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An Overview of William Shakespeare

Paige Uttecht

Research and Technical Writing

Mrs. Olson
January 11, 2016

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Abstract
For this research paper I thought that it would be interesting to research a writer, so I researched
William Shakespeare. While I was doing research about Shakespeare I learned more about him
and different types of writing styles. He did many incredible things and left a mark on history.
Shakespeare's education was non-traditional. He didn't attend college, but he did receive a good
education as a child. Later on, Shakespeare began his career by acting and then shortly he began
writing. After he wrote some of his plays he started acting in them too. The plays that he
performed in were performed in a theatre called The Globe Theatre. The Globe Theatre is a
theatre that Shakespeare and some other men created because he needed a place to compete
against with other theaters. Shakespeare became popular because of Queen Elizabeth. She was a
fan of Shakespeare and his plays. Elizabeth often went to The Globe Theatre to watch
Shakespeare and his crew perform. Shakespeare left all of his creations behind when he died. His
creations are used in high schools and colleges today. A lot of people remembered him as the
man who wrote plays, but he is more than just a legend.

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Shakespeare had no idea how famous he would become but he was an incredible writer. His
legacy is something that will always be remembered. Shakespeare married at a young age. He
experienced some tragedy in his early life when one of his sons passed away. Shakespeare had a
non-traditional education. He didn't attend college, but he did receive an education as a child.
Shakespeare began his writing career by acting and then later on he began playwriting. During
his acting career he slowly got into writing. Soon enough he started performing his own plays.
Most of the plays he wrote were performed in the Globe Theatre, which was a theatre that
Shakespeare helped create himself. One of the ways Shakespeare became popular was through
Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth was a fan of Shakespeare and his plays. She went to the Globe
Theatre often to watch Shakespeare and his crew perform. When Shakespeare died he left a mark
on English history. Shakespeare left alls of his poems, sonnets, and plays behind when he died.
Some of the plays that Shakespeare created are used in high school for English lessons today.
Shakespeare left many historical marks on the English history. He is a well-known English
poet, playwright, and actor. At 18 he married Anne Hathway who was 26 at the time. Their
marriage was licensed on November 27, 1582. They had four children: John, Susanna, Hamnet,
and Judith. Shakespeare experienced a tragedy in his life when one of his children died at a
young age. Most of Shakespeare's education was based at King's New School, which is located
in Stratford. According to Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-uponAvon, England, in 1564. Education had a big impact in Shakespeare's life. Shakespeare used his

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knowledge to become an actor before he became a writer. According to Folger Shakespeare
Library, "Shakespeare played a huge role in expanding the expressive capacity of the language,
especially in the verbal representation of thinking and subjectivity."
Shakespeare's helped his father in the family business. The family business involves
working with leather and grains. He also took a job as a law clerk and afterwards he worked as a
school master.
Shakespeare was regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's
preeminent dramatist. He created approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative
poems. The question is, how did Shakespeare come up with his writings? His inspiration came
from other writers and his surroundings. Most of Shakespeare's writings were about romance,
tragedy, and comedy. The examples of Shakespeare's romance, tragedy, and comedy writings
would include: Othello: The Moor of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night or What You Will,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Richard III, Hamlet, The Taming of The Shrew; and
Measure for Measure.
Shakespeare began his career as an actor and then later on he began playwriting. In 1592,
Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and writing. He was the managing partner in Lord
Chamberlain's Men, which was an acting company in London. After the crowning of King
James I the company changed its name to King's Men. The records show that Shakespeare had
his works published and sold as popular literature.
He spent most of his time in the city writing and acting. Shakespeare and his business partners
built their own theatre called The Globe Theatre. He purchased leases of real estate near
Stratford for 440 pounds, which doubled in value.

