William Shakespeare was born to
John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden sometime in late April 1564 in
Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was
recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His
father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of
Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of
Heralds. All that is known of Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably
attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or
Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in
1582. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins
Judith and Hamnet two years later.
Seven years later Shakespeare is recognized as
an actor, poet and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, refers
to him as "an upstart crow" in A Groatsworth of Wit. A few years
later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupe's in London:
The Lord Chamberlain's Men. When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the
theatre where they performed, (appropriately called The Theatre) they were
wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London,
which they called "The Globe." The new theatre opened in July of
1599, built from the timbers of The Theatre, with the motto "Totus mundus
agit histrionem" (A whole world of players) When James I came to the
throne (1603) the troupe was designated by the new king as the King's Men (or
King's Company). The Letters Patent of the company specifically charged
Shakespeare and eight others "freely to use and exercise the art and
faculty of playing Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Inerludes, Morals,
Pastorals, stage plays ... as well for recreation of our loving subjects as for
our solace and pleasure."
Shakespeare entertained the king and the
people for another ten years until June 19, 1613, when a canon fired from the
roof of the theatre for a gala performance of Henry VIII set fire to the thatch
roof and burned the theatre to the ground. The audience ignored the smoke from
the roof at first, being to absorbed in the play, until the flames caught the
walls and the fabric of the curtains. Amazingly there were no casualties, and
the next spring the company had the theatre "new builded in a far fairer
manner than before." Although Shakespeare invested in the rebuilding, he
retired from the stage to the Great House of New Place in Statford that he had
purchased in 1597, and some considerable land holdings, where he continued to
write until his death in 1616 on the day of his 52nd birthday.
William Shakespeare has created great
pieces like “Romeo and Juliet”. This novel is one Shakespeare’s masterpiece.
This play is about the two lovers who fight for the sake of love. They died
because of the feud between their families.
If I were going to change the
ending of play “Romeo and Juliet”. I
would make a happy ending for the story. Romeo receives the message of Juliet.
And, Paris will agree to decision of Juliet. Romeo and Juliet will live happily
and the feud between their families would stop. Months later, they have their
own family and would become famous in Verona.
