Gisel florez biography of william shakespeare

The ghosts fall on their knees. It contained 36 texts, including 18 printed for the first time. Alfred Pollard termed some of the pre versions as " bad quartos " because of their adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, which may in places have been reconstructed from memory. The differences may stem from copying or printing errors, from notes by actors or audience members, or from Shakespeare's own papers.

In the case of King Lear , however, while most modern editions do conflate them, the folio version is so different from the quarto that the Oxford Shakespeare prints them both, arguing that they cannot be conflated without confusion. In and , 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 raped by the lustful Tarquin. A third narrative poem, A Lover's Complaint , in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the Sonnets in Most scholars now accept that Shakespeare wrote A Lover's Complaint.

Critics consider that its fine qualities are marred by leaden effects. In , two early drafts of sonnets and appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim , published under Shakespeare's name but without his permission. Published in , the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership.

It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart". The edition was dedicated to a "Mr. It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe , whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr.

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 grand speeches in Titus Andronicus , in the view of some critics, often hold up the action, for example; and the verse in The Two Gentlemen of Verona has been described as stilted.

However, Shakespeare soon began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. The opening soliloquy of Richard III has its roots in the self-declaration of Vice in medieval drama. At the same time, Richard's vivid self-awareness looks forward to the soliloquies of Shakespeare's mature plays. Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with Romeo and Juliet perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles.

He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself. Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse , composed in iambic pentameter. In practice, this meant that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. The blank verse of his early plays is quite different from that of his later ones.

It is often beautiful, but its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines , with the risk of monotony. This technique releases the new power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as Julius Caesar and Hamlet. Shakespeare uses it, for example, to convey the turmoil in Hamlet's mind: [ ]. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep.

Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly— And prais'd be rashness for it—let us know Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well After Hamlet , Shakespeare varied his poetic style further, particularly in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. The literary critic A. Bradley described this style as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and, in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical".

These included run-on lines , irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. The listener is challenged to complete the sense. Shakespeare combined poetic genius with a practical sense of the theatre. This strength of design ensures that a Shakespeare play can survive translation, cutting, and wide interpretation without loss to its core drama.

He preserved aspects of his earlier style in the later plays, however. In Shakespeare's late romances , he deliberately returned to a more artificial style, which emphasised the illusion of theatre. Shakespeare's work has made a significant and lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation , plot, language , and genre.

The Romantic poets attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Critic George Steiner described all English verse dramas from Coleridge to Tennyson as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes. His work has inspired several operas, among them Giuseppe Verdi 's Macbeth , Otello and Falstaff , whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays.

In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling, and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now, [ ] and his use of language helped shape modern English. Shakespeare's influence extends far beyond his native England and the English language. His reception in Germany was particularly significant; as early as the 18th century Shakespeare was widely translated and popularised in Germany, and gradually became a "classic of the German Weimar era ;" Christoph Martin Wieland was the first to produce complete translations of Shakespeare's plays in any language.

Some of the most deeply affecting productions of Shakespeare have been non-English, and non-European. He is that unique writer: he has something for everyone. According to Guinness World Records , Shakespeare remains the world's best-selling playwright, with sales of his plays and poetry believed to have achieved in excess of four billion copies in the almost years since his death.

He is also the third most translated author in history. Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received a large amount of praise. Between the Restoration of the monarchy in and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. But during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and, like Dryden, to acclaim what they termed his natural genius.

A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of Samuel Johnson in and Edmond Malone in , added to his growing reputation. During the Romantic era , Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays in the spirit of German Romanticism.

The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the avant-garde. The Expressionists in Germany and the Futurists in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht devised an epic theatre under the influence of Shakespeare.

The poet and critic T. Eliot argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern. Wilson Knight and the school of New Criticism , led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for post-modern studies of Shakespeare.

He encloses us because we see with his fundamental perceptions. Around years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. Shakespeare conformed to the official state religion, [ k ] but his private views on religion have been the subject of debate. Shakespeare's will uses a Protestant formula, and he was a confirmed member of the Church of England , where he was married, his children were baptised, and where he is buried.

Some scholars are of the view that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics, at a time when practising Catholicism in England was against the law. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by his father, John Shakespeare , found in in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. However, the document is now lost and scholars differ as to its authenticity.

Other authors argue that there is a lack of evidence about Shakespeare's religious beliefs. Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism, Protestantism, or lack of belief in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove. Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. At 18, he married year-old Anne Hathaway , who was pregnant.

Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May Over the centuries, some readers have posited that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, [ ] and point to them as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than romantic love.

No written contemporary description of Shakespeare's physical appearance survives, and no evidence suggests that he ever commissioned a portrait. From the 18th century, the desire for authentic Shakespeare portraits fuelled claims that various surviving pictures depicted Shakespeare. Some scholars suggest that the Droeshout portrait , which Ben Jonson approved of as a good likeness, [ ] and his Stratford monument provide perhaps the best evidence of his appearance.

After a three-year study supported by the National Portrait Gallery, London , the portrait's owners, Cooper contended that its composition date, contemporary with Shakespeare, its subsequent provenance, and the sitter's attire, all supported the attribution. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history.

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. English playwright and poet — For other uses, see Shakespeare disambiguation and William Shakespeare disambiguation. The Chandos portrait , likely depicting Shakespeare, c. Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire, England. Elizabethan Jacobean. Lord Chamberlain's Men King's Men.

Anne Hathaway. John Shakespeare Mary Arden. Play comedy history tragedy. Poetry sonnet narrative poem epitaph. Main article: Life of William Shakespeare. London and theatrical career. Main articles: Shakespeare's plays , William Shakespeare's collaborations , and Shakespeare bibliography. Further information: Chronology of Shakespeare's plays.