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During the time of Shakespeare's playwright career he mostly wrote comedic plays. As his
career grew, he started switching his plays to tragedies. In Shakespeare's Era, playwrights were
not seen as literary experts. Only poets were accepted, the playwrights were not. Shakespeare
concentrated on writing his plays more than he actually wrote his poems. His plays were
published individually throughout his lifetime.
Shakespeare's writings are what made him a famous person. He didn't just create plays, he
wrote sonnets and poems as well. Some of Shakespeare's plays include Romeo and Juliet,
Macbeth, and Julius Caesar.
Romeo and Juliet was written in 1591. It was performed in 1597 at a place called The
Theatre.There were other film versions too. This play took place in between sometime Autumn
and Winter. Some of the actors include Richard Burbage and Master Robert Goffe. Richard
Burbage played Romeo, he was also well known as the company's leading actor. Master Robert
Goffe played Juliet. It was common for young boy actors to play female parts because women
didn't appear on stage until the late 17th century.
Macbeth was written and performed at the Globe Theatre in 1606. Richard Burbage also acted
in Macbeth. Shakespeare took the part of Lady Macbeth when the actor was ill. Macbeth is
known as one of the shortest, darkest plays. The plot of Macbeth is actually related to Antony
and Cleopatra. It also has similarities with events from within Scottish history. The earliest film
of Macbeth happened to be in black and white, it was also a silent film which was made in 1908.
This movie was filmed in just 23 days. Macbeth included used sets and scenery from a left over
western film.

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According to Introduction and Play History, "Eerily, in 1864, just a year before he assassinated
Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth performed in a production of the play in New York, along
with his brothers Edwin and the appropriately named Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. After he shot
Lincoln, Booth apparently yelled out "Sic semper tyrannis" or "Thus ever to tyrants", the same
phrase Brutus is said to have used as he murdered Caesar." Julius Caesar's first performance
happened on September 21st of 1599 in The Globe Theatre. It was first published in the First
Folio of 1623 which wasn't during the time of when Shakespeare was alive. Julius Caesar was
first filmed in 1953.
Shakespeare's sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601, they weren't actually
published until 1609. In 1609, Thomas Thorpe published Shakespeare's sonnets. A sonnet is a
poem with fourteen lines that use any number of rhyme schemes. It is normally used to express
love. A sonnet is a form of poetry that was originated in Italy. They were introduced to England
during the Tudor Era by Sir Thomas Wyatt. A sonnet is usually set up in a format like: A, B, A,
B, C, D, C, D. One of Shakespeare's sonnet that includes this format is Sonnet 130:
My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

There in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

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I love to hear her speak; yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground

Any yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

A piece that partakes of nature with both speech or song would be described as a poem. "Early
in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, The Earl of
Southhampton, to whom he dedicated his fiirst and second published poems: 'Venus and
Adonis' (1593) and 'The Rape of Lucrece' (1594)" (A&E).
The reason for Shakespeare to start his writing was to do something remarkable that would
attract the people and to let people recognize the past events. He also wrote for money. He
became a property owner and entrepreneur just because he became a writer. But most
importantly, he started writing to put food on the table for his family.
There must be a place to perform the plays that are written, well for Shakespeare that was
a theatre he created called The Globe Theatre. Shakespeare co-owned the theatre. In 1597, The
Lord Chamberlain's Men (Shakespeare, J & R Burbag, G Bryan, John Hemminges, Augustine
Phillips, Thomas Pope, and Will Sly) didn't have a set place to perform his plays so they built
themselves a playhouse. The Admiral's Men already had a place to perform their plays, The
Globe Theatre, so that meant that the Lord Chamberlain's Men now needed a place that they
could compete. There was one problem that they faced and that was a lack of money. To come up
with the money, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, decided that each of them would own 25% of the

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new play house and then the rest of The Lord Chamberlain's Men would pitch into the leftover
50%.
The Globe Theatre opened in Autumn of 1599 in Southwark London. Today this is known as
"Bankside." The Globe Theatre became a great way to earn money from ticket sales by their
own performances and then later on hiring out the playhouse. Including The Globe Theatre were
four major theatres in the area: The Swan, The Rose, and The Hope.
The Globe Theatre is three stories high and approximately one hundred feet in diameter.
The theatre can seat up to three thousand people. The stage is at least forty-three feet wide and
twenty-eight feet deep.
During the performances, imagination was needed because there were no backdrops or
lighting. There was a lack of acoustics and a lack of props, but Shakespeare still did it! Because
of no lighting at night, the plays would take place during daylight hours, the plays normally last
from 2pm to 4pm or even 5pm.
Then a tragedy happened, the Globe burnt down. A cannon was fired during the day and
started to burn the roof, then gradually, burned to the ground. Another playhouse was rebuilt a
year later in 1614. Before, the theatre had a straw material on the roof so they rebuilt it using a
different material which looked more like tile. In, 1642, playhouses weren't so famous anymore.
Puritanical forces made their appearance in England. The playhouses not were now considered a
place of evil and sin. All of the playhouses were closed to protect the people of England. "Just
two years later in 1644, where Hamlet was once performed, the famous playhouse was taken
down, its presence replaced by housing instead. One of the greatest eras in playhouse was at an
end..." (Shakespeare Resource Center).

