Shakespeare: His life and times
William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 – 1616) was born to a middle-class family in the market town of Stratford-on-Avon. His father, John, was a prosperous glovemaker who achieved status by taking part in civic affairs and later serving as the mayor of Stratford. William’s mother, Mary Arden, was related to a family which was purported to enjoy some social position as well. Both his parents were illiterate.
William was the third of eight children and was educated in the Stratford Grammar School where, like all well-educated children, he became proficient in Latin and studied the ancients in their own language. There is no evidence that he was unlike any other child of the times, who endured the tedium of a joyless and strict education for nine hours every day. Nor was he “discovered” by any teacher who recognized in him the face of genius, though the school boasted a faculty, all of whom were graduates of Oxford University.
It was in 1582, at the age of eighteen, that William was married to Anne Hathaway, twenty-six, a daughter of one of the local farmers. Anne and William had three children—a daughter Susanna, followed by twins Judith and Hamnet, his only son, who died at the age of eleven. Shortly thereafter, the meager history of Shakespeare’s life indicates that he left his family in 1592 to live in London. The reasons for his departure are not clear.
Not much is known about Shakespeare’s personal affairs, since in those days the life of a playwright was hardly deemed worthy of a careful chronicle, unlike the affairs of church and state that were committed to historical records. There is a vague period, therefore, in Shakespeare’s life known as “the lost years,” between the time of his marriage and his departure for the magic and excitement of London. It was in that teeming and vital city that he found work acting in a repertory theater company, a resident group of actors who played different roles in each production throughout the season. Eventually this company performed for Queen Elizabeth I, and there is evidence that the young Shakespeare enjoyed quick popularity as both an actor and playwright: by the year 1594, six of his plays were written and produced. His popularity flourished as a young man and continued throughout his mature years.
Originally Shakespeare’s plays were not written to be read as literature—to be handed down in perpetuity. The plays were written as scripts and were consumable materials. Furthermore, it was not desirable to circulate these manuscripts because they might fall into the hands of other actors or producers in competitive companies. There were no protective copyrights or means of safeguarding plays. There was only the caution of competitive artists who understood the plays to be the source of their livelihood. It was, however, considered fair play for writers to use plots developed by other writers. Shakespeare, like many Elizabethan authors, borrowed widely from these sources and brought to these stories his own perspective and creativity.
Shakespeare performed and wrote for a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594. This was a very popular group which performed for royalty and most of the London theatergoers. There is evidence that around this time he became a shareholder in the Globe Theater. His group changed names to the King’s Men after James I took over the throne in 1603. They were distinguished by their private performances for the court and it was in this company that Shakespeare remained exclusively until his retirement.
In 1612, at age forty-eight, Shakespeare returned to Stratford, in partial retirement, dividing his time between a home in London and the town of his origin. Though less active, he basked in an aura of fame which has endured to the present—four hundred years later. Shakespeare was a poet and playwright who made not only monumental contributions to the world of language and literature, but significant contributions to the creative arts—music, dance, and art—as well. All fields of aesthetic endeavor were influenced by his genius.
One wonders how much more may have been produced by Shakespeare had he enjoyed the advantage of our modern life expectancy, for he died in 1616, at the relatively young age of fifty-two. He was buried inside Stratford’s Holy Trinity Church where a statue of him stands as the only accurate likeness of the great poet whose talents were so diverse that in his lifetime he also achieved success as an actor, producer, and businessman.
Shakespeare’s times
It was the time of the English Renaissance—the late 1500s and early 1600s. Under the reign of Elizabeth I, London—the brilliant city—surged with a teeming population of 160,000 people. Travelers came from all over to partake of the culture which flourished in the rich metropolis. Music, art, literature, and theatre were offered to satisfy the appetite of literate and sophisticated people. The common people, too, yearned for diversion. Quite naturally, therefore, the gifted artists made their way to this mecca where there was a market for their talents.
When Shakespeare came on the scene, actors enjoyed hardly any status. In fact, they were held in very low regard unlike today. Women were not allowed to act on a stage, so the female roles were played by young boys. Actors traveled in troupes and were considered to be nothing more than vagabonds engaged in a worthless pursuit. The support of Queen Elizabeth’s court, however, ushered in an era of greater acceptance of actors and an appreciation for the entertainment they offered to an eager and enthusiastic city audience. It was then during the emergence of more reputable players’ groups that Shakespeare became a member of the theatrical profession.
