of love and death of a girl and a boy, and "Julius Caesar", based on "Comparative Lives" Plutarch.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Shakespeare wrote several so-called “problem plays”: "Measure for measure", "Troilus and Cressida" And , as well as a number of the most famous tragedies. Many critics believe that the tragedies of this period represent the peak of Shakespeare's work. Hamlet, the title character of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, is perhaps the playwright's most explored character; This is especially true of the famous soliloquy, which begins “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Unlike the introverted Hamlet, the hesitant hero, the heroes of subsequent tragedies, King Lear and Othello, suffer from too hasty decisions. Often Shakespeare's tragedy is built on the shortcomings or fatal actions of the heroes that destroy him and his loved ones. IN "Othello" The villain Iago brings the title character's jealousy to a point, and he kills his innocent wife. IN "King Lear" the old king makes the fatal mistake of abandoning his right to rule, which leads to horrific events such as the murder of Lear's youngest daughter Cordelia. IN "Macbeth", Shakespeare's shortest and most condensed tragedy, uncontrollable ambition drives Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne, and are ultimately destroyed by the realization of their guilt. In this play, Shakespeare adds an element of the supernatural to the tragic structure. His last major tragedies, "Antony and Cleopatra" And "Coriolanus", according to some critics, contain some of his most beautiful poetry.

In the final period of his work, Shakespeare turned to the genre of romance or tragicomedy and completed three major plays: "Cymbeline", "Winter's Tale" And "Storm", and also, together with another playwright, a play "Pericles". The works of this period are less gloomy than the tragedies that preceded them, but more serious than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and deliverance from troubles. Some researchers believe that these changes arose from Shakespeare's changing outlook on life, which became more relaxed, but perhaps the plays simply reflected the theatrical fashion of the time. Shakespeare's two other surviving plays were written by him in collaboration, possibly with John Fletcher: "Henry VIII" And "Two noble relatives".

Lifetime productions

It is not yet known exactly for which theater companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. So, on the title page of the publication "Titus Andronicus" 1594 indicates that the play was performed by three different groups. After the plague of 1592-1593, Shakespeare's plays were already staged by his own company at the Theater and the Curtain. in Shoreditch north of the Thames. The first part was staged there "Henry IV". After a quarrel with its owner, the company left the Playhouse and built the Globe Theater on the south side of the Thames, in Southwark, the first theater built by actors for actors. The Globe opened in the fall of 1599, and one of the first plays staged there was "Julius Caesar". Most of Shakespeare's best-known plays written after 1599 were produced for the Globe, including "Hamlet", "Othello" And "King Lear".

Shakespeare's troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, had a special relationship with King James I, especially after it was renamed the King's Men in 1603. Although records of productions are sparse, it can be said that there were 7 performances of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605, including two "The Merchant of Venice". After 1608 they began performing at the Blackfriars indoor theater in the winter and working at the Globe in the summer. Good premises, combined with royal patronage, allowed Shakespeare to introduce more complex devices into the props of his plays. For example, in "Cymbeline" Jupiter descends “with thunder and lightning, sitting on an eagle: He throws lightning. Ghosts fall to their knees."

Shakespeare's troupe included such famous actors as Richard Burbage, William Kemp, Neri Condell and John Heminges. Burbage was the original leading actor in many of Shakespeare's plays, including "Richard III", "Hamlet", "Othello" And "King Lear". Popular comic actor William Kemp, among other characters, played Pietro in "Romeo and Juliet" and Dogwood in "Much ado about nothing". At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries he was replaced by Robert Armin, who played such roles as Touchstone from "As You Like It" and the Jester from "King Lear". In 1613, Henry Wotton reported that the play had been staged. "Henry VIII". On June 29, during the production of this performance, the cannon misfired and set fire to the thatched roof of the building, so that the entire theater burned down. This fact allows us to establish with good accuracy the time when the play was written.