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Because of Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare became more known to the people. Queen
Elizabeth became queen of England in 1558 (six years before Shakespeare's birth). She was very
fond of Shakespeare's work. "She was fond of the theater, and many of England's greatest
playwrights were active during her reign, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and
William Shakespeare" (Literature Network Forums).
Shakespeare became famous by coming out during the expansion of the British empire. The
British spread and colonized around the globe. The British education system spread worldwide
due to the British empire. It also taught people to appreciate the literary works of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare and his theatre companies were masters of self promotion. He wrote what people
wanted to see. None of his plays were 'made up' they were based off of what the audience
already knew. He was known to have a very large talent with vocabulary.
The Shakespearean Sonnet, Spenserian Stanza, and dramatic blank verses were popular
during this period. English sonnets, also known as Shakespearean sonnets, are 750 years old and
were written in English in the 16th century. Shakespeare didn't create the sonnets,, it was
introduced by the "Earl of Surrey" and the other English experiments in the 1500s.
Because of all of the creations has brought us he will always be remembered.
Shakespeare's death was on April 23, 1616. He was buried April 25, 1616, which was two days
after he died, in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom at the Holy Trinity Church.
Shakespeare's cause of death was unknown, but his scholars believed that he was sick for over a
month. It was said that he died from a fever because of his illness. Shakespeare's will was signed
with an odd signature so that tells us that he could have been very ill before he died because
there was evidence of him being feeble. He left an abundant amount of belongings to his eldest

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daughter and barely any of it went to his wife. This implies that Shakespeare and his wife weren't
very close or it was a sign of difficult marriage. Shakespeare's grave said "Good friend, for Jesus'
sake forebeare to dig the dust enclosed heare; Bleste be the man that spares thes stones, and curst
be he that moves my bones."
Shakespeare's plays are taught in schools. His plays are currently done on Broadway and at
West End in London. The plays that are performed in Broadway are As You Like it, Macbeth,
and Romeo and Juliet. In the West End They have had recent performances of As You Like it,
Henry V, Pericles, and The Winter's Tale.
There was a current interview by New York Times from an actor that performs in
Shakespeare's plays, Ben Crystal.
New York Times: "Is performing Shakespeare difficult?"
Crystal: "Well, yes ... and so it should be! These plays are over 400 years old. They contain
cultural gags and references that are completely obscure to us. But theyre also hard to perform
because Shakespeare was so darned good at tapping into the human heart so, as an actor you
cant allow yourself to hold back. If you cant go to the depths of your soul, explore the extremes
of yourself, go to the bad place as Othello or Macbeth, then you shouldnt be on the stage. You
have to think about the big speeches in Shakespeare as the most important things the character
has ever said; they need to be spoken with your chest cut open, your heart bare, and with
tremendous passion. You need to tear the words from the sky. If you dont feel like youve run a
marathon when youre done, youre not doing it right. It takes courage to open yourself up to an
audience like that, letting them see your insides without desperately trying to show them it
takes practice."

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His plays are currently taught in schools. Teachers require his writings for high school
English students. By the time the students get to high school they no longer participate in
activities using imagination. Plays are considered good for imagination because you need to
imagine that you are taking place in that event. Some examples of plays taught in high schools
are: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello.
Most of Shakespeare's successes are still known today. He was a successful man because
of the amount of plays he performed and created. Shakespeare left a trace on American Literature
and it will always be there. His successes are a part of America as a whole. A lot of people
remember him as the man who created sonnets and plays, but there was more to him than that he
was a legend.

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Works Cited:
"Performing Shakespeare." Interview with Ben Crystal. Education. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.
"Red-Headed." Literature Network Forums RSS. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare FAQ." Folger Shakespeare Library. 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare's Genius | Shakespeare, William." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare's Globe Theatre." Shakespeare Resource Center -. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Introduction and Play History." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:
Introduction and Play History. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare's Poetry." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"The Elizabethan Age." The Elizabethan Age. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
William Shakespeare's Life. A&E Networks Television. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
"William Shakespeare." Shakespeare. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.