London, for all its exciting and dynamic qualities was, a stink hole of considerable proportions awash with open gutters, raw sewage, and rotting garbage. This condition, present in major cities of the times, is noteworthy because of the repeated outbreak of the bubonic plague which attacked the community from 1563 to 1603. There was an outbreak of the plague in London for two years in 1592 when theaters were ordered closed for the public welfare. It was during this hiatus that Shakespeare wrote much of his poetry, which was regarded as an authentic art form of the times.
There were many conditions which were hostile to the theater enterprise and which generated disfavor among royal and civic authorities. Theaters were a source of concern because of the danger of contagion, not only from the affluent patrons who sat in the galleries, but especially from the “groundlings” who stood in the dirt of the main floor, “glued together in crowds.” Civic and religious authorities were also afraid of the antagonism, immorality, and profanity which might be encouraged and spread among the large numbers of citizens in attendance. On a different level, the royal authorities were afraid of subversion and propaganda in the actors’ speeches, which might instigate attitudes about foreign relations which were always in a state of tension.
Clearly, theatrical people and their patrons enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the authorities and so, in order to avoid abrasive encounters, theaters were located on the outskirts of the city in the slums, safely outside the jurisdiction of the county sheriff, the mayor, and the City council. These areas were called the “Liberties” which were actually a paradise for thieves, pickpockets, and scoundrels of every description. They were also a worry for employers whose workers would leave their jobs in the afternoon, lured by the diversions of the Liberties.
There were many public theaters in this Bankside district. The first theater to be constructed in 1576 was called “The Theatre.” The Globe Theatre, built in 1599 by Shakespeare and his associates, was one of the largest facilities with a capacity of two thousand patrons. The public theaters were similarly constructed in form and size, had no roofs, and were completely open to the weather. The few private theaters were heated, indoor structures. In 1600 the average weekly attendance for several theaters has been estimated at an amazing twenty thousand patrons a week! Theatergoing was the single most important entertainment available to the total population.
Inside the public theater were three galleries—each seating several classes of people—gentlemen, scholars, lawyers, clerks, and young students. The nobility were discreetly secluded and were in the minority, since theater attendance in Queen Elizabeth’s time was not considered a fashionable or dignified form of entertainment.
The most entertaining historical information of this era comes from the Elizabethan audiences themselves. The performances took place in the afternoon to take advantage of daylight. The audience bought tickets just before showtime for the admission price of one, two, or three pennies. If a person was willing to pay a little more he could take a stool and sit up on the stage where, at closer proximity to the actors, he could badger the players, cheer them on, shout insults, and warn others of impending danger. This behavior was no different than that of the general audience who paid only a penny.
Those who paid a penny to stand on the ground constituted the largest number of patrons by far and were known as the “groundlings.” They stood, crowded around on the dirt floor inside the theater, for as long as four hours before and during a performance. They were a disreputable and coarse lot who passed the time drinking beer and wine, eating, laying cards, and generally attending to whatever functions kept them happy and comfortable. Considering the stench of strong spirits and bad breath in an audience with as many as two thousand vulgarians assembled, it is easy to appreciate that they were also referred to as “penny stinkards,” a term which most aptly captures the character of the robust patrons and the aura of Elizabethan popular theater.
The sequence of events surrounding the play was always predictable. As the play was about to begin, the sound of trumpets would herald the actor who delivered the prologue. He would appear on stage to summarize the drama for the audience. Then, at the end of each play, no matter how sad or somber, the stage would be filled with singers, acrobats, and tumblers for the grand finale.
The drama did not always appeal to everyone in the audience equally. Some members of the audience responded to the bloody fights, the heroic displays, the obscene remarks, and the fool’s humor. Others, of a more sensitive nature, preferred the sophisticated and lyric turn of phrase, the wordplay and puns, and the romantic episodes. Given the diverse social range, there was still something to please everyone. In all, Shakespeare wrote and produced 36 plays. In thinking about Shakespeare’s audience, two factors are of paramount importance: first, despite the mix of class and caste, the group was predominantly uneducated; secondly, it is grossly inaccurate to assume that Shakespeare’s largest, most appreciative audience was drawn from the aristocrats and the educated. It was with the common people that he achieved resounding success.
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