Guenter seidel biography of william shakespeare

The Controversy Due in part to the great gaps in knowledge regarding Shakespeare's early education and the lost years, the bard has always been shrouded in mystery. In addition, not a single manuscript he wrote in his own hand survived the centuries. One scholarly explanation for this lack of historical verification is that "William Shakespeare" was the pen name of some more illustrious, well-educated figure of the Elizabethan era.

The controversy did not see the light of day until more than two centuries after the bard's death. Among the first to question the authorship of such all-time great works as "Macbeth" was a Pennsylvanian Lutheran named Samuel Schmucker, and he was merely drawing an analogy. He likened the scholarly trend of his time in using historic data to raise doubts about the existence of Christ was akin to speculating that Shakespeare never existed.

An offhand remark, but that is all it took to sow the seed of controversy. Some of the fuel for the fire included: 1. The lack of documentation for Shakespeare's existence. The disputed authorship of particular works. The unlikelihood that someone with the bard's background would rise to greatness. The controversy has even found its way into the U.

Supreme Court as the subject of a moot debate. Not only are many quotes from his plays, such as Polonius' advice to Hamlet, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," a part of the English lexicon, but the way in which Shakespeare shaped the language to suit his own artistic purposes would influence future writers and poets throughout subsequent history, from Charles Dickens to Maya Angelou.

Together they had three children. Their first daughter, Susanna , was born six months after the wedding and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was just 11 years old. We know Shakespeare's twins were baptised in , and that by his reputation was established in London, but the intervening years are considered a mystery.

Shakespeare was the company's regular dramatist, producing on average two plays a year, for almost twenty years. For more about Shakespeare's patrons and his work in London see; Shakespeare's Career Shakespeare's Works Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2 narrative poems, sonnets, and a variety of other poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays are known to exist today.

It is actually thanks to a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that we have about half of the plays at all. London: Arden, Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: Norton, Potter, Lois. Chichester, UK: Wiley, DOI: Schoenbaum, Samuel.

Guenter seidel biography of william shakespeare

Oxford: Clarendon, Shakespeare was 18, and Anne was 26 and, as it turns out, pregnant. Two years later, on February 2, , twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet died of unknown causes at age One theory is that he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from local landlord Sir Thomas Lucy. Another possibility is that he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire.

By , there is evidence Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. Poems and Sonnets Learn More about his Sonnets Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention and patronage of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first and second published poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece Scholars broadly categorize the sonnets in groups based on two unknown subjects that Shakespeare addresses: the Fair Youth sonnets the first and the Dark Lady sonnets the last The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.

Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Initially, he was an actor and eventually devoted more and more time to writing. Records show that Shakespeare, who was also a company shareholder, had works published and sold as popular literature.