First publications

It is believed that half (18) of Shakespeare's plays were published in one way or another during the playwright's lifetime. The most important publication of Shakespeare's heritage is rightfully considered the 1623 folio (the so-called “First Folio”), published by Edward Blount and William Jaggard as part of the so-called “Chester Collection”; printers Worrall and Col. This edition includes 36 plays by Shakespeare - all except Pericles and The Two Noble Kinsmen. It is this publication that underlies all research in the field of Shakespearean studies.

This project was made possible thanks to the efforts of John Heminge and Henry Condell, friends and colleagues of Shakespeare. The book is preceded by a message to readers on behalf of Heminge and Condell, as well as a poetic dedication to Shakespeare by playwright Ben Jonson, who also contributed to the publication of the First Folio.

In 1593 and 1594, when theaters were closed due to the plague, Shakespeare wrote two erotic poems, "Venus and Adonis" And "Dishonored Lucretia". These poems were dedicated to Henry Risley, Earl of Southampton. IN "Venus and Adonis" innocent Adonis rejects Venus's sexual advances; whereas in "Dishonored Lucretia" the virtuous wife Lucretia is raped by Tarquinius. Influenced Metamorphosis Ovid, the poems show the feeling of guilt and the terrible consequences of uncontrolled love. Both poems were popular and were republished several times during Shakespeare's lifetime. Third poem "A Lover's Complaint", in which a girl complains about a seductive deceiver, was published in the first edition Sonnets in 1609. Most scientists now accept that "A Lover's Complaint" Shakespeare wrote it. In the poem "Phoenix and the Dove", printed in 1601 in the collection of Robert Chester "Love's Martyr", tells the story of the sad death of the mythological phoenix and his lover, the faithful dove. In 1599, two sonnets by Shakespeare in the name of Shakespeare, but without his consent in "The Passionate Pilgrim".

A sonnet is a poem of 14 lines. In Shakespeare's sonnets, the following rhyme scheme is adopted: abab cdcd efef gg, that is, three quatrains with cross rhymes, and one couplet (a type introduced by the poet Earl of Surrey, executed under Henry VIII).

In total, Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, and most of them were created in the years 1592-1599. They were first printed without the author's knowledge in 1609. Two of them were published back in 1599 in the collection “The Passionate Pilgrim”. These are sonnets 138 And 144 .

The entire cycle of sonnets falls into separate thematic groups:

• Sonnets dedicated to a friend: 1 -126
• Chanting a friend: 1 -26
• Friendship Tests: 27 -99
• The bitterness of separation: 27 -32
• First disappointment in a friend: 33 -42
• Longing and fears: 43 -55
• Growing alienation and melancholy: 56 -75
• Rivalry and jealousy towards other poets: 76 -96
• “Winter” of separation: 97 -99
• A celebration of renewed friendship: 100 -126
• Sonnets dedicated to a dark-skinned lover: 127 -152
• Conclusion - the joy and beauty of love: 153 -154

Sonnet 126 violates the canon - it has only 12 lines and a different rhyme pattern. Sometimes it is considered a division between two conventional parts of the cycle - sonnets dedicated to friendship (1-126) and addressed to the “dark lady” (127-154). Sonnet 145 written in iambic tetrameter instead of pentameter and differs in style from the others; it is sometimes referred to as an early period and its heroine is identified with Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway (whose surname, perhaps as a pun on "hate away", is introduced in the sonnet).

Style

The language of Shakespeare's first plays is the language common to plays of this period. This stylized language does not always allow the playwright to reveal his characters. Poetry is often laden with complex metaphors and sentences, and the language is more conducive to recitation than to live acting. For example, ceremonial speeches "Titus Andronicus", according to some critics, often slow down the action; character language "Two Gentlemen of Verona" seems unnatural.

