25 little-known facts about William Shakespeare - the greatest poet whose identity is still a mystery

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

William Shakespeare is one of the most famous and controversial personalities in the world of literature. His creations, created at the turn of the 16th - 17th centuries, do not leave indifferent connoisseurs of literature even today. Today Shakespeare is the most famous and cited English-speaking poet, and his influence on modern culture - from theater to cinema, from philosophy to sociology, is difficult to overestimate. In our review, little-known and very interesting facts from the life of William Shakespeare are unknown.

1. Shakespeare - Taurus

According to the most accurate historical sources, Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564. According to the tradition of that time, children were baptized on the third day after birth, so it is most likely that Shakespeare was born on April 23rd. However, since Shakespeare was born according to the Julian calendar, according to the Gregorian calendar, his date of birth is May 3. In other words, Shakespeare is Taurus.

2. William's seven brothers and sisters

He was born into a large family and had seven brothers and sisters. The most famous of Shakespeare's relatives was his mother's cousin William Arden. He was arrested for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I, imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually executed.

3. Served in theater and theater …

Not many people know that in addition to writing some of the most legendary plays and sonnets in history, Shakespeare was also an actor. He has appeared in many of his own dramas, as well as in productions by other playwrights.

4. Anne Hathaway

Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, was eight years his senior, which was a bit unusual at the time. He was eighteen and she was twenty-six at the time of the wedding, with Anne three months pregnant.

5. I am a weakish speller

"William Shakespeare" is an anagram of "I am a weakish speller" (I have bad spelling).

6. Strict businessman

When Shakespeare became a very famous playwright in London, he did not give up his previous professional career in his hometown of Stratford (near Birmingham), where his wife and children lived. Whenever he came to his hometown, he paid a lot of attention to business relations and the expansion of his property. People who knew him well spoke of Shakespeare as a strict businessman, far from charity.

7. New Place

His family home in Stratford was called New Place. The house stood at the corner of Chapel Street and Chapel Lane and was apparently the second largest house in the city. This is clearly good evidence that Shakespeare was such a wealthy and capable businessman.

8. Plague and poetry

Due to the outbreak of plague in Europe, Shakespeare began writing poetry because all theaters in London closed for two years - from 1592 to 1594. Since there was accordingly no demand for performances during this time, he completed his first collection of sonnets in 1593.

9. Royal Shakespeare Company

It is estimated that the Royal Shakespeare Company sold over four hundred thousand tickets every year for Shakespeare performances in theaters in Shakespeare's homeland in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Newcastle. And about fifty thousand people came to the premieres every year.

10. Suicide is not a taboo

It seems that suicide was not a taboo for the famous writer. It occurs thirteen times in his plays. The most famous example is Romeo and Juliet.

11. Earring in the left ear

Various scholars believe that Shakespeare loved to wear a gold hoop earring in his left ear, which gave him a creative and bohemian look. This earring can be seen in the Chandos portrait, one of the playwright's most popular depictions.

12. "Comedy of Errors" - only 1770 lines

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's shortest play, at just 1,770 lines. This production lasts three times less than Hamlet, which runs for just over four hours.

13. Three thousand new words

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Shakespeare introduced nearly 3,000 new words into the English language. According to various estimates, his vocabulary ranged from seventeen thousand to an incredible twenty-nine thousand words.

14. Shakespeare is a Homer fan

Shakespeare was a great admirer of Homer, the Greek who was considered the father of epic poetry, and also openly admired Chaucer's work. He used several of Chaucer's poems as sources for his plays.

15. "Elizabethan playwright"

Although Shakespeare is commonly referred to as "the Elizabethan playwright," in fact, most of his most famous plays were written after the death of Elizabeth I. Shakespeare was writing during the era of Jacob.

16. Female roles were played by men and boys

Just like in ancient Greek theater, women were not allowed to participate in theatrical performances during Shakespeare's life. Therefore, all female roles were played by men or boys. During the "Restoration" (the period when the monarchy returned to power under Charles II), the first women began to appear on the English scene.

17. Shakespeare wrote or collaborated with other playwrights

During his writing career, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and a number of other poems. Many historians have suggested that there are a number of "lost plays" and that Shakespeare wrote or collaborated with other playwrights.

18. "Cardenio's Story" and "Love's Labour's Lost"

The Story of Cardenio and Love's Labour's Lost are two plays that were authentically written by Shakespeare, but which have been lost to posterity.

19. Shakespeare - Catholic

Although Catholicism was strictly forbidden during Shakespeare's lifetime, according to the diaries of the Anglican archdeacon Richard Davis of Lichfield, Shakespeare was a devoted Catholic.

20. Monument in the form of a bag of grain

Shakespeare died at the age of fifty-two in 1616. Initially, a monument in the form of a sack of grain was erected on his grave, but the inhabitants of Stratford replaced this monument with a sack with a feather in 1747.

21. Shakespeare's Testament

At the time of his death, Shakespeare made many gifts to friends and relatives, but left almost all of his property to his daughter, Susanna. The only mention of his wife in Shakespeare's will was: "I will bequeath to my wife the second-best bed in my house, along with linens."

22. Most cited English writer

According to the Encyclopedia of Literature, Shakespeare is the second most cited English writer. The King James Version, translated into English, holds the lead.

23. Lincoln is a dedicated Shakespeare fan

President Abraham Lincoln was a devoted fan of the great works of Shakespeare. He often read excerpts from his performances in conversations with his friends. Ironically, Lincoln's killer John Wilkes Booth was a famous actor in Shakespeare's productions.

24. Shakespeare was not published commercially

Contrary to popular belief, and despite the fact that he was an excellent businessman, Shakespeare never published any of his plays for commercial purposes. In fact, two of his fellow actors, John Heming and Henry Condel Condell, have published thirty-six of Shakespeare's plays since his death, entitled The First Folio.

25. Shakespeare is not the author of Shakespeare's plays

Some conspiracy theorists argue that Shakespeare was not actually the author of his plays. However, all major scholars argue that there is ample documentary evidence that the great playwright wrote his own works.

Continuing the topic 20 postcards with quotes from the great Shakespeare that are still relevant today.