William Shakespeare has a lot of titles. National Poet of England, The Bard, Greatest Writer in the English Language, The Greatest Export of England and the Greatest Dramatist are some examples. According to me he is the creator of his own universe, Shakespeare Universe. Many historical figures and fictional figures live in his universe with their emotions, characteristics, desires and hopes. This universe has become the most fruitful source for writers, poets, directors etc. for centuries.
“Writer is a creator and if he is successful in creation he would be the first observer of acts of his own creatures” says Prof. Dr. Yalçın Küçük. Shakespeare is one of the most successful may be the first, writer who created several characters more real than real. For example many Shakespeare scholars advice to read King Lear rather than watching since if you watch it, you would see how the King Lear feels and acts however if you read it, you would feel like the King Lear.
Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford, England. His father John Shakespeare was a Glover and his mother Mary Arden was the member of Arden Family the famous and wealthy family since before the Norman Conquest. Shakespeare rose in relatively wealthy family and he married with Anne Hathaway (26) in his 18. Their first daughter Susanne was born 6 months later their marriage (reason of this marriage) and their twins Hamnet and Judith followed her 2 years later.
He probably had seen the plays of theatre companies like Queen's Players and Worcester's Men in his childhood since these plays were available for only officials and high status families in their first performance in Stratford.
We do not have enough information about Shakespeare in 1578 and 1582. We know he had moved to London however do not know why and when. We know he had played some roles in London but we do not know why and how. But it did not last too long and he had continued to his career as a writer. Here is the list of his some plays by chronological order.
1589 –The Two Gentleman of Verona.
1591 – Henry VI
1595 – Romeo and Juliet
1596 – The Merchant of Venice
1599 – Julias Ceaser
1604 – Othello
1605 – King Lear
1606 – Macbeth
1608 – Coriolanus
1609 – The Winter's Tale
During his lifetime plague had hit the England two times and almost every theatre companies had cancelled their plays and tours. However, Shakespeare had continued to write, this time poems.
The point that has drawn my attention is successful business and investments of Shakespeare. There are lots of figures in history who were great artists however lives poor life and dies as a poor man. However, Shakespeare was very careful at his steps. Many contemporary famous writers had sold their plays to theatre companies; of course this was the time you could not earn lots of money with copyrights. Shakespeare used his fame and at the top of his career he refused to sell his plays, he made a counter offer in order to be a shareholder of Theatre Company. In 1564, he became the shareholder of Lord Chamberlain's Men one of the most famous company in London. (after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, they changed their name to King's Men with the reign of James I). Beside of his successful business career he had made successful investments too, most of them were estates from London and Stratford.
In 1616, with his health declining, Shakespeare revised his will. Since his only son Hamnet had died in 1596, Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his two daughters, with monetary gifts set aside for his sister, theater partners, friends, and the poor of Stratford. A fascinating detail of his will is that he bequeathed the family's “second best bed” to his wife Anne. He died one month later, on April 23, 1616. To the world, he left a lasting legacy in the form of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems.
7 years after his death, his fellow and friends John Heminges and Henry Condell published first folio of Shakespeare which contains 36 plays of Shakespeare.
Countless novels, poems, plays, films, scenarios etc. have been adapted from Shakespeare Universe during more than 400 years. Almost every people all around the world including who have not read Shakespeare ever before, know and aware at least one character, scenario or quote of his universe.