Soon, however, Shakespeare begins to adapt the traditional style to his own purposes. Initial soliloquy from "Richard III" goes back to the self-talk of Vice, a traditional character in medieval drama. At the same time, Richard's powerful monologues would later develop into the monologues of Shakespeare's later plays. All plays mark the transition from a traditional style to a new one. Throughout the rest of his career, Shakespeare combines them, and one of the most successful examples of mixing styles is "Romeo and Juliet". By the mid-1590s, the time of creation "Romeo and Juliet", "Richard II" And "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Shakespeare's style becomes more natural. Metaphors and figurative expressions are increasingly consistent with the needs of drama.

The standard poetic form used by Shakespeare is blank verse, written in iambic pentameter. The blank verse of the early and later plays differ significantly. The early one is often beautiful, but, as a rule, at the end of the line either the entire sentence or its semantic part ends, which creates monotony. After Shakespeare mastered traditional blank verse, he began to modify it by breaking the sentence at the end of a line. The use of this technique gives poetry power and flexibility in plays such as "Julius Caesar" And "Hamlet". For example, Shakespeare uses it to convey Hamlet's shocked feelings:

Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting

That wouldn't let me sleep. Methought I lay

Worse than the mutes in the bilboes. Rashly-

And prais’d be rashness for it-let us know

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well…

It was as if there was a struggle in my soul,

Preventing me from sleeping; I had to lie down

Harder than a convict. Suddenly, -

Praise of surprise: we are reckless

Sometimes it helps where it dies

Deep intent...

"Hamlet", act 5, scene 2, 4-8. Translation by T. Shchepkina-Kupernik.

In subsequent "Hamlet" plays, the poetic style continued to vary, especially in the emotional passages of his later tragedies. Literary critic Bradley. described the style as "more concentrated, faster, more varied, with less repetition." Towards the end of his career, Shakespeare used a variety of techniques to achieve similar effects. He used techniques such as enjambment, unstructured pauses and stops, and various unusual variations in sentence construction and length. In many cases, the listener must figure out the meaning of the sentence himself. In late romantic plays, long and short sentences are contrasted with each other, the subject and object of the action are swapped, words are omitted, which creates a sense of spontaneity.

Shakespeare combined the art of poetry with an understanding of the practical details of theatrical production. Like all playwrights of the time, he dramatized stories from sources such as Plutarch and Holinshead. But the original source did not remain unchanged; Shakespeare introduced new and changed old plot lines so that the full complexity of the narrative was revealed to the audience. With the growth of Shakespeare's skill, his characters began to emerge more clearly and acquire distinctive features of speech. However, his later plays are more reminiscent of his earlier creations. In his later romantic works, he deliberately returned to an artificial style in order to emphasize the illusory nature of the theater.

Influence

Shakespeare's works seriously influenced the theater and literature of the following years. In particular, he expanded the playwright's scope of work with characterization, plot, language, and genre. For example, before "Romeo and Juliet" romance has never been considered a worthy theme for tragedy. Soliloquies were primarily used to inform viewers of events that had occurred; Shakespeare began to use them to reveal the character of the character and his thoughts. His works greatly influenced subsequent poets. Poets of the Romantic era tried to revive Shakespeare's verse drama, but had little success. The critic George Steiner called all English drama from Coleridge to Tennyson "weak variations on Shakespearean themes."

Shakespeare influenced writers such as Thomas Hardy, William Faulkner and Charles Dickens. His influence also extended to Herman Melville; his captain Ahab from the novel "Moby Dick" is a classic tragic hero inspired by King Lear. Scholars estimate that 20,000 pieces of music are associated with the works of Shakespeare. Among them are 2 operas by Giuseppe Verdi, "Othello" And "Falstaff", the primary source of which is the plays of the same name. Shakespeare also inspired many artists, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites. Swiss artist Henry Fuseli, a friend of William Blake, even translated the play into German "Macbeth". The developer of the theory of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, relied on Shakespearean psychology, in particular on the image of Hamlet, in his theories about human nature.

In Shakespeare's time, English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardized than they are today, and his language helped shape modern English. He is Samuel Johnson's most cited author in "A Dictionary of the English Language", the first essay of its kind. Expressions such as “with bated breath” (lit. bated breath = with a sinking heart) ( "The Merchant of Venice") and “a foregone conclusion” (lit. a foregone conclusion) ( "Othello") have entered modern everyday English speech.

