Because of the profoundness of his writing and adeptness, we shall discuss at least 5 interesting facts about Shakespeare whose first name goes by William. The popular English writer was popularly recognized for most of his plays about love, unreliability of power and the ever-changing character of the human mind.
During his lifetime, he was and he is still widely regarded, even more than when he was alive, as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. Many of his texts as if still fresh are being read by high schools and colleges across the world.
Many motivational speakers and writers from different walks of life all over the universe would not stop to quote him just to prove intelligence or even support a high line of logic in their written debate or rhetoric!
It’d been said about how much resourceful the great Stratford-Upon-Avon poet was both on stage and off the stage when he was alive. I think, the very important thing we miss here is the fact that there are some things about him which we might not have discussed. In this article, even though only 5 interesting facts attracted our attention just like the whole world was, we shall outline them in details for you.
Biography
But first his short bio:
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford Upon Avon in April, 1564, Warwickshire, England. At the time of Shakespeare’s birth, it was a market town with lots of traders. Shakespeare’s own father, John, had lots of trades throughout his life, including glover, corn trader, moneylender, ale taster and even Mayor of the town at one point.
We don’t know the exact date, as in those days birth dates weren’t registered. Instead, the day you were baptized would have been recorded – in this case, the 26th of April.
Shakespeare was born in Tudor England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, often described as a ‘Golden Age’ for arts and culture. As a boy from a lower middle class family, it would have been unusual for William to make a living as a writer, making his success even more impressive.
Records show that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, 26, when he was just 18 years old. Anne was already pregnant, suggesting that the marriage might have been a hasty one – in those days it was frowned upon to have a baby unless you were married. Anne and William stayed together until their deaths, although William was often away.
Check out some secretive, but interesting things you probably did not know about Shakespeare:
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His Inability to Spell
Although William was taught Latin at his local school, spelling was not part of lessons and everyone spelled words how they wanted. Imagine that! Shakespeare spelled his name a number of different ways, including: Willm Shakp, William Shaksper, Wm Shakspe, William Shakspere and Willm Shakspere!
Read Also: What Samuel Beckett is Best Known For
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His Invention of Words
There are literally hundreds of words either invented by or first recorded by Shakespeare, including loads we still use today. In fact, there’s too many to list here! Shakespeare also invented lots of popular phrases, including ‘Break the ice’, ‘As luck would have it’ ‘Cruel to be kind’ ‘Green-eyed monster’ and ‘The world is my oyster’.
Also, he liked to put jokes in his plays, even in his tragedies, and he also made up phrases that we still use today, such as “melted into thin air”, “wild goose chase”, “I haven’t slept a wink”, and “break the ice”.
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His First Attempt was Acting, not Writing
William wasn’t around much at home as he went to London to be an actor. His brother Edmund soon followed him to the city to do the same. Will had better luck writing plays than acting, however. He learned fast and produced gory tragedies, rom-coms and comedies.
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He Survived a Plague
Shakespeare lived through and survived a pandemic, one of a number of waves of the bubonic plague. Very sadly, however, his son Hamnet died of the plague, aged just 11. This affected William’s writing and themes like disease, death and grief ran through many of his plays.
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He named His son’s Name after Hamlet and Owned Theatre Companies
Although no one knows for certain, it’s likely that Shakespeare named his most tragic character, Hamlet, after his son.
He co-owned his theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and the Globe, an outside theatre built in London in 1599. He even opened up a second theatre, a posh indoor one called Blackfriars.