Main article: Shakespeare in performance. Main article: Shakespeare's sonnets. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate Main article: Shakespeare's writing style. Main article: Shakespeare's influence. He was not of an age, but for all time. Main article: Shakespeare authorship question. Main article: Religious views of William Shakespeare.

Main article: Sexuality of William Shakespeare. Main article: Portraits of Shakespeare. He was baptised 26 April. Under the Gregorian calendar , adopted in Catholic countries in , Shakespeare died on 3 May. This motto is still used by Warwickshire County Council , in reference to Shakespeare. In addition to presenting the town with a statue of Shakespeare, Garrick composed a doggerel verse, lampooned in the London newspapers, naming the banks of the Avon as the birthplace of the "matchless Bard".

Rowse , the 20th-century Shakespeare scholar, was emphatic: "He died, as he had lived, a conforming member of the Church of England. His will made that perfectly clear—in facts, puts it beyond dispute, for it uses the Protestant formula. Archived from the original on 8 February Retrieved 8 February Eliot Tradition and the Individual Talent. Archived from the original on 7 May Retrieved 7 May Poetry Foundation.

Archived from the original on 6 January Retrieved 6 January The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre — Oxford University Press. The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 3 February Retrieved 3 February Broadcast 18 May Archived from the original on 3 March Retrieved 29 November The Local Germany. Well, William Shakespeare was the greatest after all Archived from the original on 14 April Retrieved 2 September Guinness World Records.

Beaumont and Fletcher. Ben Jonson. Seventeenth Century. Henry Craik, ed. English Prose". Archived from the original on 20 July Retrieved 20 July May Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 10 September Retrieved 16 April CBS News. Archived from the original on 19 April The Guardian. He attended until he was 14 or 15 and did not continue to university.

The uncertainty regarding his education has led some people question the authorship of his work. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford. Shakespeare was 18, and Anne was 26 and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, Two years later, on February 2, , twins Hamnet and Judith were born.

Hamnet died of unknown causes at age One theory is that he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from local landlord Sir Thomas Lucy. Another possibility is that he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire. By , there is evidence Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced.

Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention and patronage of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first and second published poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece Scholars broadly categorize the sonnets in groups based on two unknown subjects that Shakespeare addresses: the Fair Youth sonnets the first and the Dark Lady sonnets the last The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.

Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing.

Gisel florez biography of william shakespeare

Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature. They were printed in in quarto, an eight-page pamphlet-like book. By the end of , Shakespeare had likely written 16 of his 37 plays and amassed some wealth. At this time, civil records show Shakespeare purchased one of the largest houses in Stratford, called New Place, for his family.

However, Shakespeare expert and professor Sir Stanley Wells posits that the playwright might have spent more time at home in Stratford than previously believed, only commuting to London when he needed to for work. Although the theater culture in 16 th century England was not greatly admired by people of high rank, some of the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors.

By , Shakespeare and several fellow actors built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the Globe Theater. Julius Caesar is thought to be the first production at the new open-air theater. Owning the playhouse proved to be a financial boon for Shakespeare and the other investors. The company quickly rebuilt it, and it reopened the next year.

In his last plays, "Cymbeline," "A Winter's Tale," and "The Tempest," the bard test-drove a hybrid genre, the tragicomedy, also known as the romance. While they take a more somber, serious tone than such comedies as "Twelfth Night," these tragicomedies end on a positive note, unlike such tragedies as "King Lear. By the time they reopened in , Shakespeare had already retired to his family home in Stratford where he died in at the age of While no verified version of the manner of his death exists today, one account, written by the vicar of Stratford 50 years later, attributes his untimely demise to drinking too hard with his friends John Drayton and Ben Johnson, and catching a fatal fever as a result.

Due in part to the great gaps in knowledge regarding Shakespeare's early education and the lost years, the bard has always been shrouded in mystery. In addition, not a single manuscript he wrote in his own hand survived the centuries. One scholarly explanation for this lack of historical verification is that "William Shakespeare" was the pen name of some more illustrious, well-educated figure of the Elizabethan era.

The controversy did not see the light of day until more than two centuries after the bard's death. Among the first to question the authorship of such all-time great works as "Macbeth" was a Pennsylvanian Lutheran named Samuel Schmucker, and he was merely drawing an analogy. He likened the scholarly trend of his time in using historic data to raise doubts about the existence of Christ was akin to speculating that Shakespeare never existed.

An offhand remark, but that is all it took to sow the seed of controversy. Some of the fuel for the fire included: 1. The lack of documentation for Shakespeare's existence. The disputed authorship of particular works. The unlikelihood that someone with the bard's background would rise to greatness. The controversy has even found its way into the U.

The plays of Shakespeare have been studied more than any other writing in the English language and have been translated into numerous languages. He was rare as a play-write for excelling in tragedies, comedies and histories. He deftly combined popular entertainment with an extraordinary poetic capacity for expression which is almost mantric in quality.

Farewell: my blessing season this in thee! During his lifetime, Shakespeare was not without controversy, but he also received lavish praise for his plays which were very popular and commercially successful. His plays have retained an enduring appeal throughout history and the world. Some of his most popular plays include:. Shakespeare died in ; it is not clear how he died, and numerous suggestions have been put forward.

John Ward, the local vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford where Shakespeare is buried , writes in a diary account that:. The average life expectancy of someone born in London, England in the Sixteenth Century was about 35 years old, Shakespeare died age They contend Shakespeare was actually just a successful businessman, and for authorship suggest names such as Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.

Arguments have also been made for Francis Bacon.