Reputation and criticism

“He was not a man of an era, but of all times.” --Ben Johnson

Although Shakespeare was not considered a great playwright during his lifetime, he received praise for his works.

In 1598, the clergyman writer Francis Merys singled him out among English writers as “the most excellent” in both comedy and tragedy. And the authors of the playbook "Parnassus" Shakespeare was compared to Chaucer, Gower and Spenser. In the First Folio, Ben Jonson called Shakespeare: "The soul of the age, the applause-worthy, the delight, the wonder of our stage."

In the period between the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, the ideas of classicism prevailed. Therefore, critics of the time generally ranked Shakespeare lower than John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. Thomas Riemer, for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic and the tragic. However, the poet and critic John Dryden spoke highly of Shakespeare, saying of Jonson: "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare." Still, for several decades, Riemer's views dominated, but in the 18th century, critics began to admire him and call him a genius. This reputation was only strengthened by a number of published scientific works devoted to the work of Shakespeare, for example the work of Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in 1790. By 1800, he was firmly established as the national poet of England. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Shakespeare also received a name outside the British Isles. He was supported by such writers as Voltaire, Goethe, Stendhal and Victor Hugo.

During the Romantic era, Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge; the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays into German in the spirit of German romanticism. In the 19th century, admiration for Shakespeare often bordered on adulation and adulation. “This King Shakespeare,” wrote the essayist Thomas Carlyle in 1840, “is above us all, noblest, gentlest, yet strong; indestructible." Bernard Shaw, however, criticized the romantic cult of Shakespeare, using the word "bardo-worship" (eng. bardolatry). He argued that Ibsen's naturalistic drama made Shakespeare obsolete.

Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in his critical essay “On Shakespeare and Drama”, based on a detailed analysis of some of Shakespeare’s most popular works, in particular: “King Lear”, “Othello”, “Falstaff”, “Hamlet”, etc. - subjected sharp criticism of Shakespeare's ability as a playwright.

After the modernist revolution of art at the beginning of the 20th century, Shakespeare was enrolled in the ranks of the avant-garde. German expressionists and Moscow futurists staged his plays. Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht developed epic theater under the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and critic T. S. Eliot opposed Shaw, saying that Shakespeare's "primitivism" made his work modern. Eliot led the movement of researchers to examine Shakespeare's characters in more detail. In the 1950s, a wave of new approaches replaced modernism and marked the beginning of “postmodern” Shakespeare studies. In the 1980s, Shakespeare's work began to be studied by representatives of such movements as structuralism, feminism, new historicism, African-American studies and queer studies.

Doubts surrounding Shakespeare's personality

"Shakespearean Question"

Some 230 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of works attributed to him. Alternative candidates were proposed, mostly well-born and well-educated, such as Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Theories have also been proposed according to which a group of writers was hiding behind the pseudonym “Shakespeare”. However, the traditional theory is generally accepted in the academic community, and interest in the non-Stratfordian movement, especially the Oxfordian theory, continues into the 21st century.

Non-Strafordians consider one of the proofs of their theory that no evidence of Shakespeare’s education has survived, while the vocabulary of his works, according to various estimates, ranges from 17,500 to 29,000 words, and also reveals a deep knowledge of history and literature. Since not a single manuscript written by Shakespeare's hand has survived, opponents of the traditional version conclude that his literary career was falsified.

Some scholars believe that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, although the Catholic religion was banned at the time. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, came from a Catholic family. The main evidence of Shakespeare's belonging to a Catholic family is considered to be the will of John Shakespeare, found in 1757 in the attic of his house. The original document has been lost, and scholars disagree on its authenticity. In 1591 the authorities reported that he did not appear in the church. In 1606, the name of Shakespeare's daughter Suzanne was included in the list of those who did not show up for Easter communion in Stratford. Scholars have found evidence in Shakespeare's plays both for and against his Catholicism, but the truth has not been established with absolute certainty.

