Biography of William Shakespeare

Despite his legacy as one of the most influential (if not the most influential) writers in English, we know little about William Shakespeare as a person. Nevertheless, the key events of Shakespeare’s life, including his baptism, marriage, his positions as playwright, actor, and shareholder for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, and death are well documented. Born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon (the record at Holy Trinity Church in that same town indicates his baptism on April 26, 1564), William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare and Mary (Arden) Shakespeare. The Shakespeares were an established middle-class family at Stratford who were later elevated to the gentry in 1601. As a boy, Shakespeare received a rigorous humanist education at a local grammar school. Renaissance humanism (different from modern secular humanism) emphasized engaging with personal learning and the preparation not for religious life but for civil life in government. In grammar school, Shakespeare and his male contemporaries read and wrote in Latin from a series of curated examples that were meant to be the best of different genres. In their own compositions and rhetorical competitions, students were encouraged to draw from these prior models and remix them into their own creations.

In 1582, 18-year-old William married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—Susanna in 1583 and twins, Hamnet and Judith in 1585. Given the closeness of dates between their wedding and the birth of their first child, many speculate that Anne had been pregnant at the time of their marriage. Anne and their children remained in Stratford while Shakespeare moved to London for his career in acting. He would split his time between both locations throughout his life.

As a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s men, Shakespeare held several roles, including actor, playwright, and—by far the most lucrative—shareholder. Though sponsored by the Lord Chamberlain, the company itself was owned by eight different actors who not only performed in the plays themselves but also shared the profits and debts. The success of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (who later became the King’s Men once King James himself took over patronage) led to Shakespeare buying a coat of arms for his father, thus literally purchasing a noble title for his family.

Shakespeare died at age 52 on April 23, 1616, with some speculating that he died on his birthday. After his death, two members of Shakespeare’s company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, produced a large collection of several of Shakespeare’s plays, many of which had not been in print prior to that time. This collection was first printed in 1623 and would appear in three more editions through the century, each time adding more and more plays (many of which not actually written by Shakespeare). The first edition, or the First Folio, remains a key source for performers and scholars.

Shakespeare’s Historical Context

Shakespeare, along with several other writers, comprise what is commonly referred to as “the English Renaissance.” This period, ranging roughly the mid 1500s to mid 1600s, occurred as part of a larger European Renaissance that originated in Italy. “Renaissance,” literally meaning “rebirth,” was intended as a revival of classical learning from classical Greek and Roman periods. Medievalists understandably take some umbrage with this term as it implies that the periods immediately preceding this one were somehow dead or in need of being revived. You may also frequently see this period labeled as “early modern” or even Elizabethan or Jacobean (adjectival terms for Elizabeth and James, two of the dominant monarchs from this period). In terms of literary history, this period comprises the entire reign of the Tudor monarchs through the execution of Charles I, or 1485 to 1623.

During this century and a half, England and its monarchs were seeking legitimacy as a continental power. The ascension of the first Tudor monarch Henry VII (Henry VIII’s father and Elizabeth I’s grandfather) was fraught with turmoil as his claim to the throne was more tenuous than other contenders. The shadow of whether the Tudors were “legitimate” monarchs plagued the rest of the family, with Henry VIII’s desperation in producing a male heir famously leading to multiple divorces and executions of his wives and Parliament insisting upon Elizabeth I marrying. As part of a push for legitimacy as a European power was the establishment of military power, a national identity through the arts and education, and exploration and conquering of non-European locales.

Verse and Scansion

Similar to his predecessors and contemporaries, Shakespeare’s plays are predominantly written in verse. Most lines follow a particular poetic meter that roughly mimics early modern English speech patterns. In this case, Shakespeare uses blank verse or unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter that are used to imitate English speech, with an occasional rhyming couplet at the end of a scene or monologue to illustrate closure.

But what exactly is “iambic pentameter” for that matter? And why should we care?

In English poetics, each poetic line is made up of patterns of syllables called feet (singular: foot). Typically, these patterns are disyllabic (or two-syllable) combinations of either stressed or unstressed sounds; however, other languages may have different rules for what counts as a foot. (Classical Latin, for example, relies on long and short vowel sounds to determine feet as opposed to stress patterns. Their stress patterns can be disyllabic or trisyllabic, depending on the poetry.) When determining the meter of a poem, readers will examine both the total number of feet, the dominant stress pattern, and any variations to the dominant stress pattern.

By far the most common stress pattern in early modern English poetry is the two-syllable iamb. An iamb consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. In the example below from Shakespeare’s Othello, the stressed syllables are in bold. Slashes indicate the separation of each foot. Notice how the majority of stresses below equate to the “da-duh” sound often associated with the human heart: arguably, it is that “da duh” rhythm that makes the lines/phrases feel natural, as if they are a part of how we speak naturally.

I’ll see / before / I doubt; / when I /doubt, prove;

And on / the proof, / there is / no more / but this:

Away / at once / with love / or jea / lousy. (3.3.221–223)

As the example above shows, poetic feet are measures of sound rather than measures of meaning. Notice in the final line, “jealousy,” a three-syllable word, appears in the fourth and fifth foot in the line.

Other common stress patterns in English poetry include the trochee and the spondee. A trochee (adjective trochaic) is the opposite of an iamb, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. A spondee (adjective spondaic) consists of two stressed syllables. In drama that uses blank verse, you will most commonly see these two stress patterns at the beginning of a speech or scene.

Table 6.2. Common stress patterns in early modern English drama.^[1][2][3]

[table id=7 /]

Knowing how to scan a poetic line will open up additional options for literary analysis, including clues as to how the lines were intended to be performed.

Scansion is more of an art than science, meaning that there will be places where the correct stress pattern may not be immediately clear. In some instances, the emphasis will not matter much; in others, the emphasis may be incredibly significant. Let’s take a look at the four opening lines of Richard III, where the soon-to-be King Richard reflects on the events on the usurpation of the previous King Henry VI by Richard’s brother:

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this son of York,

And all the clouds that loured upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.^[4]

The majority of the lines easily fall into the iambic stress pattern; indeed, the stresses in lines 2 and 3 correspond to internal assonance (glor/lour; cloud/house), further suggesting that this pattern is intentional. However, the very first foot containing the words “Now is” is less obvious. If following the normal Shakespearean pattern, the emphasis would fall on “is,” making the actor state, “Now IS the winter of our discontent.” However, if you try saying the lines yourself, your emphasis is likely to fall on the “now” as it contains a stronger vowel sound. This choice would make this first foot a trochee.

Critical Commentary: Why Shakespeare Matters