Sexual orientation

Despite the fact that Shakespeare married and had children, there are different opinions in the scientific community regarding his sexual orientation. Researchers often believe that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, and some infer from them that Shakespeare was in love with a young man. Others, however, consider these sonnets to be merely expressions of friendship rather than sexual desire. The 26 so-called sonnets to "The Dark Lady", addressed to a married woman, are often cited as evidence of his heterosexual orientation.

Appearance

There are no written descriptions of Shakespeare's appearance made during his lifetime, and there is debate about his true appearance. Often the true portrait of Shakespeare is called the Drushout portrait, which Ben Jonson spoke of as well representing Shakespeare's appearance, especially since the bust on Shakespeare's grave is quite similar to this portrait. In the 18th century, many attempts were made to establish Shakespeare's true appearance, which led to numerous falsifications and different versions.

List of essays

Classification of plays

Shakespeare's works include 36 plays, published in 1623 in the First Folio, divided here into comedies, chronicles and tragedies according to that edition. Two plays were not included in the First Folio, Two noble relatives And Pericles, which are now considered part of the canon, and scholars agree that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their writing. Shakespeare's poems were never published in the First Folio.

At the end of the 19th century, Edward Dowden classified 4 of Shakespeare's later plays as romantic, and although most scholars call them tragicomedies, this option is widely used. These plays, as well as related "Two noble relatives", are marked with (*). In 1896, Frederick Boas coined the term "problem plays" to describe Shakespeare's plays that were difficult to classify by genre: "All is well that ends well", "Measure for measure", "Troilus and Cressida" And "Hamlet". The term has been much discussed and sometimes used in relation to other plays, and is still used today, although "Hamlet" often classified as simply tragedies. Problem plays are marked with a (‡).

If a play is believed to have been only partially written by Shakespeare, it is marked with a (†). Works sometimes attributed to Shakespeare are classified as apocrypha.

Comedy Essays

• All is well that ends well ‡
• How do you like it
• Comedy of Errors
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for measure ‡
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A dream in a summer night
• Much ado about nothing
• Pericles *†
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Storm *
• twelfth Night
• Two Veronese
• Two noble relatives *†
• Winter's Tale *

• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV, part 1
• Henry IV, part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI, part 1 †
• Henry VI, part 2
• Henry VI, part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII †

Tragedies

• Romeo and Juliet
• Coriolanus
• Titus Andronicus †
• Timon of Athens †
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth †
• Hamlet
• Troilus and Cressida ‡
• King Lear
• Othello
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Cymbeline *

• Sonnets of William Shakespeare
• Venus and Adonis
• Dishonored Lucretia
• Passionate Pilgrim
• Phoenix and dove
• Lover's complaint

Lost works

• Love's Efforts Rewarded
• History of Cardenio †

Apocrypha Main article: Apocrypha of William Shakespeare

• Arden of Faversham
• Birth of Merlin
• Edward III
• Locrine
• The London Prodigal
• The Puritan
• The Second Maiden's Tragedy
• Sir John Oldcastle
• Thomas Lord Cromwell
• A Yorkshire Tragedy
• Sir Thomas More

William Shakespeare is one of the world's greatest playwrights. The plays, sonnets, and poems of the English classic have survived to this day. There is a version that not all works created by this legendary figure are known to humanity. In addition, the playwright’s biography has many blank spots. Today's article will talk about the early years of the poet. We will also tell you about the city where Shakespeare was born.

Family

William Shakespeare was born in 1564. The exact date of his birth is unknown. According to some researchers, this is April 23. By the way, it was on this day, in 1616, that the great playwright passed away. The poet's father was a craftsman, and for most of his life he held significant public positions. For example, for several years he was an alderman, that is, a member of the municipal council in the city where Shakespeare was born. The father of the future playwright did not attend church, for which, according to the laws of that time, he was forced to pay significant fines.

William's mother belonged to an old Saxon family. In total there were eight children in the family. William was born third.

Education

In the village where Shakespeare was born, there were two schools in the 16th century. The first is grammatical. Students at this institution acquired good knowledge of Latin. The second is King Edward VI School. The opinions of historians about which of them the playwright graduated from are divided. School magazines and any documents have not survived. Therefore, unfortunately, there is no exact information regarding Shakespeare’s education.

What else is known about the great playwright?

Information about where Shakespeare was born and where he spent his early years can be considered reliable. As for the later period in his biography, there are only assumptions. However, there is information about the poet’s wife and children. In 1582 Shakespeare married. His chosen one was eight years older. Soon they had a daughter, who was named Susan. Three years later, twins were born, one of whom died at the age of eleven.

Attempts by researchers to find out what happened in the 80s in Shakespeare’s creative life did not bear any fruit. They called this period the "lost years." One of the researchers believed that it was then that the playwright left the city where he was born.

Shakespeare was forced to leave in order to escape persecution by representatives of the law. Perhaps he wrote several obscene ballads, as a result of which he gained well-wishers. There are other versions regarding the events that took place during this period in the life of the future playwright (he had not yet written his great works). One way or another, Shakespeare left the city where he was born in the late eighties of the 16th century.

The time has come to name the settlement that is invariably mentioned in the playwright’s biography. Where was William Shakespeare born? What is this city? What's so special about it?

The poet's hometown

Where was Shakespeare born? Anyone can name a country. The famous playwright, whose works have been staged by theater directors around the world for several centuries, was born in Great Britain. William Shakespeare's hometown is Stratford-upon-Avon. It is located in the county of Warwickshire.

Stratford-upon-Avon is located thirteen kilometers from Warwick and thirty-five from Birmingham. Today, just over twenty thousand people live in this city. In Shakespeare's time - about one and a half thousand. The city is famous, of course, primarily thanks to William Shakespeare.

Stratford-upon-Avon was founded at the end of the 19th century. Its name has Old English roots. In 1196, the English king granted the city permission to hold weekly fairs. And soon Stratford became a trading center.

In Shakespeare's time, one of the prominent public figures in the city was a man named Hugh Clopton. He carried out large-scale improvements to Stratford. It was Clopton who replaced the wooden bridge with a stone one, which still stands today. He also paved roads and restored the local church.

For a long time, representatives of the Flower family stood at the head of the city. They once became rich thanks to the brewing business, founded at the beginning of the 19th century. The office of mayor has been held by four generations of the Flower family. And their brewery for a long time remained the largest enterprise in Stratford. Thanks to one of the members of this respected family, the Royal Shakespeare Theater was built here.

Many years in Stratford-upon-Avon conducted by the writer Maria Corelli, who did a lot to restore its historical appearance.

Stratford's main attraction

The most interesting historical place in this city is, of course, the house where Shakespeare was born. Moreover, this building can be called one of the most visited attractions in all of Great Britain. Shakespeare was born in a house on Henley Street and spent his childhood, adolescence, youth and the first years of his married life.

For several centuries, the building has been a place of pilgrimage for fans of the outstanding poet and playwright. Moreover, among them at different times there were quite famous people. On the wall of the house, for example, you can see the autograph of Walter Scott himself. There is also an inscription left by Thomas Carlyle.

Leaving an autograph on walls is a type of vandalism. But only if the author of such notes is not Walter Scott or any other famous prose writer. A few words left by the author of Ivanhoe added even greater historical value to the building in which the creator of Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and more than one hundred and fifty sonnets was born 450 years ago.

House-museum

The building, of course, has long been converted into a museum. Inside is the workshop of William Shakespeare's father. He was a prominent glover in Stratford. In the backyard there is a small outbuilding which was formerly used to store hides and other materials needed in the elder Shakespeare's trade.

William's parents probably kept horses and chickens. In addition, vegetables and fruits were grown. The garden that lies near this ancient building is a picturesque picture, but one can only guess what this part of Henley Street looked like in the 16th century.